Soldiers Songtext
von Macklemore

This is for my soldiers
Not my soldiers that chose to be soldiers
But the soldiers that were forced to be soldiers

Now, now, now, now, now
Now what′s the trouble, you scared of being a human?
If the truth is a tool, I double-dare you to use it
Hit the booth, and I'm well aware of what I′m doin'
If I confuse you with the humor, I'm preparing them for the movement

I′ve been alive before, and every person′s got a purpose
Most don't observe it or know what they′re striving towards
Only you can light the torch
'Cause you won′t survive the war if you don't know what the fuck it is you are fighting for


Most of us won′t open up and trust the inner source
Combined with being tempted to just accept it
But don't twist the message, if you must think of my support
Sometimes you gotta pull off the tees and get on some left, right, left shit
I worked with 80 soldiers hooded behind locked doors
Forced into a war, an entrance with no exit
Before they could grow up, just some crazy soldiers
Arming them with crack and guns, in essence, defenseless

Yup, my man rappin killsmatic enhance them
In his own words, 21st-century panther
13 years old gets into a fight
Decided to steal the kid's bike
Cops come and he ends up in handcuffs

Two months in, and now he′s caught in the trap
Got out, got caught with a gat and crack
Now what do these people think?
Juvenile life like that he grew up in a room with a MAC
And he′ll be policed until the day he can legally drink

Now tell me, what's the matter with this picture?
I wish it was a dream, but it seems too vivid
There′s blood on these streets, I can't see whose is it
I should probably mind my business

I said tell me what′s the matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream, but it seems to vivid
There's blood on these streets, I can see whose is it
America wants me to mind my business


Now if you contain anything in a cage
Its natural tendency is going to try to be escape, right?
When these kids get out of the gates and face life
If you raised them as a criminal, what do you estimate they′ll behave like?
The ratio is 80-something percent of kids who get locked up again or go straight to the pen
And that's strange right

It's a snowball effect, and they wanna see you again
So they can make sure that America remains white
Yup, going back on that race shit
Most of the neighborhoods are like cages, they try and escape and
If the American dream is to make it
Then it′s obviously blatant that if you′re left with nothing, what do you do? Take it

Attempted Murder was the case
My man got beat up, stomped in his face
Ask George Bush what you do when you're attacked
His boy went and let it spray, hit one of them in the leg
Now George, you can relate

Remember Iraq, or was it Afghanistan? Just ain′t funny
Proving sometimes you gotta take something to make money
My man's homie snitched and said that he planned to hit
And he′ll be out when he's 46
Now ain′t the game something?

The soldiers follow the same orders
The generals are Crips folk and south of the boarder
My ten-year-old is a Blood
Now is it a kid with a gun or the system he lives in that has his disorder
If there's a fiend on the block, somebody's servin′ ′em
If there's a teen with a Glock, there′s a cop lookin to turn 'em in
If you have something I want, there′s somebody murderin'
Since 1492, where the fuck do you think we learned it from?

Now tell me, what′s the matter with this picture?
I wish it was a dream, but it seems too vivid
There's blood on these streets, I can't see whose is it
I should probably mind my business

I said tell me what′s the matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream, but it seems to vivid
There′s blood on these streets, I can see whose is it
America wants me to mind my business

Green Hill in Maple Lane
You guys know what it is
Keep your head up
Since you told me to say
I didn't know you were incarcerated
They can never incarcerate your mind
Gateways

Everybody I know that strives to make a difference
I truly admire you to the utmost
But we are at war right now
And it doesn′t even look like a war

And I'm not talking about the war in Iraq
I′m talking about the war right here in America
Because don't get it twisted
Most of the soldiers in this country never enlisted
But we need people
We need soldiers to combat this war
Because it′s not going to be fought in a protest
What we need is people to actually get involved

Get them educated
Get their hands dirty
Get in the institute and make a difference from the inside out
That's what we need to fight this war
And believe me, it's killing us
2005
Let′s go