| Ladies listen up, I really hope you’re ready
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| Cause what I’ve got to say is far from petty
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| We’ve come a long way, baby, so maybe
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| Shanté can help a sister that’s way be-
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| -hind, lost in the mind and can’t find
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| Her way to a better day, you know the kind
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| So wrapped up in fairy tale dreams
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| So naive that every male seems
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| Honest and loyal, ready to spoil
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| Buying him gifts as if the boy’s loyal
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| But Shanté is here just to say a few things
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| Some you heard before, but some are new things
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| So lend me your ears, dry up your tears
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| And let’s hear the cheers for the years
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| Of the independent woman
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| (Yeah)
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| (Louder)
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| How many runny-nose kids can you have?
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| How many nights can you work on the ave.
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| Your so-called man has a car and a Visa
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| He’s living large while you’re living on pizza
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| Unemployed while you wait for the perfect mate
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| Let’s get one thing straight cause it’s getting late
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| What you’re waiting for is really never coming
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| No one hears the sorry tunes that you’re humming
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| I’m here to bring the news, that if you’re singing the blues
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| Everyday, it will not change the views
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| That people have of you, they say you’re lost
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| Nobody forced you to quit, your future’s tossed
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| You put your faith in the guys with the hazel eyes
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| You thought you would get a prize, all you got was lies
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| Now you’re stuck in a room with a mopping broom
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| Did you assume that one day you will find a groom?
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| Are you dizzy? |
| Who would ever marry you?
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| You’re looking for a man that will carry you
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| And buy you nice things, like diamond rings
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| You’re amazed at the truth that my rhyming brings
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| But the truth is the only way you’ll ever see
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| That the life that you’re hoping for will never be
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| But the race isn’t over, put down the rope
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| Shanté is here to say there’s still hope
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| So lend me your ears, dry up your tears
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| And let’s hear the cheers for the years
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| Of the independent woman
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| (Yeah)
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| (Louder)
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| So much to live for, she wants to die
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| Life’s full of pitfalls, maybe that’s why
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| Her pops went to jail, her mother tapped her vein
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| City took custody and trapped her in pain
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| Feeling so alone in the room with a stranger
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| Hates her own blood and nothing’s gonna change her
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| Angry at the world cause it doesn’t play fair
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| So much despair does she feel, no one to care
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| Not a single family member will remember her
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| Smoke’s in her eyes, and the past is a blur
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| She’s on her own now, living with some other girls
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| With the same damn lives, but from a different world
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| These girls are lost, how the city is full of fools
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| So many years, no guidings, and no kinda rules
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| No love to give, yo, they need love to live
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| If not instead, they’ll ponder in a bed
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| Sex is the thing that makes her feel wanted
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| Love and care, for she’s undaunted
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| Because whoever is laying there won’t really matter
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| Such a sad song when young dreams shatter
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| I really don’t think glue is gonna fix it
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| But homegirl can walk the right path if she picks it
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| So lend me your ears, dry up your tears
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| And let’s hear the cheers for the years
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| Of the independent woman
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| (Yeah)
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| (Louder)
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| The black woman role grows larger each day
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| Nothing in the way so what we teach may
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| Somehow help those young sisters that doze
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| And sleepwalk through life with their eyes closed
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| You don’t need a man, all you need is to know you can
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| Then you can stand on your own two feet and
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| Achieve anything that you want out of life
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| Do for yourself, then you can be a wife
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| And you’ll feel so good that you wanna shout
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| Because you got to the top and got there without
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| Relying on Tom, Dick, or Billy Dee
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| You don’t have to turn the lights on to really see
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| So lend me your ears, dry up your tears
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| And let’s hear the cheers for the years
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| Of the independent woman |