Immortal Technique - The Poverty of Philosophy lyrics
[Immortal Technique - The Poverty of Philosophy lyrics]
Most of my Latino and black people
Who are struggling to get food
Clothes and shelter in the hood
Are so concerned with that
That philosophising about freedom and
Socialist democracy is usually
Unfortunately beyond their rationale they
Don't realize that
America can't exist without separating
Them from their identity, because if
We had some sense of who we really are
There's no way in hell we'd allow
This country to push
It's genocidal consensus on our
Homelands this ignorance exists
But it can be destroyed
Niggas talk about change and working within
The system to achieve that
The problem with always being a
Conformist is that when
You try to change the system from within
It's not you who changes the system it's
The system that will eventually change you
There is usually nothing wrong with
Compromise in a situation
But compromising yourself in a
Situation is another story
Completely And I have seen this happen long
Enough in the few years that I've been alive
To know that it's a serious problem
Latino America is a huge colony
Of countries whose presidents
Are cowards in the face
Of economic imperialism
You see, third world countries are
Rich places, abundant in resources
And many of these countries have the capacity
To feed their starving people and
The children we always see digging for
Food in trash on commercials
But plutocracies
In other words a government run by
The rich such as this
One and traditionally oppressive
European states, force
The third world into buying overpriced
Unnecessary goods while exporting
Huge portions of their natural resources
I'm quite sure that people will
Look upon my attitude and
Sentiments and look for hypocrisy and
Hatred in my words
My revolution is born out of
Love for my people, not hatred for others
You see, most of Latinos are here because
Of the great inflation
That was caused by American
Companies in Latin America aside from that
Many are seeking a life away from the puppet
Democracies that were funded by
The United States
Places like El Salvador, Guatemala
Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua, ecuador and
Republica Dominicana, and not just
Spanish-speaking countries either
But Haiti and Jamaica as well
As different as we have been taught to
Look at each other by colonial
Society, we are in the same struggle
And until we realize that
We'll be fighting for scraps from
The table of a system
That has kept us subservient
Instead of being self-determined
And that's why we have no control over
When the embargo will stop in Cuba
Or when the bombs will
Stop dropping in Vieques but you see
Here in America the attitude that
Is fed to us is that outside of America
There live lesser people
"Fuck them, let them fend for
Themselves" No, fuck you, they are you
No matter how much you want to
Dye your hair blonde and
Put fake eyes in, or follow
An anorexic standard of beauty
Or no matter how many diamonds you
Buy from people who exploit your
Own brutally to get them
No matter what kind
Of car you drive or what kind
Of fancy clothes you put on
You will never be them
They're always gonna look at
You as nothing but
A little monkey i'd rather be proud
Of what I am, rather than desperately trying
To be something I'm really not
Just to fit in
And whether we want to accept it or not
That's what this culture or lack
Of culture is feeding us
I want a better life for my
Family and for my children
But it doesn't have to be at the
Expense of millions of lives in
My homeland we're given the idea that
If we didn't have these people
To exploit then America wouldn't be rich
Enough to let us have these
Little petty material things in our lives
And basic standards of living
No, that's wrong it's the
Business giants and the
Government officials who make all
The real money
We have whatever they kick down to us
My enemy is not the average white man
It's not the kid down the block or
The kids I see on the
Street my enemy is the white
Man I don't see: the
People in the white house
The corporate monopoly owners
Fake liberal politicians those are my enemies
The generals of the armies that
Are mostly conservatives those are
The real motherfuckers that I need
To bring it to not the poor
Broke country-ass soldier that's too
Stupid to know shit
About the way things are set up in fact
I have more in common with most
Working- and middle-class white people
Than I do with most rich
Black and Latino people
As much as racism bleeds America
We need to understand that classism
Is the real issue many of us are in the
Same boat and it's sinking
While these bougie motherfuckers ride
On a luxury liner, and as long as we keep
Fighting over kicking people
Out of the little boat we're all in
We're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a
Better standard of living as a whole
In other words
I don't want to escape the plantation
I want to come back, free all my people
Hang the motherfucker that kept
Me there and burn
The house to the god damn ground
I want to take over the
Encomienda and give it
Back to the people who work the land
You cannot change the past but
You can make the future
And anyone who tells you different
Is a fucking lethargic devil
I don't look at a few token Latinos
And black people in the public
Eye as some type of achievement for
My people as a whole
Most of those successful individuals are
Sellouts and house negroes
But, I don't consider brothers a sell-out if
They move out of the ghetto
Poverty has nothing to do
With our people it's
Not in our culture to be poor
That's only been the last 500 years of our
History look at the last 2000 years of
Our existence and what we brought to the
World in terms of
Science, mathematics, agriculture
And forms of government you know the idea of
A confederation of provinces
Where one federal government
Controls the states?
