Lyrics for Darkness (Of Greed) as interpreted by Nelly

Darkness (Of Greed) Lyrics
Greed!
Causing innocent blood to flow
Entire culture, lost in the overthrow
They came to seize and take whatever they please
Then all they gave back was death and disease
My people were left with no choice but to decide
To conform to a system, responsible for genocide
Responsible for genocide
Responsible for genocide...

Spoken:
'AIDS is killing the entire African nation
And a vaccine is still supposedly under preparation
But these governments they don't mind the procrastination
They say
"We'll kill them off,
take their land
and go there for vaction."'

My people's culture was strong, it was pure
And if not for that white greed
It would've endured
My people were left with no choice but to decide
To conform to a system
Their minds enslaved
Their souls encaged
I feel the rage
It's brutality can never be undone
But the sun is not yet set
The bass and drums and microphones a threat
That's when ya investigate the crimes from the inside
And see that they're responsible for genocide
Responsible for genocide
Responsible for genocide...

Ya cram ya culture down my throat
Say I'm inferior when I find that I choke
Ya fill my mind with a false sense of history
And then you wonder why I have no identity?
Well I'll strike a match and it'll catch and
Spread the insight we need
A tiny fire, burning bright
Shedding light on the darkness of greed

A yes yes y'all
And ya don't stop
Shedding light on the darkness of greed

A yes yes y'all
And ya don't stop
Shedding light on the darkness of greed

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  • 19 Comments
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TakeOnSnake
07-22-2002

Rated 0 
This song is mainly about AIDS attacking the African nation and how we as a country are doing less than shit about it. This is the same stuff bono from U2 fights for, but he does it more peacefully. It is also what "we are the world" was for and what the "what's going on" was supposed to be about. Notice how those other people and songs just want to spread awareness about AIDS in Africa, while Rage shoves their opinions up our government's ass by not only making us aware of the problem but trying to persuade our government to do something. A beautiful song all around.

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sean7711
08-19-2002

Rated 0 
this comment isnt about the song, but rather venting about the u2 stuff. everyone loves them, critics, moms, kids, police...even though they were once a very political band. rage is only liked by teens but moms and police hate it only b/c of their declaration to free mumia. i ahte the fact that those people against rage cant see past them trying to free mumia and see the deeper meaning to what else they are preaching against.

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kangaxx
08-21-2002

Rated 0 
this is a great rage song

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carrera
08-27-2002

Rated 0 
i think you forgot the allusion to the europeans coming over and enslaving the native indains and them dieing from dieses and from the hands of the Europeans. Also it talks about the africans being enslaved by Europeans and the same thing happening with them. the AIDs things is just part of it not all of it

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WouldItBeYou
06-07-2004

Rated 0 
this is my favorite rage song. like other rage songs its about politics and all that jazz

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Apathetic Tragedy
06-09-2004

Rated 0 
This My Personal Favorite of RATM's. its just so great.

we didnt enave the indians.suewe gave them disease through blankets. caused more of them to die than jews did during the holocaust. and moved them on a reservation. but then we found out that the land we gave them was good. so we took that and sent them on to a different one that was smaller. but then we found out that the land we gave them was good. so we sent them on another one that was even smaller.and their they stood having to walk through the "trail of tears" where more than a thrid died......again........

But we NEVER enslaved them..........

But We did enslave the blacks.

God i hate my fore fathers.

Oh yeah Europeans were also the reason for all the shit that goes on in AFrica. Those crazy white bastards

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RenegadeOfFunk
06-26-2004

Rated 0 
Hey im from Australia and ive never heard this song before, did they put it on a cd? Was it not released in Australia or something?

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Belandrew
06-26-2004

Rated 0 
This song is on the Crow movie soundtrack.

I think the meaning has been well covered - wiping out Africa by not helping them against AIDS.

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discovery21
10-01-2004

Rated 0 
You know what's really ironic? Last year, in what could be viewed as a photo-op, Bush pledged Africa millions of dollars to help fight the spread of AIDS. By this summer, that pledge decreased dramatically, less than one third of the proposed (and who could blame the Bush administration, with the Iraq war, the huge deficit, etc.) At the same time, the administration enacted on the wishes of the uber-conservative and all but stopped government financail support for groups encourage safe sex and family planning. Unfortunately, this caused many of their operations in Africa to shut down, worsening the plight of people threatened by this epidemic. Ten years later after this song was released, white men still play the judge of life and death for whatever reasons they adhere to and the Africans afflicted suffer for it.

