White Privilege II (feat. Jamila Woods) - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

I've been waiting for a sorry that's not coming I've been hoping for the one I thought you were I've been trying to distract my heart with wanting Somebody, anybody If I knew the end, before we begin Where I do the same If I knew the end, before we begin Where I do the same Where I- I wake up, from a bad dream Until up, of the same old thing Try to get up, to your memory Don't wait up, for me I've been waiting for a story without ending I've been searching for a hand to hold on to I'd be lying to myself If I say I don't want somebody, anybody You're a sickness, said I never shoulda got it You're my weakness, said I never grew up on it In the distance, I'll be on the another planet In the distance, you're shrinking You're a sickness, said I never shoulda got it You're my weakness, said I never grew up on it In the distance, I'll be on the another planet In the distance, you're shrinking I wake up, from a bad dream Until up, of the same old thing Try to get up, to your memory Don't wait up, for me If I knew the end, before we begin Where I do the same If I knew the end, before we begin Where I do the same Where I-

Whatcha call it when I'm winning Needa find some other words for how I spin it Make um lean in when I'm speakin' Turn my back it make 'em mad it's not my business You wanna get watcha want when you want it? Well you should go to old country Cuz in the old country You could make me tap dance, shake hands, yes ma'am But I'm a free man now and I do What I do Not for you Not for you I gave you the cool I could do it in my sleep Seven days out of the week It's a cake oh it's a breeze You can't fake the cool I could do it in my sleep Seven days out of the week It's a cake oh it's a breeze, hey Don't call me legend 'til I kick the bucket Never could define me so fuck it I shed sounds like snakeskin style like chameleon Wanna cage me But you can find me in the garden Growin' like a weed Oh it's a curse But I do... I do What I do Not for you Not for you I gave you the cool I could do it in my sleep Seven days out of the week It's a cake oh it's a breeze You can't fake the cool I could do it in my sleep Seven days out of the week It's a cake oh it's a breeze, hey Shuddup muthafucka I don't take requests Blessed be my lovers I'm not like the rest I'm bad like my mother So don't disrespect There'll neva be another I'm better than your best I'm better I'm better than your best I'm better I'm better than your best I'm better I'm better than your best I'm better than your

Now nod your head and wake up I see so many people lost who really try to pretend But am I just another white boy who has caught on to the trend When I take a step to the mic is Hip-Hop closer to the end? 'Cause when I go to shows the majority have white skin They marketed the windmill, the air flair and head spin And white rappers albums really get the most spins The face of hip hop has changed a lot since Eminem And if he's taking away black artists' profits I look just like him Claimed a culture that wasn't mine, the way of the american Hip-Hop is gentrified and where will all the people live It's like the Central District, Beacon Hill to the South End Being pushed farther away because of what white people did, now Where's my place in a music that's been taken by my race Cultural appropriated by the white face and we don't want to admit that this is existing So scared to acknowledge the benefits of our white privilege 'Cause it's human nature to want to be part of something different Especially when your ancestors are european christians And most whites don't want to acknowledge this is occurring 'Cause we got the best deal, the music without the burden Of being black in a system that really wants you to rock 'Cause all you need is a program and you can go and make Hip-Hop And we hate the mainstream cause we're the ones that took it Now we listen to Aesop Rock and wear t-shirts that say Brooklyn But it's not about black and white, right? I mean, good music is good music regardless of what you look like But when you don't give them props isn't that selfish? That's like saying rock was actually started by Elvis So where does this leave me? I feel like I pay dues but I'll always be a white MC I give everything I have when I write a rhyme But that doesn't change the fact that this culture's not mine But I'm gonna be me so please be who you are This is something that's effortless and shouldn't be hard I said I'm gonna be me, so please be who you are But we still owe 'em 40 acres now we've stolen their 16 bars Hip-Hop started off in a block that I've never been to To counter act a struggle that I've never even been through If I think I understand just because I flow too That means I'm not keeping it true, nope Hip-Hop started off in a block that I've never been to To counter act a struggle that I've never even been through If I think I understand just because I flow too That means I'm not keeping it true, I'm not keeping it true Now I don't rap about guns, so they label me conscious But I don't rap about guns 'cause I wasn't forced into the projects See, I was put in the position where I could chose my options Blessed with the privilege that my parent's could send me to college Now, who's going to shows? The kids on the block starving? Or the white people with dough that can relate to my content? Marketed the music now adapted to the lifestyle What happened to jazz and rock 'n' roll is happening right now Where's my place in the music that's been taken by the media With white corperations controlling what their feeding ya I brought up Aesop Rock but I'm not even dissing dude We love Hip-Hop and what do you think caucasians are listening to? And I speak freely when I write this If a black emcee examined race there goes half their fan base, white kids And this is so true And we didn't even have to fight the system, we just went and picked up the microphone too And we got good at it so we should be rapping But only supporting them is like burning Jimmy and buying Clapton, now Clapton's incredible but no Jimmy no foundation So here comes history and the cultural appropriation White kids with do rags trying to practice their accents From the suburbs to the upperclass mastering a language But Hip-Hop is not just memorizing words It's rooted in authenticity something you literally can't learn But I'm gonna be me so please be who you are It's something that's effortless and shouldn't be hard I said, I'm gonna be me so please be who you are But as I'm blessed with the privilege, they're still left with the scars Come on Hip-Hop started off in a block that I've never been to To counter act a struggle that I've never even been through If I think I understand just because I flow too That means I'm not keeping it true, nope Hip-Hop started off in a block that ive never been to To counter act a struggle that I've never even been through If I think I understand just because I flow too That means I'm not keeping it true, I'm not keeping it true

