Roots, The Filmography

• Don't Divorce Me! Kids' Rules for Parents on Divorce (2012)
• The 2012 Comedy Awards (2012)
• The 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (2012)
• Jimmy Fallon's Primetime Music Special (2012)
• The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards (2011)
• VH1 Divas Celebrates Soul (2011)
• 2011 Soul Train Awards (2011)
• White Wash (2011)
• Philly's 4th of July Jam (2011)
• The Roots: The Fire (2010)
• The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear (2010)
• 41st NAACP Image Awards (2010)
• Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (2010)
• The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3-D! On Ice! (2010)
• Dow Live Earth Run for Water (2010)
• Soundtrack for a Revolution (2009)
• Christmas in Rockefeller Center (2009)
• Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (2009)
• Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education (2008)
• 3rd Annual VH1 Hip-Hop Honors (2006)
• Block Party (2005)
• 2nd Annual VH1 Hip-Hop Honors (2005)
• The Roots Present (2005)
• Hip Hop Yoda (2005)
• Chasing Liberty (2004)
• The 45th Annual Grammy Awards (2003)
• 100% NYC: Tribeca Film Festival (2003)
• Stolen Moments.: Red Hot+Cool (1994)

Root, Don Filmography

• Into Shadows (2009)

• Datskat - The Roots
• I Remain Calm - The Roots
• I Don't Care - The Roots
• Clones - The Roots
• Clock With No Hands - The Roots
• YOU GOT ME - The Roots
• You Ain't Fly - The Roots
• Ya'All Know Who - The Roots
• Proceed IV (AJ Shine's Proceed W/o A Pause) - The Roots
• Proceed III - The Roots
• Why (What's Goin On?) - The Roots
• What You Want? - The Roots
• What They Do - The Roots
• What Goes On Pt. 7 - The Roots
• Web - The Roots
• Water - The Roots
• Up There (Unwritten) - The Roots
• U.N.I.Verse At War - The Roots
• Thought @ Work - The Roots
• The Unlocking - The Roots
• The Ultimate - The Roots
• The Spark - The Roots
• The Show - The Roots
• The Session (Longest Posse Cut In History) - The Roots
• The Lesson, Pt. 1 - The Roots
• The Hypnotic - The Roots
• The Good The Bad And The Desolate - The Roots
• The Anti-Circle - The Roots
• The Adventures In Wonderland - The Roots
• The 'Notic - The Roots
• Take it There - The Roots
• Table Of Contents Part 3 - The Roots
• Table of Contents (Parts 1 & 2) - The Roots
• Step Into The Realm - The Roots
• Stay Cool - The Roots
• Star/Pointro - The Roots
• Somithng in the Way of Things (In Town) - The Roots
• Something in the Way of Things - The Roots
• Somebody's Gotta Do It - The Roots
• Singing Man - The Roots
• Silent Treatment - The Roots
• Section - The Roots
• Sacrifice - The Roots
• Rolling With Heat - The Roots
• Rock You - The Roots
• Rising Up - The Roots
• Rising Down - The Roots
• Return To Innocence Lost - The Roots
• Respond React - The Roots
• Quills - The Roots
• Pussy Galore - The Roots
• Push Up Ya Lighter - The Roots
• Popcorn Revisited - The Roots
• Phrentrow - The Roots
• Pass The Popcorn - The Roots
• Panic - The Roots
• No Great Pretender - The Roots
• No Alibi - The Roots
• Mellow My Man - The Roots
• Long Time - The Roots
• Leonard I-V - The Roots
• Lazy Afternoon - The Roots
• Ital - The Roots
• It Just Don't Stop - The Roots
• Intro/There's Something Goin' On - The Roots
• I'm Out Deah - The Roots
• Here I Come - The Roots
• Grits - The Roots
• Good Music (Preclude) - The Roots
• Good Music - The Roots
• Get Busy - The Roots
• Game Theory - The Roots
• Essaywhuman?!!!??! - The Roots
• Episodes - The Roots
• Dynamite - The Roots
• Double Trouble - The Roots
• Don't See Us - The Roots
• Don't Say Nuthin' - The Roots
• Don't Feel Right - The Roots
• @15 - The Roots
• Distortion To Static - The Roots
• Diedre Vs. Dice - The Roots
• Criminal - The Roots
• Concerto Of The Desperado - The Roots
• Complexity - The Roots
• Boom - The Roots
• Atonement - The Roots
• Ain't Sayin' Nothing New - The Roots
• Adrenaline - The Roots
• Act Won.. Things Fall Apart - The Roots
• Act Fore... The End? - The Roots
• 100% Dundee - The Roots
• The Seed 2.0 - The Roots
• The Roots Is Comin' - The Roots
• The Next Movement - The Roots
• Swept Away - The Roots
• Proceed - The Roots
• Duck Down! - The Roots
• Do You Want More?!!!??! - The Roots
• I Will Not Apologize - The Roots
• Unwritten - The Roots
• The Grand Return - The Roots
• Lost Desire - The Roots
• I Can't Help It - The Roots
• Birthday Girl - The Roots
• Becoming Unwritten - The Roots
• 75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction) - The Roots
• Livin' In A New World - The Roots
• Break You Off - The Roots
• In The Music - The Roots
• False Media - The Roots
• Baby - The Roots
• Somebody's Got To Do It - The Roots
• Guns Are Drawn - The Roots
• Without A Doubt - The Roots
• Act Too.. The Love of My Life - The Roots
• Writters Block - The Roots
• Peace - The Roots
• Common Dust - The Roots
• The Roots - Jill Scott

Datskat! I know you dig it when I kick it baby! (4X)
Di-bi-dis-banks, hip-flip-a-didip-didim-dow-hound
You wonder bout the sweat pon my brow, formulatin nouns
I'll get down, boogie brother rock on, right on, right on
The brown, rhymer organically grown, I've shown, while
sip-pida-didip-styles and proceed, to flow
You know I'm flyer than G.I. so yo Joe
Fuck, I run amuck, cause I'm the father of the fattest skatter
Black is intellectual, cat that is perpetually
ritually catchin wreck, don't step, I cut ya
I mix the Sector 6 and now I knowledge butter words
to prop up Afrika Bambaataa, a lotta, brother is out there
waitin on that new shit, well this is how we do kid
The levels is correct one-two, call in a blunt too
The front two, run through, good for you
Brand new styles like Kung-Fu
And rip this from the front to the back
To all my peoples where you at I know you dig it when I kick
Datskat! I know you dig it when I kick it baby! (8X)
Wadibi-dee-doo-bop-bop-bop-bop-bop
Skiggy-dang, skiggy-dang, you knows we gonna rock
and don't stop, just droppin off my bags you fags
When you define, the word behind, deserves you lags
We blast off like launchers, launchin off the rockets
If you bugs, if you act like plugs, you're gettin pulled
out of sockets, the extra-curricular particularly this
miraculous in lyrics they be callin me Jesus
Please just call me Maliq I'm not a prophet
Pass me a topic and I'll drop it
Because it gets, hairier, never marry or flurries a throne
To hell with a boy upon the microphone
will be convenient, I'm never bein lenient
on them folk who gonna slow-up cause they a dope
But a-bi-dee-doo-bop-bop-bop-bop-bop
We makin touchdowns, cause we knockin butts down, so
Datskat! I know you dig it when I kick it baby! (8X)

