Soldiers - Macklemore

This is for my soldiers
Not my soldiers that chose to be soldiers
But the soldiers that were forced to be soldiers
Now whats the trouble, you scared of being a human?
If the truth is a tool I double dare you to use it
Hit the booth and Im well aware of what Im doin
If I confuse you with the humor Im preparing them for the movement
Ive been alive before and every persons got a purpose
Most dont observe it or know what theyre striving towards
Only you can light the torch
Cause you wont survive the war if you dont know what the fuck it is youre fighting for
Most of us wont open up and trust the inner source
Combined with being tempted to just accept it
But dont twist the message, if you must think of my support
Sometimes you gotta pull off the tees and get on some left right left shit
I worked with 80 soldiers hooded behind locked doors
Forced into a war, an entrance with no exit
Before they could grow up, just some crazy soldiers
Armin them with crack and guns, in essence, defenseless
Yup my man rappin killsmatic enhance them
In his own words 21st century panther
13 years old gets into a fight
Decided to steal the kids bike
Cops come and he ends up in hand cuffs
Two months in and now hes caught in the trap
Got out, got caught with a gat and crack
Now whatta these people think
Juvenile life like that he grew up in a room with a mac
And hell be policed until the day he can legally drink
Now tell me whats the matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream but it seems too vivid
Theres blood on these streets I cant see whos is it
I should probably mind my business
I said tell me whats the matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream but it seems to vivid
Theres blood on these streets I can see whose is it
America wants me to mind my business
Now if you contain anything in a cage
Its natural tendency is going to try to be escape right?
When these kids get out of the gates and face life
If you raised them as a criminal what do you estimate theyll behave like?
The ratio is 80 something percent of kids who get locked up again or go straight to the pen
And thats strange right
Its a snowball effect, and they wanna see you again
So they can make sure that America remains white
Yup, going back on that race shit
Most of the neighborhoods are like cages they try and escape and
If the American dream is to make it
Its obviously blatant that if youre left with nothing, what do you do?
Attempted Murder was the case
My man got beat up, stomped in his face
Ask George bush what you do when youre attacked
His boy went and let it spray, hit one of them in the leg
Now George you can relate,
Remember Iraq, or was it Afghanistan? Just ain't funny
Proving sometimes you gotta take something to make money
My mans homie snitched and said that he planned to hit
And hell be out when hes 46
Now aint the game something
The soldiers follow the same orders
The generals are Crips folk and south of the boarder
Now is it a kid with a gun or the system he lives in that has his disorder
If theres a fiend on the block, somebodys servin em
If theres a teen with a Glock, theres a cop lookin to turn em in
If you have something I want, theres somebody murderin
Since 1492, where the fuck do you think we learned it from
Now tell me whats the matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream but it seems too vivid
Theres blood on these streets I cant see whose is it
I should probably mind my business
I said tell me whats the matter with this picture
I wish it was a dream but it seems to vivid
Theres blood on these streets I can see whose is it
America wants me to mind my business