A president, an astronaut, that's what I had envisioned
An actor surviving a 28 car collision
A thread of untruth entwined into a white robe
Strobe lights imitating a holy glow

When the mirror cracks, does the person crack as well?
Did the glass break or does it become a thousand cells?
Magic pulls the wool right over your eyes
Are you really dying or just a slave being hypnotized?

Wake up, honey! It's time to rise and shine.
Get up out the bed, that's when you realize
Gotta get to work, gotta buy some food
Get the kids ready, that's when you understood

This isn't playtime, it's just business
The fog's fading away, the skies are clearing
Life is at the door, open it and let it in and let your soul take a stroll and see where you go

Illusions are nothing but dreams that you think you see
Oases role-playing reality
Mirages that dodges the truth from you and me
Imagination's creation twisting reasoning

This is not about money, fancy cars, hoes or the clothes
This is about how the story of a normal life goes
What you see is what you get, what you get is what you see
Why desire to live like the rappers when they're not living as real as you and me?

Now that I have your attention listen up and listen good
There's no such thing as not being able to escape the hood
The ghetto can't be taken out of the girl yet it can cease to exist

When a higher education transforms her and assists
In granting her a better life, but one thing that she pains over
Is looking at the people in her hometown bending over
Not for jobs, but the white substance that freelances
Their bodies to struggle for it, but then leave them unsatisfied
The world isn't a jungle, but a battle to live or die

Wake up, honey! It's time to rise and shine!
Get up out the bed, that's when you realize
Gotta get to work, gotta get some food
Get the kids ready, that's when you understood

Now it's time for the next generation
To learn the last lesson of not regressing
But progressing themselves and others to wiggle out of the hold
And let their lives tell others how to break free of a predetermined mold

Illusions are nothing but dreams that you think you see
Oases role-playing reality
Mirages that dodges the truth from you and me
Imagination's creation twisting reasoning

This is not about money, fancy cars, hoes or the clothes
This is about how the story of a normal life goes
What you see is what you get, what you get is what you see
Why desire to live like the rappers when they're not living as real as you and me?