I remain calm, lyrically I got the bomb
when you put me on, I remain calm
(repeat 4X)
[Malik B]
It's the 'I remain calm' but for jurge to erk
Come out my humble go berzerk and make you swallow your smirk
I splurge most and bash, capacitate mass
I fascinate as I assassinate and show task
Characters and egos, get crushed in trust
And my words stampede like herds in a dusk
Cream of all crops, topics I drop with Trotter
When heated up, I gets hotter cause I'm proper
You never knew the levitude the clever few
Different tax for revenue man if you ever knew
the tac-tic, strategies, of word, ca-pa-bil-ities
Display, de-cease
the rhythm, and man how it swerved and curved
Made a niggaz dream but his hope deferred then stirred
Dig the mentals, Papermate, Bic's and Number 2 pencils
My credentials blow on instrumentals
I write an anthem throw a tantrum and remain handsome
Mysterious vibes, like I was the phantom
Erupt abruptly, then conduct amaze
You're fucked when the lyrics get bucked because I graze
Never animosity, on my property
Niggaz acropoly, or they feel extreme monstrosity
Wreakin leak out the verbals ? don't forget it
The chief of edit then Malik'll shred it yeah I said it
I remain calm, lyrically I got the bomb
when you put me on, I remain calm
(repeat 4X)
[BlackThought]
That nigga Thought flows like a river I deliver
styles like Domino's, eyes closed I inhale
equality follow me now son
Listen my divisions advance I surpass one half the rap mass
the other half, want my autograph, because I got
soul plus a ghetto stroll similar to Shaft
It's the mic rapers, splittin Phillies in the cellar
My acapella verse, can stomp, I delete comp
My rated X, larynx, wrecks your context
I'm complex, confusin, lyrically amusin, I drink brews
then when I'm groovin I'm no longer human
I'd like to take this time to give a shout to all the money makers
in the house galore they help me turn it out
I whip the cap to the max, I'm laid back, like your gramps
I make, niggaz unbalanced like they spendin food stamps
I take, my time when I rhyme lovely, me nah like
ugly like, God we get odd to the rhythms
Rappers thinkin of steppin up, what the fuck you're doin?
I amplify the hymn to bring your empire to ruin
Who's your girl screwin fellas? Jealous because I'm fly
Keep my sneakers dry, when you cry-baby
See I can have you headin for the border like a ReFugee from Haiti
Aiyyo, this brother drivin my cab, tried to flip, saying
";Pay me in advance"; -- I asked him if he ever danced
in the dark, with the rap devil, BlackThought
See niggaz who get caught off guard remain scarred
into air, with headphones remainin on the domes, they hair
I resound and astound and scare, I reign terror
into another nigga rap era, my rhymes sedate
I duplicate, like aloe vera
I'm extreme, restin in the land of the plot and the scheme
Peace to ? Rock and the Equal Team
I remain calm, lyrically I got the bomb
when you put me on, I remain calm
(repeat 12X)

[Chorus: sung 2X]
I don't care, as long as the bassline's pumpin
The drumline bangin away
Make one move and I'll blow you away
One false move and I'll blow you away
[Black Thought]
Yo - I don't really know but somebody said
that the O.G. flow, it could fuck witcha head
And the po-lice know that the green black and red
too strong to con-trol, they study what I said
Dig it - my name is 'Riq, and when I'm on the mic
I'm known to spit somethin that these MC's hate
I couldn't care less what you feel what you say
Cause I gotta put it to you in my own special way - I'm a MONSTER!
You know I'm certified sick
I came from the corner where nobody got shit
Took the cards I was dealt, turned it into hot spit
Now I'm not only a passenger, I'm in the cockpit
Been a long time comin, I was caught in the scramble
of cats, tryin to do the same thing that they man do
Eagles born to fly, real is made to ramble
"A Dangerous Mind," I'm a prime example
[Chorus]
[Black Thought]
Superfans wanna run up on me sparkin the ground up
You need to fall back, could be NARC's around us
You in a hot area for marchin powder
If you holdin chowder, just walk without it
Them real crook brothers don't talk about it
They never make a move 'til they thought shit out kid
I knew a lot of men who did bids for mayhem
They made a lot of money, they money never made them
The game of survival is filled with rivals
Knives and fo'-five slugs flyin in spirals
The wicked is diseased and it ain't all viral
Could be greed and gluttony bubblin inside you
Dawg, follow your pride, the rhythm'll guide you
Yo, follow them guys, them niggaz'll rob you
And have you up in somethin that dont' really involve you
But you don't give a fuck you wanna pump the volume, I know
[Chorus]
[Black Thought]
Yo, aiyyo the waistline thumpin, the face kinda jumpin the game
Lookin sweeter than a bassline bumpin
Don't come 'round me sparks and waste time frontin
Them trick ass marks'll get the eight-five dumpin
It ain't really bout nothin - Philly just love cuttin
They shut shit down before the law start shuttin
Get your route right cousin - be out nightclubbin relaxed
And wanna get lights out tonight brother, perhaps
It's the percussion that keeps shit, kinetic
For some it ain't as fame, more sweet the street credit
Some cats that play dirty didn't live, to regret it
But move to the music he can live through the record
I'm a Philly boss player, a dope rhyme sayer
It's Black Ink back gettin cake by the layer
by the stack, comin at us, get your weight right yeah
If not, you makin a mistake right there, f'real
[Chorus - 2X]

Yeah, to all the Jim Carrey ass large co-op
KnowhatI'msayin? Large co-op, what the fuck?
To the clones, we bless the domes
Blow the vial, you know my style, large co-op
Freestyle all the way son
Dice
Verse One: M.A.R.S.
First of all let's talk about these ill capers
And fly ass frontin bitches that now caught vapors
Niggaz run up on you with guns, snatchin papers
Outlined body chalk, is how they would scrape ya
From off the pavement, I hate gettin locked up
cause that upstate bus reminds me of the slave ships
But then the bible never saved shit
I guess that's why every juvenile is in the same predicament
You wanna slang crack, or hold tecs, and do the concept
You can't make loot, when your moms is smokin up the product
I try to tell ya, don't let these streets fuckin fail ya
The way niggaz be gettin clapped shit'll fuckin scare ya
But in the dark, we ran wild, so we killin em
Niggaz scared, can't stand still, like fuckin helium
Fake niggaz, they don't go platinum they go aluminum
Got em cloned the fuck up son, that's why we losin em
I'm lookin at this niggaz longevity
To make a big play, but then it might be a mistake
Cuz if I get sent to D.C., I'm sendin Dice to DE
With three p's, so when I get out, he can see me
for real, cuz the streets is filled with snakes and rats
The snake will be that bitch and that rat will be that cool cat
With swollen pockets we gonna take you back home
Master Allah Rule Savior, never clone
Verse Two: Black Thought
Yo, I use the mic to slap you in the face and erase your taste
Disgrace your date put your title to waste
Dominant lyrical grace, from a place called wild
Illadelph Isle Pensy, that's the residency
Consist in currency, my pockets never empty
Some cats, believe they MC but we know they all fraud
Do a show in Philly niggaz wouldn't applaud
Nobody know your record nor who you openin for
Can tell your squad's artificial while approachin the door
So you should prepare, for lyrical terror that's pure
Step up to the resevoir, of the soul proprietor style
messiah or, the higher law down with Dice Raw
The matador, shorty conniseur
Stompin whatever you build to the floor
Similar to that of a dinosaur
I told you I'm the rap predator
You insist to imitate, what for?
Superstar niggaz is ten percent real, ninety percent invented
for a fuckin record deal
Comin with somethin veterans can't feel
I hit you like a steel anvil
Because you grafted off the next man's skill
But still I remain mellow, seein the theatrics of Othello
Run over tactics of the
C-L-O/N-E-S fess
The phoniest cats is felonious (word)
Verse Three: Dice Raw
Dice Raw the juvenile lyricist corner store terrorist
Block trooper, conniseur of fine cannabis
Focus never weak, blow up the spot like plastique
Leave a nigga shook, to the point, he won't speak
Never half-assed, always live and direct
On bitches try to punk smell the panty and raw sex
Mad lights I had to black out, when fake niggaz act out
Or step out of place, they get slapped in they face
All y'all niggaz is fake, tryin to emulate my style
what grown man? In this game, to me you're a child
I trained wack MC's, in camps like ex-marines
Why the fuck you think you went home and had bad dreams
of horrifying things, that your ass never seen before?
You traveled to the realm of Dice Raw
where CLONES get they dome blown with chrome microphones
It's not your fault black, just the fact you wasn't shown
You'll come through this like a smurf
I got you rollin stop off the earth
Represent while I been like this since birth
And I won't be the last but I DEFINITELY was the first
Dice Raw big car Logan's Isle sol-dier
Verse Four: Malik B
Don't come across that line or pay a cost
Knuckle games and hammer cocked ain't nothing sweet or soft
Win lose or draw to the jaw take one
Deranger lyrical launcher, or station
No conversation is needed, my task completed
Read a nigga up and down in the cut where I'm seated
Snatch you from your cloud of cannabis you ignoramuses
You laid on your lap, when I attack your glamorous
lifestyle, I banged your head up with the white fowl
My character a product of this two-one-fifth trife style
I breeze through areas niggaz would fear to walk in
Balance the talkin, that galactic style as of a falcon
Your Star Trek ass will wrinkle
Spill these words and form into a sprinkle
cap you're brought up and the name of twinkle
My insight will crack the windpipe of y'all niggaz
Whether small, middle-sized, or tall niggaz
Just tie your name next when I start to X
Givin out flex pains of death so fuck a raincheck
The insane vet, whether you ganked the brain wet
You proceed to lame check, the opposite of same sex
I annihliate your type if you violate
Makin your blood rush, you post never a higher rate

