Discovering America

Wow, I just discovered America.
You didn't discover it. We were already here.

Back before buffalo wings at Domino's,
America was where the Buffalo roamed.
What you don't know?
Thirty thousand years ago some dudes
Came across the Bering Strait wearing snowshoes.
Eskimos chasing woolly mammoth, Ice Age white like dandruff.
This is the range, home of the free, land of the brave.
They were nomadic, hut to hut like quarterbacks,
Hunting deer with the spear and ax.
Some tribes formed towns and they settled down,
Domesticated plants, oh they're farming now.
Pray for rain, dancing on the Great Plains,
While mad cats with cornrows were planting maize.
In the Southwest, Anasazi built caves.
By the Great Lakes, tribes, they made blades out of copper.
Aztecs played games. Lots of Indian tribes engaged in trade.
Iroquois planting squash all up in the Northeast,
They master agriculture with the slash-and-burn technique.
There were five tribes white guys called civilized,
Because of the way their government was organized.

Wow, I just discovered America.
You didn't discover it. We were already here.
Wow, I just discovered America. (x2)
You ain't discovered nothing. We was already here. (x2)

People are people, ain't nobody perfect,
Indians weren't living on some heaven on Earth tip.
Aztecs had slaves, war in war zones,
Putting holes in enemies' domes like the ozone.
Sacrificing humans at the order of Montezuma, the ruler.
Mayans knew dope astronomy too,
Had cities with markets, temples, and factories.
Incas had a vast empire by today's Chile.

Then in the year 1492, an Italian was sent by the Spanish to find a new route to India. His name was Christopher Columbus. He was hungry for gold . . .

The Niña, the Pinta, the Santa Maria.
Boats hit the New World screaming out "arriba!"
Arawak greeted the crew, heated some stew.
They came out bearing more gifts than Saint Nick do.
Columbus like:
"Gather these slaves up quick, lickety-split,
Let's split back to Spain."
Exaggerate how much gold he had seen,
Came back with not three ships but seventeen.
Columbus was a sailor and an explorer,
Most of all, Columbus was an entrepreneur.
Spanish would give him 10 percent of all the slaves, gold,
Land, and spices that he claimed in their name.
Indians didn't know about guns and greed,
After a hundred years, 90 percent were deceased.
America is freedom, I've been told,
But I know that it was also born of blood and gold.

Wow, I just discovered America.
You didn't discover it. We were already here. (x2)
Wow, I just discovered America.
You ain't discovered nothing. We was already here. (x2)