Interlude 3

I tell you, there are no
Big shots in reality, y'all

We're all in the same boat, dealing
With the same issues, same problems
Same stuff don't even buy it
All the perpetration you know
All this "We don't have problems"
That's a lie that's
A lie i know that the enemy is
Doing the same thing to me
That he's doing to everybody
Else i just know now that the only way to
Get out is through confrontation see
We always thought it was
Retreat, you know, run away
And I'm telling you, you got to confront it

This is a strange song because this song
- when this song was written, this
Is when everything sort of stopped it
Was written a long time ago
But it was right before God
Just snatched me out of
Everything and because I didn't
Understand initially it was
Written - I'd written it about
The whole Amadou Diallo situation
When it first happened and I
Went to the studio, and I laid
It down and it was like, strong
For the first day and
Then it just regressed everyday after
That and I said
"What's going on? What's happening?"

And at the end of it there
Was a word that i used, "rebel" And I
Guess was afraid it was such a hot
Time in the city at that point
I was afraid that if I put the record out
People would misunderstand what I meant
By "rebel" and they'd
Just take it to the streets so I was
Very intimidated and afraid and
Before I knew it a whole host of things
Happened everything stopped
After that and the creativity stopped
Everything stopped that's when I
Realized I had to understand
What I was talking
About before I could tell somebody
Else what I was
Talking about and I had to be, you know
A living example

It's real crazy because I don't know what the
Press is saying because I don't listen
To the press too much but I know
The view is that I'm emotionally unstable
Which is reality like you aren't?

I'm laughing because what I've realized
I've become is one
Of those mad scientists who does the tests on
Themselves first, you see
To make sure that they
Work and that's when you know, OK look, i
Got something that works you know
What I'm saying? I'm
Not gonna give you something
That I haven't tested
For myself and you go through
And you're learning
By way of experience, and
You're making mistakes
And you're getting up

A friend of mine once said to me, he said
Look, if we weren't supposed to turn around
Why does a car have a steering wheel? Are
We just supposed to crash
Into the wall? No, we're
Supposed to say, Listen
I was going the wrong way reverse!

In this particular song
Now I realize that this song is
About freedom you see? We could
Look at one human being, but it's about
The spirit of freedom being taken out
And how it's taken out in all of us

The song is called "I Find It Hard to
Say" Bear with me a little bit