I remember back in middle school when I was young/
My friend rode the bus with a razor under his tongue/
One day I said "You've got too much paranoia inside ya"/
The next day he got beat up by the bus driver/
Every hood's the same, yours or mine ain't liver/
If you make it out of there, dog you're a survivor/
Watch out for your friends like you watch out for your rivals/
Some cling to guns and Q'urans and to Bibles/
And now the youngsters done fed into the violence/
Slaughterin' each other being lead into asylums/
Politicians act as if they never knew about it/
They don't care the state generates revenue up out it/
Their professional? What's so professional about em'/
Why (are) they not acting with discretion and with knowledge/
Please tell me these ain't the specialists provided/
If so America's under questionable guidance/
But I want say no mo'/
At the same time I want play no mo'/
Shit, I won't hesitate to spray no mo'/
You want problems then say no mo'/
Because it seems like everybody's got hammers out here/
Trying to look brave we're just enhancing our fears/
And then you've psychos accumulating bombs and weaponry while they're planning ideas/
And I know you see how I act, it probably seems like since when do I care?
But one day I will be gone, it'll be my kids and their families standing out here/
And I'm not an economic strategist but one thing we could do for our communities/
Is instead of investing in the businesses, invest in the people and give them more opportunities/
Job skills ain't always the tool/
Money's the most important subject, why is it not in school?/
Don't teach them how spend, let' teach them how to invest/
Teach about liabilities and assets/
Teach about income, teach about debt/
And don't teach them love for money, teach them respect/
Everybody open both your eyes/
The pain might not die but maybe we can keep hope alive/

They say there's a lesson to be learned whenever we go through stuff/
If we don't learn from the past, how can we prepare for the future?/
I can't bring back the things we lost, can't bring back the folks that died/
And the pain might not go away but, maybe, maybe we can keep hope alive/

Gotta Keep Hope Alive
We Gotta Keep Hope Alive-Repeat

When everything's falling apart/
Water, power, cable, dog they're cutting all of them off/
Alot of people live below the line of poverty ya'll/
I was filled with anger, me and momma hardly would talk/
And, I've seem this same stress/
In other people, combined with other pain and anguish/
Make a good dude take his thing and bang it/
Some committed suicide, we still can't explain it/
The weed's what I switch lane to lane with/
Smoke to ease the pain when I can't contain/
Still feel like money is the only thing that can change it/
So we still risk it all, doing things thats dangerous/
Uh, I gotta get focused/
But trying to survive the odds it feels hopeless/
I gotta leave something for my kids, and i've gotta get it now we're gonna die, but not alot of us know when/
And since I can't predict it/
I'm out here trying to chase some chips quick/
Playing a game that's twisted/
Insane and sadistic/
Remainin' a mystery, as I stay in the distance/
I ain't a preacher trying to change statistics/
I ain't a hero, and I ain't on a mission/
I'm just throwing life-like paint on a picture/
Wanna know me? Press play hang on and listen/
I fight back, that's what you're scared to do/
I might get shot, but I'm prepared to shoot/
Preach wisdom? What's wisdom in a world of fool's?/
Diamonds everywhere, they'd rather have pearls for jewels/
Like, look at all the petty stuff that we hurt for/
Meanwhile the value of life is worth more/
A momma lost her boy/
What's he gotta return to the Earth for?/
Another brother gone when the dirt pours/
And as she's sittin there tears in both her eyes/
Ain't nothin' I can say to bring her son back, but, maybe we can keep hope alive/

They say there's a lesson to be learned whenever we go through stuff/
If we don't learn from the past, how can we prepare for the future?/
I can't bring back the things we lost, I can't bring back the folks that died/
And the pain might not go away but, maybe, maybe we can keep hope alive/
We gotta keep hope alive/
We gotta keep hope alive