Talib Kweli - This American Life lyrics

[Verse 1: The Next] It's getting hot, we're baking under the upper crust The apple pie that they making ain't enough for us Think skin from hedge funds to hustlers My president is black, but still it's getting rougher cuz' Big man-sized checks with no amounts While the little man is stashing his sh** with no accounts Leftovers for dinner, he lives hand to mouth Saving for the bills, not thinking bout eatin' out Looking at his wife, filling with creeping doubt She sees it in his eyes, now he's sleeping on the couch An every day occurrence across the 50 States filling up with hate, people walk with me Why we all pissy, it' s a privilege, isn't it? Prosperity and America should be synonyms A wealthy nation keeping poor people living in the illest situations Salute to the citizens Hook: I hustle all day, working at night Just to try to pay the bills and keep on the lights You struggle to feed the kids and the wife Living this American life They fooled us once, they robbed us twice Now they sit back making the people pay the price Taxing the checks, with venomous bites We living this American life, right [Verse 2: Talib Kweli] Separate the fact from the mystery Stacking up the bodies built the Statue of Liberty Opposition is in your proposition's propaganda Jobs is going to China, that's as popular as pandas American Idiot is more than a play on broadway Or a Green Day record, graduation is foreplay Because it happens right before you get f**ed, You stuck all day with no job, watching Judge Mathis, Ellen and Maury Waiting for the holidays, looking for a vacation In Brooklyn the destination is stay paid, following Booker's investigation cause a lack of education I call myself a native but I have my reservations Shopping escapism, we addicted to the retail That's ignorant as racism in Paladino's emails You probably like to f** horses instead of females God is in my heart but the devil is in the details [Hook] [Verse 3:]Immortal Technique Millionaire rappers rhyming about welfare Fake rich rappers that don't even have healthcare I'll put you on the sun's surface and watch you melt there Free Mumia, The Cuban 5 and Leonard Peltier And a whole lot of others that you don't care about That exemplify America's spiritual whereabouts They prepared the rout on a slave ship to oblivion But dressed it up like a cruise through the Caribbean What makes time contingent on the Prime Meridian? A cold blooded world designed by reptilians Not snakes, but empires of civilians With modern day human sacrifice by the millions Shot to the plot of American Individuals You're a fool for thinking that a Republic's original But you don't hear me about how it's gonna end one day Too busy watching gladiator sports on Sundays [Hook]