Gil Scott-Heron - Message to the Rappers lyrics

Hey, yeah, we the same brothas from a long time ago We was talkin about television and doin it on the radio What we did was to help our generation realize They had to get out there and get busy cause it wasnt gonna be televised We got respect for you rappers and the way they be free-weighin But if youre gon be teachin folks things, make sure you know what youre sayin Older folks in our neighborhood got plenty of know-how Remember if it wasnt for them, you wouldnt be out here now And I aint comin at you with no disrespect All Im sayin is that you damn well got to be correct Because if youre gonna be speakin for a whole generation And you know enough to try and handle their education Make sure you know the real deal about past situations It aint just repeatin what you heard on the local TV stations Sometimes they tell lies and put em in a truthful disguise But the truth is thats why we said it wouldnt be televised They dont know what to say to our young folks, but they know that you do And if they really knew the truthwhy would they tell you? The first sign is peace, tell all them gun totin young brothas That the man is glad to see us out there k**in one another We raised too much hell when they was shootin us down So they started poisoning our minds tryin to jerk us all around And they tell us they got to come in and control our situation They want half of us on dope and the other half in incarceration If the ones they want dead aint k**ed by what they instigated They put some dope on a brothas body and claim it was drug related Tell them drug related means there dont need to be no investigation Or at least thats the way theyre gon play it on the local TV stations All your 9-millimeter brothasgive them somthin to think about Tell them you heard that this is the new word, they got to work that stuff out But somehow they feel in the wrong way with a gun in their hands They feel real independentbut they just pullin contracts for the man Five and five will tell you its hopeless out there on the avenue But if they really knew the truthwhy would they tell you? And if they look at you like youre insane And they start callin you scarecrow and say you aint got no brain Or start tellin folks that you suddenly gone lame Or that white folks had finally co-opted your game Or worse yet implying that you dont really know Thats the same thing they said about usa long time ago Young rappers, one more suggestion before I get out of your way But I appreciate the respect you give me and what you got to say Im sayin protect your community and spread that respect around Tell brothas and sistas they gotta calm that bullsh** down Cause were terrorizin our old folks and brought fear into our homes And they aint got to hang out with the senior citizens Just tell them, Dammitleave the old folks alone And we know who rippin off the neighborhood, tell them, That BS has got to stop! Tell them youre sorry they cant handle it out there But they got to take the crime off the block And if they look at you like youre insane And they start callin you scarecrow and say you aint got no brain Or start tellin folks that you suddenly gone lame Or that white folks had finally co-opted your game Or worse yet saying that you really dont know Thats the same thing they said about me a long time ago And if they tell folks that you finally lost your nerve Thats the same thing they said about us, when we said, Johannesburg But I think the young folks need to know, that things dont go both ways You cant talk respect of every other song or just every other day What Im speakin on now is the raps about the women folks On one song shes your African Queen on the next one shes a joke And you aint said no words that I havent heard, but that aint no compliment It only insults eight people out of ten and questions your intelligence Four letter words or four syllable words wont make you important Itll only magnify how shallow you are and let everybody know it And if they look at you like they think you insane Or they call you scarecrow thinkin you aint got no brain Or start tellin folks that you suddenly gone lame Or that white folks have finally co-opted your game Or you really dont knowThey said that about me a long time ago If they finally start to tell people that you lost your nerve Thats what they said about Johannesburg You aint insaneyou have got a brain You havent gone lame; you have got your game Rememberkeep the nerve Keep the nerve Keep the nerve Keep the nerve Im talkin about peace