Song Lyrics

I testified
My mama cried
Black people died
When the other man lied

See the TV listen to me double trouble
I overhaul and I'm comin'
From the lower level
I'm takin' tabs

Sho nuff stuff to grab
Like shirts it hurts
With a neck to wreck
Took a poll 'cause our soul

Took a toll
From the education
Of a TV station
But look around

Hear go the sound of the wreckin' ball
Boom and Pound
When I
Shut 'em down

One two three four five
Six seven eight nine
What I use in the battle for the mind
I hit it hard
Like it supposed

Pullin' no blows to the nose
Like uncle L said I'm rippin' up shows
Then what it is
Only 5 percent of the biz

I'm addin' woes
That's how da way it goes
Then you think I rank never drank, point blank
I own loans

Suckers got me runnin' from the bank
Civil liberty I can't see to pay a fee
I never saw a way to pay a sap
To read the law

Then become a victim of a lawyer
Don't know ya, never saw ya
Tape cued
Gettin' me sued

Playin' games wit' my head
What the judge said put me in the red
Got me thinkin' 'bout a trigger to the lead
No no

My education mind say
Suckers gonna pay
Anyway
There gonna be a day

'Cause the troop they roll in
To posse up
Whole from the ground
Ready to go

Throw another round
Sick of the ride
It's suicide
For the other side of town

When I find a way to shut 'em down
Who count the money
In da neighborhood
But we spendin' money

To no end lookin' for a friend
In a war to the core
Rippin' up the poor in da stores
Till they get a brother

Kickin' down doors
Then I figure I kick it bigger
Look 'em dead in the eye
And they wince

Defense is pressurized
They don't want it to be
Another racial attack
In disguise so give some money back

I like Nike but wait a minute
The neighborhood supports so put some
Money in it
Corporations owe

Dey gotta give up the dough
To da town
Or else
We gotta shut 'em down

Carlton Ridenhour, Gary Rinaldo, Hank Shocklee, James Henry Boxley Iii

The duration of Shut Em Down [The Functionist Version] is 5:28 minutes and seconds.