Black man, born free,
At least that's the way it's supposed to be;
The chains that bind him are hard to see,
Unless you take this walk with me;
The place where he lives, God, he gives them names
The 'Hood, 'The Projects, 'The Ghetto; they are one and the same;
And I call it 'Soulsville' ah, yeah.
Any kind of job is hard to find,
That means an increase in the welfare line;
The crime rate is rising too, but
If you are hungry, what would you do?
The rent is two months past due, in a building that's falling apart,
Little boy needs a new pair of shoes, and this is only a part of Soulsville
Some of the brothers' got plenty of cash, tricks on the corner is going to see to that,
Some like to smoke and some like to blow, some are even strung out on a $50 Jones
Trying to ditch reality, by getting so, high,
Only to find out, that you can never reach the sky,
Because your roots are in Soulsville, oh, yes they are.
Every Sunday morning, I can hear the church sisters sing 'Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Trusting the Lord to make a way, oh yeah;
I hope that He hears their prayers, because deep in their souls they believe,
Someday He'll put an end to all this misery that we have in, Soulsville
All yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Hmmmmmmmmm