[Verse 1: Sunni Patterson] I'm from a city where not only the skinny nigga But any nigga can get it, get with it where I'm from Where poverty and hunger leads to the slaughter of a son or a daughter Quick to get caught up where I'm from You talk about killings in Palenstine, come see it through our eyes Headline, 92 Year Old Slain By Police Bullets pullin' our leg, wool over eyes, wolf in disguise Over there is over her now meanwhile Just 14 beat down billy clubs The difference between the police and a thug, naught Not, nothing a not, now, now, tell me what's new about a Culture of violence, a culture of weapons, a culture of might Keep the people silent, strip 'em of they human rights Bloody suppression, the court is in session The guilty the verdict, take the system and burn it Burdens of our ancestors rest up on our shoulders Look, before Columbus came, before the slave trade Before the guns and the whips and the iron chains Before them southern trees or the strangefruit It's blood at the leaves and it's blood on the roots Right before Columbus came, before the slave trade Before the guns and the whips and the iron chains Before them southern trees or the strangefruit It's blood at the leaves and it's blood on the root Look