R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. KRS-One

Reality, ain't always the truth
Rhymes Equal Actual Life, In The Youth

"These are the streets!
Shit is real out here!
This ain't no fuckin' joke!"

I lived in a spot called Millbrooke Projects
The original Criminal Minded rap topic
With twenty cents in my pocket I saw the light
If you're young, gifted, and black, you got no rights
Your only true right, is a right to a fight
And not a fair fight, I wake up wonderin who died last night
Everyone and everything is at war
Makin' my poetic expression hardcore
I ain't afraid to say it, and many can't get with it
At times in my life, I was a welfare recipient
I ate the free cheese, while the church said believe
And went to school everyday, like a god damn fool
Well anyway, here I am, chillin at the party
Brothers lookin at me like they wanna kill somebody
A cypher manifested in the center of the jam
I got to show these wack rappers really who I am
It's me against them, so I clear the phlegm
And wage the war, hardcore to the end
For someone lookin inside, yeah from the out
It seems like disrespect is what rap is all about
But hip-hop as a culture, is really what we give it
But sometimes the culture contradicts how we live it
'Cause every black kid lives two and three lives
The city's a jungle, only the strong will survive