[Black Thought]
Yeah, sitting in the staircase, holding back tears
Looking over mad years worth of photographs
Pictures of some places I ain't never going back
Some people I used to love, why I ain't show them that?
The skies was overcast, when I was sober last
My head is spinning, couldn't tell you if it's slow or fast
It's starting to get too clear, I got to go and grass
To y'all it's a shame but life is what we know it as
Waiting, navigating the plot, without plans
In the car, it's hard to read as a clock with no hands
How your man's goin' get up and stop with no yams
All it take is one break, it could pop the program
Whether sinning or not, my back bending like I'm sentenced a lot
I feel some brothers is beginning to plot
It might have been a close friend I forgot
Who started up and ain't remember to stop
I bet these niggaz going remember the shop
[Hook]
People think that I'm crazy, just cause I wanna be alone
You can't depend on friends to help you in a squeeze
We all deal with shit on our own
And sometimes the beef can grow, get out of hand
Yeah, you know it gets full blown
I never said that you mean the world to me
Maybe it's best that you never know
Yo, I'm like Malcom out the window with the weapon out
Searching for somehow to find a minute or the second now
Precious time is money that I ain't got to mess about
Need it from the horse's mouth or from my eye with less account
Lessons with my back to the wall, scoping my session out
Stay a little edgy at times when I ain't stressing bout
Haters don't know shit about me, they the ones that talk shit
Those that love me send it out, so I ain't got to force quit
Cause I'm doing better now, don't mean I never lost shit
I was married to a state of mind and I divorced it, man
I'm from where brothers moving product from the porches
People locking their doors, clutching to their crosses
The block hot by the law, there ain't too many choices
So what I do is for y'all, there ain't too many voices left
I watch my back, and watch my step
And I might forgive, but I will not forget come on
[Hook]
Yo, living in turbulent times
The blind leading the blind
Some call it evolution, some say intelligent design
You say you want a revolution, you out of your mizind
Your sons' destitute, and their pops all in the prison
My man's back in the jam, he like the back of my hand
He just attracted to scam, he right back in the can
I never sleepwalking, you dig
You get your shuteye
I'm on the first thing in, I'm leaving on the red-eye
My brother back in rehab, just had another relapse
But fin himself, it's been like he's been fighting an energy
Half telling me nobody true when they pretend to be that
So closer than friends, that's where I keep my enemy at
To many parties concerned, it's time to live it and learn
Until we're able to grow, forever bridges we burn
My thoughts free as a bird, that's just about to emerge
And every action is heard, it speaks louder than words, yo
[Hook]

Chorus] x 2
(Erykah Badu)
If you were worried 'bout where
I been or who I saw or
what club I went to with my homies
baby don't worry you know that you got me
[Verse 1]
(Black Thought)
Somebody told me that this planet was small
we use to live in the same building on the same floor
and never met before
until I'm overseas on tour
and peep this ethiopian queen from philly
taking classes abroad
she studying film and photo flash focus record
said she workin on a flick and
could my click do the score
she said she loved my show in paris
at elise momarre
and that I stepped off the stage
and took a piece of her heart
we knew from the start that
things fall apart,and tend to shatter
she like that shit don't matter
when I get home get at her
through letter, phone, whatever
let's link, let's get together
shit you think not, think the Thought went home and forgot
time passed, we back in philly now she up in my spot
tellin me the things I'm tellin her is makin her hot
startin buildin with her constantly round the clock
now she in my world like hip-hop
and keep tellin me
[Chorus] x2
[Verse 2]
(Black Thought)
Yo, I'm the type that's always catchin a flight
and sometimes I gotta be out at the height of the night
and that's when she flip and get on some 'ol
(Eve)
Another lonely night
it seems like I'm on the side you only loving your mic
I know you gotta get that paper daddy keep that shit tight
but yo I need some sort of love in my life, you dig me
while politicing with my sister from new york city
she said she know this ball player and he think I'm pretty
sike, I'm playin boo, you know it's just wit you I'm stayin
boo
and when cats be poppin game, I don't hear what they sayin
boo
when you out there in the world, I'm still your girl
with all my classes I don't have the time for life's thrills
so when you sweatin on stage think of me when you rhyme
and don't be listenin to your homies they be leading you
blind
(Black Thought)
Yeah, so what you sayin I can trust you?
(Female Voice)
Is you crazy, you my king for real
(Both)
But sometimes relationships get ill
(Female Voice)
No doubt
[Chorus] x2
[Verse 3]
(Black Thought)
That snake could be that chick
and that rat could be that cool cat
that's whispering ";she tryin to play you for the fool Black";
if something's on your chest then let it be known
see I'm not your every five minutes all on the phone
and on the topic of trust, it's just a matter of fact
that people bite back and fracture what's intact
and never ever be I ain't on some ";oh I'm a celebrity";
I deal with the real so if it's artificial let it be
I've seen people caught in love like whirlwinds
listening to they squads and listening to girlfriends
that's exactly the point where they whole world ends
lies come in, that's where that drama begins, she like
[Chorus] until fade

You ain't fly
You ain't fly
You ain't fly
so go 'head, witcha self
(repeat 4X)
[BlackThought]
I'm just playin the wall, I'm just playin the wall
Coolin with my niggaz on the right, hold tight
Late Friday night strobelight shine bright blind
Coolin at this party with the sugars on my mind
It's the sex patrol, the sex patrol
Yeah the young sis was stacked wicked, wanted me to kick it
Said I never dance, made advance outside
Took a glance to expect, Shorty was correct
so it seemed, her name Shavon, age seventeen
I flipped when I seen her eyes, bloodshot green
She said she wanted riches and a nigga with cash
Lex Land' or a Path', didn't know the half
I react to flip the script and get ill
My man Malik B kept telling me to relax
Diggin how you're livin on some unreal high
as I realize -- you're not that fly
You ain't fly
You ain't fly
You ain't fly
so go 'head, witcha self
(repeat 4X)
[Malik B]
Dig it, you see sisters is thinkin that I snooze
She must don't know, I have a sister confused
Thinkin that she's pretty and saditty when I spill
She said, ";I might, I think I can, alright I will.";
Tossed up was the digits cause the game is like splendor
I said, ";Sabrina yea, I met you way back in December; you remember.";
She said, ";I guess.";
Substitute to Santa, she was sittin on the desk
And then she said, ";You never called me; Mailk you never tried to press.
You never tried to push the seven buttons and address.";
I said, ";Hold up sis -- you're out of order, man you lost it.
My name ain't Jake; Malik's no Flake that's Frosted.";
Tryin to cause a scene Sabrina's rest is self-redeemed
She thought she was cute, but never made it on my team
I should beam up, about-face fall out
And don'tcha even dare to ask why -- because you're not that fly
You ain't fly
You ain't fly
You ain't fly
so go 'head, witcha self
(repeat 4X)
[?uestlove]
Mmmmmm strollin in my Pumas down the avenue
Not tokin on a J, not sippin on a brew
Saw a soul sister on the streets of five-two
";MMM, my name's Question, ummmm, who are you?";
She didn't respond, she didn't respond
???*MUFFLED VOICE*??? -- Continue on
Thought to myself, should of said a little louder
Bet hurry up before she gets lost in the crowd of
";Excuse me Miss, excuse me miss";
";No, I'm not havin it!"; I just got dissed
I didn't get mad, was calm and collect
I didn't call her bitch, I didn't break her neck
Start to wonder why the brothers disrespect the cutie
It's a place of 180's and the high-priced floozie
As she walked away, man I couldn't deny
Started lying to myself, man she wasn't that fly
You ain't fly
You ain't fly
You ain't fly
so go 'head, witcha self
(repeat 4X)
[BlackThought]
Black, butter umm... that's what I be
Had to tell a girl to set her mind free
Use the Third Eye possibly you will see
what you get, with material objects
Wanna be the envy of the whole projects gettin loot
Pretty in your cute limited Express suit
Baby I can see everything you wanna be
See you're gamin as a key to escape poverty
Known to be shown around, sport about her niggaz
Thinkin you a woman cause your ass got bigger
Kickin it to me as if I don't know the time
But I'm the BlackThought, I'm all up in your mind
I figure you the kind to say, ";Give me a call";
but then switch to act strange, countin on my change
Pay to the order of who??? Not you
Why? You're not THAT fly
You ain't fly
You ain't fly
You ain't fly
so go 'head, witcha self
(repeat 8X)

