Tricks of the Shade

Tell me what's up or tell me how to run it down

The tricks of the shade got your merry goin' round

Rich movin' in, got the poor movin' out

The property values jumpin', so they can't afford their house

Ma, I say mama, how time flies right by

Punks talkin' junk, try to feed me apple pie

17Th and Mt. Vernon, not a lot of earnin'

Build some fly new apartments and the table tops turnin'

Like a journeyman yearnin' to make that quick buck

Scams run in flames, hey yo, yo, kid, yeah, you better duck

They move into your neighborhood, now all of a sudden

It's good enough, so let the good get rough

And tougher, I had enough of rich motherfuckers

Takin' from my brothers, I'm a quicker picker upper

My brother's movin' out, yo, we gotta make room

For the white man, damn, yo, I think I smell a scam

Learnin' the tricks of the shade, the trades of the trickiest

The stickiest motherfucker in the history of hypocrites

Columbus destroyed more Indians than Hitler killed Jews

But on his birthday, he gets sales on shoes

And this is all old news, but I'm afraid you can't find it

You snooze, you lose, so I choose to rewind it

Offered guns for gold, but behold the real plan

Using shady treaties, tradin' trinkets for land

They should've scalped his ass before he even touched sand

Everything was grand until 1609

That's when the swiney swillies started freezin' and starvin'

But who do they turn to when the times get hard and

I beg your pardon, punk, but that shit's shady

You want relief from the chief after you rape his lady?

But maybe your time's up, 'cause here comes the Swayzack

After 500 fuckin' years, here's a payback

Taught the tricks of the shade, everyone's tryin' to get paid

Can't be like Mike, gettin' hype with a type of Gatorade

Bush pulls on the strings, says a trickle is a thing

But it ain't trickled down and 'round my pockets it don't ring

Sing it's money for the wealthy, healthcare for the healthy

Welfare buys the pants but you can't buy the belt