retrorockerboy November 5th, 2008 11:39PM  
This song is a tribute to Barack Obama's election campaign. It goes in deeper into the history or racial tension in the U.S.A. Nas states he doesn't have in him to "march" referring to the Martin Luther King March against racism. Nas however says he's ready to "spark", meaning he's wants to change the mentality of angry young black males in his country. He establishes obama as their hope and symbol of a righteous cause and fulfillment needed. "America surprise us, and let a black man guide us" he means to express that with Obama as the first black president, the hate and anger in many young black american males should no longer exist because the years of oppression and suffering is finally neutralized by a man who's fulfilled the dreams of their ancestors. That man is Barack Obama.

He makes to references to how every other president is nothing less than white except for Thomas Jeffersons mixed Native Indian blood. Nas talks about how the KKK will hate to see a black man as president and will soon come with a plan to kill him, he then states that we (black community) die if he dies too so he'll load up guns if anyone intends to kill Obama.

He finally states that Obama provides hope, that America will no longer condemn innocent blacks into Jail. Nas states that obama puts himself as someone who the black people can really trust.

The chorus throughout the song is 2pac repeating that "we ain't ready to have black president" then followed by the smooth singing of Obamas election winning motto "YES WE CAN" then furthermore added "CHANGE THE WORLD", I believe Nas used this to paint a picture of how in the past black male rappers have tried to reach out and express about how their environment and community and even society is oppressed and inclined to inequity. Those rappers (especially 2pac) have expressed explicitly the suffering of black african-americans in their music. 2pac's expression on the chorus quote however instills the hopelessness of the society of his time. The Obama "Yes We Can" opposes that expression and reflects that there is hope and they can have a change. The 2pac quote is ironically from 2pacs song "CHANGES". This song is song is about change from hate to hope, from separation to unity and also it's that little more reach the Democratic Party has into suburban America.