[00:00.534]After bein' 25, you know, just trying to survive in the world
[00:22.558]Bout to have a little boy or baby girl. Who knows?
[00:27.190]Anyway, just when you start gettin that little age and experience to you
[00:31.766]You start thinkin about stuff...tryin to make the right moves
[00:34.650]So bust it out, this is what I was thinkin, check it
[00:37.110]Yo, the education of the Lon-chicka-Lonnie Lynn
[00:40.854]Began, began with time
[00:43.274]Bein my bloodline is one with the divine
[00:46.678]In time brotha, you will discover the light
[00:49.550]Some say that God is Black and the Devil's White
[00:52.486]Well, the Devil is wrong and God is what's right
[00:55.529]I fight, with myself in the ring of doubt and fear
[00:58.639]The rain ain't gone, but I can still see clear
[01:01.326]As a child, given religion with no answer to why
[01:04.125]Just told believe in Jesus cuz for me he did die
[01:07.070]Curiosity killed the catechism
[01:10.376]Understanding and wisdom became the rhythm that I played to
[01:13.461]And became a slave to master self
[01:15.854]A rich man is one with knowledge, happiness and his health
[01:18.854]My mind had dealt with the books of Zen, Tao the lessons
[01:22.029]Koran and the Bible, to me they all vital
[01:24.969]And got truth within 'em, gotta read them boys
[01:27.981]You just can't skim 'em, different branches of belief
[01:30.938]But one root that stem 'em, but people of the venom try to trim 'em
[01:34.622]And use religion as an emblem
[01:36.701]When it should be a natural way of life
[01:39.121]Who am I or they to say to whom you pray ain't right
[01:42.421]That's who got you doin right and got you this far
[01:45.325]Whether you say "in Jesus name" or Hum do Allah
[01:48.181]Long as you know it's a bein' that's supreme to you
[01:51.080]You let that show towards others in the things you do
[01:53.989]Cuz when the trumpets blowin, 24 elders surround the throne
[01:57.190]Only 144,000 gon get home
[02:00.037]Only 144,000 gon get home
[02:02.805]Only 144,000 gon get it baby
[02:05.799]Chorus Cee-Lo:
[02:06.037]I've lived and I've learned
[02:13.973]I have taken and I've earned
[02:16.676]I have laughed, I've cried
[02:19.689]I have failed and I have tried
[02:22.613]Sunshine, pouring rain
[02:25.461]found joy through all my pain
[02:28.405]I just wanna be happy with being me
[02:34.501]Cee-Lo:
[02:34.821]Let me voice my concern
[02:36.021]So many of my fellow brothers have given themselves a title
[02:39.005]That their actions didn't earn
[02:40.487]Our ignorance is in the same breath as our innocence
[02:42.893]Subconciously, seeking to find an impressionable mind to convince
[02:47.109]I've finally come to the realization why Black people in the worse
[02:49.702]place
[02:50.184]Cuz it's hard to correct yourself when you don't know
[02:52.781]Who you are in the first place
[02:53.783]So I try to find the clue in you
[02:55.069]But evidently, White folks know more Black history than we do
[02:58.092]Why're we bein' lied to? I ain't know our history was purposely hidden
[03:01.429]Damn, somethin' in me wanna know who I am
[03:04.220]So I began my search, my journey started in church
[03:07.676]It gave my heartache relief when I started to understand belief
[03:10.392]Hustlin was like a gift spent my share of time in the streets
[03:13.265]Taught me survival from this evil I'm just gonna have to deal with
[03:16.068]And I felt like a fool when I tried to learn it in school
[03:18.852]It almost seemed like a rehearsal when the only
[03:20.984]Science and math are universal
[03:22.277]Takin elder advice, read the Bible, the Koran
[03:24.716]Searched scrolls from the Hebrew Israelites
[03:26.718]Hold on, this ain't right, Jesus wasn't White
[03:28.236]Some leads were granted with insight
[03:29.956]and it's all in the plan, but it took me some time to overstand
[03:32.660]He still created with the imperfection of man
[03:34.099]So, with followin' I disagree
[03:36.084]By no means have I forgotten or forgiven what's been done to me but
[03:39.716]I do know the Devil ain't no White man, the Devil's a spiritual mind
[03:42.780]That's color blind, there's evil White folk and evil niggas
[03:45.187]You gon surely find there's no positivity without negativity
[03:47.707]But one side you gonna have to choose
[03:49.596]Any chance to speak I refuse to misuse
[03:51.267]So how can you call yourself God when you let a worldly possession
[03:54.404]Become an obsession and the way you write your rhymes and
[03:56.814]Can't follow your lesson
[03:57.653]If a seed's sown, you make sure it's known, you make sure it's grown
[04:00.501]If you God, then save your own, don't mentally enslave your own
[04:03.406]If you God, then save your own, don't mentally enslave your own
[04:06.188]If you God, then save your own, don't mentally enslave your own
[04:09.072]Well, I've lived and I've learned
[04:11.299]I've taken and I've earned
[04:14.054]I have laughed, I have cried
[04:17.155]I failed and I have tried
[04:20.294]Sunshine, pourin rain
[04:22.907]I found joy through my pain
[04:25.870]Just wanna be happy...bein me
[04:35.211]Bein' me