Correction Lyrics Powerful Speech At 23rd Annual Indiana Black Expo, 1993 by 2Pac

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Lyrics

Alright, first of all, y'all would think something wrong with me, 'cause you look good. I just want to say that if I curse, forgive me! But when you curse you got to go out here, ain't no way I'mma snip when the truth be told and not curse, And they told me to watch my language. f**k that!— [Crowd laughs] So y'all forgive one clown. If y'all forgive me, y'all heard curses. And it's bad out there, and it ain't free so you know, sh*t let be real, that's number one.

My angels is bad, I'm high school dropout, you know it's gon' be real with me, I'mma be talking like real chop, and I be talking from my heart. nothing written down, you know what I'm saying, it's all good. But you know y'all gotta feel with me. Me talking in slangs, so you know somе of y'all might get lost, I'm sorry but I'mma do what I gotta do.

And now check this up when I say I'm losing it, I mеan I'm losing it, I mean at the real this ain't no free speech, this sh*t ain't like just to make the sound good, so I can get y'all into it, this ain't to make you as "ooh he felt that!" I'm losing it you feel me? I know y'all can pick up the papers and see that man got problems. And I do but we all got problems and mind is 'bout mymothaf**kin'self, you know what I'm saying? He really tell y'all about my mama and the panthers and all that. But let me tell you where I ended up y'all, let me tell you where I ended up, my mama was a crack addict, I ended up in Baltimore, on welfare with no light on in highschool, so we got to really, really, really, really, REALLY watch the struggle sh*t. If we gon' struggle, we got struggle every mothaf**kin' day 'til the sh*t is over (Let 'em know bruh), you know? f**k that! All that sh*t that went on in the 60s ain't finna happen in this mothaf**ka. I be dropping some of you mothaf**kas if you leave your babies behind this year. Trust me when I tell you that sh*t!— [Applause]

'Cause God damn I'm losing it, and only reason I'm losing it is 'cause I never had a daddy, I never had nobody to sit me down and tell me this, you know what I'm sayin'? They told me but I didn't believe it, because they left my mama cracked— I'm telling y'all the truth, as much as you heard me, cracked out, homeless, no lights in Baltimore. And my mother put mothaf**kin' work in, do you hear me? My mother was a gun packing, riot— I'm talking 'bout for you mothaf**kas, excuse me! But my mother put in work, you know? To be laying up in a room cracked out, I got disdain for a lot of mothaf**kas, you feel me? And this why I'm telling y'all, you got to be serious, if you we gon' struggle, the struggle gotta come from a heart. It can't come because we look at you for a king back then, it gotta come because I'm looking at you, and you look goddamn good to me and you my sister. And I ain't finna let no of these crackers take you down, you feel me? You gotta shot me by a shotgun, you gotta aim for my heart, it's like that! It's like that! It's hard out here. Like they said we out at war, in a war everything is good, it's all good, you feel me?

And when I say Thug Life, I mean that sh*t. 'Cause these white folks see us as thugs, I don't care what y'all think. I don't care if you think a lawyer, If you a man, If you an African-American. If you whatever the f**k you think you are. We thugs and n***as to these motherf**kers (Go ahead), you know? And until we on some sh*t I'mma call it like it is. How you gon' be a man and we starving? You know? And when you walk by five different houses, not a man in either one of them motherf**kers? How we gon' be a man? How we gon' be African-Americans and we out here dying! Ha? We thugs, and we n***as 'til we set the streets and this sh*t right. We gon' stay thugs, you know? And that's real man, it's like a mothaf**ka— I had nightmares, I mean this sh*t, I'm dead serious, whoever I hurt I— I apologize, but I had nightmares y'all, I swear to God, sh*t changed me. I used to be a cool motha— I used to be cool, I used to be happy, I used to can talk good, I used to can talk like without cursing, I used to talk no—. But goddamn they done took Latasha, they done took Yusef. They taking out n***as younger than me man! And we ain't doing sh*t! Know Bobby Hutton died 17 years f**kin' old. When we 17, you know what we doing? Killing each other, you know? You know that sh*t kills me man! Girl Latasha got a bullet in her mothaf**kin' back and ain't nuttin y'all one of y'all doing a mothaf**kin' thing!—[Applause]