I'm the ultimate, the rhyme imperial
I'm better but some don't believe though
But I'm a proven hot
Y'all know the legendary Roots crew
Here we go Ock, watch my material knock
Y'all Tonka toys straight out the cereal box
Down low covert ops feel or not
Throw your mitts up we 'bout to thicken the plot
My name is D-U-N-D-S-P, The Mic specialist
Laid back how it come off it seems effortless
I mac Nicholas, like a me St.
Flow excellent, my movement the next testament
Rhinoceros in the raps of far we
Y'all weaklings get slapped at the party
I'm the MC that MC's aspire to be
Back to do it to death til ya tired of me
Now who the number one best
The never pop nuthin sound like the rest
C'mon you know I am em
Raw like dark denim, with a soft spot for smart women,
green trees and white linen
The black thought was a monster from the beginnin
Wreak spit venom, raw core shit I pinnin
It's my time and it's long overdo
Now who's comin through y'all know who
[Mix] x3
Ya'All know the legendary roots crew
Word up Black Th-idought, code name ??
Fake MC's get stuck with pitchforks
From rollerbladin' on thin ice like it's a rink
Picklehead cats is join, they don't think
Ya not sleepin that a long ass blink money
Ya little chicken thick but her breath stink
Nuthin y'all spittin is interesting
Ya'all not Black Thought, nor the next best thing
Plug bullshit start a kid thuggish
Go ahead get ya thing off son, I just love it
It manifests a style thou shall not covet
And none of y'all rappers want no parts of it
Who the steppin razor, like Peter Ti-dosh
My nine speak soft my thoughts is Molotov
You cut like that then fuck it we all can toss
And who gonna shine when all y'all take a loss
It's the boar, it's similar tan as Dice Raw
Its big spawn kids cohap the quick draw
We heavyweight blowin' 'em out the picture
For real, For real
Who comin' to get y'all
Mix
Step into the spot the venue is empty
5 minutes later the crowd is in a frenzy
Packed up to the maximum occupancy
Give me the mic I got a Jones like Quincy
Break down the barriers don't try to fence me
Let the ladies in the front get pressed against me
Peepin, brothers on stage ten deep-an'
24 out the 18 straight leapin
Duck season, Thought bust the heat seakin
Mission make y'all feel this and keep leakin
Bang this in the hoods
Like stolen goods, keep reachin
New soundwave street sweepin
I walk upon water like Run D 'em
Cash Money maintainin' the cut
It's our time and it's long overdue
Who comin' through y'all know who
Mix 'til fade

Here we go
Heh heh here we go
Heh, heh heh, heh heh, heh here we go
Heh heh, heh heh, heh heh, here we go
Heh heh, heheheheh, here we go
Heh heh, heh heh, heh heh, here we go
Heh heh, heh heh, heh heh, heh, heh heh
heh heh, heh, heh heh, heh, heh heh *fades*
Verse One: Malik B
I can make you dance, I can make you shout
The scripts in the scroll turned the whole party out
Inject my lyrics in a sec with dialect
Why accept, because it's from the highest eye and depth
Rap extrordinaire share me never ever
See through because I be true, Malik's together
Intox your cells till your brain vein swells
*gunshot* claim terror when their never parellel
Once I have a hunch that there's MC's that front
I just crunched a whole bunch, in one big munch
I always stand firm, under any term
My actions never squirm cuz my tracks is perm
Have a tendency to defend this MC
My residency is simply in sensei
I makes it vivid, on different continents of earth I pivot
It seems extreme and exquisite but ask it is it
My style is like a cat from a seventies flick
Talkin jive as he strut with his afro pick
Or a predator, just before he stalks his pray
When I talk this way, I do dismay
See you're puzzled, now how I think you're trying to juggle
My mind is like a nine M double, now there's trouble
The Roots bring you styles and all types of creed
I sign off but I shall proceed
Chorus:
I shall, proceed, and continue, to rock the mic (4X)
Verse Two: Black Thought
Yo, we could get fly, we could get fly
We could get fly that's the anthem of my
crew not to glorify still it's sorta high
Troubles of the world bring tears to my eye wonder why
my man, can't vaccinate, y'all know the fate
Similar to the way I'm a disease on tape
Within a world of hate many mics I *gunshot*
To escape Metropolis is such a violent state
I spill words over pages, styles over phrases
from the world's different stages for crowds of different ages
Though not a nova, you witness like Jehovah
Now *gunshot* beg for lyrical plague to pass them over
Right right n----z is like stick up kids
Doin bids you got caught, enter the Black Thought
I interface with bass when I communicate
Crowds I elevate, to a higher mindstate of
rap thinking, see musically the Black thinking rhythm
therefore, I give em what I'm giving, therefore
I give em what I'm giving that's the hardcore
The Roots'll keep it real for sure, and I shall proceed
Chorus:
I shall, proceed, and continue, to rock the mic (7X)
I shall, proceed, and continue, to rock the to rock the to rock the...
Representin, the planet, West Oakland
The A-to-the-J, dip to the dollar, the sign, the shine
Watch the Heat, Productions
Red Hot, and Cool, youknowhatI'msayin?

featuring Bahamadia
Rock on, to the break of dawn
Freak on to the early morn
Khadafi and Sue-kwon, you got it goin on
To my man Big Shawn, you got it goin on, now, yo
You got The Roots in the house
We also got Bahamadia in the house, representin lovely
With you ears now proceed
It's flavor you wouldn't believe as we proceed
Chorus:
I shall... proceed... and continue... to rock the mic (2X)
Verse One: Malik B
Let's, kill all the small talk, and just elaborate
The Roots collaborate I see myself as rather great
How the words generate, whole crews disintergrate
when I pentrate
As if in the course flow with intensive force
You best to go and check your source about my textual course
Simplicity, it sounds complex, you might miss it
But after you critique it you can kiss it
I'm assissting fire force that leaves statistics
When identify niggaz simplify you'll feel no sympathi
My lyrics send you on a permanent excursion
I never would decide when your lifespan was submergin
My style is urban not surburban when I'm splurgin
Gosh these MC's I wash more than detergent
I can split the Red Sea but deadly
Take heed, illadelph style as I proceed
Chorus
Verse Two: Bahamadia
Bahamadia hits the melodies mellowly
Brand new, funk doobie, choosy with the tactics
when I gets Raw, like Dice, nice
with the flavor, Do You Want More?!!!??!
Of the Organix, pure
Eargasmatic, from Distortion to Statics
Automatic, systematic
I'm nasty at it
So hand me the five micraphones like they did Illmatic
One time for the mind
Rhyme be coming from an illadelph state of mind
The real is not whole or half time
all the time, and I shall proceed
I'm movin on baby, I shall proceed
To remain, on point like an infrared beam
Succeed, in chasing out the ultraviolet dreams
No Mas like Shorty, cuz it's all about me
Chorus
Verse Three: Black Thought
Black and handsome, holdin MC's for ransome
Thoughts command some, is this, a phantom?
Crews I mangle, y'all know my anthem ain't the Star Spangled
I hit you from the most bizarre angle, rectangular
visions of papes my mind conceive
Motivatin me to acheive as I must proceed
when I ride the train, traumatized to maintain
but laid back, the tracks can relax the brain
I got to deal with everything on this intelligent plain
Servin as a killer
to the pain I live a High Life like Miller
Me and the mic's mechanized
Respect recognize with mind beyond wise
Limitless when I bless the mic with speak
Dialect never weak, y'all niggaz know Tarik
From seven-fifth Snider Ave. got the flavor you need
For the ingredients indeed so to the lead I shall proceed
Chorus *fades*

