This was originally written as a HIP HOP song (RAP) and one day A MELODY WAS PUT TO IT...it is dedicated to the book "Manchild in the Promised land" by Claude Brown
lyrics
MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND...
Born into this world, as a negro...
Every day of my life, everywhere I go
I’ve got to deal with the pressures of society...
Telling me what to be and what to not be
Telling me how to live and what to do...
How to think, how to act and how to dress too
What the people of America, look and see...
When they look at a guy like me
I don’t want any trouble, but like it or not...
I’m always getting stopped and harassed by cops
I get questioned, and I get checked...
Manhandled and given no kind of respect
Treated like dirt, and what the hell for ?
Cause it’s not safe to be black any more
Trying to survive the only way that I can...
I’m just a MAN-CHILD STUCK IN THE PROMISE LAND
CHORUS (2X) TRYING TO SURVIVE, TRYING TO STAY ALIVE
STUCK IN THE GHETTO (IN THE GHETTO)
TRYING TO SURVIVE, I’M JUST TRYING TO STAY ALIVE
STUCK IN THE GHETTO (IN THE GHETTO)
Living life low-class in the ghetto...
And trying hard to get out of this hell hole
Working 2 jobs is what I’ve got to do...
Until I can afford to go back to school
Grants, Scholarships and lots of money for free...
Are all irrelevant with a G.E.D
So instead I’ve got to work, treated like a slave...
Putting away every penny that I can save
Hoping and praying, I’ll soon have enough...
To live life alot better and not so rough
Maybe get an apartment, with a roommate...
And go to school for education, Man, I can’t wait
Then maybe e one day, I’ll look back and say...
It was worth it, every step of the way
But right now I’m just a brotha, who needs a hand...
A MAN-CHILD who’s stuck IN THE PROMISE LAND
CHORUS (2X) TRYING TO SURVIVE, TRYING TO STAY ALIVE
STUCK IN THE GHETTO (IN THE GHETTO)
TRYING TO SURVIVE, I’M JUST TRYING TO STAY ALIVE
STUCK IN THE GHETTO (IN THE GHETTO)
Bridge...(2x)
And I just wanna get out....I just wanna get out
The PROMISE LAND ? Is that what it’s supposed to be ?
Well it sure doesn’t seem like that to me
All I see is my people crying...
Day in and day out, my people are dying
Just trying to live, but it’s impossible...
Why? For, the conditions are so terrible
All of my sistahs and all of my brothas...
Are self-hated, wearing gang colors and killing one another
While others, are drinking, shooting up and smoking crack...
For, there’s not much else to do when you’re black...
They can’t even get a job, and even if they could...
It probably wouldn’t even pay em’ that good
Some people try to say this is something it’s not...
Prejudice, but we don’t want ALL they’ve got
All we want is what’s coming to us, so understand...
Who put the MAN-CHILD IN THIS PROMISE LAND
CHORUS (2X) TRYING TO SURVIVE, TRYING TO STAY ALIVE
STUCK IN THE GHETTO (IN THE GHETTO)
TRYING TO SURVIVE, I’M JUST TRYING TO STAY ALIVE
STUCK IN THE GHETTO (IN THE GHETTO)
In America, a brotha don’t know what to do...
In a culture that he has to grow accustomed to
A situation that shouldn’t even have to be...
Has been made into a rude reality
Alot of brothas and sistahs including myself...
Would much rather be somewhere else
In Africa maybe, but over there...
We’ve got it worse than we’ve got it here
So where is it safe for us to go ?
The moon, Neptune or Pluto ?
But then as soon as we try to make it through...
They’ll come and try to take that from us too !!!
Damn, it makes me mad, I don’t see why...
All the people of the planet can’t see eye to eye
Why can’t the black man and the white man...
Both live equally in this PROMISE LAND ?
CHORUS (2X) TRYING TO SURVIVE, TRYING TO STAY ALIVE
STUCK IN THE GHETTO (IN THE GHETTO)
TRYING TO SURVIVE, I’M JUST TRYING TO STAY ALIVE
STUCK IN THE GHETTO (IN THE GHETTO)
A renaissance man (Harlem Renaissance that is), TONY B. CONSCIOUS
is the personification of AFRICAN-
AMERICAN culture.
He is (amongst other things) A B-BOY, BEATBOX,EMCEE, GRAFFITI/VISUAL ARTIST (known as “THE GHETTO VAN-GO”), Poet/ Spoken Word Artist, Vocalist, AUTHOR, ACTIVIST, VEGAN VEGETARIAN and PHILOSOPHER.
ALSO a member of THE UNIVERSAL ZULU NATION and THE TEMPLE OF HIP HOP....more
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