Released: November 21, 2000
Featuring: Isaac Hayes
Songwriter: RZA Ghostface Killah
Producer: RZA
[Verse 1: Ghostface Killah]
The technique is ill, son, watch how I spill one
Peace to Biggie, 2Pac, Big L, and Big Pun
Havoc on the streets of Staten, snitches
House niggas, children watch as they produce the same pattern
Somebody raped our women, murdered our babies
Hit us with the cracks and guns in the early '80s
For those that murdered me shall stand before God
To fall at the hands of fate; then, out comes the rod
[Break: Ghostface Killah]
Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back
[Verse 1 (Cont'd): Ghostface Killah]
What the fuck is going on? I can't go to sleep
Feds jumping out their Jeeps, I can't go to sleep
Babies with flies on they cheeks, it's hard to go to sleep
Ish bowled two sixes twice, I couldn't go to sleep
Ayo, we deep in the stairs, we carry big guns
Whippy got hit up with the big shit—"bong bong"
Stop at the cheeba spot, then pass the leek spot
Drove past y'all niggas again, you took a cheap shot
Not knowing fucking with me, you get your meat chopped
You thought we fell on our face? You need to be stopped
Call on the chariots! Call on an ambulance!
You better smile, my nigga, you on Candid Cam
Gangsta broad, these be the laws, walk with big balls
Nigga, motherfucking eunuch, I even take which was yours
I'm the nigga that made you, man
When your rap wasn't doing well, I'm the nigga that gave you a hand
[Hook: Isaac Hayes]
Don't kill your brother
Learn to love each other
Don't get mad
'Cause it ain't that bad
Look at who you are
You've come too far
It's in your hands
Just be a man
Get the jelly out your spine
Cobwebs out of your mind
[Verse 2: RZA]
I can't go to sleep, I can't shut my eyes
They shot the father at his mom's building seven times
They shot Malcolm in the chest in front of his little seeds
Jesse watched as they shot King on the balcony
Exported Marcus Garvey 'cause he tried to spark us
With the knowledge of ourselves and our forefathers
Oh, Jacqueline, you heard the rifle shots crackling
Her husband's head in her hands, you tried to put it back in
America's watching, blood-stained ink blotches
Medgar took one to the skull for integrating college
What's the science? Somebody? This is trick knowledge
They try to keep us enslaved and still scrape for dollars
Walking through Park Hill, drunk as a fuck
Looking around like, "These Devils!"
I'm ready to break this world down
They got me trapped up in a metal gate, just stressed out with hate
And just give me no time to relax and use my mind to meditate
What should I do? Grab a blunt or a brew?
Grab a .22 and run out there and put this fucking violence in you?
I can't go to sleep, I can't shut 'em, son, I—
[Outro: Isaac Hayes]
Don't let the game make you lose your head
You should be calling the shots instead
The power is in your hands
Stop all this crying, and be a man
The technique is ill, son, watch how I spill one
Peace to Biggie, 2Pac, Big L, and Big Pun
Havoc on the streets of Staten, snitches
House niggas, children watch as they produce the same pattern
Somebody raped our women, murdered our babies
Hit us with the cracks and guns in the early '80s
For those that murdered me shall stand before God
To fall at the hands of fate; then, out comes the rod
[Break: Ghostface Killah]
Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back
[Verse 1 (Cont'd): Ghostface Killah]
What the fuck is going on? I can't go to sleep
Feds jumping out their Jeeps, I can't go to sleep
Babies with flies on they cheeks, it's hard to go to sleep
Ish bowled two sixes twice, I couldn't go to sleep
Ayo, we deep in the stairs, we carry big guns
Whippy got hit up with the big shit—"bong bong"
Stop at the cheeba spot, then pass the leek spot
Drove past y'all niggas again, you took a cheap shot
Not knowing fucking with me, you get your meat chopped
You thought we fell on our face? You need to be stopped
Call on the chariots! Call on an ambulance!
You better smile, my nigga, you on Candid Cam
Gangsta broad, these be the laws, walk with big balls
Nigga, motherfucking eunuch, I even take which was yours
I'm the nigga that made you, man
When your rap wasn't doing well, I'm the nigga that gave you a hand
[Hook: Isaac Hayes]
Don't kill your brother
Learn to love each other
Don't get mad
'Cause it ain't that bad
Look at who you are
You've come too far
It's in your hands
Just be a man
Get the jelly out your spine
Cobwebs out of your mind
[Verse 2: RZA]
I can't go to sleep, I can't shut my eyes
They shot the father at his mom's building seven times
They shot Malcolm in the chest in front of his little seeds
Jesse watched as they shot King on the balcony
Exported Marcus Garvey 'cause he tried to spark us
With the knowledge of ourselves and our forefathers
Oh, Jacqueline, you heard the rifle shots crackling
Her husband's head in her hands, you tried to put it back in
America's watching, blood-stained ink blotches
Medgar took one to the skull for integrating college
What's the science? Somebody? This is trick knowledge
They try to keep us enslaved and still scrape for dollars
Walking through Park Hill, drunk as a fuck
Looking around like, "These Devils!"
I'm ready to break this world down
They got me trapped up in a metal gate, just stressed out with hate
And just give me no time to relax and use my mind to meditate
What should I do? Grab a blunt or a brew?
Grab a .22 and run out there and put this fucking violence in you?
I can't go to sleep, I can't shut 'em, son, I—
[Outro: Isaac Hayes]
Don't let the game make you lose your head
You should be calling the shots instead
The power is in your hands
Stop all this crying, and be a man
more tracks from the album
From the albums
- The W (2000)
- Swift & Changeable: The Prequel (2012)
Wu-Tang Clan popular songs
- C.R.E.A.M.
- Protect Ya Neck
- Triumph
- Da Mystery of Chessboxin’
- Method Man
- Bring Da Ruckus
- Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta Fuck Wit
- Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber
- Shame On A Nigga
- Clan in Da Front
- Can It Be All So Simple / Intermission
- Tearz
- Gravel Pit
- Reunited
- People Say
- It’s Yourz
- A Better Tomorrow
- Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)
- Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber - Pt. II
- Impossible
- I Can’t Go to Sleep
- Killer Tape Skit
- Back In The Game (Phoniks Remix)
- Ruckus in B Minor