How to Make it in America

"How to Make it in America"
By: Angelica Posadas & Henry Francisco

How  to  Make  It  in  America?

Where the kids that I teach/ play for keeps
So, Position your pieces player/ this is chess not checkers
A game of wits/ In which I move to a War of Maneuver
What up folk? Catch me on the corner of Love and Hope/
And sometimes I feel like I'm on a tightrope
In between practice and theory/ community versus currency
But ultimately I'm the legacy/ from Filipino American History
Know That!...
You have the power to shift a culture
Disrupt a system of failure
End your vanity for a profit
And begin life like a Prophet
How DO YOU make it in America?"

I got a dollar and a dream
Money-making schemes
C.R.E.A.M.
Cash Rules Everything Around Me
C.R.E.A.M.
Dolla dolla bills y'all

A distant dream deferred
America, land of the free, home of the brave
Yet, I slave, slave, slave all day
False hope for a better tomorrow
America, land of the caged, home of the fearful

I got a dollar and a dream
Money-making schemes
C.R.E.A.M.
Cash Rules Everything Around Me
C.R.E.A.M.
Dolla dolla bills y'all

He had a job, but was let go
Boss man said I don't need you no more
"But, please mister boss man, I need this more than you know!"
Gave him his last paycheck and he was out the door

Oh its so sweet!/ A penny for your thought I'm tryna eat
Like Two Tongues  It’s a Race and I'm Runnin'
Dead that game homie you not hustlin'
Its called Day to Day just livin'
The City like no other/ exile of another tenant
Redevelopment displaces the poor in ill situations/
While Tycoons live large
And you shook livin’ from pay check to pay check/
Thousand dollar rent stolen from the resident/
Pocketed by traders to make that investment
So, I hate to hate, cuz that shits baggage
But, I fuckin' hate you if you see me as a savage…

I got a dollar and a dream
Money-making schemes
C.R.E.A.M.
Cash Rules Everything Around Me
C.R.E.A.M.
Dolla dolla bills y'all

We're at a state of war
No money being spent to feed the poor
Prison cells come a plenty
Classroom halls are comin' up empty
Drop books not bombs, Mr. President!
But if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense!

"Well I need a dollar dollar, a dollar is what I need
And if I share with you my story would you share your dollar with me?"



Aloe Blacc- I Need A Dollar