WHY?? [6 x's]
Sky's the limit so you know I'm gonna rise and shine
I gotta do my thing, I'm kinda getting a little tired of all that's hidden
That's the reason I'm a speak my mind, keep from going insane
Now work with it, we in the last innin'
The world keeps spinnin', my peoples steady losin' while the rich keep winnin'
It's like we neva smilin' and the devil steady grinnin'
killin' what we representin'
Even our children and women, 2K4, livin' above and under the law
Young teen joins the marines, says he'll die for the core
Inducted up into the goverment's war as if the land of money and oil
Funny how ain't none of it yours
I can't sleep yo I'm paranoid, it's code orange
It's far from right, I guess that's why it feels so wrong
To see the world get stripped out of every resource
And people pray to Coca-Cola now instead of the gods
What's goin' on?
WHY?? [6 x's]
Keepin' your head above water, hustlin' to survive
Some people chasin' a dream, others just chasin' a high
Some people blind leading the blind, they chasin' a lie
Some people chokin' backs broken barely makin' it by
But still they workin' all they live, they pushin' for the light
Givin' everything they got to stitch them swishes on ya Nike's
Puttin' pockets on our jeans, mining diamonds for them rings
Rewarded with small change and bullets in they brains
And it makes me feel strange everything we take for granted
At times I feel stranded on this planet of mine
Now should I pull the hammer, clap it out, and laugh about it
Or stand up, be counted while I cast my ballot
When the undertaker's busy and the prison's is crowded
People livin' in fear because they vision is clouded
But the sky's the limit, I ain't cryin' you a river
Gotta move me a mountain, I'm a git up and shout it
WHY?? [6 x's]
When I dream it's hounds on my heels gainin' momentum
I'm tired, can't get uninspired or quit runnin'
I can feel they only inches behind, I escape, I survive
Some how I gotta decide how much I want it
Or is anybody listenin' without a pot to piss in
If I disappear I wonder if the world will know I'm missin'
Who my support system, it's not the court system
Gotta letter, what it said is you will not avoid prison
People 'neath the microscope 'cause we defining the culture
They smile and insult you like you shinin' their loafers
Them old heads say we need a modern day Moses
When the leaders is posers we needing some soldiers
It's the X generation, The anger in the nation
Got the writing on the wall so clear that I can taste it
Like a kid sniffing glue somewhere trying to escape
Because we vulnerable and naked
Gotta show 'em we can make it
WHY?? [hook repeats out]

-1-
It's what you want babe
It's what you need babe
We bout to give you more
Of what you're lookin for
-2-
So it's a secret that's been pent up inside for years
Exclusive type, only for your eyes and ears
You held it in for so long you bursted into tears
The letters spilled slowly across the page like a world premiere
Well lie, the bullshit begins here
The obvious cause, the effects is unclear
The punishment for crimes of the heart can be severe
Though to keep it on the low is a heavy cross to bear
You deep now, submerged with no signs of air
Still your sunken heart thumpin like the kick in a snare
While on the surface, it's all turned into a circus
That's why you're nervous and you got a right to be
Cuz if somebody woulda done that shit to me
I mean, my best man hittin my wife to be
My sentiments exactly would be history
Ya know what I'm sayin
My peoples in the place let's count it off, one-two
-3-
It's what you want babe
It's what you need babe
We bout to give you more
Of what you're lookin for
It's do or die, ghettofied
Come alive, feel the vibe
Feelin nice, oh, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah
-4-
Yo it's like nothing changed, it's all the same thing
The same characters in a book with different names
It's a lot more to lose than you got to gain
You a lot more confused than hip to the game
To peep the script to the game, the price is pain
Men and women get into things, now who's to blame
When everybody whisperin bout whatever took place
And how the fact was denied with a straight face
Them lies, hard to swallow from the bitter taste
Well that's a point in the past that can't be erased
So motivate, though it's hard to let it ride
Or set aside true feelings, underhand dealings
A lost trust, I wonder if we lost us
It's bigger than me and you, it's monstrous
So I'ma just calm down and try to relax
Before I clap the hammer and the hammer got clapped
Repeat -3-
-5-
If we could only flash back and undo our actions
Change what happens, dissect the fractions
A time to rewind and be recorded absent
For real, cuz these memories is photographic
Pornographic, pushin me close to madness
Head heavy like I'm trippin off acid tablets
Yesterday as I recall was all fabulous, I thought so
But now I feel like shots hittin my torso
Still a lot of time and trust in the wrong place
Fought a lot of fights rollin with the wrong ace
Love stronger than pride, we could end disgrace
I need room to think and space to ventilate
What's solid as a rock shall not disentigrate
Thoughts racin like they lunatics on the interstate
For real, ya... it's ill, ya....
My peoples in the place ya'll done heard the song
Repeat -3-

Chorus: (Saadiq)
Never do....what they do, what they do, what they do...
Never do....what they do, what they do, what they do...
Verse One:
Yo, lost generation, fast pace nation
World population confront their frustration
The principles of true hip-hop have been forsaken
It's all contractual, and about money making
Pretend-to-be cats don't seem to know their limitations
Exact replication and false representation
You wanna be a man, then stand your own
To MC requires skills, I demand some shown
I let the frauds keep frontin
And roam like a celluar phone far from home
Giving crowds what they wanted
Offical hip-hop consumption, the 5th dumpin
Keepin ya party jumpin wit an original somethin
Yo, I dedicate this to the one dimension-al
No imagination, excuse for perpetration
My man came over and said
";Yo we thought we heard you";
Joke's for you
We heard your bitin ass crew but uh
Chorus: Raphael Saadiq
Never do, what they do when they do what they do
(repeat 2X)
Verse Two: Black Thought
Thin is the line of between love and hatred
The game is ill-natured, it's nothing sacred
Hey yo, it's funny when i see some rap niggaz do the making
Of you would blow up or go as far as they can take it
My nine to five is just to hit ya get the party live
I'm Black Thought, used to rap for sport
Now the rhymes need life support
I take it very seriously within this industry
It's various crews that try to touch me
But I come wit the beautiful thing
And I bless the track plushly
Around the world the crowds love me from doing tours
Recepient of applause from you and yours
Creator of original sounds to send to stores you take home
To absorb and sweat it out your pores
Now who can stop the music runnin through these veins
Infinitely go against the grain
That's why my motto's to
Chorus
Verse Three:
Livin the life of limos and lights
Airplanes and trains
Short days and long nights
Keyboards and mics
Bass chords and drum kicks
And my mental thick to hit my head like brick
As I embark on a mission welcoming to the dark
When I first spark the arts, when's the listening start
Open your head wide and let the thought inside
My style fortified by all of philladel-phy
I've dealt more stealth than all the wicked weal-thy
Mentality undetectable by the naked eye
Then I get paid when the record is played
To put it short I want it Made like Ed, nuff said
Then after that, I'm puttin on the ___
Let the ladies blend with the darkskin devil bred and discover
My level is that of no other
And Roots crew bring offical and true
While I'm continuin to...
Chorus: repeat 4X

