Little girl tell me why you're scared
Why you writing in you hope soon to be dead
Is it because of the stuff that your papa did
Took your innocence, now you're taking meds.
Now you're here, you don't even want to be nothing
Is it because your mama said you ain't nothing
Put that garbage in the back, skinny dirty trash
These the words that will haunt you
When you're in the class
How in the world you gonna study
How you do the math
But you put a smile on
Girl that's a mask, I see you moving fast
You trying to push forward but then you think about pass
Hoping you can blast off, but the time slow, pause
And you stay rolled up, meat ball
Tears flowing Niagara falls
I pray you dream girl
I pray you stand tall

Say I dream. Say I dream forever

Lil' bro what you scared of? How you get in juvey cuz?
Here with these killas, you the very opposite of thug.
He said I'm from the hood but I never been a goon.
Mamma got laid off, we was running outta food
I couldn't listen to my cryin' little sister when we
had nothin' to give her plus we bout to get evicted.
You know Chicago winter be oh so cold.
Rather do wrong than to have no home,
so I went to the dealer, slung that dope,
Made that money, paid that note.
Mama wasn't happy but she ate that soup,
until the undercover Popo came through.
No words for that,
He staring at me, stared right back.
Had no dreams of ice and nice cars
only bread and a bed. Now that he behind bars
the kid got both but he still can't sleep.
Nightmares of his family cold and hungry.
And that's a true story, I wish that it was false,
I fought back tears when I shoulda' let em flow
He didn't need jail, no that brotha' need hope
A young criminal with a heart full of gold.
And I ain't tryin' to say homie did the right thing,
He made the wrong choice but he had the right dream.

I know you hurt and you been through a lot
but be all you can be. Girl get your spell on like Akeelah the Bee.
Boy go to law school, solve the mysteries. Ya hear me?
To all my dreamers who wanna go to mars, even if you're
in the hood you can see the stars.
Ain't nothing wrong with wanting to get paid
but you ain't gotta kill if you wanna get by.
Wanna be a cop? Go ahead then do it.
As long as you don't abuse your power then lose it.
Awww. You say it's crazy, is it? Yeah, life is like a monster.
Skill it. You can be a doctor, a actor, a lawyer, even a governor
in California. I know seems like you're reaching for a lot,
just keep the Lord first and He will take you to the top.