Blackalicious – Making Progress lyrics

Chorus: Gift of Gab

Expressin what we see and how we comprehend the math
We keep embellishin upon a new uncharted path
So there's enough for everyone we gotta make it last
We gotta make it last..

[Gift of Gab]
As I embark on life's journey from the point where I'm at
Peace to everyone I know or who I go way back wit
Every sister raisin kids without the help of a dad
Every pimp every mack, every gangsta to jack
Wantin for they children all the things that they never had
Every hustler feedin babies, anybody pro-black
All the brothers handlin business even though shit's hard
Wakin up at five A. M., holdin down three jobs
To my brothers up in college gettin Ph. D's
All my rasta brethern gettin insight from trees
Or any other degree, even if you just read
All my people locked down, for your past mistakes
For mental health, see you're concious that your mind is free
Mentally and spiritually, dwellin past the gates
You could change your ways, elevate today
Every black-owned business, keep doin for self
To all recovered alcoholics chillin up in aa
Helpin out the community and spreadin the wealth
Understand that help ain't gonna come from nowhere else
Revolutionaries makin the unjust get dealth wit
Head on black people got to meet the task
Educate, keep learnin, gotta question, ask!
And let your light keep shinin and remember the past
By any means necessary, we'll be free at last

Chorus

[Gift of Gab]
Even though anxieties try to pull you down
As I embark on life's journey from the point where I'm at
Peace to everybody strivin to live right and exact
See your troubles as a blessin and you're homeward bound
Everybody gotta struggle, that's the way of the world

Can't achieve a a garden if you never water your crops
Can't develop biceps if you don't do curls
If you never paid your dues, then you don't get props
Couldn't eat a proper meal without cookin it first
Can't receive a paycheck if you don't do work
When you face adversities, dark clouds won't last
If it wasn't for the rain, then the trees won't grow
If you never study, how do you expect to pass?
When the spring came around, what a sight to bestow
The grasshoppers laid around while the ants did chores
See the cycle keeps moving like a big machine
When the winter came around, he was left outdoors
Evolution of the mind, soul body and being
Sometimes you even gotta learn from other people's mistakes
God'll never put upon you more than you can take
So head on black people got to meet the task
Educate, keep learnin, gotta question, ask!
And let your light keep shinin and remember the past
By any means necessary, we'll be free at last

Chorus