[Brother D; Collective Effort; all]

If you wanna know the truth, and that’s a fact
Let me hear you say, “And you know that!”
And you know that!

(What you feel?)
You dippy-dippy-dive and so-socialize
But how we gonna make the black nation rise?

While you party down yellin', "Shock the house
Get down, rock shock the house!"
The Ku Klux Klan is on the loose
Training their kids in machine gun use
Obey everything has its place and time
We can rock the house, too, as we shock your mind

What up?
We can brag, and we can boast
Producin' neither bread nor butter for our breakfast toast

Look at all the things that can prove the point
Sisters in the discos, brothers in the joint

As you dippy-dippy-dive and so-socialize
But how we gonna make the black nation rise?
How we gonna make the black nation rise?

The people call me Brother-D
And I’m here to shed some light
To bring the truth right on down to earth
From where it once was out of sight
But, before I continue just let me say
This is not my ego soup
I sat down and thought, and I wrote this verse
In the interest, of the group

Come on
My people, people, people, can’t you see
What’s really goin' on?
Unemployment’s high, the housing’s bad
And the schools are teaching wrong
Cancer from the water, pollution in the air
But you’re partying hard, like you just don’t care

Wake up y'all, you know that ain’t right

Cause that hurts everybody, black or white

Winter’s cold, can’t get no heat
Just move your body to the beat
While it takes you on a disco ride
Get high until you’re pacified
Our youth actin' like the living dead
Ain’t talkin' bout the body, talkin' bout the head
Space out y'all to the disco rhyme
You're movin' to the rhythm but you’re wastin' time
Stop and think - Do you know what’s real?
Well let me educate you to the real deal
The media, is telling lies
The devil’s taking off his disguise
They’re killing us, in the streets
While we pay more for food that’s cheap
And all you wanna do is so-socialize

How we gonna make the black nation rise?

Remember the so-called Indian?
Look what they did to him
Maybe they’ll do that to us
Dare to struggle - Dare to win

I mean damn, get out of your seat!
Damn, get on your feet!
We say damn, and I will repeat!
We mean damn we’re tired of defeat!

Damn! No more sittin' around!
We say damn, it's time for throwin' down!

Damn! Let’s even the score
Cause We’re fired up and won’t take no more
We’re fired up! won’t take no more!
We’re fired up! won’t take no more!
We’re fired up! won’t take no more!
We’re fired up! won’t take no more!

The story might give you stomach cramps
Like America’s got concentration camps
People like Malcolm lived and died
Warning us about genocide
While you’re partying on, on, on, on and on
The ovens may be hot by the break of dawn
Your party may end one day soon
When they round the niggers up in the afternoon

And you start to wonder are the people dumb
Well Martin Luther King said we’ll overcome

But how we gonna make the Black Nation rise
When all you wanna do is dippy-dippy-dippy-dive?

No, no, brothers it's not like that
You're gonna rap for the people, tell ‘em where it was at

Like Elijah showed us how to pool our wealth
Collectively we must do for ourselves

Don Pedro Albizu Campos he
Gave his life fighting for Puerto Rico to be free
While We fight each other with out a fear
But fight the system you never dare
Well if you ain’t down we’ll get you first
Cause you slow us down just like a curse
Bob Marley’s spirit we can’t let die
Put a message in our music for I and I

Service to our people who we must redeem
Like Coltrane’s horn blowin' Love Supreme

You heard what Marcus Garvey said
And we can’t stand still

He said, “Up you mighty nation, you can
Accomplish what you will!”

Rising up! won't take no more!
Rising up! won't take no more!

America was built, understand
By stolen labor on stolen land
Take a second thought, as you clap and stamp
Can you rock the house from inside the camp?
As you’re moving to the beat 'til the early light
This country’s moving too, moving to the right
Prepare now, or get high and wait
Cause it ain’t no party in a police state

Blessed are we who dare to be free
We gotta change the way we behave
You gotta sacrifice for our righteous cause
Or remain a passive slave

We’re not anti- any other racial group
Just understand we’re pro-Black

And we’re against any one or thing
That tries to hold us back

So think, but don’t take too long
The time is getting late

And deejays if you’ve got a mic
It’s your job to educate

Well, I know my voice is not rated X
We didn’t talk about money, or talk about sex
We didn’t talk about clothes or cars and things
And you might be tired of my lecturin'
So while you dance, and while you sing
All we wanna do is ask just one thing:

While you dippy-dippy-dive and so-socialize
Are you gonna help the Black Nation rise?

You dippy-dippy-dive and so-socialize
How we gonna make the Black Nation rise?

How We gonna make the Black Nation rise?
We gotta agitate, educate and organize!

How We gonna make the Black Nation rise?
Agitate, educate and organize!

[Repeat and Fade]