作词 : KRS One, Parker, Williams

R.E.A.L.I.

T.Y. 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 f**kin' joke

I lived in a spot called

Millbrooke

ProjectsThe 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 goddamn 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 amIt'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

R.E.A.L.I.

T.Y. ain't always the truth

Rhymes Equal

Actual Life

In The Youth

R.E.A.L.I.

T.Y. 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 feelThe 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" 'cause that's what we really want

A piece of the pie that

America flaunts

R.E.A.L.I.

T.Y. ain't always the truth

Rhymes Equal

Actual Life

In The Youth

R.E.A.L.I.

T.Y. ain't always the truth

Rhymes Equal

Actual Life

In The Youth

Oh, shitThe truth is that police must serve and protect

R.E.A.L.I.

T.Y. is, black youth is shown no respect

The truth is, government has a war against drugs

R.E.A.L.I.

T.Y. 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

R.E.A.L.I.

T.Y. ain't always the truth

Rhymes Equal

Actual Life

In The Youth

R.E.A.L.I.

T.Y. ain't always the truth

Rhymes Equal

Actual Life

In The Youth

YeahThese are the streets

Shit is real out here

This ain't no f**kin' joke