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
 I'ma get a scholarship to King's College
 I prob'ly shouldn't brag, but dang, 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 get colder, I shoulder
 Ev'ry burden, ev'ry disadvantage, I've learned to manage
 I don't have a gun to brandish, I walk these streets famished
 The plan is to fan this spark into a flame
 But damn, it's getting dark, so let me spell out the name
 I am the
 A-L-E-X-A-N-D-E-R
 We are meant to be
 A colony that runs independently
 Meanwhile, Britain keeps shittin' on us endlessly
 Essentially, they tax us relentlessly
 Then King George turns around, runs a spending spree
 He ain't ever gonna set his descendants free
 So there will be a revolution in this century
 Enter me
 (He says in parentheses)
 Don't be shocked when your hist'ry 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
 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
 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 'cause I know it's my chance
 To socially advance, instead of sewin' some pants
 I'm gonna take a (shot)
 But we'll never be truly free
 Until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me (that's right)
 You and I, do or die, wait 'til 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
 You've got to be carefully taught
 If you talk, you're gonna get shot
 Burr, check what we got
 Mister 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?
 Give me a position, show me where the ammunition is
 Oh, am I talkin' too loud?
 Sometimes I get over-excited, shoot off at the mouth
 I never had a group of friends before
 I promise that I'll make y'all proud
 Let's get this guy in front of a crowd
 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
 Ev'rybody sing
 Whoa, whoa, whoa (hey)
 Whoa (woo!) Whoa
 I say, let 'em hear ya (yeah)
 Let's go! (whoa, whoa, whoa)
 I said shout it to the rooftops (whoa)
 Said, to the rooftops (whoa)
 Come on! (yeah)
 Come on, let's go!
 Rise up
 When you're living on your knees, you rise up
 Tell your brother that he's gotta rise up
 Tell your sister that she's gotta rise up
 When are these colonies gonna rise up? (Whoa, whoa, whoa)
 When are these colonies gonna rise up?
 When are these colonies gonna rise up? (Whoa)
 When are these colonies gonna rise up? (Whoa)
 Rise up
 I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory
 When's it gonna get me?
 In my sleep? Seven feet ahead of me?
 If I see it comin', 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
 Is that 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' 'nd 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 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
 We're gonna rise up (not throwing away my shot), time to take a shot
 We're gonna rise up (not throwing away my shot), time to take a shot
 We're 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)
 It's time to take a shot (whoa, whoa, whoa)
 (Rise up)
 Take a shot
 Shot, shot (whoa, whoa, whoa)
 A-yo it's time to take a shot (whoa-whoa)
 Time to take a shot
 And I am not throwing away my
 Not throwing away my shot!