My Shot

I am not throwing away my shot I am not throwing away my shot Hey yo I’m just like my country I’m young scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot I’m a get a scholarship to King’s College I prob’ly shouldn’t brag but dag I amaze and astonish The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish I gotta holler just to be heard With every word I drop knowledge I’m a diamond in the rough a shiny piece of coal Tryin’ to reach my goal My power of speech unimpeachable Only nineteen but my mind is older These New York City streets get colder I shoulder Ev’ry burden ev’ry disadvantage I have learned to manage I don’t have a gun to brandish I walk these streets famished The plan is to fan this spark into a flame But damn it’s getting dark so let me spell out the name I am the A L E X A N D E-Rwe aremeant to be A colony that runs independently Meanwhile Britain keeps shittin’ on us endlessly Essentially they tax us relentlessly Then King George turns around runs a spending spree He ain’t ever gonna set his descendants free So there will be a revolution in this century Enter me He says in parentheses Don’t be shocked when your hist’ry book mentions me I will lay down my life if it sets us free Eventually you’ll see my ascendancy And I am not throwing away My shot I am not throwing away My shot Hey yo I’m just like my country I’m young scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot My shot I am not throwing away my shot I am not throwing away my shot Hey yo I’m just like my country I’m young scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot It’s time to take a shot I dream of life without a monarchy The unrest in France will lead to onarchy Onarchy How you say how you say anarchy When I fight I make the other side panicky With my Shot Yo I’m a tailor’s apprentice And I got y’all knuckleheads in loco parentis I’m joining the rebellion cuz I know it’s my chance To socially advance instead of sewin’ some pants I’m gonna take a Shot But we’ll never be truly free Until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me You and I Do or die Wait till I sally in On a stallion with the first black battalion Have another Shot Geniuses lower your voices You keep out of trouble and you double your choices I’m with you but the situation is fraught You’ve got to be carefully taught If you talk you’re gonna get shot Burr check what we got Mister Lafayette hard rock like Lancelot I think your pants look hot Laurens I like you a lot Let’s hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin’ the pot What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot Poppin’ a squat on conventional wisdom like it or not A bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists Give me a position show me where the ammunition is Oh am I talkin’ too loud Sometimes I get over excited shoot off at the mouth I never had a group of friends before I promise that I’ll make y’all proud Let’s get this guy in front of a crowd I am not throwing away my shot I am not throwing away my shot Hey yo I’m just like my country I’m young scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot I am not throwing away my shot I am not throwing away my shot Hey yo I’m just like my country I’m young scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot Ev’rybody sing Whoa whoa whoa Hey Whoa Wooh Whoa Ay let ‘em hear ya Let’s go I said shout it to the rooftops Said to the rooftops Come on Come on let’s go Rise up When you’re living on your knees you rise up Tell your brother that he’s gotta rise up Tell your sister that she's gotta rise up When are these colonies gonna rise up When are these colonies gonna rise up When are these colonies gonna rise up When are these colonies gonna rise up Rise up I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory When’s it gonna get me In my sleep Seven feet ahead of me If I see it comin’ do I run or do I let it be Is it like a beat without a melody See I never thought I’d live past twenty Where I come from some get half as many Ask anybody why we livin’ fast and we laugh reach for a flask We have to make this moment last that’s plenty Scratch that This is not a moment it’s the movement Where all the hungriest brothers with Something to prove went Foes oppose us we take an honest stand We roll like Moses claimin’ our promised land And If we win our independence Is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants Or will the blood we shed begin an endless Cycle of vengeance and death with no defendants I know the action in the street is excitin’ But Jesus between all the bleedin’ ‘n fightin’ I’ve been readin’ ‘n writin’ We need to handle our financial situation Are we a nation of states What’s the state of our nation I’m past patiently waitin’ I’m passionately Smashin’ every expectation Every action’s an act of creation I’m laughin’ in the face of casualties and sorrow For the first time I’m thinkin’ past tomorrow And I am not throwing away my shot I am not throwing away my shot Hey yo I’m just like my country I’m young scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot We’re gonna rise up Time to take a shot We’re gonna rise up Time to take a shot We’re gonna Time to take a shot Time to take a shot Time to take a shot Take a shot Shot Shot A-yo it’s Time to take a shot Time to take a shot And I am Not throwing away my Not throwing away my shot