Start up my motor, eat, drink some burgers and cola Feed my addictions and vices, oh, how my iPhone entices My echo chamber media, regurgitated trivia Befall the left and the right, catered for privileged whites Signing online petitions, thinking I'm making a difference Don't wanna hear about Brexit, them old cunts fucked up our exit My generation was duped, the youth were left out the loop Lies on both sides of the fence left me completely bereft My bio reads public figure, light and full, check out my figure Don't even know why they're famous But God, they're so entertaining I wanna copy what you eat, how you look, who you fuck Wanna be anybody but me I wanna be anybody but me I wanna be anybody but me Wanna be anybody but me Wanna be anybody but me Everybody's offended, the joke that just keeps on giving I'm not entirely sure the nitpicking can count as progression I'm chewing popcorn, sitting in the back row Watching while the whole damn thing implodes Nobody talks to each other for fear of different opinions They call the bigots dumb for buying into fear from the papers Smug liberal arrogance, working class don't fuck with it It's all just ammunition for the right-wing press The patriarchy is real, the proof is here in my song I'll sit and mansplain every detail of the things it does wrong 'Cause I'm a white male, full of shame My ancestry is evil, and their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone Their evil is still not gone

"Vipassana is a science of mind and matter How the mind is influencing the body And later, how the body is influencing the mind" Yesterday? Forget it Tomorrow is? Nada The present is right here, through the breath, watch it Atheist Jesus piece, hangin' on a cross We sit and discuss God on lawn chairs About how we got here What it is, what it isn't, shit Fate versus faith, scrimmaging with coincidence Leave out the marketing, hold up on the business end Focus on the genuine, and everything else, you can shed the skin I was a couple moves away from being dead In that ER overdosing, eyes bleeding red I fell in love, made an album, got a buzz Lost it all, sobered up, and guess what? Now we meet again And now I'm back, finally just laughin' Expectations are resentments waiting to happen Studying the dharma, karma, vipassana practice Bahá'u'lláh, Buddha, God, to the mountaintop and I'm traveling Learning, yes, reflecting on what matters People, impermanence, lack of attachments It's space and time, a couple of man-made distractions The measure of a spirit that no human can ever capture Church, this booth is my Vatican I don't control life, but I can control how I react to it Student of the breath, brick beats and balancin' Desire versus truth until I finally find happiness I was put here to do something before I'm lying in that casket I'd be lying on the beat if I said I didn't know what that is The world's a stage and we play a character, I found him It took me 20-something years and a bunch of shitty soundchecks I'm not gonna be content 'til I find gratitude Regardless of my sales or the record deals they're handing you If the next generation takes our legacy and samples you We'll have a bunch of mp3s and misled kids to pass 'em to I use my veins to create the color I paint from Delve into self 'til my heart becomes my paint brush I told my mama I'm not stoppin' 'til my name's up Thinking those comments on that blog is gonna save us Searchin' for everything but God to validate you Get insecure and then we start blaming the haters Used to look to women to fill a part of me that was vacant Truth, the only thing that I ever used in moderation So I stare into this paper instead of sitting at a cubicle Take all the ugly shit inside and try to make it beautiful Use the cement from rock bottom and make it musical So the people can relate to where I've been Where I'm going, what I've seen, what I've heard From the guts, fuck the glory Just a person on a porch putting it all into recording Many in my past and many that came before me I just keep walkin' my path and blessed to share my story

