T.I.: New National Anthem (feat. Skyler Grey)

I know radio prolly ain't gonna play this...but chopper going off in the hood man like Afghanistan or the Gaza strip somewhere man.
Yeah, we hear it so much we probably numb to it by now. After all, it’s the American way right?

Home of the brave and free (It’s America)
Free just to murder me (land of the handgun)
Land of the beautiful (home of the shotgun)
Cursed by the hate we throw (You’re dead if you ain’t got one)
Is this the new national anthem? (It was like this before I got here baby, I ain’t do it)
Is this the new national anthem? (I ain’t start it, I’m just a part of it)

You say this the home of the brave I guess
I say this the home of the K’s and the vets
All alone with the J’s smoking yay cause he stressed
On chrome with a Tek taught to spray for respect
I learned from the best used to stay in the “jects”
Bought work from the vets burning rubber in the vets
This as good as it gets used to play with the rats
Then I got older and learned stay away from the rats
God blessed this nigga, to hustle up and make eight figures
Turned from a goon to a great young nigga
No complaining just doing what it take young nigga
I was raised in a decade of hate young nigga
Always dodging polices because they hate young niggas
And we hate them too, 38 in him shoe
All the changes the system will take him through
He ain’t a killer but he will if you make him do it
Homicide he’ll ride, they’ll put him on trial
Let him have a life sentence then do it with a smile
And he only 19, he ain’t even had a child
As a child, told his mama he’ll be gone for a while
And she cried, still they just put him inside
Now she all on her own because her other son died
Listen to the politician as he lied and he lied
He a snake in a suit, trying to hide in disguise

Home of the brave and free (well damn officer what did I do?)
Free just to murder me (Naw hold up man don’t shoot, I live over there)
Land of the beautiful (a man what you doin)
Cursed by the hate we throw (you trippin dawg)
Is this the new national anthem (how many times has that ever happened to you, what the fuck do you know about being a black man in America?)
Is this the new national anthem (And you wonder why we walk around with straps)

For the stars and the stripes prison bars and the pipe
Young nigga rolling weed in a cigar he can light
Bang red either blue selling hard and the white
Live by the gun, never run from a fight
Trayvon in a hoodie, walking through the neighborhood he
Didn’t do shit to buddy, he didn’t have to die did he?
I guess it’s because his dad was a judge in the city
They didn’t want him in the pen with the thugs that could get him
A jury of his peers said all was forgiven
But touch one of mine, right or wrong, I’ma kill them
Fill them with the lead like they put in Martin Luther King’s head
Like they killed Malcolm X, Edgar Hoover did that
You can catch me in the hood where they shooting niggas at
They don’t know if Neighborhood or the Hoovers did that
Whether Piru or VL's or GDs wit me we
Down to uprise from the OG’s to peewees

Home of the brave and free (Don’t get it fucked up)
Free just to murder me (If you ain’t found something you’re willing to die for, you ain’t fit to live)
Land of the beautiful (To get something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done)
Cursed by the hate we throw (I’ma die by mine)
Is this the new national anthem
Is this the new national anthem

Let me ask you something. If the kids are the future, tell me why you can get more for being C.O., than you can for being a teacher. Tell me why it means more to the government to pay the people who got to watch over the prisoners, more than the people who got to keep the children from becoming prisoners. That make sense? Tell me why 9 ounces of crack will get you more time than a rape right now. Tell me why them crazy white boys can tote a gun but I can’t right now. Yea I had felonies, I done did dirt in the streets, but I ain’t ever gave it to anybody that didn’t deserve it. You know what I mean? I ain’t ever ran in no public place with no pistol shooting no innocent people. I ain’t never ran in no school, killing no kids. Man this is the result of you refusing to deal with the issues at hand. We are a product of the environment you placed us in…we ain't do it…we just lived through it

Home of the brave and free (message to my people)
Free just to murder me (stop waiting on folk to help you, help yourself, it starts with you)
Land of the beautiful (get yourself out, reach back, get somebody else out)
Cursed by the hate we throw (and that’s the way we’re going to get ahead)
Is this the new national anthem (sittin' around waiting on government to do something for us ain't never gonna happen partner they don’t give a fuck about us)
Is this the new national anthem but don’t play into their hand partner, you making it easy for em, hell is you doin'?)