Do you wanna know.. what goes on? *2X*
(Tell me baby!)
Do you wanna know.. what goes on? *2X*
(Tell me baby!)
[Black Thought]
Yo, niggaz can not see me, can not be me or
capture the metaphoric phrase blasted off stage when I tour
I am but a messanger born to blow up
My niggaz knew it all the time, lyrically I was a dime
At the age of nine, shorty Black, could rhyme
On the mic I never wasted time, I'm, the exquisite wizard
when I visit shorties I hit it I'm cool as a blizzard
Nigga what? You wanna bust your fronts, with the butter, my
black paper chase ya and then erase ya rhyme
Sucker, MC's how I hate it when you waste your time
My state of mind, shine like it's diamond studded
I'm rhyme budded on stage, word is bond, when I'm on, I rage
Got the 12 gauge had the reci-play, inter-terrestrial-ly
My everyday M.O. is gettin dough cause times is rougher
than a mother for brothers to scuffle shuffle your cards kid
Cause the odds is, niggaz'll hustle and live, foul
This wild environment hostile produce, the music in me
So my style's the blend of what is and was
You could get a buzz from it, but enter too deep
and reach a summit you fall and then plummit beyond real
Where you're killed if your raps ain't ill
Another crab motherfucker 'nother cap to peel
Through these amps, I motivate camps to dance
Niggaz too advanced, I warn, I'm just tellin you what goes on
Do you wanna know.. what goes on? *2X*
(Tell me baby!)
Do you wanna know.. what goes on? *2X*
(Tell me baby!)
[Myself aka ELO the Cosmic Eye]
Inside my head, you wish to see
The signs appear, the shit's not clear
What if I flipped, would you know how to maintain your edge
I'm takin heads because, there's no fuckin ledge
I pledge allegiance to my cosmic guide
I couldn't fit in three dimensions if I tried
Civilizations I can delete, so crews don't bother me
Battle with Jehovah gaining universal soveirgnty
Niggaz run around like ?, I got planets and thrones
Throughout the galaxy my name's well known (my name's well known)
I'm all alone in my zone, you wouldn't understand
Stare in my face, fuck around and catch a scar man
(Malik B)
[Malik B]
Here on this agenda, there is no pretenders
So when we begin to assassinate your cast members
they shall ?, wavin white flags, man we surrender
Those half-assed negroes know they're no contenders
In syringes, I can shoot up lyrical vengeance
And my grammar, might do a mandatory life in slammers
You should regret it, thinkin about steppin to me
niggaz forget it - you'll get gassed with lyrics leaded
Most energetic, I never snag I'm tightly threaded
I flip scripts like pattern twistness in calisthetics
Black Thought, Elo and me a trio
Tellin the the strong, word is bond
I'm just tellin you what goes on
Do you wanna know.. what goes on? *2X*
(Tell me baby!)
Do you wanna know.. what goes on? *2X*
(Tell me baby!)
Do you wanna know.. what goes on? *2X*
(C'mon brother)
Do you wanna know.. what goes on? *2X*
(Tell me baby!)

[Black Thought]
Uh huh
uh
And it weights a ton
'riq geez motherfuckers I'm a son of a gun
Black master of any trade under the sun
Talk sharp like a razor blade under the tongue
clear my path and come get your captain hung
Trying to breath like black'll collapse your lungs
Young chump you could choke off the web I spun
I done cleared 'em out from the threat I brung
You done heard about what set I'm from
My nigga, word-a-mouth little rule-a-thumb
Y'all better bow down when the ruler come
I'm a real hood nigga not a hood-a-lum
The way Thought put it down be confusin' some of y'all
cats can't walk while chewin' your gum 'n all
With a keyboard got do with a drum 'n all
School 'em on stage like I'm doin' a seminar
Professional type, I'm adjusting my mic
Go to war kid I'll give you any weapon you like
Give you something to run from
, bust off your dum-dum
Stop kid, that hot shit you know where it come from
It's philly world-wide phenomenom
And reinforcin' that shit is my 9-to-5
And when I finish making you recognize
I'm getin' at a couple civilized women that's tryin' to ride
You were waitin' on the raw to come off the oil
You wanna get the bitches up off the wall
Just to see you smile and enjoy yourself
To keep you in health, this for all of y'all
I'm quick on the draw like Black McGraw
And I can't tell what y'all cats rappin' for
My name 'riq geez and I'm back for more
To get more chips than the corner store
with a portrait of Malcom X on the door
while I'm eatin' MCs like a carnivore
Matter fact, ease back 'fore you get harmed
Ring the, warning horn when I'm gon' perform
The first nigga that move, or disturb the goove
I'm a have y'all flicks on the evening news
Play y'all part - get on y'all P's and Q's
And when y'all think Thought, be prepared to lose
Bring money to spend and somebody to lend
And some worthwhile money not twenties and tens
Get took for your tuck right in front of your 'hens
Who coulda help you nigga, not none of ya friends
Because, I put a black fist under ya chin
Have your physical remains found under the pen
If I'm coming up in the place, I'm coming to win
Wasn't in it for a minute, now I'm dumbin' again
'riq geez ock, y'all can chat what y'all please
Receive what I'm gonna give back to y'all please
'cuz y'all don't really wanna get clapped with all these
My man, you can take y'all strap when y'all leave
You see the squad come in the place, they all freeze
Ice cold, with his mellow cool breeze
MCs, never showed loyalty yet
Kool Herc ain't never get a royalty check
I do work, no question, and bomb your set
I'm calm collect, sharp like my name Gillette
RIP my man Gillette
Until I touch the mic, y'all people ain't seen danger yet
I'm a decorated vet, I regulate and wreck
Never hesitated yet, I'm gettin' heavy weighted checks
If you would dare ask if I'm dedicated - yes
I spit, live rounds that would penetrate a vest
Nigga, take ya seats I'm a demonstrate a test
How to freak the beats, so gangsta fresh
And it thump, from the east coast to Bangladesh
Big bank, willy gank smoke the thing to death
But hold tight, cuz it's not over yet
I don't even feel like I'm not sober yet
And it ring like shots in the projects new year's eve
And it ain't even October yet
I'm a big bounty hunter like Boba Fett
Y'all more shell shocked then a soldier get
If the prize in my sights then I'm goin' for this
Whoo whoo 'riq geez be the ultimate
I'm the corporate, give me the bulk of this
'riq set it on the magnetic ultra tip
Get down how you 'posed to get
I got nothing to lose, I'm a killer with no regrets
I'm like young LL, cuz I'm hard as hell
Makin' niggaz screw face like Gargamel
Now I'm all out on my own like Patty LaBelle
Put the pimp game down on your mademoiselle
Keep the beat goin'
Keep the beat goin'

[Black Thought]
South Philly, North Side
Oakland, Texas
Georgia, Black People
Yo, Worldwide, Sup my nigga
You know what I'm saying
Dumb and blind...
[Verse One: Black Thought]
They say a record ain't nothing if it's not touching
Gripping, draw you in closer make you want to listen to it
And if you real ill at making music
Then lesson'll feel like you livin' through it
That's how my nigga do it
I met Slacks back in like '91 rapping
We went to Millersville to get away from gun clappin'
It ain't last
I be in class dreaming 'bout
50,000 fans up in the stands screaming out
Encore, yo I'm headed back to Philly
Nigga you rollin' with me?
I'm trying to get busy
We walk dogs that was off the chain
Lot of times at the show people hardly came
I just took it in stride as part of the game
But inside people down with me started to change
It was a couple things
Lil' ??, lil' pills
Instead of driving out on the road you rather chill
I know the way the pleasure feel
I'm not judging
But still I'm on a mission, yo I'm not buggin'
I got fam that won't stop druggin'
They can't sleep
They can't stick to one subject, they can't eat
Is people steady comin' at me out in the streets
Like Riq yo wat up with your peeps
it gets deep nigga
[Chorus]
Yo, you need to walk straight, master your high
Son you missin' out on was passing you by
I done seen the streets suck a lot of cats dry
But not you and I my nigga
We got to get
Come on, over over the water
Come on, over over the water
Water, Water...
[Verse Two: Black Thought]
Yo, we done made too many meals
A couple of deals
We done share clothes and wills
Killed mics and reels
We done rock
Shows abroad, and slept on floors
Trying to figga what the fuck we gettin' slept on for
Oh why we walking with the rep up for
Waited by the cavity law
You know it if you came up poor my nigga
Picture a bus up north
You know we made of everything outlaws are made of
I'm far from a hater
And I don't say I love you 'cause the way I feel is greater
In Illa you a poet son
You a ball creator
And this will probably dawn on you later
Is in you nature, letters all up in the wall like they made of paper
You got to find out where you talent take you
You might fuck around, finally make it
And that's real but yo
[Chorus]
[Verse Three: Black Thought]
Yo, I want you all to understand I come from South Philly
And when I walk the street is like a pharmacy
They got all type of shit
Anybody could get
It goes from H to Ex
To lucy ciggarette
For my ghetto legend
Known from Lil' shyst running
Cop codeine by the courts and keep comin'
Dummy, just embracing the dope like it's a woman
You burnin' both sides of the rope and keep pullin'
Tuggin', in between Islam and straight tuggin'
Laying everyday around the way and doin' nothin'
See'em looking shaking their head and start shruggin'
If they don't have a man like mine, they got a cousin
Hey yo you better be a true friend to 'em
Before the shit put an end to 'em
Or give a pen to 'em
Or lock'em up in the studio with a mic
'Cause on the real it might save his life
Keep tellin'em
[Chorus x2]

