Ice-T - Message to the Soldier lyrics

Yo, Ice, you been down with the
Struggle for a long time, man
Why don't you drop some knowledge
For these brothers who
Want to get involved in this war

Take notes: real gangstas wear trench coats
Grey suit's, black ties and they seek votes
And you're not to be misled
They'll kill you in your fuckin' bed
They don't sell dope, yo, excuse me
Yes they do
But they don't look that much like me or you
But, if you pull up the
Sheets and expose them
They'll crawl up like snakes and
Show fangs of venom
Now I've been soldier for years
Representin' the tattooed tears
Other brothas locked up with no choice
Left in the bowels of the devil with no voice
My phones are tapped, my crib is bugged
My car is tailed from club to club
And this ain't no fuckin' joke
They want to see a nigga broke
You can't slip, if you slip you're out
You gotta know what you're talkin' about
Drop science every chance you get
Hit direct and indirect, speak in code
Cause you're never alone
That's why I use this low tone
Follow this and you might grow older
This is a message to the soldiers
Now they killed King and they shot X
Now they want me, you could be next
All you gotta do is speak too loud
All you gotta be is be too proud
Cause once you let'em know
Who you are and where you're at
You better watch your back
Cause you might think you're just dope
While you're livin' in a sniper's scope
I'm not tryin' to scare you
But there's a danger if you get too deep
Some nights I don't sleep
All you wanna do is tell the truth
All you wanna do is save the youth
Ice Cube knows, Souljah knows, PE knows
They throw death blows
And if you got kids or a girl that's true
They'll move on them too
But when I'm gone I need you to carry on
You gotta be strong and
Fight for our salvation
But there will be retaliation, soldier

To think that rap couldn't be attacked
Is ignorin' the simple fact
That they never ment us to speak
They had planned to keep the black man weak
But rap hit the streets
Black rage amplified over dope beats
Now they want to shut us down
And they don't fuck around
Check the history books, son
Black leaders die young
They tell us that your words are scary
They're revolutionary
Because we speak the truth
About crime and drugs
And expose the real thugs
This info is not beneficial
To the groups that go by three initals
So they try to discredit
They'll dog you with an edit
Print the words the way you never said it
But we gotta make'em regret it, soldiers

Word! I know a lot of brothas out
There want to get in this war
You know what I'm sayin'? a lot of sistas
Got a lot of knowledge to drop on
Our people but right now
They're movin' to shut
Down all Hip-Hop the first amendment had
Absolutely nothin' to do with black people
At the time constitution was written
We were considered
Nothin' but propertythe expectation of
Havin' black people
Speak on records never came to mind
So we gotta move! But believe me
All the black leaders have
Been silenced and most
Of the time it's been violent
So if you choose to get in this war
Realize what you're in for but
We gotta move on and we gotta stay strong

Message to the soldiers
Welcome to the struggle
Message to the soldiers, be careful, soldiers