Macklemore - Soldiers lyrics

This is for my soldiers
Not my soldiers that chose to be soldiers
But the soldiers that were
Forced to be soldiers

Now what’s the trouble
You scared of being a human?
If the truth is a tool I
Double dare you to use it
Hit the booth and I’m well
Aware of what I’m doin’
If I confuse you with the humor
I’m preparing them for the movement
I’ve been alive before and every
Person’s got a purpose
Most don’t observe it or know
What they’re striving towards
Only you can light the torch
Cause you won’t survive the war
If you don’t know
What the fuck it is you’re fighting for


Most of us won’t open up
And trust the inner source
Combined with being tempted to just accept it
But don’t twist the message
If you must think of my support
Sometimes you gotta pull off the tees and
Get on some left right left shit
I worked with 80 soldiers
Hooded behind locked doors
Forced into a war, an entrance with no exit
Before they could grow up
Just some crazy soldiers
Arming them with crack and guns, in essence
Defenceless
Yup, my man rapping, charismatic and handsome
In his own words 21st century panther
Thirteen-years-old gets into a fight
Decided to steal the kid’s bike
Cops come and he ends up in hand cuffs
Two months in and now he’s caught in the trap
Got out, got caught with a gat and crack
Now what do these people think
Juvenile life like that he grew up
In a room with a mac
And he’ll be policed until the
Day he can legally drink

Now tell me what’s the
Matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream but it seems too vivid
There’s blood on these streets I
Can’t see who’s is it
I should probably mind my business
I said tell me what’s the
Matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream but it seems to vivid
There’s blood on these streets I
Can see whose is it
America wants me to mind my business

Now if you contain anything in a cage
Its natural tendency is going to
Try to be escape right?
When these kids get out of
The gates and face life
If you raised them as a criminal what
Do you estimate they’ll behave like?
The ratio is 80 something percent
Of kids who get
Locked up again or go straight to the pen
And that’s strange right
It’s a snowball effect
And they wanna see you again
So they can make sure
That America remains white
Yup, going back on that race shit
Most of the neighborhoods are like cages
They try and escape and
If the American dream is to make it
It’s obviously blatant that if
You’re left with nothing, what do you do?
Take it attempted Murder was the case
My man got beat up, stomped in his face
Ask George Bush what you
Do when you’re attacked
His boy went and let it spray
Hit one of them in the leg
Now George you can relate remember Iraq
Or was it Afghanistan? Just ain't funny
Proving sometimes you gotta take
Something to make money
My man’s homie snitched and said
That he planned to hit
And he’ll be out when he’s 46
Now ain’t the game something
The soldiers follow the same orders
The generals are Crips folk and
South of the border nortenos and bloods
Now is it a kid with a gun or the
System he lives in that has his disorder
If there’s a fiend on the block
Somebody’s serving em
If there’s a teen with a Glock
There’s a cop looking to turn 'em in
If you have something I want
There’s somebody murdering since 1492
Where the fuck do you think
We learned it from

Now tell me what’s the
Matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream but it seems too vivid
There’s blood on these streets I
Can’t see who’s is it
I should probably mind my business
I said tell me what’s the
Matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream but it seems to vivid
There’s blood on these streets I
Can see whose is it
America wants me to mind my business