[KRS-One]
Gather 'round, gather 'round, ha
Metaphysical style, spiritual style, the ORIGINAL style, ha
Yes.. let's do it

[Chorus]
- you can never give up, you should never give up
- you can never give up, we can never give up
- you can never give up, you can never give up
- you should never give up, we can never give up, you can never give up

[KRS-One]
Yeah, yeah
Y'all don't really know about the KRS rap
Y'all don't really about why we stay trapped
Y'all don't really know hip-hop ain't rap
But let me tell you how we can get it all back
First realize givin up is wack
Say to yourself I can never be wack
Then realize that we must go back
And the reason you can't seem to get on track
is you, keep, buying, HOES, simple and plain
You, keep, buying, HOES, all y'all know my name
And how I get down and move around
I've already been to the proving ground
In conscious rap, who rule the sound
The question is are you down?

[Chorus] w/ minor variations

[KRS-One]
Look - KRS-One, I've learned already
Everything they doin is temporary
No matter how big you live
You still the creation of a music executive
And when you get old no matter what you did
They throw you away and they pimp your kid
Yeah kids, on the TV whylin
You know why we got racial profilin?
Cause you, keep, buying, HOES, simple and plain
You, keep, buying, HOES, all y'all know my name
So there in the future we'll look back
And then we will see we were under attack
But it'll be too late, the loss'll be too great
You'll see, just wait!

[Chorus] w/ minor variations

[KRS-One]
C'mon, c'mon, yeah c'mon
You see how they shuttin down KRS-One
Cause I'm not sexy, thuggin or dumb
Ask yourself -
- why they only promotin criminal activity and nothin else?
On the videos and on the radio
Teachin our kids which way to go
And the way that they tell our kids to go
If you listen, heads right straight to prison
While you, keep, buying, HOES, simple and plain
You, keep, buying, HOES, y'all better peep the game
You got to release that temptation
Get a brand new affirmation
Your life is what you make 'em
Peace, salaam alaikum

[Chorus] w/ minor variations