Ice Cube, Common - Real People

Real People
Ice Cube, Common
02:38
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Song lyrics

[Intro:]
Yeah, yeah, you know how me and Ye do.

[Verse 1:]
Real people walk in the streets, the streets is talkin',
Often it's beef this city never does;
People walk and talk in they sleep
Cold sweats and wet dreams
On how to get green, our faith is all in a Jeep.
Black souls raw and they deep,
Hypes tryna talk with no teeth,
Shorties sayin' ball or retreat,
A lesson we all speak at one point or another,
What you expect from one who smoke a joint with his mother?
Anointed hustlers in a fatherless region,
Through the pain, wish they know that God was just teachin',
We want decent homes,
So dreams we say out loud like speakerphones just to keep ‘em on.
It's like a colored song that keep keepin' on,
I guess knowin' I'm weak is when I'm really bein' strong,
Somehow through the dust I could see the dawn,
Like the Bishop Magic Juan, that's why I write freedom songs
For the real people.

[Verse 2:]
I wonder is the spirits of Bob Marley and Haile Selassie
Watch me as the cops be tryna and pop and lock me,
They cocky, plus they mentality is Nazi,
The way they treat blacks, I wanna snap like paparazzi.
We're the children of a better God searchin' for better jobs,
We could cop ghetto cars tryna not to catch a charge,
They say the dope game is sour,
Now they doin' homework, that's when they follow you for hours,
Come to your crib and devour all that you work for,
Must be more than paper these niggas hurt for.
Through the purple haze I circle days, I rhyme that work for pays,
Tryna reverse the slave's mind and insert the brave mentality,
Heard that it's drama at home,
Can a dude break free and still get honored at home?
I was told by a chief it's the games nature,
When you're glowin', some will love and some will hate ya,
It's real people.

[Verse 3:]
Black men walkin' wit' white girls on they arms,
I be mad at ‘em as if I know they moms,
Told to go beyond the surface, a person's a person,
When we lessen our women, our condition seems to worsen.
The weary cursin' the sky,
Talkin' to themselves, givin' the version of why help, and hurt in they eye,
I live across from it, some of it I do be in,
I be showin' niggas lives like UPN.
It's real people.

[Outro:]
Yeah!
For you and yours.
G.O.O.D. Music forever!
Yeah!
Rock on!
We keep on.
Uh, yeah!
Yeah, yeah!
The real.