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'ma get a scholarship to King's College

I prob'ly shouldn't brag, but dang, 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

Ev'ry burden, ev'ry disadvantage, I've learned to manage

I don't have a gun to brandish, I walk these streets famished

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

(He says in parentheses)

Don't be shocked when your hist'ry 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 the monarchy

The unrest in France will lead to 'onarchy

'Onarchy? How you say, how you s...? 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)

But we'll never be truly free

Until those in bondage have the same rights as you and me (that's right)

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

Ev'rybody sing

Whoa, whoa, whoa (hey)

Whoa (woo!) Whoa

I say, let 'em hear ya (yeah)

Let's go! (whoa, whoa, whoa)

I said shout it to the rooftops (whoa)

Said, to the rooftops (whoa)

Come on! (yeah)

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? (Whoa, whoa, whoa)

When are these colonies gonna rise up?

When are these colonies gonna rise up? (Whoa)

When are these colonies gonna rise up? (Whoa)

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 (not throwing away my shot), time to take a shot

We're gonna rise up (not throwing away my shot), time to take a shot

We're gonna (rise up, rise up)

It's time to take a shot (rise up, rise up)

It's time to take a shot (rise up)

It's time to take a shot (whoa, whoa, whoa)

(Rise up)

Take a shot

Shot, shot (whoa, whoa, whoa)

A-yo it's time to take a shot (whoa-whoa)

Time to take a shot

And I am

Not throwing away my

Not throwing away my shot!