KRS-One - R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. lyrics

Reality, ain't always the truth
Rhymes Equal Actual Life, In The Youth

"These are the streets!
Shit is real out here!
This ain't no fuckin joke!"

I lived in a spot called Millbrooke Projects
The original Criminal Minded rap topic
With twenty cents in my pocket
I saw the light
If you're young, gifted, and black
You got no rights
Your only true right, is a right to a fight
And not a fair fight
I wake up wonderin who died last night
Everyone and everything is at war
Makin my poetic expression hardcore
I ain't afraid to say it
And many can't get with it
At times in my life
I was a welfare recipient
I ate the free cheese
While the church said believe
And went to school everyday
Like a god damn fool
Well anyway, here I am, chillin at the party
Brothers lookin at me like
They wanna kill somebody
A cypher manifested in the center of the jam
I got to show these wack
Rappers really who I am
It's me against them, so I clear the phlegm
And wage the war, hardcore to the end
For someone lookin inside, yeah from the out
It seems like disrespect is what
Rap is all about but hip-hop as a culture
Is really what we give it
But sometimes the culture contradicts
How we live it cause every black kid lives
Two and three lives the city's a jungle
Only the strong will survive
Reality, ain't always the truth
Rhymes Equal Actual Life, In The Youth
Reality, ain't always the truth
Rhymes Equal Actual Life, In The Youth

Every single day I hear lie after lie
Like "Black people don't die, we multiply"
So when I kick a rhyme I represent how I feel
The sacred street art of keepin it real
Why I gotta listen, to somebody else?
How they got wealth, let me talk about myself
But all I really got is hip-hop and a Glock
The results are obvious
If I'm confined to my block
Occasionally, in the city I'm released
To meet other beasts, lookin for the feast
We grunt and growl, on the prowl
As the air gets thinner
"Yo yo there he go, him, " there's the dinner
White meat, carryin a bag of some sort
Life is short, white meat is quickly caught
A scuffle a muffle yet none of us hesitated
Like Mother Africa, white meat is violated
We quickly disappear
Like Santa's little elves
And go into a area to fight amongst ourselves
We say, "peace
Piece" cause that's what we really want
A piece of the pie that America flaunts
Reality, ain't always the truth
Rhymes Equal Actual Life, In The Youth
Reality, ain't always the truth
Rhymes Equal Actual Life, In The Youth

"Oh shit!"

The truth is that police
Must serve and protect
REALITY is black youth is shown no respect
The truth is government has
A war against drugs
REALITY is government is ruled by thugs
With all this technology, above and under
Humanity still hunts down one another
Rappers display artistic cannibalism
Through lyricism
We fight each other over rhythm
Through basic animal instincts, we think
So the battle for mental territory is glory
End of story

Reality, ain't always the truth
Rhymes Equal Actual Life, In The Youth
Reality, ain't always the truth
Rhymes Equal Actual Life, In The Youth yeah

"These are the streets!
Shit is real out here!
This ain't no fuckin joke!"