I Want to Talk to You Lyrics

[Chorus]
I wanna talk to the mayor, to the governor, to the motherfuckin' president
I wanna talk to the FBI, and the CIA, and the motherfuckin' congressman
I wanna talk to the mayor, to the governor, to the motherfuckin' president
I wanna talk to the FBI, and the CIA, and the motherfuckin' congressman
Can I talk to ya?

[Verse 1]
Step up to the White House let me in
What's my reason for being, I'm ya next of kin
And we built this motherfucker
You wanna kill me because my hunger?

Mr. America young black niggas want ya
I wanna talk to the man, understand?
Understand this motherfuckin' G-pack in my hand
Look what happened to San Fran
Young girl hit by policeman
Twelve shots up in her dome, damn
Niggas thought we slept but the architect sent
The Pentagon's from Egypt, government secret
The 99 to 2-G computer shutdown, what now
Extension on Earth, human cutdown
Niggas play with PlayStations, they build a spacestations
On Mars plottin' civilizations
Dissin' us discriminatin' different races
Tax payers pay for more jail for Black Latin faces
[Chorus]
I wanna talk to the mayor, to the governor, to the motherfuckin' president
I wanna talk to the FBI, and the CIA, and the motherfuckin' congressman
I wanna talk to the mayor, to the governor, to the motherfuckin' president
I wanna talk to the FBI, and the CIA, and the motherfuckin' congressman
Can I talk to ya?

[Verse 2]
I'm just a black man why y'all made it so hard, damn
Niggas gotta go create his own job
Mr. Mayor imagine if this was your backyard
Mr. Governor imagine if it was your kids that starved
Imagine your kids gotta sling crack to survive
Swing a mack to be live cardiac to get high
It's the ghetto life, yeah I celebrate it I live it
And all I got is what you left me with I'ma get it
And y'all combinin' all the countries we goin' do the same
Combine all the cliques to make one gang
It ain't a black and white thing
It's to make the change, citizens of a higher plane

[Chorus]
I wanna talk to the mayor, to the governor, to the motherfuckin' president
I wanna talk to the FBI, and the CIA, and the motherfuckin' congressman
I wanna talk to the mayor, to the governor, to the motherfuckin' president
I wanna talk to the FBI, and the CIA, and the motherfuckin' congressman
Can I talk to ya?
[Verse 3]
What y'all waitin' for the world to blow up
Before you hear this rewind this 4 minutes before we timeless

Let y'all niggas bang my shit before Saddam hits
Let Nastradamus tell us what time it is
They try to buy us with dough
Fake black leaders of puppets always talkin' 'bout the city budget
The news got it all confused lyin' to the public
They eyes watchin' stay wise move above it
Water floods predicted, hurricanes, twisters
Its all signs of the Armageddon, three sixes
People reverse the system, politics verse religion
Holy war, muslim verse christians
Niggas in high places, they don't got the balls for this
People in power sit back and watch them slaughter us
Mr. President I assume it was negligence
But your streets are upside down, I'm here to represent

[Chorus]
I wanna talk to the mayor, to the governor, to the motherfuckin' president
I wanna talk to the FBI, and the CIA, and the motherfuckin' congressman
I wanna talk to the mayor, to the governor, to the motherfuckin' president
I wanna talk to the FBI, and the CIA, and the motherfuckin' congressman
Can I talk to ya?

[Outro]
Can I talk to you Mr. President
Niggas tryin to get with the computers
We ain't John Henry
Banging down fuckin'..? fighting against the machines

We want to be Part of the establishment nigga
That's what we are steppin up for
Ain't no cartoon out here
This shit is real
Total Package in this nigga
LES in this nigga
Ill Will nigga
Mr. President wanna keep us from establishment
Niggas are american baby
American Made

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Genius Annotation

In track 9 of Nas’s ‘I Am…’ album, he vies for a voice in the way things are run. He doesn’t like how the government is handling situations, especially that of the situation in the ghettos. Nas believes that it if he was given power, he’d be able to make a change.

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Credits
Produced By
Written By
Recording Engineer
Mixing Engineer
Phonographic Copyright ℗
Performance Rights
Recorded At
The Hit Factory (New York City)
Release Date
April 6, 1999
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