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Down Rodeo Lyrics
Bangin' this bolo tight on this solo flight
Can't fight alone
Funk tha track my verbs fly like tha
Family stone
Tha pen devils set that stage for tha
War at home
Locked wit out a wage ya standin' in tha drop
Zone
The clockers born startin' at an empty plate
Momma's torn hands cover her sunken face
We hungry but them belly full
The structure is set ya neva change it with a
Ballot pull
In tha ruins there's a network for tha toxic
Rock
Shool yard ta precinct, suburb ta
Project block
Bosses broke south for new flesh and
A factory floor
The remains left chained to the
Powder war
Can't waste a day when the night brings
A hearse
So make a move an plead the fifth 'cuse ya
Can't plead the first
Can't waste a day when the night brings
A hearse
So now I'm rollin' down rodeo wit a
Shot gun these people ain't seen a
Brown skin man since their grandparents bought
One
Bare witness to tha sickest shot while suckas
Get romantic
They gonna send us campin' like they did my man
Fred Hampton
Still we're lampin' still clockin' dirt for our
Sweat
A ballots dead so bullets what I get
A thousand years you had the tools
We should be taken 'em
Fuck tha g ride I want the machines that are
Makin' em
Our target straight wit a room full of armed
Pawn to
Off tha kings out tha west side at dawn
The rungs torn from the ladder can't reach the
Tumor
One God, one market, one truth, one consumer
Just a quiet peaceful dance
For things we will never have
Can't fight alone
Funk tha track my verbs fly like tha
Family stone
Tha pen devils set that stage for tha
War at home
Locked wit out a wage ya standin' in tha drop
Zone
The clockers born startin' at an empty plate
Momma's torn hands cover her sunken face
We hungry but them belly full
The structure is set ya neva change it with a
Ballot pull
In tha ruins there's a network for tha toxic
Rock
Shool yard ta precinct, suburb ta
Project block
Bosses broke south for new flesh and
A factory floor
The remains left chained to the
Powder war
Can't waste a day when the night brings
A hearse
So make a move an plead the fifth 'cuse ya
Can't plead the first
Can't waste a day when the night brings
A hearse
So now I'm rollin' down rodeo wit a
Shot gun these people ain't seen a
Brown skin man since their grandparents bought
One
Bare witness to tha sickest shot while suckas
Get romantic
They gonna send us campin' like they did my man
Fred Hampton
Still we're lampin' still clockin' dirt for our
Sweat
A ballots dead so bullets what I get
A thousand years you had the tools
We should be taken 'em
Fuck tha g ride I want the machines that are
Makin' em
Our target straight wit a room full of armed
Pawn to
Off tha kings out tha west side at dawn
The rungs torn from the ladder can't reach the
Tumor
One God, one market, one truth, one consumer
Just a quiet peaceful dance
For things we will never have
Song Info
Submitted by
piesupreme On Apr 30, 2001
More Rage Against the Machine
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Who else but Zack De la Rocha could deliver a verbal jab to both rap and capitalism in the same line.
"Fuck tha G ride, I want the machines that are makin' em."
No one ever speaks out criticising the capitalist excesses that rap music endorses, but that line obviously alludes to it. Unlike the rap world that forgets about the poverty that it came from and focuses on owning as many cars and wearing as much jewelry as you can, Zack's form of "rap" deals with more important issues. Instead of having that powerful lower class anger subdued by the empty promises of material wealth and upward mobility, he focuses on the means of production and how to take them back.
This song is about the class divide between the rich and poor. RATM use the context of Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills as a scenario for the message. Rocha talks about the poor classes working day in and day out, but still unable to make ends meet. As a result of the low income, crime goes up and the neighborhood becomes a real mess (school becomes a precinct, toxic rock referring to cocaine and other drugs which decimate low income populations both physically and psychologically). The first few lines, "so i'm rollin down rodeo with a shotgun...' serves as a reminder of the LA riots of 1992, or at least what the rich feared at that point.
I can't beleive no one has gotten this yet.. maybe its because people are too busy posting "d00d this song rules, its like linkin park!" GTFOutta here kid.
Just a quiet peaceful dance!
This refer's to a dance the Native Americans did to mourn lost ones. The military saw this as a war dance and slaughtered the Natives. I believe it was Custer but i could be wrong.
AND FOR THE RECORD Linkin Park is a money grubbing band created and sold by record executives to feed on the poorly adjusted youth who relate to their angty crybaby music. They are talentless and do nothing new, if you dig it good for you but PLEASE don't try to compare it to Rage because theyre songs aren't about lost love or angst. They are political with a meaning.
For those who aren't aware, the "Rodeo" referred to in the song is "Rodeo Drive" which is a street in California lined with luxury shops where the very wealthy go.
Knowing that, and other lines of the song, the meaning is about consumerism and materialism and how people care more about the items they have than real things that matter such as politics and humanitarian issues.
The part about "brown skinned man..." is about how many of the wealthy live sheltered lives and have very sheltered views and have not experienced hardships that others have.
In the context of the song, the person is trying to get people to realize there is more to life than money and make people aware of what is happening in the world.
"Rollin down Rodeo with a shotgun" does not mean he is trying to kill the people there, it is a figurative term.
The "shotgun" is the message he is conveying and is his weapon of choice.
Perfectly said. They also care more about their items, and now how those items were made. Also my favorite line in the song is "The structure is set ya neva change it with a ballot pull"
Perfectly said. They also care more about their items, and now how those items were made. Also my favorite line in the song is "The structure is set ya neva change it with a ballot pull"
i know that fred hampton was a black panther, but of course, that doesnt really help out the overal meaning of the song. just some trivia i guess
Fred Hampton was thought of as a threat to the FBI, and other agencies. When the Black Panthers, and the "Rainbow Coalition" began to rise, the FBI and police took action. Hampton was killed during a police raid at the Illinois Black Panther Headquaters. Many believe that the raid was a planned assassintion. I believe this song talks about this issue, and how it relates to today.
hey, this is the lyrics to the wrong song. Down rodeo starts "Im rollin down roseo with a shotgun these poeple aint seen a brown skined man since their grnadparents bought one"
yea this person submitted them without that part i guess
Rodeo is one of the richest streets in Beverly Hills... all the upscale shops and such... (and it is the right song, they just missed a couple lines). The song is mostly about the difference between the millionares that shop on the street and the poor that make the stuff...
This song is about racism against rich blacks. If ya ever seen the South Park with Micheal Jackson, you'll really know what I mean. He also talks about, like what I said about Revolver, they use war to kill rich blacks.