Message to the Soldier

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 dopeYo, 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 buggedMy 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 soldiersNow 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 dangerIf 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, PE 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 attackedIs ignorin' the simple fact that they never meant 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 groupsThat go by three initials, 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-hopThe 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 believe 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, realizeRealize, 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