(feat. Mercedes Martinez)
[Mercedes Martinez]
When I think about perfect times
I think about yesterday
You can asked me about the future
I don't know what to say
Tomorrow's story's unknown
So listen
It's almost anyone's guess
Unwritten
When I think about perfect times
I think about yesterday
You can ask me about the future
I don't know what to say
It's almost anyone's guess
[Black Thought]
Yo
It was a cold night
Not cold like the winter
Just cold like a energy was in the air
I generally don't like
The driver had to dip, so he left me in the whip
Turned around and said, ("You know you're on your own, right?")
[PAUSE]
I'm the zone like
There's pictures on the wall of my own life
Just like a drive-in
Only it's live, and this a montage of the places I been
My sixth sense taste the problem
The sus-pense had my heart racin', throbbin'
Just like a young punk with a tape revolver
Pointed at the driver of a car, faced to rob him
The cigarettes chased the vodka
The nigga just chased the dream but won't taste the monster
The son won't face the father
The gun won't erase the drama
While you're waitin', the time's up
[GUN COCKS]

Intro: Common
Yeah, U.N.I.Verse
at war
U.N.I.Verse (when you and I verse)
at war motherfucker
We gonna do this Chi-town style (verse at war)
Illadelph, you know how we get down
You know the business (Illtown illanoid)
Bringin it straight to your chest (comin thru with the iller category)
Yessah, hah, yeah (preacher man with the Com)
Break it down one two (we about to drop a bomb, check it)
Chorus: 2X
When you and I verse at war (U.N.I.Verse at War)
And your verse at core, for what you thought before
Steppin up into a zone you should never explore
The next level or, level of the whole conceptor
Verse One:
Check it, rappers
Get on the mic talk about cars and clothes
Sounding like hoes
Ain't been exposed to the foes of most disciples
I'm from the state that is Ill, the rap son of man
Rotated down to Phil, to say what I feel
Get it off my burnt chest, my word becomes flesh
War, going on between the West and the East
of the land, niggaz don't own a piece
Grease is the word, Murray slides some pimp oil to me
My lady friend sneaks my beer in the movie
Throw your hands in the air, if you the true and living
Beware, the new world order, the devil's new religion
Sent my homey to the number two division
Sellin bootleg movies, got my VCR on a evasive maneuver
Be that as I chooses, drinkin tropical it's just sittin
at a table with sophisticated bitches
Nah that ain't nothin I would call my mother
Nor do I call every nigga my brother
Gotta have Black Thought, it's sorta B like Malik
So don't Question a Brother, to the Roots I get deep
Verse Two:
Yo, enter the last era
Your scholarship into the world of politics
and mascara, we operate within this artificial op-era
I bring hip-hop terror like the Fuhrer
The Ace Ventura into the horror
Laboratory laborer, venture beyond the border
I'll struc-ture a style destroy your whole aura
Plus you're a-drenalin'll rise before your eyes
and mortalize, my image hit the skies
Deceive the devil in disguise
My music I parenthesize
Represent the wise, do this be how we enterprise
Kid no compromise (yeah, yeah) I'm thinkin fast like drama
Dyin I wear your mind away like Alzheimer
I pull a mic up out my bomber big up to Bahama
The A-O this year we leavin em in trauma
Then after me, I plan to leave behind, the legacy
or history of the family, the fifth dynasty
For humanity, to bear witness to this
Del-val-syllable stylist
You know the time kid
Chorus 2X
Verse Three:
Yo, the general flows, kids compose on tablet
Expose how they was average and they thoughts not rapid
Here comes the hot package, through your block like traffic
The rock was typed graphic now watch the mic blast it
Shootin at the stars with emphatic rap static
See the mirror shatter from thoughts, I'm bustin back at it
The Lieuten-ant, the ele-phant, sippin automatic
Mic, rippin asiatic, architects out to have it
The turn of the century, the planet's like a penitentiary
exaggerated, niggaz is livin highly medicated
I Used to Love but now she violated
Hip-hop holocaust and camps, old champs are concentrated
They outdated and incarcerated
Loved and appreciated hated and very debated
For every career created was eliminated
And that's the way the balance of yin and yang related
Verse Four: Common
As the block is de-vine
Niggaz swing on in a safari
Wild niggaz, like I'm high on latari
Some let the block block they mind if they could see what I see
Get out the city for a sec be at the places I be
Hey, I'ma be back on the deck, opening
Business in places for you to cash your check
My, neck of the woods ain't all good ain't all bad
You can live in the burbs, and still get had
The sad part about it niggaz had houses on the lake
They tryin to move us out, the land we ain't appreciate
For peace we skate, crackers we roll or player hate
Call each other cuz cause of how we relate
I see way too many Cadillacs with dope man plates
Through the wind and blow-ups, is how niggaz communicate
Harmonizing through beeper and reefer
The city got my peoples in a sleeper, talk is getting cheaper
Chorus 4X

[Black Thought]
Yo, where the freaks at? Lookin' at me
You wanna see Black? Then jump on it
And to the chumps who think they might want it
I might spot your ride and dump on it
And send a couple of boys to that corner of yours
And role out with a nigga slumped on it
You see Black fall back son
Me and Shock up in a black Regal no insurance
We like DEA serving warrants
So tell the freaks you know to stop whorin
We gon' grab the mics and get 'em off the wall
so e'rybody in here can stop snorin
Yo where the safe Money unlock it, pull it out your pocket
Ben Banniker Bay with the Al Morrocan
Black Thought on capitals like the sovereign
Girls get your eyes back up out the sockets
Focus, flawless. New York to Europe
To lands where my feet ain't even touch the soil yet
What a movement, the rap solution
It thumps so hard we got 'em world wide usin them
Tracks from Black for satisfaction
The role of captain played by Samuel L. Jackson
Yo ill insanity that's cold and morbid
but when I'm in your orbit you soul absorb it
A real raw nigga wont fold or forfeit
A thorough bred gonna enforce it
Tariq's where the beats at
And where the people out their seats at
For what? Cause y'all on it
I'm like Aqua man and Brown Hornet
I'm like Imhotep but don't flaunt it
Dog, reintroducing master thespian
Ho-telling-est, elin-est, emceein
Fuck getting money for real, get freedom
Black on the grind from AM to the PM
Splash up crash up the X-5 B.M.
Motive entertainment the philly mob we in
Weak hearts, yo we not them
Waddup nigga T3 nigga bahtem
When the M-Ill get home we're gonna win
First one to fall cats with no chin
The mic the black hold remain smokin'
And ladies up in the place is wide open
For real you know what I'm talking about
Pull it out your pocket [x3]
[Chorus]
You feel this shit soon as they throw it on
You feel this joint this is your new favorite song
You at the dancehall, you got it going on
It's time to show it off so throw your hands up
Check it out yo
You feel this shit soon as they throw it on
You feel this joint this is your new favorite song
You at the dancehall, you got it going on
It's time to show it off yall niggas know whats up
[Black Thought]
Yo here go the rapper of the year, year of the rap
Come from South Philly where the hammers are clapped huh?
Violate and you will answer to Black
You a thug not really there's the answer to that
Lee ya, boxed silly with the hands skill attack
Cancel your check flip, dismantle your trap huh?
Wanna pack can't handle your strap
You a schmuck type, shoot your man in the back
Meanwhile I'm outstanding and I'm outspoken
Wild out take fools out without joking
If I run out of shots I'm going out poking
On a date with sis we going out stroking
And the shot is fantastic
The fantastic is the romantic
And to the freaks in the house if you're ready to bounce
we can go to the flat then get tantric
Yeah. you pronounce the name Tariq, any questions?
Street hip-hop I bring forth the essence
You see pulling up five deep
with nothing but dimes inside of my jeep
I'm not arguing to get in VIP cocksucker prick
Suck a dick I'ma floss for the fuck of it
Girls say the baw Black be on some other shit
Nigga talk like you work for the government
My words worth like Barnes & Noble
Spit hot flames that'll harm your vocal
Spit thought name I'm a bomb your local
neighborness, for a ten mile radius
Well every ghetto craving this new anthem
My brain unstable and I'm just too handsome
I bang with the best around
Who can test the ground when I finesse the sound
Here come the controller
[Chorus]
You feel this shit soon as they throw it on
You feel this joint this is your new favorite song
You at the dancehall, you got it going on
It's time to show it off so throw your hands up
Check it out yo
You feel this shit soon as they throw it on
You feel this joint this is your new favorite song
You at the dancehall, it's time to show it off you got it going on
Y'all niggas know what's up

