[Intro: KRS-One]
So when they say, "Yo, you know your lyrics are explicit"
I say, "Yo, I rap the Star Spangled Banner"

[Hook]
The hood don't change, never let it wash your brain
Treat poison in your veins

[Verse 1: KRS-One]
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
America, America, what have you done?
You used to be the whole light of the world like the sun
Now look what you've become
This unified, what happened to one of many won?
What happened to the social security fund?
You know, thieves and candidates both run
Man, don't look so stunned
You know what you're gonna get when you get KRS-One
[Hook: Bumpy Knuckles]
The hood don't change, never let it wash your brain
Treat poison in your veins
People gotta die, how many stars rearrange
? screaming
I know it's there, let me hold something
Before I let somebody hold something
Please
Cause I'm stressed out all the way

[Verse 2: KRS-One]
I blast first, unemployment that hurts
Is it too much to ask for a government that works?
Poverty ? for everyone
Sickness, hatred, ignorance, that can hit anyone
Any run, others grab hold of they gun
They need hundreds of dollars but they're holding the one
A single, while their children are hypnotized
By hard price commercial jingles
Where is the president take a mingle
Amongst the people in the streets
Airports and the malls, healthcare debates
Immigration reports, none of that appeals to me at all
I want global education, helps me compete
America's education should match the streets
I want less cops on the streets
And only the best cops on the streets
[Hook: Bumpy Knuckles]

I wanna spit the rough over the airways
To play up by deejays that's not on air slaves
I don't like the drug lords, they're the crappiest
They deny citizens they pursue to the happiness
Drug abuse is dangerous, not drugs
They should be sold by doctors only, not thugs
We losing our bugs and our birds
Species of plants and [?] that you never heard
My president is not heartless
My president preserve and protects the rain forests
State parks are closing
That means the wildlife conservation funds are frozen
But that oil keeps flowing
And the profits from illegal wars, it keeps on growing
Man, when it's gonna stop?
It's gonna stop when you get KRS some ?

[Hook: Bumpy Knuckles]

Yo, I'm stressed out, let me show you how stressed out
...new remix, extended version
...and all my niggers in the streets are stressed out...

[Verse 4: Bumpy Knuckles]
The cops they got away with murder once again
Whenever not guilty, another dead friend
Another dead son, another dead brother
Another mad father, another sad mother
(I'm stressed out) My people living in conditions
That ain't air conditioned
We need to break from this bullshit
And intermission for the ... pull shit
It's all bullshit, stop me for a tail light
They wanna throw me in jail for a whole night
I hate the fact that you can cuss me the fuck out
Hands out the window, "N***a, get the fuck out"
... ask me who caught me driving
"How can I afford it?" "How am I surviving?"
Shit, I feel insulted, I'm a law abiding tax payer
But you mad cause I make more and I'm a rap singer
Because I'm dressed like a old school player
And the uniform is tighter than the law's first [?]
Undercover, looking for the bad guy
Drinking in the strip joint, how many drinks before the end point
[?] but you can pin point 4th man
Never identifying your plan
Never identifying yourself or your man
And everybody got a full clip in their war hand
See the cop see the D.A. and see the judge
In the bathroom, giving each other hugs
Way too much love
And they calling us thugs