VERSE 01: [2Pac]
I see no changes, wake up in the morning and I ask myself:
"Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?"
I'm tired of being poor and, even worse, I'm black
My stomach hurts so I'm looking for a purse to snatch
Cops give a damn about a negro
Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero
"Give the crack to the kids: who the hell cares?
One less hungry mouth on the welfare!"
First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal to brothers
Give 'em guns, step back, watch 'em kill each other
"It's time to fight back," that's what Huey said
Two shots in the dark, now Huey's dead
I got love for my brother
But we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other
We gotta start making changes
Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers
And that's how it's supposed to be
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids
But things change... and that's the way it is
HOOK: [Justin Timberlake]
That's just the way it is
Things'll never be the same
That's just the way it is
Aww yeah
VERSE 02:
Still see no changes, all I see is racist cases
We both have hate to disgrace our races
We under, I'll do whatever it takes to make this
A better place, let's erase the hatred
Let's cure the people from this disease, we all can lead a fight
Cause we all are human so let's start acting like it tonight
Why is it when I turn the TV on It is hard for us to survive
It takes a couple of words for peace, time for us to be polite
And although it seems hell bent
That the US needs us a another hero
Now we have too watch sista's be widows
Our jails is packed, it most of them is filled with blacks
But most things never changed
I'll tell you another way but it ain't cool just playing in the dirt, but hey
Can you tell me, what's a man gotta do?
Being real don't appeal to the shit you gotta do?
You want money the easy way
'' I sold weed today '' but you messed up in a shady way
Sellin drugs to these kids, '' I gotta make my way! ''
Well hey, that's the way it is
HOOK:
[2Pac/BreonKPrince Talking]
We gotta make a change
It's time for us as a people to start making some changes
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
(And let's change the way we treat each other
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
What we gotta do to survive)
VERSE 03:
And still I see no changes, can't a mother get a little peace
We got wars on our streets while kids is getting covered by sheets
Instead a cure on our poverty
No one cares about America's real priority
And I never write a rhyme I ain't have to do
Now me and Pac here both giving facts about caring back to you
You got to help em up, fix em up
Pick em up and word-play em up
You gotta learn to care about our own
When someone is in trouble or dying alone
And tell them pigs they “can't touch this”
I don't trust this, when they try to rush and bust this
Never the sound of a tool
It may not be cool, but our mama never raised no fool
And as long as we stay black, we gotta look back
Cause guns always go click clack
Cause Pac always gotta worry about the payback
Some cop that he roughed up way back
Thank you Pac for all them years
“Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!” That's the way it is
HOOK:
[2Pac]
Some things'll never change