American Dream Lyrics

[PRELUDE]
(Radio Announcer) "The American dream had a price tag ... and only one man in a million was hungry enough to pay"
Hey man, you can save that morality for your minister
And you can save that speech for the sisters of the church
This is America, jack
This is all about corporate takeovers and money makeovers
Wealth matters and poverty doesn't
We all say we love Martin Luther King, but we all wanna live like Don King, don't we?
God bless America! God bless America!
Home of the Rockefellers, home of the Carnegies
Home of the end justifies the means, legitimized through larceny
"Fuck the king! Fuck your taxes!" is what they told their masters
Before they became our masters

So rebelling against power is natural
And being an outlaw is actually ...

[HOOK]
My American dreams, my American schemes
Fueled by American greed
My American dreams, my American schemes
Fueled by American dreams
It's American me, it's American me
By any means necessary
American me, my American dreams
Fueled by American schemes
It's American me

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About

Genius Annotation

The “American dream” is a topic we’ve probably all been forced to study in English and social studies classes in high school, reading about the history of immigration to the US and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby–and unmined rap stage name of there ever was one.

But it remains an important theme not only in literature, politics, and popular culture as well, and so Killer Mike, bringing political hip hop back to the mainstream, adds his own two cents to the discussion begun by James Truslow Adams in 1931 when he first coined the term, “American dream.”

What’s interesting about the argument of the song, though, is the way in which Killer Mike critiques America’s famous economic and political families (Kennedys and Carnegies) for corruption, and at the same time celebrates drug dealers and other criminals for staying true to the dream.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Credits
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Written By
Release Date
May 17, 2011
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