What time is it man? f**k the dudes are down here, this sh*t grieves me. All of the years I came so I curse at y'all and get y'all to the right mothaf**kin' track, we dying! We are dying! That's real. We ain't got time for nothing except war. And I don't care how you got to be at war, you need to put yourself in that mindstate, so we can be there. If I got the thug to be at war, I'mma be thugging. If you got to be a muslim to be at war, be the muslim. But be at mothaf**kin' war and let's go f**kin' shoulder to shoulder, start doing something, we can't do with so much marching y'all. And I know y'all n***as right but we can't. They not fin— we've been marching for damn near hundred years— [Crowd laughs]. We having anniversaries, we are marching on the anniversaries of where we marching twenty five years ago— [Applause] It's a mothaf**kin' shame.

I'm 22 years f**kin' old how am I telling y'all this sh*t? How [?] to be like this? And they wonder why I'm runnin' around calling myself a thug, and a thug for life, 'cause we by self. You know I'm saying? I got my ass beat by two white police officers, man! And it shook my whole world. I was a rapper. I had just did 'Juice' I even though I was very progressed, my family [?]. You know I was really about just getting out to making some money, I had— I had enough of poverty. I thought I— I made it, I thought I made it, I swear to God I thought I made it, I felt good 'bout myself, I have felt good like I did something like I was a part of this society, you know? And always wanted to think for myself, and I said okay, I'm here, I done did a movie. I'm on the screen, I'm rapping, I'm trying to got money in my pocket, got bank account. I'm going to the bank, you know? I swear to God, on my mama two police officers stopped me; "What's your name?" "2Pac shakur" [2Pac mimic police laughs] they started laughing, what kinda name is that? sh*t! "What's your name?" "John" what f**kin' kinda name is that? — [Crowd laughs and applause] You feel me?

But I was wrong 'cause these two n***as had guns, these two cops had guns and sticks and attitudes. So it still happened I jaywalked. I swear to y'all I didn't even know what jaywalking was. I swear I thought it mean that I was bobbin' you know, like walking— I thought we was gonna do jay over [?]. They stopped— Two cops stopped me in front of my bank, hands up talking about whole routine for jaywalking! Not for coming out the car with a gun, I wasn't strapped and all then. Now I swear to God, you gon' find me strapped like a mothaf**ka and ready to shoot. And today I'm on this [?], tommorow I can be in the f**kin' {New York} Times, 'cause they ain't gon' have me. And y'all need to protect me and you need protect your damn self. We can't do nothing but speeches, books [?], putative none of that sh*t. You need a mothaf**kin' Mini-14 or M16 something. You need to call [?] before some of these mothaf**kas crack us. 'Cause we dying, we dying, we can't be kings and queens 'til we still livin', do you feel me?— [Applause]

I moved to Los Angeles, you know? And the reason I moved to Los Angeles 'cause I wanna be where the n***as is kicking up dust at, you know? I don't wanna be where these mothaf**kas is building houses and think we got a part in this society. I wanna be where n***as is kickin up dust at, so what if they got gangs, goddamn! They got gangs but they kicking up dust. We ain't over— what the f**k— what are we doing? What are you doing? I know y'all trippin' off of me because it's like damn he wasn't calm [?]. But on the real, all push to the side, on the real though, it's like psssh we really ain't got no choice, you know? Even though we— I know I feel the same way that's why I'm so angry, that's why I curse so much, you know, 'cause I feel like it ain't right. It ain't right 'cause I'm twenty two and this the life I gotta live, you know, it ain't right that I gotta— I'm— I'm like a f**kin' vet, you know, I wake up man sweaty, man talking 'bout Latasha, what the f**k is going on? Tell me why he beat my ass? Why the police just beat the sh*t out of me I woke up unconscious, man. My face all cut for jay mothaf**kin' walking. That sh*t just shook me! I'll never be right again, I'm losing it, you feel me? And I'm outta here rappin', I'm not even the cool? You know so called "cool", I'm outta here right, what the hell is going on? I have no record, no nothing! Soon as I started rappin', this what made see we at war, soon as I started rappin', soon as I started talking that sh*t about they got me "Trapped", "Soulja's Story ", "I Don't Give A f**k" is like I got coppers coming from everywhere, you know, I got cases coming from everywhere, man. People that supposed to be my f**kin'— king, queen, huh! She just told the police I beat her up, I ain't even touched here. You feel me?

