We play skip rope in the alleys of Philly and New Jersey,
We break into scuffles in the back streets of DC,
We trade pot and coke and crack and E,
Fuck you, fuck you all, you say we're nothing,
But I tell you something,
Us kids, we're the best we can be.
We're the ones you see on momma's front lawn,
Skipping with braids knotted into our hair,
Dancing in the steamed underground clubs,
Break dancing on a gum littered sidewalk,
A backward turned baseball cap and a bottle of beer clutched in one hand,
Dancing through the streets, fuck you fuck you all the way,
Philly is the place to make your dreams,
The skin on the soles of our feet is tough from walking when we forgot to wear sneakers on the courts,
The black of our hands, the white of our eyes, we know just where we come from,
We know just how we are gonna be,
(unlike you, unlike you)
There's nothing that can stop us when we get started,
You tell us that we'll be nothing, we'll gain nothing,
But we're the best we can be,
And fuck you if you don't see it coming to you.
When our fathers slouch in front of a tv with a wifebeater vest and a pack of cigarettes,
We go out to find our brothers and our sisters, our black and our white,
So don't tell us what we are and who we're gonna be,
You don't say fuck to us, 'cause we're kids and we're gonna sort it out ourselves,
We're going to find ourselves and know ourselves, do it our own way,
We can do better, we can do our best, we're the kids of today
(and the youth of tomorrow)
So you don't fuckin tell us how to be,
You don't say we're goin down the drain,
Don't you remember what it was like to be young?
Don't you remember what it was fuckin LIKE?
In Philly, Detroit, London or Africa,
Wherever we are,
We're going to show you that we are the best we can be,
We're the kids of the world, and you better not stand in our way.

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