KRS-One
I Can’t Breathe
[Intro: Sticky Fingaz & Samuel L. Jackson]
Yo Sam Jack, holla at 'em
All you celebrities out there, here's a chance to do something else
I challenge all of you to sing the "we ain't gonna stop till people are free" song
Word is power
Here we go
Let's go, let's go

[Hook: Samuel L. Jackson & Children's Choir]
I can hear my neighbor crying "I can't breathe"
Now I'm in the struggle and I can't leave
Calling out the violence of the racist police
"We ain't gonna stop, till people are free"

[Verse 1: Sticky Fingaz]
Fuck all this marchin', my motherfucking feet hurt
We starvin' and we ain't tryna eat dirt
My grandmother said the last shall be first
Well he started it, he hit me first
Justice for everybody or justice for none
Trust this, we all related, we share the same sun
You don't want me to turn into an activist
‘Cause if I don't see some action I'll start acting with my fists
We was in chains when you made your laws
But things done changed, we ain't slaves no more
I was raised "somebody hit you, then you hit them back"
If I avenge my brothers' deaths I still can't get them back
I still can't get them back
If I avenge my brothers' deaths I still can't get them back
I still can't get them back
If I avenge my brother's death I still can't get—
Killing innocent cops ain't the answer, son
We better than that, them n***as just as bad as them
They just making us strong, we fight side by side
Can't take you no longer, revolution will be Wi-Fied
[Hook: Samuel L. Jackson & Children's Choir]
I can hear my neighbor crying "I can't breathe"
Now I'm in the struggle and I can't leave
Calling out the violence of the racist police
"We ain't gonna stop, till people are free"

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]
Nah, yeah, have heart, have money
(Mitchy Slick said) Have smarts, have cunning
You not talking organization built out of not coming
I'm not a politician, don't need an office and I'm not running
They got it rigged, they try to make your dreams impossible
For the schools, to the court systems, to the jails, to the hospitals
It's a domino effect, son, I peeped it a long time ago
So native with the flow that they calling me Mic Geronimo
They like to argue with the facts and the data
All lives will never matter till black lives matter
The black united is living directly on groovy sounds
The word is the flesh and nothing moving 'less it's on the ground
America dream or American lie
You ever try to carve a piece of that American Pie?
The chance of dying from an American cop
Eight times more likely than a terrorist plot
I'm like "Wow, who's the terrorist now?", no ain't hard to see
I just observe my surroundings, no this ain't prophecy
It's just mental photography, this is my odyssey
And at the poem I'm shouting from the tops of mountains
Where there's a lot to see but it's hard to breathe
[Hook: Samuel L. Jackson & Children's Choir]
I can hear my neighbor crying "I can't breathe"
Now I'm in the struggle and I can't leave
Calling out the violence of the racist police
"We ain't gonna stop, till people are free"

[Verse 3: Mad Lion]
Babylon why you stop me for
From you treat us as inferior then it’s all out war
No remorse as to how we are
So so there’s no empathy when we blow your brains on the tar
Blue Coats and badges Terrorizing I Cities
And the want us to give them pity
You MAD !!!
But inna the streets them a Gun We Down
With our hand up or We hands Down
You give us justice
And we’ll give you peace
From all our fallen soliders Now deceased
Or feel the fury of a Black Nation
That decide to release there inner Beast
Babylon we ago gun them down
From them get out of line
We ago gun them down
Babylon not no friend of mine
We ago gun them down
Babylon has run out of time
We ago gun them down
Black Nations hafi shine
[Verse 4: Brother J]
Black lives matter not, son, review your data
Dirt slots more abundant till the Earth is shattered
Every 28 hours, hot slugs pain flesh
Terrorism's abundant, crackheads for death
Bucket lists for devils, extinction fests
Population control is on the President's desk
I got a camera and a hammer, ballistic vest
World Star homicide is like a new day fresh
From the corners of the Chi, Ferguson to the Levy's
Neglect on my people is heavy
The death toll got me cocked and ready
Word-wide RPG's represent we study, it's mad bloody
Sunday, Monday, every day is a new ish
Multi-colored devils, pedophiles unconscious
Obnoxious climate, I can't breathe
The red on the flag is not the blood on his sleeve, fight back!

[Hook: Samuel L. Jackson]
Calling out the violence of the racist police
"We ain't gonna stop, till people are free"

[Verse 5: KRS-One]
Hip-hop, let's go
People get free, get free
Harriet T., Nat T., Bucka T., look at me
Huh, I'm fearless, known for bravery
It's clear, they wanna take us all back to slavery
But chains ain't made for me, it's insane to me
The police and the Klan are the same to me
It's plain to see, it's war
I'm busting off crazily, leave a racist on the floor
The Blacklemore, the maroon, the blue, black
The indigo, Asiatic black if you that
There's no time to do crack, no time to act
Like you lack the tack to attack - fight back!
It's time to react, put an end to the insanity
Real black men, protect your real black family
Never lazy, God gave us the right
To take the life of those trying to take away our babies
This is crazy frontin'
When the police are killing black kids and the black President ain't saying nothin'
They hunting, they hunting us down like wild game
So it's karma, I suggest we do the same

[Hook: Samuel L. Jackson & Children's Choir]
I can hear my neighbor crying "I can't breathe"
Now I'm in the struggle and I can't leave
Calling out the violence of the racist police
"We ain't gonna stop, till people are free"

[Collision: KRS-One]
Talib, Sticky Fingaz, Mad Lion, singing with Jackson
KRS-One, we coming through, yo!

[Outro: KRS-One & Children's Choir]
Remember
Revolution only works for those that participate
Don't stand on the sidelines
Pick up a bottle
We ain't gonna stop, till people are free