Dante’s Ascent

Chorus

Finding heaven in the ghetto
Angels on the ground
Finding heaven in the ghetto
With all this hell around

Intro

I say my man Dante Was a-going this-a-way
With the tight new threads And a few words to say
To the brothers on the block, victims of the crack rock
And hoes with no clothes
Who be dodging all the po-po’s
Watching the dealing
High speed chasing and the wheeling
Needle in the arm to improve the feeling

Say it’s hell on earth
But I say it’s been worse
And it’s way down here
Where you learning what you worth
‘Cause everybody can’t survive the hardcore
You gots to hold the something up amidst the war
Gots to keep the gat up in yo pocket
Cocked and loaded, and then you got to lock it
‘Cause somebody grab two cents up out the dime
Ya might not make it out the clinic this time
With that girl ‘round the way you been seeing since Saturday
Who can see heaven in the ghetto, anyway?

Verse 1

I visualize thugs in communal militias
And street corner preachers trading Bibles for the issues
Hoes on the block recognized for they mindpower
Drug entrepreneurs rolling up in Trump Towers
Addicts testifying about rebuilding they clout
And ain’t no sirens, five-o done got the hell out
Project residents, and now they own the land
If you can’t see what I see, you just don’t understand

Verse 2

Gates to the pen open, homies making the break
The government say they gonna reparate
I turn on the tube, there’s no whack images
And no fake gangsters using queens as appendages
Folks puffing on green, open air, no stress
Traded bullets for ballots, and hooked up with the prez-elect
Look like soul ‘bout to get up in the White House
Bandera, national flag, now what U talking about

Verse 3

Ain’t nobody hungry, yo the hood share food
And if they got it to spare, then they pass it to you
Kujichagulia broke out, we own the store
We charge U a little bit, but never much more
‘Cause now we understand what the dollar be worth
And now we building God’s dominion right here on earth
No nip, no tuck, no weave, no make- up
God put His face on us and that be good enough

(c) 2004 Nikitah Imani (DP Da Reapa)