Original subtitles

I am not throwing away my shot

I am not throwing away my shot

and yo I'm just like my country

I'm young scrappy and hungry

and I'm not throwing away my shot

I'mma get a scholarship to King's College

I probably shouldn't brag with Dag

I amaze and astonish

the problem is I got a lot of brain

but no polish

I gotta holler just to be heard

with every word I drop knowledge

I'm a diamond in the rough

a shiny piece of coal

trying to reach my goal

my power is speech unepeachable

only 19 but my mind is older

these streets are getting colder

I shoulder every burden

every disadvantage I've Learned to manage

I walk these streets famished

woo the plan is to fan this spark into a flame

but damn it's getting dark so let me spell out name

I am the א ל כ ס נ ד ר

we are meant to be a colony that runs independently

meanwhile Britain keep shitting on us endlessly

essentially they tax us relentlessly

then King George turns around runs a spending spree

he ain't never gonna set his descendants free

so there will be a revolution in this century

enter me he says in parentheses

don't be shocked when your history book mentions me

I will lay down my life if it sets us free

eventually you'll see my ascendency

and I am not throwing away my shot

I am not throwing away my shot

hey yo I'm just like my country

I'm young scrappy and hungry

and I'm not throwing away my shot

I am not throwing away my shot

I am not throwing away my shot

hey yo I'm just like my country

I'm young scrappy and hungry

and I'm not throwing away my shot

let's get this guy in front of a crowd

I am not throwing away my shot

I am not throwing away my shot

hey yo I'm just like my country

I'm young scrappy and hungry

and I'm not throwing away my shot

I am not throwing away my shot

I am not throwing away my shot

hey yo I'm just like my country

I'm young scrappy and hungry

and I'm not throwing away my shot

everybody sing whoa whoa whoa

hey whoa whoa whoa

so let them hear you yeah let's go oh oh oh oh

I said shout it to the rooftop oh oh oh

said to the rooftop oh oh oh oh

come on yeah come on let's go rise up

when you're living on your knees you rise up

tell your brother that he's gotta rise up

tell your sister that she's gotta rise up

when are these colonies gonna rise up

when are these colonies gonna rise up

when are these colonies gonna rise up

when are these colonies gonna rise up

rise up I imagine death so much it feels more like

a memory when's it gonna get me in my sleep

seven feet ahead of me

if I see it coming do I run or do I let it be

is it like a beat without a melody

see I never thought I'd live past 20

where I come from some get half as many

ask anybody why we living fast and we laugh

reach for a flask

we have to make this moment last

that's plenty scratch that this is not a moment

it's the movement where all the hungriest brothers

with something to prove

when foes oppose us we take an honest stand

we roll like Moses claiming our Promised Land

and if we win our independence

is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants

or will the blood we shed

begin an endless cycle of vengeance and death

with no defendant

I know the action in the street is exciting

but Jesus between all the bleeding and fighting

I've been reading and writing

we need to handle our financial situation

are we a nation of state?

what's the state of our nation?

i'm past patiently waiting and passionate

smashing every expectation

every action's an act of creation

I'm laughing in the face of casualties of sorrow

for the first time I'm thinking past tomorrow

and I am not throwing away my shot

I am not throwing away my shot

hey yo I'm just like my country

I'm young scrappy and hungry

and I'm not throwing away my

shot we gonna rise up

time to take a shot

we're gonna rise up time to take a shot

we're gonna rise up rise up

rise up rise up time to take a shot

rise up its time to take a shot

a shot a shot a shot

time to take a shot

and i am not throwin away my

not throwin away my shot