"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Now I shall tell a story that's filled with words
That start with the letter N
Step into the world of a nigger, figure
To stay a little while so pack your bag up bigger
First of all just let me introduce you seduce you
Into a frame of mind that's easy to get used to
Nigger hasn't always meant a man with melanin
It used to be a piece of wood that sat on the cotton gin
Masta put it there and it wouldn't move, smooth
So what does it mean, to be a Nigger With an Attitude?
You tell me that a nigger's crazy or lazy
Not about the skin so, don't let it faze me
Well you amaze me, with that ignorant bizull-shizzit
Get a grip on the new fit
'Cause that's a lame frame of brain for the nineties
I know the game so it don't sting, my mind sees
So what the fuck you want to race for the trigger
I ain't the one, I ain't the nigga
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
Nigger is a word we use today, you say
It don't mean the same if you spell it with an A
But that's an argument that makes me itch, I twitch
If I took the T out will I still mean bitch?
My name is E-Roc, and I ain't the nigger main
Save your sellout strut shit for Soul Train
'Cause I've been known, to knock a motherfucker out
Without a doubt, The Coup gives me much clout
But there's a factor when I know that my skin is brown
And never ever will I put another brother down (gawd damn)
So I make the mental rule to massacre the word
'Cause when I hear it, it gets, me straight stirred
It's mental trash so I'm pickin' up the litter
I ain't the one and I ain't, the nigger
My people use this word each and every day
You see a nigger, slap a nigger, that's what I say
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"Boy I love playing the drums, I can do the grooviest rhythms
I can do rhythms like"
My attitude is this (what?) don't call yourself a niggerole (why?)
Unless you're just an oakie-doke it'll make you sicker though
'Cause it's all about a mind-time mind-frame
The system is a chess game with, pawns all the same (haa haa)
Until we change our mind too
Identify yourself, it's a part of being conscious (yeah)
If I call myself a gangster then I'll rob you with a gat (yeah)
If I call myself a brother then you know I got your back (yeah)
If I call myself oppressed then I'm clear on where I'm at
But if I call myself a nigger what the fuck is that? (yeah, you know)
Don't be the coolie or the moolie or a boob with the jigger
Don't be the one Don't be the nigga
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
That start with the letter N
Step into the world of a nigger, figure
To stay a little while so pack your bag up bigger
First of all just let me introduce you seduce you
Into a frame of mind that's easy to get used to
Nigger hasn't always meant a man with melanin
It used to be a piece of wood that sat on the cotton gin
Masta put it there and it wouldn't move, smooth
So what does it mean, to be a Nigger With an Attitude?
You tell me that a nigger's crazy or lazy
Not about the skin so, don't let it faze me
Well you amaze me, with that ignorant bizull-shizzit
Get a grip on the new fit
'Cause that's a lame frame of brain for the nineties
I know the game so it don't sting, my mind sees
So what the fuck you want to race for the trigger
I ain't the one, I ain't the nigga
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
Nigger is a word we use today, you say
It don't mean the same if you spell it with an A
But that's an argument that makes me itch, I twitch
If I took the T out will I still mean bitch?
My name is E-Roc, and I ain't the nigger main
Save your sellout strut shit for Soul Train
'Cause I've been known, to knock a motherfucker out
Without a doubt, The Coup gives me much clout
But there's a factor when I know that my skin is brown
And never ever will I put another brother down (gawd damn)
So I make the mental rule to massacre the word
'Cause when I hear it, it gets, me straight stirred
It's mental trash so I'm pickin' up the litter
I ain't the one and I ain't, the nigger
My people use this word each and every day
You see a nigger, slap a nigger, that's what I say
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"Boy I love playing the drums, I can do the grooviest rhythms
I can do rhythms like"
My attitude is this (what?) don't call yourself a niggerole (why?)
Unless you're just an oakie-doke it'll make you sicker though
'Cause it's all about a mind-time mind-frame
The system is a chess game with, pawns all the same (haa haa)
Until we change our mind too
Identify yourself, it's a part of being conscious (yeah)
If I call myself a gangster then I'll rob you with a gat (yeah)
If I call myself a brother then you know I got your back (yeah)
If I call myself oppressed then I'm clear on where I'm at
But if I call myself a nigger what the fuck is that? (yeah, you know)
Don't be the coolie or the moolie or a boob with the jigger
Don't be the one Don't be the nigga
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
"If I'm a slave, I'm a slave to the rhythm", Big Daddy Kane
"You know that I ain't the nigga", Ice Cube
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