Young, Gifted and Black

We call an individual into existence, and when that individual comes
I make no apologies for what I’m about to do…
I’m America’s worst nightmare
I’m young, black, and holdin' my nuts like «Chyeah!»
Y’all was in the pub, having a light beer
I was at the club, having a fight there
Y’all can go home, husband and wife there
My mama at work tryna buy me the right gear
Nine years old, uncle lost his life here
I grew up thinking life ain’t fair
How can I get a real job? China white right there
Right in front of my sight like, «Here, yeah
There’s your ticket out the ghetto—take flight right here
Sell me you go bye-bye here,» damn!
There’s a different set of rules we abide by here
You need a gun—niggas might drive by here
Y’all having fun, racing all your hotrods there
Downloading all our music on your iPods there
I’m Chuck D, standing in the crosshairs here
Y’all straight, chicks got horse hair here
Y’all ain’t gotta be in fear of y’all bosses there
You lose your job, your pop rich, y’all don’t care
So I don’t care, y’all acting like y’all don’t hear
All the screams from the ghetto, all the teens ducking metal here
So they steam like a kettle here
Tryna take they mind to a whole different level here
Yeah, we real close to devil here
Gotta be a better way; somebody call a reverend here
Yeah, y’all must really be in heaven there
Somebody tell God that we got a couple questions here
My lil' cuz never got to see his seventh year
And I’m so used to pain that I ain’t even shed a tear
Yeah
Jay is like the epitome of the American Dream. I mean, he had to come up in a
very difficult environment. Um… And he’s—Like he said himself,
he’s been fighting all his life. And, um… He… has taken his talent and his
creativity and gone to, like—I think he’s probably done things that are pretty
much unparalleled.