Oh girl, this boat is sinking There's no sea left for me And how the sky gets heavy When you are underneath it! Oh. I want to sail away from here. And god. He came down down down down down down down down And said (down down down down down down down down) Nothing (down down down down down down down down) He rolled up, asked him what he was sippin' on He said lean, You want to hit it, dawg? That's the same stuff Weezy's sippin' huh? And tons of other rappers that be spittin' hard, Yup yup five a bone When he passed him that Styrofoam the Easter pink, heard it in a rhyme before Finally got to see what all the hype was on And then he took a sip, sittin' in the Lincoln thinkin' he was pimpin' as he listen To the system Little did he know that it was just as addictive as bass Not the kind of hit from the kick drum Hot box, let the bass bump Take it to the face, gulp Months later the use went up Every blunt was accompanied by the pink stuff But Goddamn he loved that feelin' Purple rain coated in the throat Just so healin' Medicine alleviate the sickness Liquid affix and it comes with a cost Wake up, cold sweat, scratchin', itchin' Trying to escape the skin that barely fit him Gone, get another bottle just to get a couple swallows Headed towards the bottom couldn't get off it Didn't even think he had a problem Though he couldn't sleep without gettin' nauseous Room spinnin', Thinkin' he might've sipped just a little bit too much of that cough syrup His eyelids closed shut Sat back in the chair clutchin' that cup Girlfriend came and a couple hours later said his name shim but he never got up He never got up, he never got up We live on the cusp of death thinkin' that it won't be us It won't be us, it won't be us, it won't be us Nah, it won't be us Oh girl, this boat is sinking There's no sea left for me And how the sky gets heavy When you are underneath it! Oh. I want to sail away from here. And god. He came down down down down down down down down And said (down down down down down down down down) Nothing (down down down down down down down down) He just wanted to act like them He just wanted to rap like him Us as rappers underestimate the power and the effects that we have on these kids Blunt passed, ash in a tin, pack being pushed, harassed by the feds The fact of it is most people that rap like this Talkin' about some shit they haven't lived Surprise, you know the drill Trapped in a box, declined record sales Follow the formula violence, drugs, and, sex sells So we try to sound like someone else This is not Californication There's no way to glorify this pavement Syrup, Percocet, and an eighth a day will leave you Broke, depressed, and emotionally vacant Despite how Lil Wayne lives It's not conducive to being creative And I know 'cause he's my favorite And I know 'cause I was off that same mix Rationalize the shit that I'd try after I listen to dedication But he's an alien, I'd sip that shit, pass out or play Playstation Months later I'm in the same place No music made, feeling like a failure And trust me it's not dope to be 25 and move back to your parent's basement I've seen my people's dreams die I've seen what they can be denied And "weeds not a drug" - that's denial Groundhog Day life repeat each time I've seen Oxycontin take three lives I grew up with them, we used to chief dimes I've seen cocaine bring out the demons inside Cheatin' and lyin' Friendship cease, no peace in the mind Stealin' and takin' anything to fix the pieces inside Broken, hopeless, headed nowhere Only motivation for what the dealer's supplying That rush, that drug, that dope Those pills, that crumb, that roach Thinkin' I would never do that, not that drug And growing up nobody ever does Until you're stuck, lookin' in the mirror like I can't believe what I've become Swore I was gonna be someone And growing up everyone always does We sell our dreams and our potential To escape through that buzz Just keep me up, keep me up Hollywood here we come Oh girl this boat is sinking There's no sea left for me And how the sky gets heavy When you are underneath it Oh, I want to sail away from here And god. He came down down down down down down down And said Nothing