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Zephyrus
04-07-2005

Rated 0 
Its an unreleased track on 'Live & Rare' the albumm itself is just live tracks from evil empire and ther self titled album, appart from darkness and another track called clear the lane, both of which are studio tracks but unreleased, I dont know how easy it is to find the album where you live, but its rare in england, I still managed to get a copy though!

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VodkaLix
06-23-2005

Rated 0 
Fantastic song. great lyrics (the "responsible for genocide" at the end of each chorus is brilliant). one of the greatest rage songs.

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BenLee
11-07-2005

Rated 0 
Well, as much as I like RATM, the AIDS comment is just ridiculous. Every year this country spends billions and billions of dollars to fight AIDS.

And FYI, there are already cures for AIDS. They are just not economically practical or feasible for a large population. They require 24 doses a day... There is a reason Magic Johnson isn't dead. He takes state of the art drugs. Not everyone can afford this.


However, Rutgers University has now developed economically feasible AIDS drugs that are effective against every and all possible mutations of the AIDS virus. The main problem with the other AIDS drugs is that they cannot fight off other mutations and the AIDS virus is highly mutagenic. However, there is a cure for AIDS and it has been found. It's only a matter of time (a very short time) before we are free of this problem.

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matdamc
09-24-2006

Rated 0 
in response to BenLee's last sentence above he seems to have brushed over the lyrics:

"vaccine is still supposedly under preparation
But these governments they don't mind the procrastination"

its nearly a year since your comment any news on "It's only a matter of time (a very short time) before we are free of this problem."

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Outernationalist
12-09-2006

Rated 0 
BenLee: Don't forget that this song refers to Africa. The US might do a lot to fight AIDS in its soil, but when it comes to providing aid to african nations, this "aid" often comes tied with harmful economic policies or conditions like importing retroviral drugs from the US over cheaper latin american or european alternatives. That's corporate welfare disguised as aid.


I love this song. To me, this is one of the songs that draws the line between RATM and other bands.
Other bands would just whine that we are not doing enough to help Africa.
Rage denounces the very real european/US presence in africa and how we caused most of the mess in the first place.

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samwalton
09-28-2007

Rated 0 
"And FYI, there are already cures for AIDS. They are just not economically practical or feasible for a large population. They require 24 doses a day... There is a reason Magic Johnson isn't dead. He takes state of the art drugs. Not everyone can afford this."

They have medication for it, but not an outright cure yet. Even though Magic Johnson is still alive after all this time, he still has HIV.

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thy45
02-13-2008

Rated 0 
A cure for AIDS was patented in the US in 1997,
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5676977.PN.&OS=PN/5676977&RS=PN/5676977
and with the United Nations in 2001.
http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?wo=2003043537

A cure not being "economically practical" is just not a valid argument. How much do drugs cost? It depends on the market, patents and how much money drugs companies can rake in. Not the cost of actually manufacturing the drug. Drugs companies have no interest in curing Africa of AIDS - they can make more money on the long-term selling expensive medication to the better-off middle class. If they cured the millions of poor people all round the world and erradicated the disease, then there would be no money left to make. Seen the movie the "Constant Gardener"? That's along the right lines.

I wonder if the song refers to the theory that AIDS was created by the US government in their Special Virus Program in the 60s. I am inclined to believe it. Isn't it funny how AIDS seems to affect blacks and gays much more than whites?
There is one guy fighting for the truth:
http://boydgraves.blogspot.com/

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tantopat
07-06-2008

Rated 0 
This was the first RATM song I ever heard, and I instantly fell for it. Not only is the message very true and honestly spoken (so rare these days, with people practically walking on eggshells trying to stay politically correct and inoffensive), but musically it's amazing as well. I especially love Zack De La Rocha's rapping, he has a way with rhythm that makes his every word simply mesmerising to listen to.

One thing does confuse me, though. I have this song on the soundtrack to The Crow, but I can't hear it in the film anywhere. Could anyone here please tell me when it appears in the film? (Knowing my observational skills, I just know it's going to be really prominent and obvious in the soundtrack! ;^^ )

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.:Motley:.
11-24-2008

Rated 0 
Is it me or does this song sound a bit like Freedom. The guitar solo is the same type of slow bluesy solo just like in Freedom. Both songs are awesome.
Live & Rare is one of the best RATM albums


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Seer7
08-24-2009

Rated 0 
This is such a powerful song. Tom Morello's soulful guitar mixing with the gloomy bassline played so well by Tim Commerford, the song undulating between anger and despair, with Zack pulling no punches. One of their best songs, if not the best. This is the kind of honesty missing from many bands these days, say what you feel; if just to get people thinking, get people talking.

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