You know I've been doin' this rap thing a long long time and every time I made a song it was a song that I wanted to make. For the first time here's a song that I had to make
911 is how it's written in numerical form
I turned on the sports radio cause that was the norm
Then the cohost said with astonishment
"A plane hit the World Trade." It was an accident
Flicked the TV to see it with my own two eyes
That's when I saw the second plane go in the high rise
Then I knew how clear that it all became
After this day life would never be the same
There was just no telling how many had died
There were several thousand people who were trapped inside
Then the bottom of the screen set off a news flash
Washington DC. Pentagon. Plane crash
There was no way this could be coincidence
And that wasn't the end of the incidents
Outside Pittsburgh more innocents were killed
A plane meant for the White House or Capitol Hill
It was a terrorist attack on a massive scale
They could either burn in hell or they could rot in jail
Motivated by religion and what they call "God"
But to me it really seems quite odd
There were Christians and Jews in there. Muslims too in there
There was black, white, brown, yellow, blue in there
It could have been you in there and it's scary but true:
Not six degrees of separation, just one or two
Cause it's crucial, when you're up against the wall
Like eleven of September. I remember it all. It's
Crucial, when you find you're under attack
First make a good plan then you must fight back. It's
Crucial, when you're at the moment of truth
Do the right thing. Be a good example for youth. It's
Crucial, living in the U.S. of A.
The greatest nation on the planet. We should act that way
I've never watched so much TV news in my life
Twenty-four hour coverage of the struggle and strife
For a week and a half man I hardly changed the channel
Not for CSI, Family Guy or The Sopranos
In a bad trade off, economy stayed off
Bankruptcies, foreclosures, people getting laid off
Even the boss of the Red Cross paid the cost
Whether fired or retired her job was lost
At the same time anthrax was in the mail
Airlines slowing down. One or two might fail
Less spending caused a drop in the retail sales
A lot of big picture stuff. Not a lot of detail
Money just wasn't moving. It was stiff like starch
Officially the recession started back in March
But some took advantage of what went on
Cause Whitewater was nothing compared to Enron
On the war front evidence quickly told
That Osama Bin Laden played a prominent role
Sent money through banks for financial control
Like '98 back in Yemen and the USS Cole
Send troops to Afghanistan and get there fast
Not sure how long this war will last
Cause the Russians and the British failed there in the past
Man I wish I paid attention in my history class
Cause it's crucial, when you're up against the wall
Like eleven of September. I remember it all. It's
Crucial, when you find you're under attack
First make a good plan then you must fight back. It's
Crucial, when you're at the moment of truth
Do the right thing. Be a good example for youth. It's
Crucial, living in the U.S. of A.
The greatest nation on the planet. We should act that way
Bin Laden, Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda
Just drop a Daisy Cutter. Tell 'em all "See you later."
I've never been a really big fan of war
But if we don't fight now what will we fight for?
The Taliban and the Northern Alliance, they got beef
Over Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar-I-Sharif
And they need a new government. Need one soon
For the Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara and Pashtun
The men had guns. Almost none of them were workers
Women had no rights, covered up and wearing burqas
They had to find some way to work this out
After twenty years of war and four years of drought
Almost no running water. Got light from lamps
And Al Qaeda pumping millions into terrorist camps
The Alliance and the bombing took it town by town
So Mazar fell first and they worked their way down
When the Taliban fell many said "We won!"
But the truth was the mission was far from done
Tommy Franks gave the order to bomb Tora Bora
And if we didn't get him then he got across the border
At home many loved ones were laid to rest
And the news showed just what began this mess
At Ground Zero every day all the heroes dig
Tryin' to find a silver lining in a cloud so big
Cause it's crucial, when you're up against the wall
Like eleven of September. I remember it all. It's
Crucial, when you find you're under attack
First make a good plan then you must fight back. It's
Crucial, when you're at the moment of truth
Do the right thing. Be a good example for youth. It's
Crucial, living in the U.S. of A.
The greatest nation on the planet. We should act that way
Where do we go from here? It's hard to know from here
Will I make another record? Do a show from here?
And economically, what about the dough from here?
Well all I know, there's a chance we can grow from here
It didn't take my brain. It didn't take my strength
It didn't take my ability for going the length
It didn't take my heart. It didn't take my breath
It didn't take my dreams from September the tenth
Everybody's patriotic with their flags on cars
On buildings, on homes, see the stars and bars
Greatest nation on the planet. That's where we are
Especially those of us who came from afar
See I was naturalized. I wasn't born here
And I'm of foreign descent, but I belong here
I said the pledge of allegiance one early morn here
My right hand over heart and put it on here
Keep it strong here cause I worked for my citizenship
For my blue passport when I'm taking a trip
Security's kinda tight but I don't give 'em no lip
For my laptop computer with the Pentium chip
I'm trying to give a little light when the times are dim
I didn't vote for Mr. Bush but I stand with him
Enemies run and hide but their chance is slim
We'll either bring them to justice or justice to them
Cause it's crucial, when you're up against the wall
Like eleven of September. I remember it all. It's
Crucial, when you find you're under attack
First make a good plan then you must fight back. It's
Crucial, when you're at the moment of truth
Do the right thing. Be a good example for youth. It's
Crucial, living in the U.S. of A.
The greatest nation on the planet. We should act that way
Cause it's crucial, when you're up against the wall
Like eleven of September. I remember it all. It's
Crucial, when you find you're under attack
First make a good plan then you must fight back. It's
Crucial, when you're at the moment of truth
Do the right thing. Be a good example for youth. It's
Crucial, living in the U.S. of A.
The greatest nation on the planet. We should act that way
Cause it's crucial
Man, so many thoughts on my mind that day. First you get mad, then you worry about your family, your friends, your coworkers, and one word keeps goin' through your mind over and over again. It's a word used in a lot of rap songs
You wanna know what the word is?
It was a word I was feelin' back in September
You wanna know what the word is?
It's a word that I'm feelin' right now, right here
You wanna know what the word is?
It's a word used by the people in every nation, (You wanna know what the word is?)
People of every race, people of every religion, every color, every creed. (You wanna know what the word is?)
You guys wanna know what that word is?
The word is peace
