Chorus: *sung hook from an R&B record*
  Got to give the people
  Give the people what they want
  Ladies and Gentlemen
  (repeat 2X)
  Verse One: Erick Sermon
  When I came out with my first rap jam
  I had no idea that the record would slam
  It did real good without radio play
  Maybe at night but no airplay in the day
  I couldn't understand why to be exact
  Our music was good and I was far from wack
  Then came the answer, commercial was the key
  To get airplay and a spot on TV
  Like Ed Lover and Doctor Dre from Yo! MTV Raps
  A show, mainly for the black
  And still we can't ill, cause to them that's wrong
  Cause like P.E. said, we're too black and too strong
  But hey, what can I say
  (Brothers and sisters) that's a price a rapper must pay
  Chorus
  Verse Two: PMD
  As airwaves collapse rap shows at a standstill
  Some racial circuits the frequencies can't handle
  The funk tracks produced by EPMD
  But it's a fat jam, that will never win a grammy
  Unless we sellout and kill the black movement dead
  Which means swallow our pride and become flunkies instead
  And stop the rap about freedom, thoughts of a black president
  And rap about a black crack, the mayor in our residence
  Give me a break brothers, it's time to take a stand
  And kill that no sir, yes sir, and thank you ma'am
  Cuz the word is a luxury a black man can't afford
  That's why poverty's on the rise and we still ignored
  And it's a setback and yet the clock still ticks
  And if we let it, rap would be run by politics
  I read it somewhere that every man's created equal
  But not in this day and age, maybe in the sequel
  Which means next time, so observe these rhymes
  And take a stand and go for yours cause I'm going for mine
  That's why I
  Chorus
  Verse Three: Erick Sermon, PMD
  Why is that when wrong is done by the black
  It's blown out of proportion and immediately attacked
  By the press and yes, conflict is caused
  By the kids at concerts who bumrush the doors
  One child gets hurt, the press gets pesty
  But what about the Beatles, G, and Elvis Presley
  Same stuff was rough, rap does not cause violence
  So (Fight the Power) and make them understand
  But too much power and you might get banned
  So if you want airplay
  You can't be too black and hey, watch what you say, but ayo
  Chorus: to fade