(All verses: Chuck D)
That's right, Public Enemy Number 1
20 years
[Verse 1]
It's been a long and whining road
Even though time keeps a'changin'
I'm a' bringing it all back home
I been told I spit lyrics with politics, why wouldn't I?
It says Negro on my birth certificate
Born in 1960 in a nation throughout
I've been a spokesperson for a generation
Within the same old fear of a black planet
20 years of blood, sweat, no tears for fanatics
So damn it, if times are hard, time is God
Understand it, never took time for granted
It's alright, Ma, as a child of the sixties
Along the watchtower, I can't bet they're going to miss me
I'm only bleeding, every grain in me
Fans, if it's not for you, there'd be no PE
From the Nashville Skyline, to the homeboys and girls of South Country
In this world gone wrong, here's another love song
[Verse 2]
We came a long way, baby, you know what's amazing?
They're surprised, we told these new guys Flavor's always been crazy
Hit London 87 like it was an invasion
Toured the world for three years, Hell with a vacation
Vocation of vocalisation
Especially with the impact of "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"
You bet there's blood on them Bomb Squad tracks
"Black Steel", "Baseheads", "Party For Your Right to Fight"
"Prophets of Rage", "Bring the Noise" and "Don't Believe the Hype"
"Can't Do Nuttin' For You Man", "911 is a Joke"
20 years, we got here by acting like common folk
Touring the world like a Rolling Stone, then the nineties came
Then we welcomed y'all to the Terrordome
Some threw it away, instead we had something to say
Cause the streets still ended up having no names
Since "Rebel Without a Pause" the beats were never the same
And by 1998 we still had game, we rocked on
[Verse 3]
Only a pawn in the game, chastised for naming names
What was said and who said it, anti-nothing so forget it
Tears of rage left a friend blowing in the wind
But time is God
Been back for ten years, and black again
Some of them same cats helped usher in Gangsta rap
Damn, our interviews were better than a lot of them acts
Praised the Gangsta just because it sold
While consciousness went from platinum and it shrunk down to gold
Seen a nation reduce "Fight the Power" to "Gin and Juice"
Some people gave it up and they turned it loose, they rock on
[Verse 4]
Beethoven, Bach and Brahms, I want some James Brown
Even Bruce, Brian, Bono, Beck, yeah Chuck Berry
Prince, Stevie, Sly, Smokey, Johnny Cash, in my Chevy
Heard some call me Uncle Tom - now that's Petty
I'm a songwriter, fool, I condense sense from right and wrong
I'm living in the key of protest songs
From basement tapes, beyond them dollars and cents
Changing of the guards - spent where the Hell the majors went
Most of their time out of mind, hating my mess-age rhymes
Can't truss it, shut 'em down, call it what you wanna
They made a day fit for a king, by the time we got to Arizona
Tomorrow's a long time, got God on our side
Over bass and drum beats hear the good rhymes ride
There's A Poison Goin' On, there's a shelter from the storm
Hard rain's gonna fall
Still the people rock on, we rock on
Blood, sweat, no tears
Public Enemy
