Lupe Fiasco - Conflict Diamonds lyrics

Diamonds are forever (yeah)
They won't leave in the night
I've no fear that they might desert me
Uh, F&F, yeah you know what I'm saying
I figure, I feel like I should just
You know
Show people other side that weren't aware
You know what I'm saying
They are presently unaware
They don't know about it
You know what I'm saying
You know just show 'em there's an other
Side to this thing right here
We call it bling

Yeah allow me to break down the game
Behind the bracelets, earrings, chains
Watches and rings the bling
The crystal encrusted, princess flooded
Canary studded
Blue coloured and blood stained


Yeah, the older brother of the drug game
The giver of fame, the take awayer of lame
The empowerer of the kings that
Came with claims and disease
To leave where the native
Peoples were staying
Believe, my engagement ring received
And flossed at the cost of
A bonded child miner's pain
Long ago kings used to wear 'em in
Their armor when they fought other armies
Because it used to scare 'em
If you wasn't rich, couldn't wear 'em
Witches used to marry 'em
They'll shoot you before they share 'em
The gift and the curse
The venom and the serum
Most hated lady's best friend
Get murked for a clear one

Diamonds are forever (yeah)
You know what I'm saying
(Diamonds are forever)
Now I ain't comin' down on nobody
You know what I'm saying
I ain't trying to judge nobody
And nothin' like that (Forever)
You know what I'm saying i floss too
I might go get me a pinky ring tomorrow
You know what I'm saying
But, I just want you to see man
You know what I'm saying just see man

Uh, Cecil Rhodes sowed war and genocide
Into the countryside just to get his shine on
I fear what De Beers and his peers used to do
Before the world really knew
Just to get their mine on
Making paper with slave labor
And hitting little kids with life time bids
Making them cut and shine stones
Inflating the price and making them look nice
And I wasn't thinking twice when
I was putting mine on
About a young shorty in Sierra Leone
Or other conflict countries that
People call home
I figured I would never go to Angola
So it never did affect me there
Maybe indirectly
That my neck leash was funding a
Rebellion or a military coup
Started by militias that don't believe in
Following none of Geneva's rules
I was brushing off the haters
Trying to be cool
Didn't have a clue that the
Rapper was helping the rapers
Raiders of the villagers
Pillagers of the schools
Shooters of the innocents
Torturers of the witnesses
Burners of the businesses and my
Bracelet was the fuel
Uh, I ain't pushing an agenda, homie
I'm just pushing the facts, fuck Bush
'Cause there's people doing worse on
This earth and they're black
I took it there, yeah
Now let me bring it back
We all know on foreign shores
That they finance wars
But ask yourself, "Do they finance yours?"
When I first got mine I took them out on tour
Didn't know they lost half the value when
I took 'em out the store
Or it was full of moissanites and cubit's
But the jeweler knew I was stupid
And that I couldn't prove it
Feeling like I need it because I do music
To impress the groupies and the interviewers
So I didn't appraise it, nor did I loupe it
Even gave them to my girl
Thinking I was Cupid homies was all hate
Hoping they could make me lose it
Creeping through my own hood
Knew I had to remove it
I see the Russian Mafia, the Jewish Mobsters
The undercover terrorists and the
Traps for the hustlers
Homie, it's a wrap for the nonsense rhyming
Props to Kanye, I call it "Conflict Diamonds"

Diamonds are forever (yeah)
You know what I'm saying
I felt like I should just
Let you all know that
You know what I'm saying
Make you all aware, so many people
Do things to glorify 'em
I felt like it was time
For somebody to do somethin'
That would horrify 'em
You know what I'm saying
Bet you never thought that
That 20 karat ring or 20 karat chain
Or bracelet that you got on
Is fundin' some little war somewhere
Got some little kid murderin'
A whole family somewhere
You know what I'm saying
But hey! Just think, now you know
You know what I'm saying
You gotta know to be a hypocrite, baby (haha)
Hollaback, F&F up! (Forever) chi-town, Lupe!