My Shot - The Roots, Busta Rhymes, Joell Ortiz

The Hamilton Mixtape

Woah, woah, woah, woah

Woah, woah, woah

Ayo, mugshot, gun shot, dope shot, jump shot

Take your pick—but you only get one shot

Advice from a schoolteacher to a young tot

Applyin' a sticker to his Spiderman lunchbox

When even role models tell us we’re born to be felons

We’re never gettin' into Harvard or Carnegie Mellon

And we gon' end up either robbin' somebody or killin'

It’s not fair that’s all they can tell us

That’s why I hustle hella hard, never celebrate a holiday

That’ll be the day I coulda finally hit the lottery

I refuse to ever lose or throw my shot away

Or chalk it up as just another one that got away

So I’m unapologetic, I’m on my calesthenics

If I have given it all I got I cannot regret it

My point of destination’s different from where I was headed

'Cause I’ma shoot for the stars to get it

One shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

Yo I’m just like my country

I’m young, scrappy, and hungry

And I’m not throwin' away my shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

No I’m not throwin' away my shot

Yo I’m just like my country

I’m young, scrappy and hungry

And I’m not throwin' away my shot

When opportunity knock, you don’t send anyone to get it

Answer the door, welcome it, let it in, or regret it

They said if you can’t beat 'em you join 'em

I say, «Forget it»

'Cause once you join 'em you’re buildin' a ceilin' the way you’re headed

Be American, express how you feel and take the credit

Don’t settle for 87, go premium unleaded and

Take off, shake all the hate off, it’s over

It’s they loss, the payoff’s their weight off your shoulders

Must admit, I’m feelin', um, kinda, um

Lighter as a writer with this fire and desire to go higher

Than a stealth fighter pilot with my eye on every prize

I surprise you guys, I’m a prize fighter

My nine to five describe your scribe, survive minor

Setbacks and take steps back from pied pipers

Be leaders, believers in yourself and mean it

I mean you only get one shot, take it or leave it

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

Yo I’m just like my country

I’m young, scrappy and hungry

And I’m not throwin' away my shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

No I’m not throwin' away my shot

Yo I’m just like my country

I’m young, scrappy and hungry

And I’m not throwin' away my shot

Rise up

If you livin' 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 folks like me and you gonna rise up?

Every city, every hood, we need to rise up

All my soldiers, what’s good?

We need to wise up

We ain’t got no other choice, we need to wise up

Rise up!

Throughout my travels and journeys through life I’ve been searchin'

And been learnin' to be the type of person

To display how determined I get when I’m certain

Inside I feel that fire that’s burnin'

Like a knife that is turnin', I fight while I’m hurtin'

Sometimes they’re right 'cause life is a burden

Like the pain from a bite that’ll worsen

Tryna stifle the light that’ll shine on me first and

Before I ride in a hearse and

My breathing stops and

You’ll never take my one shot I got 'fore I lie in the earth

And now I come again holdin' that Hamilton Hercules Mulligan

Readin' in Vanity Fair or the Huffington

Done with the sufferin', we in the guts again, family rushin' in

Wonder where Busta been

Feelin' the hunger and feedin' the lust to win

See I’ve been patiently waitin' for this moment

To rise up again, that’s the way I was molded

And as the last one standin' as the rest of them foldin'

Give me my one chance to grab the torch and properly hold it

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

Ayy, yo I’m just like my country

I’m young, scrappy and hungry

And I’m not throwin' away my shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

No I’m not throwin' away my shot

Yo I’m just like my country

I’m young, scrappy and hungry

And I’m not throwin' away my shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

Ayy, yo I’m just like my country

I’m young, scrappy and hungry

And I’m not throwin' away my shot

I said I’m not throwin' away my shot

No I’m not throwin' away my shot

Ayy yo I’m just like my country

I’m young, scrappy and hungry

And I’m not throwin' away my shot

It’s time to take a shot

Woah, woah, woah, woah

Woah, woah, woah, woah