R.A. The Rugged Man

Released: April 30, 2013

Featuring: Talib Kweli

Songwriter: R.A. The Rugged Man Talib Kweli

Producer: Mr. Green

[Produced by Mr. Green]

[Intro]
Take a piece of America back
It's called truth

[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]
We the last of the vintage flowers, we carry it on our shoulders
I keep my friends close and the devils a lot closer
When the Freedom Riders approach them, their appetite is vulturous
Soldiers of fortune ain't never no match for soldiers of culture
My flow is so fucking honest, you said you wanted to hear it
You're lying, cause all you wanted was for me to lift up your spirits
The truth is too fucking ugly and trust me, the shit got layers
You touch me, you think you tough, leave you toothless as rugby players
From sufis to soothsayers discussing the true saviours
We move with the gangstas, you niggas sweeter than the fruit flavors
The booth slayer proving it's futile to hide from us
You misguided as missiles so are suicide bombers
Taking orders from the mullah and waiting for karma to pull up
Their stones are no match for bullets, Israeli rachets are fuller
Gotta race to meet Allah like they chasing them with a cop car
Like there's honor in being a martyr and a terrorist is a rockstar
Dodging the Abu Dhabi or dodging the paparazzi
Still probably as popular as Swastikas for nazis
The cops protect the property properly when they crack your heads
Murderers get as cocky as Perseus when the Kraken dead
I wonder what be running through these crackers' heads
So my niggas is spilling more blood than Cincinnati caps, black and red
I'll take an Actifed, go back to bed, allergic to the
Fumes, having a funeral for the news cause the facts is dead
The trust is gone from the neocons to Barack Obama
America eats its young from Casey Anthony to the Octomom (wow)
Fix it up and mix it up, like Martial Arts in the Octagon
I spit the fire till it burn down Babylon

[Chorus]
Take a piece of America
Back, you will only learn
It's called truth, it's called - it's called
It's called truth, you will only learn

[Verse 2: RA The Rugged Man]
Death by suicide bomb, protestants, Bibles, a Quran, or Islam
From Genghis Khan to Vietnam I can smell the napalm
Rape victims, ripped stockings, redneck clan members doing church bombings
Innocent fetus' being aborted with no options
Humans government ruinin'
Worrying what weapons could be used to be nukin' 'em
Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem
Slaves treated like property, to Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima to Nagasaki
Adolf Hitler, to every murderous Nazi
To the Gambinos, to the Gottis, to every mafia atrocity
Child pornography, babies starving and dying in poverty
Serbians fighting Croatians in Yugoslavia
Muslim women being raped, up to 40,000 in the war in Bosnia
The 50 million killed in the second World War
The government's poisoning the minds and the bodies
Of the babies that are born poor
Airplanes blown up by Islamic extremists
In religion there's always drama
Whether worshipping the Prophet Mohammed or Jesus
Small pox to Napoleon's troops dying from typhus
From the Spanish flu to the black plague, today it's the AIDS virus
Bodies in coffins, political extortions
Racist mobs murdering, Willie Turks, Michael Griffith and Yusef Hawkins
Check the murder rate, is it human nature to murder and hate?
The Catholic church claimed women were witches and burned 'em at the stake
Pedophile predators attacking
.38 Beretta used by Ghandi's assassin
16 bullets in Malcolm, it happened uptown Manhattan
And the homicide, Reagan '80s epidemic of crack
And soldiers in action dying in Iraq and never coming back
And now let's

[Outro]
Take a piece of America back
You will only learn
It's called truth
It's called truth
You will only learn
It's called truth
It's called truth

R.A. Thorburn better known by his stage name R.A. the Rugged Man, is an American rapper, screenwriter, film director and film producer. He began his music career at age 12, building a reputation locally for his lyrical skills. R.A. signed to major label Jive Records at age 18, but his debut album, Night of the Bloody Apes, was never released.

Since then, he has worked with the likes of Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang Clan, Kool G Rap, and Notorious B.I.G., as well as producers Erick Sermon, Trackmasters, DJ Quik, The Alchemist, J-Zone, and Ayatollah.[citation needed] He was featured on all three of Rawkus’s Soundbombing albums, as well as the platinum-selling WWF Aggression album. After a brief stint on Capitol Records (during which he recorded another unreleased album, American Lowlife), R.A. signed with independent label Nature Sounds and released his official debut, Die, Rugged Man, Die.[4] In 2013, R.A. released his second album, Legends Never Die on Nature Sounds

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