This what I'm going "I'm losing it" this what I'm telling y'all, I'm losing it, it ain't all cool. So when you see me in [?], you going, going, "Damn what's wrong with him", you know, ayy it's hard out there, it's hard out there to see a hardcore n***a by hisself. When I go home, I go home by my mothaf**kin' self. when I close the door, it's by my mothaf**kin' self, you feel me?

It's time for some soldier sh*t, you know from the females, and from the males, that's real. And it's time for the women, I'm not blaming it on you, I'm not putting it in your corners, but you have so much you don't know, you have so much power over us look— [Applause] You run sh*t, but you just don't know. And it's a game I know I'm man I'll peep y'all to the game. When a n***a see truth to any name for him, he's gon' run ya. But if you keep your principles, if you stay in your ground, you know what you want, you know what you want out that n***er. You push that or leave that, trust me it ain't no shortage in young black males— [Applause]

Represent, you know.
That's how we gotta handle that, you know we gotta handle that sh*t. We got be poor like down for each other, you know, I know we not supposed to use the town in term gangster, b*t*h, but damn we got to be down for each other, you know, we got to be soldiers, man they gon' be writing about us in twenty years, you know. It's— it's that time y'all, it's that time. It's the 90s, do you know what 90s is upside down? two f**kin' 60s, you know what I'm sayin'? We gon' turn this sh*t upside down all over again. And we don't want they got the power to do it. Did you see what happened in April 29ths? Y'all ain't see that sh*t on the news? To see that five minute [?] it's f**kin' sh*t up in LA. I was there, I was filming a movie getting paid g's, but that night I was there. I was in streets with my folks, n***as hadn't. I don't care what they said about gangbangings in LA (That's violence). n***as had big mothaf**kin dawgs up, and it was all good. Whatever they say— I'm I'm telling y'all man. This the style I'm keeping in my [mind]. This picture I'm keeping in my mind 'til it happen again. 'Cause I seen it for myself, and I know it can happen. In all my life I never thought it can happen. But I've seen it for myself, I was there, and you know what made it happen "War" a common enemy, we was fighting a common enemy. So it was like "What's up". And that's what we need now! 'Cause all the dudes has been here study [?], we studying the fight, maaan!— [Crowds laughs]

