Street Corners

Lyrics

[Intro: Gil-Scott Heron] Looking on various street corners I'm sure you've seen it yourself Standing on the corner, is an alleged brother Dressed in blue or green, red and black And spouting the news that the revolution is coming and you better get ready Sort of like the end of the world is coming Unfortunately, the world is just going to drag on and on And, we have a poem that we've written particularly (don't you know you can't win?) For the brothers on the street corners (make up your mind) [Verse 1: Bronze Nazareth] Yo, standing on porches in front of houses and corner stores I'm born to more horrifics than syphilis, 'cause where we live is Hell on earth, where was heaven when shit's real? We sold dope to get meals while white folks could sniff feels Fuck Israel, it's Kill Hills, spill pills for my bills Write wills for my seeds to live from Who take some, who give some, for brothers that was lynched hung The symptoms never go away, a stowaway for colder ways Having ravenous savages, blasphemous, asking us to hold crosses There's more of us than Florida oranges and lost orphans I offer thought for food in full courses I'm soarin' towards the night glow, my hat's low, my roots grow For you to soon know, I reap what you sow [Interlude] Babygrande records Make up your mind [Verse 2: Solomon Childs] We just land down from Liberia Young black man in control of the pillars Millions buried in dirt How many railroads do you own? How much clean chrome you own? This for my ancestors' names engraved in stone On the roads that the rebels once roamed We built homes, civilized our own King Solomon Childs, beautiful as black, this time We will walk on water this time We will see through the lies this time Prepare troops to move in, expand the runways Build bigger bridges, nine millimeters from Brady We living in war, so prepare for submission Apache helicopters, a black man's face on a dollar The pigs constantly watch us, the streets is obnoxious (world) Baby, you're the first to not hold me to toxic [Verse 3: Byata] The first seed of a dope fiend, she A.D.D Needle park off spring, bourgeoisie wanna be While her siblings is rich living, she ain't bitching Mama's working two jobs, tryna maintain a living Few years passed, now she getting raised by the streets Side by side, watch her hustle, now she blazed like the streets This is for my women living in the struggle Getting brought into this world without asking for the troubles Of the every day life (life), a battered wife A single mother's holding it down, why the world so trife? Crack fiend, you could've been something better in life Now hold your head up, ma, you know it ain't over, right? Yeah, this is for my Russians on the grind Off the boat, struggling, tryna hold a 9 to 5 Yeah, I seen enough with these eyes I thank the most high, I'm still alive [Outro] Don't you know you can't win? Make up your mind Don't you know you can't win? Make up your mind