my shot

i am not throwing away my shot!

i am not throwing away my shot!

hey yo

i'm just like my country

i'm young

scrappy and hungry

and i'm not throwing away my shot!

i'm 'a get a scholarship to king's college

i probably shouldn't brag

but dag

i amaze and astonish

the problem is i got a lot of brains but no polish

i gotta holler just to be heard

with every word

i drop knowledge!

i'm a diamond in the rough

a shiny piece of coal

tryin' to reach my goal. my power of speech: unimpeachable

only nineteen but my mind is older

these new york city streets get colder

i shoulder

every burden

every disadvantage

i have learned to manage

i don't have a gun to brandish

i walk these streets famished

ooh!

the plan is to fan this spark into a flame

but damn

it's getting dark

so let me spell out the name

i am the

a-l-e-x-a-n-d

e-r--we are meant to be. a colony that runs independently

meanwhile

britain keeps shittin' on us endlessly

essentially

they tax us relentlessly

then king george turns around

runs a spending spree

he ain't ever gonna set his descendants free

so there will be a revolution in this century

enter me!

don't be shocked when your history book mentions me

i will lay down my life if it sets us free

eventually

you'll see my ascendancy

]

and i am not throwing away

my shot

i am not throwing away

my shot

hey yo

i'm just like my country

i'm young

scrappy and hungry

and i'm not throwing away my shot

i am not throwing away my shot

i am not throwing away my shot

hey yo

i'm just like my country

i'm young

scrappy and hungry

and i'm not throwing away my shot

it's time to take a shot!

i dream of life without a monarchy

the unrest in france will lead to 'onarchy?

'onarchy? how you say

how you say

oh

'anarchy'!

when i fight

i make the other side panicky

with my

shot!

yo

i'm a tailor's apprentice

and i got y'all knuckleheads in loco parentis

i'm joining the rebellion 'cause i know it's my chance

to socially advance

instead of sewin' some pants!

i'm gonna take a

shot!

and but we'll never be truly free

until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me

you and i. do or die. wait 'til i sally in

on a stallion with the first black battalion

have another

shot!

geniuses

lower your voices

you keep out of trouble and you double your choices

i'm with you

but the situation is fraught

you've got to be carefully taught: if you talk

you're gonna get shot!

burr

check what we got

mister lafayette

hard rock like lancelot

i think your pants look hot

laurens

i like you a lot

let's hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin' the pot. what are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot

poppin' a squat on conventional wisdom

like it or not

a bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists?

give me a position

show me where the ammunition is!

oh

am i talkin' too loud?

sometimes i get over-excited

shoot off at the mouth

i never had a group of friends before

i promise that i'll make y'all proud

let's get this guy in front of a crowd

i am not throwing away my shot

i am not throwing away my shot

hey yo

i'm just like my country

i'm young

scrappy and hungry

and i'm not throwing away my shot

i am not throwing away my shot

i am not throwing away my shot

hey yo

i'm just like my country

i'm young

scrappy and hungry

and i'm not throwing away my shot

]

everybody sing: whoa

whoa

whoa

hey!

whoa!

wooh!

whoa!

ay

let 'em hear ya!

let's go!

]

i said shout it to the rooftops!

said

to the rooftops!

come on!

come on

let's go!

rise up!

when you're living on your knees

you rise up

tell your brother that he's gotta rise up

tell your sister that she's gotta rise up

]

when are these colonies gonna rise up?

when are these colonies gonna rise up?

when are these colonies gonna rise up?

when are these colonies gonna rise up?

rise up!

i imagine death so much it feels more like a memory

when's it gonna get me?

in my sleep? seven feet ahead of me?

if i see it comin'

do i run or do i let it be?

is it like a beat without a melody?

see

i never thought i'd live past twenty

where i come from some get half as many

ask anybody why we livin' fast and we laugh

reach for a flask

we have to make this moment last

that's plenty

scratch that

this is not a moment

it's the movement

where all the hungriest brothers with something to prove went. foes oppose us

we take an honest stand

we roll like moses

claimin' our promised land

and? if we win our independence?

is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?

or will the blood we shed begin an endless

cycle of vengeance and death with no defendants?

i know the action in the street is excitin'

but jesus

between all the bleedin' 'n fightin'

i've been readin' 'n writin'

we need to handle our financial situation

are we a nation of states? what's the state of our nation?

i'm past patiently waitin'. i'm passionately

smashin' every expectation

every action's an act of creation!

i'm laughin' in the face of casualties and sorrow

for the first time

i'm thinkin' past tomorrow. and i am not throwing away my shot

i am not throwing away my shot

hey yo

i'm just like my country

i'm young

scrappy and hungry

and i'm not throwing away my shot

]

we're gonna rise up! time to take a shot!

we're gonna rise up! time to take a shot!

we're gonna

it's time to take a shot!

it's time to take a shot!

it's time to take a shot!

take a shot! shot! shot!

a-yo it's time to take a shot!

time to take a shot!

and i am not throwing away my

not throwing away my shot!