Released: September 16, 2004

Featuring: Jadakiss Ashanti Eve Claudette Ortiz Brandy Fabolous Floetry Jaheim Musiq Soulchild Faith Evans Monica Mary J. Blige Wyclef Jean Missy Elliott

Songwriter: John Whitehead Victor Carstarphen Gene McFadden

Producer: Russell Simmons Babyface

[Wyclef Jean]
Ay! Wake up, wake up!
You've got the power
You've got the power
My people in the east shore, you gotta wake up
Midwest, dirty south, yo, you gotta stand up
All my homies in the west, yo, you gotta wake up

Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
Wake up, wake up

[Mary J. Blige]
Wake up everybody, no more sleeping in bed
No more backwards thinking, time for thinking ahead
The world has changed so very much from what it used to be
There's so much hatred, war and poverty

[Monica]
Wake up all the teachers, time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen to what you have to say

[Claudette Ortiz]
Cause they're the one's who coming up
The world is in their hands
When you teach the children
Teach them the better questions you can

[Eve]
Uh... scream "peace," do we mean it?
Can you feel it when we scream it out loud?
Do you believe that we need it?
Do you believe that it could get right?
Do you believe
That the children of the world deserve a good life?
Well, if you do, it's time to wake up your mind
We can make it better and I know it might take some time
But we gotta start somewhere
How about with you and me?
From us it goes to others
Then we'll have our unity

[Musiq Soulchild]
Wake up all the doctors, make the old people well
They're the ones who suffer and who catch all the hell
But they don't have so very long before their Judgment Day
So won't you make them happy before they pass away

[Ashanti]
Wake up, all the builders time to build a new land
I know we can do it if we all lend a hand
The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind
Surely things will work out

[Faith Evans]
'Cause they do it every time

[Fabolous]
I ain't here to take up y'all time
I came to shake up y'all mind
It's everybody's wake up call time
I can't sleep too long
While they do the people wrong
Let's clean the world up
Before they sweep through, gone
This is real talk you can peep through songs
So when you feel weak
These words will keep you strong
And help make a change for the better
It's hard one to do it
But make can make some changes together

(2x) [Chorus:]
The world won't get no better
If we just let it be
The world won't get no better
We gotta change it, yeah, just you and me

[Ad-libs: Brandy]
Hey, yeah, oh
Get no better
Let it be
Oh, we gotta change it yeah
Oh, won't get no better
Let it be, let it be, let it be
Better

[Jadakiss]
Set a goal for the plan up here
We gotta stand up here
Give thanks to The Man Upstairs
Put the egos and the pride to the side regardless
And just be role models, parents, artists
We can make a change
And we can make it the hardest
If you gon' make a baby
You should make him the smartest
Let him know good and bad, right from wrong
How to roll with the punches when life moves on
The stress won't take toll if you don't sweat it
World won't get no better if we don't let it
Let the negative energy ride
Keep hope alive
It's about time that we open our eyes
Wake up

[Jaheim]
Wake up everybody, no more sleeping in bed
No more backwards thinking, time for thinking ahead
The world has changed so very much from what it used to be
There's so much hatred, war and poverty

(Wake up! Wake up!)

[Missy Elliott]
Yup, we all best to vote
I don't care about the guns you tote
Listen to me like you listened to Fahrenheit 9/11
Ain't no time for the second guessing
The words I speak?
Wake up the ones who sleep
The leaderships?
Fix your mouth to teach
Emcees?
Teach the kids what's peace
They don't have to worry about the police
We make them rich so they don't have to thief
Every artist here on this track
Will make a change here for young cats
This is for everybody white or black
You better go and vote
And get up off your back

(3x) [Vamp:]
Wake up everybody, no more sleeping
Wake up everybody, no more sleeping
Wake up everybody, no more sleeping
Wake up everybody, time for thinking, thinking

[Ad-Libs: Natalie Stewart of Floetry]
The cypher goes on, lift your head, get your voice up
You see the power of the people is the choice to ignite love
Not a choice, it's a gift that our people had to fight for
And the price way too personal for anyone to ignore
A voice to be heard

[Ad-Libs: Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry]
Take the opportunity
Your responsibility
Your voice has to be heard
Save the world, save the world

Babyface

Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds (born April 10, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is a Grammy Award-winning producer, singer, and songwriter responsible for a string of hits in the 1980s and 1990s. He has written and produced more than 20 number-one hits and won 11 Grammys—including three for Producer of the Year—for his work with Boyz II Men, Whitney Houston, Eric Clapton, Alicia Keys, and Toni Braxton, as well as his own work as an artist.

Babyface got his nickname from funk legend Bootsy Collins after joining his backing band in the 1970s. He joined the group Manchild in the late ‘70s—a group that also included his frequent collaborator Daryl Simmons—before moving out West and working with the group The Deele in the early 1980s, forming a bond with his bandmate and future production partner L.A. Reid. After producing the hit “Two Occasions” for The Deele, L.A. & Babyface broke off and became one of the biggest superproducer duos in R&B, rivaling the hits of fellow superproducer duo Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.

L.A. & ‘Face had their hands in a string of #1 R&B hits in the late '80s and early '90s from artists such as Pebbles (“Girlfriend”), Karyn White (“Superwoman”), The Whispers (“Rock Steady”), Johnny Gill (“My, My, My”) and many more. They were also instrumental in the success of post-New Edition era Bobby Brown as they produced his #1 hits “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Every Little Step,” “On Our Own,” and “Humpin' Around.” They made history with Boyz II Men in 1992 as they wrote and produced “End of the Road,” which spent a record-breaking 14 consecutive weeks atop the pop chart.