2PAC & TALENT - CHANGES

CHANGES

2PAC & TALENT

SONGWRITERS: TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR; BRUCE RANDALL HORNSBY & DEON EVANS

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: CHANGES

LABEL: JIVE RECORDS

GENRE: HIP HOP

YEAR: 1998

"Changes" is a hip hop song by 2Pac featuring Talent. The song makes references to the war on drugs, the treatment of black people by the police, racism (explicitly the reconciliation between the black and white races in America), the perpetuation of poverty and its accompanying vicious-cycle value system in urban African American culture, and the difficulties of life in the ghetto.

[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

[Talent:]

That's just the way it is

Things'll never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

That's just the way it is

Things'll never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

[2Pac:]

I see no changes, all I see is racist faces

Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races

We under, I wonder what it takes to make this

One better place, let's erase the wasted

Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right

'Cause both Black and White are smoking crack tonight

And the only time we chill is when we kill each other

It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other

And although it seems heaven-sent

We ain't ready to see a black president

It ain't a secret, don't conceal the fact:

The penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks

But some things will never change

Try to show another way, but you staying in the dope game

Now tell me, what's a mother to do?

Being real don't appeal to the brother in you

You gotta operate the easy way

"I made a G today," but you made it in a sleazy way

Selling crack to the kids

"I gotta get paid!", well hey, but that's the way it is

[Talent:]

That's just the way it is

Things'll never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

That's just the way it is

Things'll never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

[2Pac 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

[2Pac:]

And still I see no changes

Can't a brother get a little peace?

It's war on the streets and a war in the Middle East

Instead of war on poverty

They got a war on drugs so the police can bother me

And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do

But now I'm back with the facts giving it back to you

Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up

Crack you up and pimp-smack you up

You gotta learn to hold your own

They get jealous when they see you with your mobile phone

But tell the cops they can't touch this

I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this

That's the sound of my tool

You say it ain't cool, my mama didn't raise no fool

And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped

And I never get to lay back

'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the payback

Some buck that I roughed up way back

Coming back after all these years

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!" That's the way it is

[Talent:]

That's just the way it is

Things'll never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

(You're my brother, you're my sister)

That's just the way it is

Things'll never be the same

That's just the way it is

Aww yeah

[2Pac:]

Some things'll never change.