Chorus: *sung hook from an R&B record*

Got to give the people

Give the people what they want

Ladies and Gentlemen

(repeat 2X)

Verse One: Erick Sermon

When I came out with my first rap jam

I had no idea that the record would slam

It did real good without radio play

Maybe at night but no airplay in the day

I couldn't understand why to be exact

Our music was good and I was far from wack

Then came the answer, commercial was the key

To get airplay and a spot on TV

Like Ed Lover and Doctor Dre from Yo! MTV Raps

A show, mainly for the black

And still we can't ill, cause to them that's wrong

Cause like P.E. said, we're too black and too strong

But hey, what can I say

(Brothers and sisters) that's a price a rapper must pay

Chorus

Verse Two: PMD

As airwaves collapse rap shows at a standstill

Some racial circuits the frequencies can't handle

The funk tracks produced by EPMD

But it's a fat jam, that will never win a grammy

Unless we sellout and kill the black movement dead

Which means swallow our pride and become flunkies instead

And stop the rap about freedom, thoughts of a black president

And rap about a black crack, the mayor in our residence

Give me a break brothers, it's time to take a stand

And kill that no sir, yes sir, and thank you ma'am

Cuz the word is a luxury a black man can't afford

That's why poverty's on the rise and we still ignored

And it's a setback and yet the clock still ticks

And if we let it, rap would be run by politics

I read it somewhere that every man's created equal

But not in this day and age, maybe in the sequel

Which means next time, so observe these rhymes

And take a stand and go for yours cause I'm going for mine

That's why I

Chorus

Verse Three: Erick Sermon, PMD

Why is that when wrong is done by the black

It's blown out of proportion and immediately attacked

By the press and yes, conflict is caused

By the kids at concerts who bumrush the doors

One child gets hurt, the press gets pesty

But what about the Beatles, G, and Elvis Presley

Same stuff was rough, rap does not cause violence

So (Fight the Power) and make them understand

But too much power and you might get banned

So if you want airplay

You can't be too black and hey, watch what you say, but ayo

Chorus: to fade