Yo, Ice, you been down with the struggle for a long time, man...

Why don't you drop some knowledge for these brothers who

want to get involved in this war...



Take notes: real gangstas wear trench coats

Grey suits, black ties and they seek votes

And you're not to be misled

They'll kill you in your fuckin' bed

They don't sell dope, yo, excuse me, yes they do

But they don't look that much like me or you

But if you pull up the sheets and expose them

They'll crawl up like snakes and show fangs of venom

Now I've been soldier for years

Representin' the tattooed tears

Other brothas locked up with no choice

Left in the bowels of devil with no voice

My phones are tapped, my crib is bugged

My car is tailed from club to club

And this ain't no fuckin' joke

They want to see a nigga broke

You can't slip, if you slip you're out

You gotta know what you're talkin' about

Drop science every chance you get

Hit direct and indirect, speak in code

Cause you're never alone

That's why I use this low tone

Follow this and you might grow older

This is a message to the soldiers...



Now they killed King and they shot X

Now they want me, you could be next

All you gotta do is speak too loud

All you gotta be is be too proud

Cause once you let'em know

Who you are and where you're at

You better watch your back

Cause you might think you're just dope

While you're livin' in a sniper's scope

I'm not tryin' to scare you

But there's a danger if you get too deep

Some nights I don't sleep

All you wanna do is tell the truth

All you wanna do is save the youth

Ice Cube knows, Souljah knows, P.E. knows

They throw death blows

And if you got kids or a girl that's true

They'll move on them too

But when I'm gone I need you to carry on

You gotta be strong and fight for our salvation

But there will be retaliation, soldier...



To think that rap could be attacked

Is ignorin' the simple fact

That they never ment us to speak

They had planned to keep the black man weak

But rap hit the streets

Black rage amplified over dope beats

Now they want to shut us down

And they don't fuck around

Check the history books, son

Black leaders die young

They tell us that your words are scary

They're revolutionary

Because we speak the truth

About crime and drugs

And expose the real thugs

This info is not beneficial

To the groups that go by three initals

So they try to discredit

They'll dog you with an edit

Print the words the way you never said it

But we gotta make'em regret it, soldiers...



Word! I know a lot of brothas out there want to get in this war...

You know what I'm sayin'? a lot of sistas got a lot of knowledge

to drop on our people but right now they're movin' to shut down

all hip-hop! The first amendment had absolutely nothin' to do

with black people at the time constitution was written, we were

considered nothin' but property...The expectation of havin' black

people speak on records never came to mind, so we gotta move!

But belive me all the black leaders have been silenced and most

of the time it's been violent so if you choose to get in this war,

realize what you're in for but we gotta move on...

And we gotta stay strong...



Message to the soldiers, welcome to the struggle...

Message to the soldiers, be careful, soldiers...