Come on! We are studying the fight, getting ready to fight. And we doing all of our fighting, not nothing is wrong with going to the cops. but I tell y'all I'm proud of these brothers. But we doing all of our fighting in debates, we debate and sh*t. We debate for our freedom. [Laughs] We ain't get it in no legislation. We ain't finna get it through marching. We ain't even finna get it through one rock, one up wiser, we not finna get through on April 29th. We finna get it everyday you've got all of us everywhere see that as a necessity that we struggle to fight back. We have that as a right, that is our right when we born, God put it to your heart to self-defend your mothaf**kin' self (Yeah!) f**k the next n***a, you know, if that n***a wanna be a gangbang, he don't wanna follow your way. f**k that n***a, trust me. He's outta here, he's outta here. But you have you have obligations to your folks to n***as that thirty, forty to handle your mothaf**kin' business, no matter what it is. If it's all they gonna be pretty— all they all be out there with Mini-14, some of that sh*t gon' be sustaining your ass home with the kids. Put some knowledge in your kid's head, you know what I'm saying? All the n***as and all the females. Just 'cause she a female don't mean she got to stay home with the beds, that's bullsh*t. 'Cause I would much rather have some of these females out there being at war with some of these n***as. It's a whole bunch of punks, you know? [?] the city and we African-Americans, everything is equal sh*t. And is talking NWACP sh*t I hope I speak on that too. 'Cause I was reading a paper I saw NWACP at a celebration for the emancipation proclamation (That's right)— [Crowd laughs] (Go ahead Pac).
Okay, So from what I just said how is the NWACP still in business? (Come on) Oh ain't nobody having it. How is the NWACP still in business? How these mothaf**kas still in business, we— (White folks yo). "White folks!" that's cool too, that's cool too. We letting them do that sh*t, we letting them represent us. How a mothaf**ka go to stand there talking about he a putting advance in a colored folks. What the f**k is that?
And these be grown black folks, they be our color. Representing us these white folks, and we be letting them do, 'cause we broke, 'cause they got all the suits, they got officers and sh*t. And as they now making all NWACP and we let them do that sh*t representing us, you know? They make us look bad. Really? We are two umm— I'm not tryna take up for the thugs and the gangstas and sh*t, but now I'm coming from a different school, I'm coming from the panthers, and that's what they need. Yeah I done went to the street element, and that's what they mobilize their soldiers, you know that's what my mama did. That's my job. I'mma stay in the streets and get my thug n***as who was down for me in the streets. 'Cause I'mma tell when mama start cracking and I was by myself. This brother right here Watani Tyehimba was the only person in this movement, anywhere that took care of me. Okay! So there ain't no mothaf**kin' struggle if you done take care of your babies. Not just yours, but the other soldiers, you know? What about them? What about all the soldiers sitting in jail, where they kids at? Don't none of y'all mothaf**kas give a f**k about them? ready to carry a flag always son. You ain't taking care of your mothaf**kin' kids or they families, that's hypocritical. That ain't right! That sh*t ain't right man, We got too many kids out here with no— nobody put none in their head, then you mothaf**kas get mad when you see 'em again up in the courtroom, you know. Told 'em 'bout, "Why you like that" n***a you left him by hisself. Left him by his mothaf**kin' self. So he learn how to be a g from the crackers, and that's what he learned, he learned how they wanted him to be.

Nobody, nobody taught me sh*t, and my mama was a panther, you know, my mama would tell you, but she was too involved in it to sit down and really explain sh*t to me, you know. So it's a double tragedy, because I'm like damn-near enforced to go through some of the sh*t that some of these soldiers went through, but because they didn't tell the new generations they didn't harm us, I gotta go through the sh*t all over again, you know? I'm still getting my ass kicked by police, 'cause them n***as back in the 60s didn't murder every single one of them motherf**kers, you know. They wanna be down with the police department! How can I see? How the f**k can a n***a put on a police uniform in 1993? f**k that!— [Applause]

f**k that. When the sh*t jumps off, if you still got that mothaf**ka on you, your ass is out. And if you got on armed forces uniform, your ass is out. And if you end your gore, your ass is out. 'Cause n***as is harmed in 1993. The game element all armed. And they all met as much as you wanted to think they dumb or whatever. They on they toes, this mothaf**kin' year. They on they toes, they ready to move, when are you ready? how you gon' handle it? Ha? When them n***as get out free with guns, what y'all gon' be doing? Watching that sh*t on TV? Marching? Singing? Selling raffle tickets and sh*t from the church. What y'all gon' be doing? I just wanna know, 'cause I know what the f**k I'mma be doing, but it would help me to know what my people is gon' be doing when I'm out there.

'Cause mama tell me all the time, "Boy you think you gon' save the world, don't you know they gon' kill your black ass, these people gon' bubble you, and that's that" So all I'm saying the closer is that we got to be united under whatever, whatever, don't let sh*t hold us apart. I don't care if you from Cali, New York or whatever you are a Blood, a Crip or a thug or a student or a scholar whatever. Don't let sh*t hold us back no more. We got to unite by any means
necessary and we got to fight!— [Applause]

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