This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
The ballot or the bullet, some freedom or some bullshit
Will we ever do it big, or keep just settling for little shit
We brag on having bread, but none of us are bakers
We all talk having greens, but none of us on acres
If none of us on acres, and none of us grow wheat
Then who will feed our people when our people need to eat
So it seems our people starve from lack of understanding
Cos all we seem to give them is some balling and some dancing
And some talking about our car and imaginary mansions
We should be indicted for bullshit we inciting
Hella children deaf and pretending it's exciting
We are advertisements for agony and pain
We exploit the youth, we tell them to join a gang
We tell them dope stories, introduce them to the game
Just like Oliver North introduced us to cocaine
In the 80's when the bricks came on military planes
The end of the Reagan Era, I'm like number twelver
Old enough to understand the shit'll change forever
They declared the war on drugs like a war on terror
But what it really did was let the police terrorize whoever
But mostly black boys, but they would call us "niggas"
And lay us on our belly, while they fingers on they triggers
They boots was on our head, they dogs was on our crotches
And they would beat us up if we had diamonds on our watches
And they would take our drugs and money, as they pick our pockets
I guess that that's the privilege of policing for some profit
But thanks to Reaganomics, prisons turned to profits
Cos free labor is the cornerstone of US economics
Cos slavery was abolished, unless you are in prison
You think I am bullshitting, then read the 13th Amendment
Involuntary servitude and slavery it prohibits
That's why they giving drug offenders time in double digits
Ronald Reagan was an actor, not at all a factor
Just an employee of the country's real masters
Just like the Bushes, Clinton and Obama
Just another talking head telling lies on teleprompters
If you don't believe the theory, then argue with this logic
Why did Reagan and Obama both go after Qaddafi
We invaded sovereign soil, going after oil
Taking countries is a hobby paid for by the oil lobby
Same as in Iraq, and Afghanistan
And Ahmadinejad say they coming for Iran
They only love the rich, and how they loathe the poor
If I say any more they might be at my door
Who the fuck is that staring in my window
Doing that surveillance on Mister Michael Render
I'm dropping off the grid before they pump the lead
I leave you with four words: I'm glad Reagan dead
Will we ever do it big, or keep just settling for little shit
We brag on having bread, but none of us are bakers
We all talk having greens, but none of us on acres
If none of us on acres, and none of us grow wheat
Then who will feed our people when our people need to eat
So it seems our people starve from lack of understanding
Cos all we seem to give them is some balling and some dancing
And some talking about our car and imaginary mansions
We should be indicted for bullshit we inciting
Hella children deaf and pretending it's exciting
We are advertisements for agony and pain
We exploit the youth, we tell them to join a gang
We tell them dope stories, introduce them to the game
Just like Oliver North introduced us to cocaine
In the 80's when the bricks came on military planes
The end of the Reagan Era, I'm like number twelver
Old enough to understand the shit'll change forever
They declared the war on drugs like a war on terror
But what it really did was let the police terrorize whoever
But mostly black boys, but they would call us "niggas"
And lay us on our belly, while they fingers on they triggers
They boots was on our head, they dogs was on our crotches
And they would beat us up if we had diamonds on our watches
And they would take our drugs and money, as they pick our pockets
I guess that that's the privilege of policing for some profit
But thanks to Reaganomics, prisons turned to profits
Cos free labor is the cornerstone of US economics
Cos slavery was abolished, unless you are in prison
You think I am bullshitting, then read the 13th Amendment
Involuntary servitude and slavery it prohibits
That's why they giving drug offenders time in double digits
Ronald Reagan was an actor, not at all a factor
Just an employee of the country's real masters
Just like the Bushes, Clinton and Obama
Just another talking head telling lies on teleprompters
If you don't believe the theory, then argue with this logic
Why did Reagan and Obama both go after Qaddafi
We invaded sovereign soil, going after oil
Taking countries is a hobby paid for by the oil lobby
Same as in Iraq, and Afghanistan
And Ahmadinejad say they coming for Iran
They only love the rich, and how they loathe the poor
If I say any more they might be at my door
Who the fuck is that staring in my window
Doing that surveillance on Mister Michael Render
I'm dropping off the grid before they pump the lead
I leave you with four words: I'm glad Reagan dead
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A smart track with some incisive criticism of both the rap industry and the state of US politics.
The "we" in the first half of the song seems to refer to the all the gangsta rappers who flaunt the (seemingly) easy money of the industry but create nothing of real value for the communities that they come from. Instead, those artists are harmful because they glorify "death" and "pain." Mike even goes so far as to suggest that rappers who fill the heads of the youth with romanticized visions of gang life are in fact no different from those who introduced drugs ("cocaine") a few decades ago.
Mike uses theme of drugs to pivot to national politics, discussing Reagan's War on Drugs and the havoc it wreaked on urban youth, "And they would beat us up if we had diamonds on our watches."
Mike uses the remaining third of the song to detail his interpretation of the causality of urban policy: the War on Drugs is a viable economic policy, since it generates so much free labor in the form of incarcerated workers ("prisons turned to profits"). He then posits that all the presidents since Reagan, including Obama, are simply marionettes to an overarching military-corporate agenda, "Taking countries is a hobby paid for by the oil lobby."
Mike concludes on a darkly comic note, whereby presumedly armed personnel appear outside his window just as he is finishing this rap. The four powerful last words tie the whole song together thematically while the ominous, fast paced background tune and a voice droning Reagan's name interspersed with "666" decrescendo for another minute.
Oh, I missed the pun of the best line, "Reagan was an actor, not a real factor." Mike means that Reagan, like all presidents, is a puppet to larger corporate interests. The double-meaning of course lies in the fact that Reagan was an actor.