Lyrics

[Chorus] Self-preservation is the rule Rule-rule, the rule The rule when you do aim Self-preservation is the rule Rule-rule-rule Rule when you do aim Self-preservation is the rule Rule-rule, the-the rule-rule The rule when you do aim Bring the power back to the street Bring the power back to the street-street-street where the people live [Verse 1] Uh I see power in your hands, truth in your voice You speak from the heart like you never had a choice You think for yourself, even when they use force Tryna shrink your vision, sayin' you been warned Same old tricks to knock a prophet off course Systems of control, 'bout as real as their law Money's just paper, hope you ready for the fall Permanent is temporary, seen it all before All that ever helped was the spirit and the mind Of a child made of love born into the wrong time With a vision of the future who just couldn't let it go Young Kendrick with the flow, John Lennon on the dope Hunter S. with the pen, Mandela on parole Sex Pistols with [?], George Clinton, the soul Look up to the punks, we learn how to be leaders And may the spirit never leave us [Chorus] Self-preservation is the rule Rule-rule, the rule The rule when you do aim Self-preservation is the rule Rule-rule-rule Rule when you do aim Self-preservation is the rule Rule-rule, the-the rule-rule The rule when you do aim Bring the power back to the street Bring the power back to the street-street-street where the people live [Verse 2] We're livin' through an ice age Undead stumble up the highway I watched the world burn from my driveway Try to block it out with the high grade I got a migraine To a higher state, yeah, a new mind space, but Who's left to move or inspire me? They kill our heroes everyday That's why I step into this booth with a page from my diary It's too real, too much I feel To ever hold my tongue, was never part of the deal 'Cause I was taught another way by a Ms. Lauryn Hill The miseducation of my people, so ill Who can lead us, give us hope? When the system says the system ain't broke? I know There's a way because you proved there was A rebel with a cause, so beautiful [Chorus] Self-preservation is the rule Rule-rule, the rule The rule when you do aim Self-preservation is the rule Rule-rule-rule Rule when you do aim Self-preservation is the rule Rule-rule, the-the rule-rule The rule when you do aim Bring the power back to the street Bring the power back to the street-street-street where the people live [Verse 3] Another black boy found hangin' from a rope Politician knows it won't cost him a vote There's refugees sinkin' sixty miles off the coast How long you gonna stand there, butterin' your toast? I'm guilty of it too and it's stuck up in my throat Sometimes I'm lyin' to myself about the things I know Believe that there's a high road and somewhere we can go Could turn this to the promised land and rid us of these ghosts Gotta be the change, write the words to ease my peoples pain Clouds pass, out the dark, 'cause your freedom reigned My heroes moulded me when I was just a piece of clay Now I'm polished and the game will never be the same Don't be thinkin' that a change'd come a different day I'm ready now and I know I got the right of way I'm not a hero but I'm here for the fight Not a martyr but I'm givin' you my life on the mic Real [Outro] (Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic) (Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic) (Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic) (Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic) (Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic) (Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic) (Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic) (Life on the mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic)