Talib Kweli - Nice Things lyrics

[Reporter] Violence has come, but many argue it's also tolerated as long as Blacks and Hispanics fight each other, and as long as they do it in their own neighborhoods [Hook] Damn right we got it Damn right I'm bout it Police state trying to k** us Will they succeed? I doubt it Yall don't want no problems Lame n***as be quiet We bout to start to sell products We bout to start to sell products (Chorus) That's why we can't have nice things That's why we can't have nice things (Verse 1) Used to race home after school Just to turn on the tube To catch the new videos, thought I was cool I'm talking Snoop, Dr. Dre, to Fugees, to Biggie, to Diddy, to Wu My O.G. will come from the spot with the loot Like, "Kweli you nice, n***a. Hop in the booth." Together forever the name of the crew Now I wonder is there any real rap left is it just me yelling no justice no peace? (hands up!) This new video full of black d**h f** rap 'cuz we dying at the hands of the police (hands up!) Horror movies don't get no scarier than the way cops treating n***as in America See more videos of cops trying to bury us and ISIS you tell me who the terrorist Terrorists making bomb threats ain't got sh** on the prison industrial complex Slavery to Jim Crow, now force my kinfolk into poverty, living in the projects! (Trapped!) Coming such a long way from living like kings Now we like bling wanna pull up in a white thing. (you trapped, n***a) This is why we can't have nice things Got to be prepared for the drama that it might bring Jealousy gonna tear us apart They say it's all love, but what's in their hearts? The product in n***as, kidnapping your wife You're out in the desert like what's in the box? In your Brad Pitt voice So what you have is a choice You can have all of us thinking you're moist Or get like Chuck D and start bringing the noise Rap life I attack like a pit bull Let it off like a clip full Known to stand up to all that bullsh** that you sit through Tell the world what we've been through, it's pitiful Portrait of the artist as a young man Raised in a borough in Brooklyn in the late 80s Rap crazy are the crack babies who act shady when snitches start singing like the fat lady [Hook] Damn right we got it Damn right I'm bout it Police state trying to k** us Will they succeed? I doubt it Yall don't want no problems Lame n***as be quiet We bout to start to sell products We bout to start to sell products [Chorus] That's why we can't have nice things That's why we can't have nice things [Verse 2] Naw it ain't trap rap It ain't backpack (what's that?) This is what you sound like when you have facts And you're facing down the cops in a gas mask Yall be listening to lames? Well, we past that Half-a**ed rap you can have that back All you fake deep n***as where your hashtag at? Cut you open on the mic when I'm showing you the light n***as scatter like roaches, where the black flag at? Radio solace is coming I promise you n***as I give you a preview (it's coming) Transparency, that's the key I got nothing to hide you n***as is see through Trans parent, no Caitlyn genital Tatted up but faker than henna ho Black star with the bars that expose you Just like you posed nude, no centerfold [hook] That's why we can't have nice things That's why we can't have nice things