The ghetto, what is a ghetto?
A run down crowded space, according to some
Conditions substandard, the grassroots live and they die hard
While some call it home, others call it slum
Physical lack of resources cannot be minimised
Bowing to thugs and drug bosses is a daily exercise
Ignored by government, subject to every abuse
But too many using ghetto as an excuse
So when to universal education, everyone has access
Look how Jamelia Harris from Laventille ride the stairway to success
But some only caught up in name brands, their lives don't have no focus
Black man take a look in the mirror, who keeping who at the back of the bus?
Same ones who say that they struggling, and how poverty is hell
Have three cellphones from B-Mobile and a next two from Digicel
So though the ghetto is reality, if you look around you will find
Living in the ghetto of our mind
When the Don becomes the Messiah and to him loyalty is blind
We're trapped within the ghetto of our mind
Babylon, it nice to blame Babylon
The man, the system, the pigs and them police
Long abandoned, the mantra is rebellion
That fight for survival could never cease
Even more than the carnal, are the scars of the mental rape
Somebody always dead in a canal
Lord, you want to escape
Though I see the blacks through their music, escape poverty chains
But how they spend their wealth still leave we in pain
For when I take a look at them TV, Jay-Z and Diddy is king
But when I scrutinise their videos, is lil black girls they exploiting
I know success depends on marketing and the music business real fierce
But why them girl have to show they navel ring
And how all dey Peyton Place pierced
So all who who want to blame massa and that monster called Babylon
Who keep promoting the Passa Passa, who really keeping the black man down?
So though the ghetto is reality and the burden could bend your spine
We living in the ghetto of our mind
All who fall for Jay-Z big pimping
I know is Yankee dollars will wine and wine and wine and wine
(Trapped within the ghetto of our mind)
More crime, there will always be more crime
Once the nation's wealth not trickling down
How can a land so rich, exporting crude oil and pitch
Still have so much pothole and shanty town?
In the void of no leadership, young gang and gang leaders bloom
Some may question the hero worship but nature hates a vacuum
In this land of double standards, where we embrace the Robin Hoods
As the line become blurred between bad and good
For when the police held the stepfather who rape and kill little Hope
I felt the rage and wrath of the mothers who begged
"Send him over and bring the rope!"
But we harbour cold-blooded killers, run to protect them because
When they kidnap, they share the dollars like is Christmas with Santa Claus
So morality is convenient just like ______ politics prove
What we condemn is all dependent on if the sinner is who
So though the ghetto is reality, once ______ you still alive
We living in the ghetto of our mind
Look! When right from wrong you keep compromising
And the line not clearly defined
We're trapped within the ghetto of our mind
Victims, of course there are victims
Those who lack the skill to ever come out
Tired from frustration, mired in stagnation
Evolution is what life is all about. Hear me!
So if you born on the Beetham, don't let that be your Waterloo
It don't matter where you come from but where you heading to
You could take a man from the gutter but it sad, on the other hand
When you cannot take the gutter from the man. Listen!
So all who may want to scorn me because I born behind the bridge
Tell them, yes, I was born in poverty but that has been my privilege
I will be the first to admit growing up there was plenty stress
But I've never been poor in spirit and with talent I'm doubly blessed
I never use ghetto as an excuse to engage in violence and crime
'Cause I refuse to be human refuse, sinking in a quicksand of slime
So though the ghetto is reality, even some of them wey sound so refined
Living in the ghetto of their mind
More than a space, a place, an occasion, if to that mindset you are resigned
You're trapped within the ghetto of your mind
A run down crowded space, according to some
Conditions substandard, the grassroots live and they die hard
While some call it home, others call it slum
Physical lack of resources cannot be minimised
Bowing to thugs and drug bosses is a daily exercise
Ignored by government, subject to every abuse
But too many using ghetto as an excuse
So when to universal education, everyone has access
Look how Jamelia Harris from Laventille ride the stairway to success
But some only caught up in name brands, their lives don't have no focus
Black man take a look in the mirror, who keeping who at the back of the bus?
Same ones who say that they struggling, and how poverty is hell
Have three cellphones from B-Mobile and a next two from Digicel
So though the ghetto is reality, if you look around you will find
Living in the ghetto of our mind
When the Don becomes the Messiah and to him loyalty is blind
We're trapped within the ghetto of our mind
Babylon, it nice to blame Babylon
The man, the system, the pigs and them police
Long abandoned, the mantra is rebellion
That fight for survival could never cease
Even more than the carnal, are the scars of the mental rape
Somebody always dead in a canal
Lord, you want to escape
Though I see the blacks through their music, escape poverty chains
But how they spend their wealth still leave we in pain
For when I take a look at them TV, Jay-Z and Diddy is king
But when I scrutinise their videos, is lil black girls they exploiting
I know success depends on marketing and the music business real fierce
But why them girl have to show they navel ring
And how all dey Peyton Place pierced
So all who who want to blame massa and that monster called Babylon
Who keep promoting the Passa Passa, who really keeping the black man down?
So though the ghetto is reality and the burden could bend your spine
We living in the ghetto of our mind
All who fall for Jay-Z big pimping
I know is Yankee dollars will wine and wine and wine and wine
(Trapped within the ghetto of our mind)
More crime, there will always be more crime
Once the nation's wealth not trickling down
How can a land so rich, exporting crude oil and pitch
Still have so much pothole and shanty town?
In the void of no leadership, young gang and gang leaders bloom
Some may question the hero worship but nature hates a vacuum
In this land of double standards, where we embrace the Robin Hoods
As the line become blurred between bad and good
For when the police held the stepfather who rape and kill little Hope
I felt the rage and wrath of the mothers who begged
"Send him over and bring the rope!"
But we harbour cold-blooded killers, run to protect them because
When they kidnap, they share the dollars like is Christmas with Santa Claus
So morality is convenient just like ______ politics prove
What we condemn is all dependent on if the sinner is who
So though the ghetto is reality, once ______ you still alive
We living in the ghetto of our mind
Look! When right from wrong you keep compromising
And the line not clearly defined
We're trapped within the ghetto of our mind
Victims, of course there are victims
Those who lack the skill to ever come out
Tired from frustration, mired in stagnation
Evolution is what life is all about. Hear me!
So if you born on the Beetham, don't let that be your Waterloo
It don't matter where you come from but where you heading to
You could take a man from the gutter but it sad, on the other hand
When you cannot take the gutter from the man. Listen!
So all who may want to scorn me because I born behind the bridge
Tell them, yes, I was born in poverty but that has been my privilege
I will be the first to admit growing up there was plenty stress
But I've never been poor in spirit and with talent I'm doubly blessed
I never use ghetto as an excuse to engage in violence and crime
'Cause I refuse to be human refuse, sinking in a quicksand of slime
So though the ghetto is reality, even some of them wey sound so refined
Living in the ghetto of their mind
More than a space, a place, an occasion, if to that mindset you are resigned
You're trapped within the ghetto of your mind
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