I tell people that I was born and raised in the ghetto, but the ghetto was not born and raised in me.

Certainly youth of color, particularly those in ghetto communities, find themselves born into the cage. They are born into a community in which the rules, laws, policies, structures of their lives virtually guarantee that they will remain trapped for life.

Father Forgive Us For Livin’
Why All My Homies Stuck In Prison?
Barely Breathin’ Believin That The World Is A Prison,
It’s Like A Ghetto We Could Neva Leave…

A Broken Rose, Trying to Bloom Through The Cracks Of The Concrete,
So Many Otha Things For Us To See, Things To Be,
Our History so Full Of Tragedy And Misery,

To All My Homies Neva Made It Home,
The Dead Peers I Shed Tatooed Tears For
When I’m Alone,

Picture Us Inside A Ghetto Heaven, A Place To Rest,
Findin’ Peace Through This Land Of Stress,

In My Chest I Feel Pain, Come In Sudden Storms,
Life Full Of Rain In This Game Watch For landstorms,

Our Unborn,
Neva Gotta Grow
Neva Gotta See What’s Next,
In This World Full Of Countless Threats,

I Beg God To Make A Way
For Our Ghetto Kids To Breathe
Show A Sign
Make Us All Believe,
Coz I Ain’t Mad At Cha

Most of the young men of talent whom I have met in this country give one the impression of being somewhat demented. Why shouldn't they? They are living amidst spiritual gorillas, living with food and drink maniacs, success-mongers, gadget innovators, publicity hounds. God, if I were a young man today, if I were faced with a world such as we have created, I would blow my brains out.

"You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason. The limits of your ambition were, thus, expected to be set forever. You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being. You were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity. Wherever you have turned, James, in your short time on this earth, you have been told where you could go and what you could do (and how you could do it) and where you could live and whom you could marry. I know your countrymen do not agree with me about this, and I hear them saying "You exaggerate." They do not know Harlem, and I do. So do you. Take no one's word for anything, including mine- but trust your experience. Know whence you came."