XP opened for Souls Mischief
I'm like "Yo, let's get on some angry
MC showmanship and hit 'em"
Even a couple dissin' women callin' 'em "groupies",
"hoes" and "bitches"
Got off stage,
and I'm like "Yo, I know that we killed it"
Ran into a familiar face, a female
who comes in and supports us
I said "Peace!"
She said "Wait! Let me
talk to you for a minute"
"I know it's none of my business,
but I wasn't impressed by your performance"
I said "Word? Shit,
I love feedback and criticism"
She said "I miss the passionate spirit,
your political vision"
"Quite honestly I wasn't offended by those
references to women"
"But you're only continuing
society's conditioning"
It hit the heart of me
I told her that this was part of me
I stand up for human rights,
and treat others how I would wanna be treated
But every song can't be
seepin' with freedom
'Cause the other side of me is sexist then
people will feel that I'm preachin'
"Everything's peace and love?"
Uhh, that's somewhat misleading
Because this world is fucked up and
I'm a product to what I'm seeing
Not to justify, but just to touch on my being
I learn from theses and my purpose
gets surfaced with demons
I am sexist, I'm prejudice,
I put that in my music
She said she heard that perspective,
but before she turned around she said
"We have a flame, your fire's ignited
with sound"
"Are you building the empire up, or using
your fire to burn it down?"
Consumption, contradiction I'm conflicted
Consumption, contradiction
I'm conflicted with being a hypocrite
And through these songs you
can witness it
The differences, I admit this shit,
because I'm just like you
Walking a fine line between
saying and living it
Light it up to burn it down, light
it up to burn it down
Light it up to burn it down, down,
down
Light it up to burn it down, light
it up to burn it down
Light it up to burn it... down, down,
down, down, down, down, down
Now one
thing that
I've always struggled on
Is how to incorporate drugs and alcohol into
my music outside of sober songs.
'Cause on that perspective,
that's all over my records
But the other side isn't represented
unless it sessions with XP
How can I admit that I love
to smoke weed
Knowing the kids are listening
and many of 'em look up to me?
Not to say that I'm a role model, but
I know that words are power
And if I condone bottles and chronic,
I am sending out the
Message "It's okay",
yeah I believe that it is
Chronic can be medicine but it's all
about your relationship with it
See, I'm either off in the wagon riding
and everyday with the spliff
Constantly looking for a balance
but habit turns to addiction
And Hip- Hop music and weed?
They're inseparable
So MCs that don't smoke or drink, talking
about it to me seems questionable
It proves how much people
just want to be accepted
And not seem straight- edge to their audience,
so keeping it real is neglected
'Cause when I'm smoking, I wouldn't wanna
bump a song like this
Put on some Dev and break out
the Swishers, and a bong and some licks
See that's a part of me too
And I know that I would make more
money if I wasn't as true
To all the stuggles of the blunted
consumption I'm going through
Make music for the party, and
the people support you
I burn Brother Ali and buy 50, what
does that say to you?
Bring it back around, am I building the empire
up or using my fire to burn it down?
Consumption, contradiction I'm
conflicted with being a hypocrite
And through these songs you can witness it
The differences, I admit this shit, because
I'm just like you
Walking a fine line between saying
and living it
Consumption, contradiction I'm conflicted
with being a hypocrite
And through these songs you can witness it
The differences, I admit this shit, because
I'm just like you
Walking a fine line between saying it
And living it
Light it up to burn it down, light it up to burn it down
Light it up to burn it down,
down, down
Light it up to burn it down,
light it up to burn it down
Light it up to burn it... down, down, down, down, down, down, down