The Europeans who came to this country stole
That idea from the Iroquois League
The idea of impeaching a ruler
Comes from an Aztec
Tradition that's why Montezuma was
Stoned to death by his own people cause
He represented the agenda
Of White Spaniards once he was captured
Not the Aztec people who
Would become Mexicans
So in conclusion
I'm not gonna vote for anybody just cause
They Black or Latino they have to
Truly represent the community
And represent what's
Good for all of us proletariat
Porque sino entonces te mando por
El carajo cabron gusano
Hijo de puta, seramos libre
Pronto, viva la revolucion
Viva la revolucion
Who are struggling to get food
Clothes and shelter in the hood
Are so concerned with that
That philosophising about freedom and
Socialist democracy is usually
Unfortunately beyond their rationale they
Don't realize that
America can't exist without separating
Them from their identity, because if
We had some sense of who we really are
There's no way in hell we'd allow
This country to push
It's genocidal consensus on our
Homelands this ignorance exists
But it can be destroyed
Niggas talk about change and working within
The system to achieve that
The problem with always being a
Conformist is that when
You try to change the system from within
It's not you who changes the system it's
The system that will eventually change you
There is usually nothing wrong with
Compromise in a situation
But compromising yourself in a
Situation is another story
Completely And I have seen this happen long
Enough in the few years that I've been alive
To know that it's a serious problem
Latino America is a huge colony
Of countries whose presidents
Are cowards in the face
Of economic imperialism
You see, third world countries are
Rich places, abundant in resources
And many of these countries have the capacity
To feed their starving people and
The children we always see digging for
Food in trash on commercials
But plutocracies
In other words a government run by
The rich such as this
One and traditionally oppressive
European states, force
The third world into buying overpriced
Unnecessary goods while exporting
Huge portions of their natural resources
I'm quite sure that people will
Look upon my attitude and
Sentiments and look for hypocrisy and
Hatred in my words
My revolution is born out of
Love for my people, not hatred for others
You see, most of Latinos are here because
Of the great inflation
That was caused by American
Companies in Latin America aside from that
Many are seeking a life away from the puppet
Democracies that were funded by
The United States
Places like El Salvador, Guatemala
Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua, ecuador and
Republica Dominicana, and not just
Spanish-speaking countries either
But Haiti and Jamaica as well
As different as we have been taught to
Look at each other by colonial
Society, we are in the same struggle
And until we realize that
We'll be fighting for scraps from
The table of a system
That has kept us subservient
Instead of being self-determined
And that's why we have no control over
When the embargo will stop in Cuba
Or when the bombs will
Stop dropping in Vieques but you see
Here in America the attitude that
Is fed to us is that outside of America
There live lesser people
"Fuck them, let them fend for
Themselves" No, fuck you, they are you
No matter how much you want to
Dye your hair blonde and
Put fake eyes in, or follow
An anorexic standard of beauty
Or no matter how many diamonds you
Buy from people who exploit your
Own brutally to get them
No matter what kind
Of car you drive or what kind
Of fancy clothes you put on
You will never be them
They're always gonna look at
You as nothing but
A little monkey i'd rather be proud
Of what I am, rather than desperately trying
To be something I'm really not
Just to fit in
And whether we want to accept it or not
That's what this culture or lack
Of culture is feeding us
I want a better life for my
Family and for my children
But it doesn't have to be at the
Expense of millions of lives in
My homeland we're given the idea that
If we didn't have these people
To exploit then America wouldn't be rich
Enough to let us have these
Little petty material things in our lives
And basic standards of living
No, that's wrong it's the
Business giants and the
Government officials who make all
The real money
We have whatever they kick down to us
My enemy is not the average white man
It's not the kid down the block or
The kids I see on the
Street my enemy is the white
Man I don't see: the
People in the white house
The corporate monopoly owners
Fake liberal politicians those are my enemies
The generals of the armies that
Are mostly conservatives those are
The real motherfuckers that I need
To bring it to not the poor
Broke country-ass soldier that's too
Stupid to know shit
About the way things are set up in fact
I have more in common with most
Working- and middle-class white people
Than I do with most rich
Black and Latino people
As much as racism bleeds America
We need to understand that classism
Is the real issue many of us are in the
Same boat and it's sinking
While these bougie motherfuckers ride
On a luxury liner, and as long as we keep
Fighting over kicking people
Out of the little boat we're all in
We're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a
Better standard of living as a whole
In other words
I don't want to escape the plantation
I want to come back, free all my people
Hang the motherfucker that kept
Me there and burn
The house to the god damn ground
I want to take over the
Encomienda and give it
Back to the people who work the land
You cannot change the past but
You can make the future
And anyone who tells you different
Is a fucking lethargic devil
I don't look at a few token Latinos
And black people in the public
Eye as some type of achievement for
My people as a whole
Most of those successful individuals are
Sellouts and house negroes
But, I don't consider brothers a sell-out if
They move out of the ghetto
Poverty has nothing to do
With our people it's
Not in our culture to be poor
That's only been the last 500 years of our
History look at the last 2000 years of
Our existence and what we brought to the
World in terms of
Science, mathematics, agriculture
And forms of government you know the idea of
A confederation of provinces
Where one federal government
Controls the states?
The Europeans who came to this country stole
That idea from the Iroquois League
The idea of impeaching a ruler
Comes from an Aztec
Tradition that's why Montezuma was
Stoned to death by his own people cause
He represented the agenda
Of White Spaniards once he was captured
Not the Aztec people who
Would become Mexicans
So in conclusion
I'm not gonna vote for anybody just cause
They Black or Latino they have to
Truly represent the community
And represent what's
Good for all of us proletariat
Porque sino entonces te mando por
El carajo cabron gusano
Hijo de puta, seramos libre
Pronto, viva la revolucion
Viva la revolucion