I am not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy, and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot
I'mma get scholarship to King's College
I probably shouldn't brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish
The problem is I got a lot of brains, but no polish
I gotta holler just to be heard
With every word I drop knowledge
I'm a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal
Tryin' to reach my goal, my power of speech: unimpeachable
Only nineteen, but my mind is older
These New York City streets getting colder, I shoulder
Ev'ry burden, ev'ry disadvantage
I have learned to manage. I don't have a gun to brandish
N/A
The plan is to fan this spark into a flame
But damn, it's getting dark, so let me spell out my name
I am the-
A colony that runs independently
Meanwhile, Britain keeps shitting on us endlessly
Essentially, they tax us relentlessly
Then King George turns around, runs a spending spree
He ain't never gonna set his descendants free
So there will be a revolution in this century
N/A
(He says in parentheses)
Don't be shocked when your history book mentions me
I will lay down my life if it sets us free
Eventually you'll see my ascendancy
And I am not throwing away my shot (my shot)
I am not throwing away my shot (my shot)
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy, and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy, and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot
It's time to take a shot!
I dream of life without the monarchy
The unrest in France will lead to "onarchy"
"Onarchy?" How you say, how you s-Oh, anarchy!
When I fight I make the other side panicky
With my
Shot!
Yo, I'm a tailor's apprentice
And I got y'all knuckleheads in loco parentis
I'm joining the rebellion cuz I know it's my chance
To socially advance, instead of sewin' some pants
I'm gonna take a
Shot!
Eh, but we'll never be truly free
Until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me
You and I, do or die, wait till I sally in on a stallion
With the first black battalion
Have another
Shot!
Geniuses, lower your voices
You keep out of trouble, and you double your choices
I'm with you, but the situation is fraught
If you talk, you're gonna get shot!
Burr, check what we got
Mr. Lafayette hard rock like Lancelot
I think your pants look hot
Laurens, I like you a lot
Let's hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin' the pot
What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot
Poppin' a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not
A bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists
N/A
I am not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy, and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
I am not throwing away my shot
Hey yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy, and hungry
And I'm not throwing away my shot
Everybody sing
Woah-woah, wo-oh-oh (Woah-woah, wo-oh-oh)
Hey
Wo-oh-oh (Wo-oh-oh)
Wooh!!
Wo-oh-oh (Wo-oh-oh)
Sing let 'em hear ya (Yeah)
Let's go! (Woah-woah, wo-oh-oh)
I said, shout it to the rooftops
(Wo-oh-oh)
Said to the rooftops
(Wo-oh-oh)
Now come on
(Yeah)
Now come on, let's go
Rise up
When you're living on your knees, you rise up
Tell your brother that he's got to rise up
Tell your sister that she's got to rise up
When are these colonies gonna rise up
(Whoa, woah)
When are these colonies gonna rise up (Woah)
When are these colonies gonna rise up (Woah)
When are these colonies gonna rise up (Woah)
Rise up
I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory
When's it's gonna get me?
In my sleep? Seven feet ahead of me?
If I see it coming, do I run or do I let it be?
Is it like a beat without a melody?
See, I never thought I'd live past twenty
Where I come from some get half as many
Ask anybody why we livin' fast and we laugh, reach for a flask
We have to make this moment last, that's plenty
Scratch that
This is not a moment, it's the movement
Where all the hungriest brothers with something to prove went
Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand
We roll like Moses, claimin' our Promised Land
And? If we win our independence?
'Zat a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?
Or will the blood we shed begin an endless
Cycle of vengeance and death with no defendants?
I know the action in the street is excitin'
But Jesus, between all the bleedin' 'n fightin'
I've been readin' 'n writin'
We need to handle our financial situation
Are we a nation of states? What's the state of our nation?
I'm past patiently waitin'! I'm passionately smashin' every expectation
Every action's an act of creation
I'm laughin' in the face of casualties and sorrow
For the first time, I'm thinkin' past tomorrow
And I am not throwin' away my shot
I am not throwin' away my shot
Hey, yo, I'm just like my country
I'm young, scrappy, and hungry
And I'm not throwin' away my shot
We gonna
rise up; time to take a shot
(Not thrown' away my shot)
We gonna
rise up; time to take a shot
(Not throwin' away my shot)
We gonna
(rise up, rise up)
It's time to take a shot
(Rise up, rise up)
It's time to take a shot (rise up, rise up)
Time to take a shot (Woah-oh)
And I am (And I am)
Not throwing away my shot!