Lyrics Act Won (Things Fall Apart) - The Roots

(And you are all...)

We don't even come
To see our own, man. Listen, Freddy, listen...
You know if we had to dep...
If we had to depend upon black people to eat,
We would starve to death.
I mean, you've been out there,
You're on the bandstand,
You look out into the audience,
What do you see? You see Japanese, you see,
You see West Germans, you see, you know, Slabobic
, Anything except our people - it makes no sense.
It incenses me that our own people
Don't realize our own heritage,
Our own culture, this is our music

That's bullshit!

BG: Why?

SH: That's all bullshit.
Everything, everything you just said is bullshit...
You complaining about... I'm talking about the audience. That's right.
The people don't come because you grandiose motherfuckers
Don't play shit that they like.
If you played the shit that they liked,
Then the people would come.
Simple as that

Inevitably, hip-hop records are treated as though they are disposable.
They are not maximized as product, not to mention as art