* phone dialed and rings *
[1] He-LLO?
[2] Yo who dis?
[1] Yo this [edited]
[2] Yo whattup man?
[1] Yo whassup dude?
[2] This is the Black Ill
[1] Oh whassup G?
[2] Y'know, yo
[1] What?
[2] We down in the studio yo
[1] Word?
[2] Yo we got a jawn
[1] Yo, is she live?
[2] Yeah she's live
[1] Sup wit her?
[2] She's just, real nice to talk
Sometimes I used to knock off
[1] Word how she be swingin?
[2] Oh yeah she's swingin like that y'know it's on!
[1] Oh WORD?
[2] I called a couple other heads and shit y'know
[1] Aight, who else who else - who else widdit?
[2] *laughing*
[1] I mean she widdit LIKE THAT?
[2] Yeah you know!
[1] Ain't no bullshit?
[2] The whole Resevoir Dog squad n shit, we gon' be eight deep
[1] Oh aight, word
[2] So come on down, it's on yo
[1] Aiyyo it's it's it's just us?
[2] Yeah it's just us
[1] Oh damn, whassup with some more jawns?
[2] Oh yes.. it's just her and some weed y'knowmsayin?
Fuck some other shit
[1] Fukkit, aight, bet, what the..
Y'know whassup for real for real
[2] Word, yo so come through
[1] Aight what time yo?
[2] Umm
[1] Like NOW?
[2] Yeah, come through now!
[1] Peace
[2] Peace!
[Ursula Rucker]
I the voyeur, peer, as she begins her, ritual
Paying sexual ties for few and untrue
Words of admiration, translation:
sucker ass, lines, of trash
Spewing from First One's unskilled lips
That beg for pussy tricks that make his dick go quickly limp
She pimps her innocence as Second One demands entrance
through the back door..
";Bend over bitch, you know this is what you were born for;
to dig those soft and lotioned knees into the floor --
and take it in, that sweetly spread ass like a real pro whore";
Her subsequent screams seemed to praise
Sent messages of pleasure and pain to his fuck tainted brain
But her screams masked laughs at his dumb ass
As he quicker comes, then Third and Fourth One just as dumb
Invite themselves to join in
Third One wants to hit the skins old-fashioned style
while Fourth One says,
";Don't she got some DSL's, make a nigga joint just swell,
to think? I wanna sink my inches, into that bitch's,
berry-framed mouth";
So one goes North, the other South
To sanctified places where in-house spirits
will later wash away all traces, of their ill-spoken words
and complacent faces
And then, like their Minutemen, predecessors
Lude, aggrandized sexual endeavors, end up rough
Cause neither one of them could keep that weak shit up
Corrupt, Fifth One steps to her
Hip-Hop clothed just to, think he gonna impress her
";Hey Slim, I heard you was a spinna -- sit on up
top this thing, black dick, and work it like a winner";
With the quickness he got his pseudo-thickness all up in her
But suddenly he, stops mid thrust
*Yvette Smalls' pager goes off*
Seems she nameless to cuz, got his stuff in a death cunt clutch
He fast falls from the force of her tight pussy punch
Just like the rest of that sorry ass bunch
Now here comes Six ready to add his inactive shit to the mix
Talkin smack at that
Saying, ";Girl, I'ma wax that ass, and stick that slit so hard,
you gonna be calling me God";
So he proceeds to poke and prod
with clumsy finger and wack sex slinger
";Condoms make me last longer,"; wrong, cause her
motions of snatch, however detached from the situation
cause his pre pre PRE-ejaculation
It seems she just wastin
good pussy and time on dudes like Number Seven
who ain't learned their lesson
He wants to enter the flesh divine
by dropping a kind of semi-sweet line
";Your honey hole so fine and mile deep; I'm gonna leap
into you like an ocean do you right and make your head spin";
So he jumped in and then, he drowned
Got lost and found in her Tart Canal
Slave to the waves, made him cum for days
Eighth and last One turn arise
Plys her with familiar lies
Even more familiar still, cause
him she used to love
But he never could quite see above, her mound
A pound of flesh is all she was, no name no face or even voice
So poised, she rises -- Phoenix from the flame
Finally bored with their feeble fuck games
She smooth reaches behind her and takes straight aim
at eight shriveled up cocks with a fully loaded Glock
Parts lips, not expressly made for milding dicks
and then, she speaks:
Your shreiks of horror bring me bliss, I must admit
The thought that I could shred your tips with eight quick flips
excites me, see y'all fuck with the pussy
but I fuck with your minds
Lack of soul and respect is the crime
This.. was a set up.. now tell me what..... what's my name?
* gun cocks *

*Black Thought speaks and makes crowd respond for a minute and 15 sec.*
[Black Thought]
Yo my definition is a lyricist for hire
My vocal's a passport that never expire
Crowd loud like fifty rounds of gun fire
Screamin out "The Roots" while I balance wit the wire
Yo, expert in this profession, the session
In 1987, I linked up wit the ?uestion
Eleven years later we shared crop wit Geffen
In musical hell, but hip-hop forever heaven
My thoughts, interwoven and deep like Beethoven
This foul world so filled of shit it like a clogged up colon
Swollen wit minds that got stolen
Fake-ass cops, uncontrollable patrolmen
Torture, blood flow like bodies of water
Fathers sexually assaultin they own daughter
Out of sync, outta order like a puzzle
In the land of the unseen hand that hold juggle
In a Game of Life, yo it's hard to roll a double
Tryin times, take lives and separate couples
Kids thinkin they grown, tellin they moms "Fuck you"
Under they breath, livin in the last times left
Peep the imagery ?strep?, across the sky like a canvas
And we're the artists beneath vigorous rough strokes of darkness
Time to set it off, let's spark this
Switzerland, LET'S SPARK THIS!!
We are the ULTIMATE (rock-rockin it)
We are the ULTIMATE (rock-rockin it)
We are the ULTIMATE, rock-rockin it, rock-rockin it, rock-rockin it
We are the ULTIMATE (rock-rockin it)
We are the ULTIMATE LOUDER! (rock-rockin it)
We are the ULTIMATE
(Rock-rockin it) C'mon (Rock-rockin it) C'mon (Rock-rockin it)
Yo my definition is a lyricist for hire
You couldn't have a clue, it's about to transpire
The books I buy live arms ?I wire?
The Fifth, similar to ghetto gospel choir
We ex-plore the whole states plus record
In flight buds, trip that was a prisoner in war
Four-four the corridor, seal it, no floor
But I could see the drop was a mile aboard
To the bottom, electrical shock for rhymes
I said "I don't got em", guess it kinda presented a problem
When I understood, they said "Let him go"
I woke, during a center to London ?
And now wit a past, fuckin wit border patrol
I'm findin it out, I'm leakin wit my people
Hit the studio, spread this information
In daze of frustration fogged the education
>From Illa-Fifth to Switzerland destination
The Roots du journ, go check the translation
The dictionary of devout topics, far from ebonics
The Fifth Dynast, they can't stop it
Yo Zurlich y'all keep it tight heed
While The Roots Crew smoke weed
Yo, we are the ULTIMATE (rock-rockin it)
We are the ULTIMATE, say what? (rock-rockin it)
We are the ULTIMATE, c'mon
(Rock-rockin it) C'mon c'mon rock-rockin it, rock-rockin it
We are the ULTIMATE (rock-rockin it)
We are the ULTIMATE LOUDER (rock-rockin it)
We are the ULTIMATE LOUDER
(Rock-rockin it) C'mon rock-rockin it, rock-rockin it
They go *Thought starts humming and Scratch does his thing*
*Crowd cheers*

(";You'll soon depart.."; *echoes from the last track*)
Chorus: Malik B (2X)
Yo, the feet that I walk with
The ears that I hear with, the eyes that I see with
The mouth that I talk with, the terror that I stalk with
Now it's time to spark shit
[Malik B]
Look God, I walk around a little edgy already
Y'all MC's come into my face, but my aim's steady
M-illitant is skilled in most strategic plan
I float across seas and, breezed across land
Standin, in these thoughts of murder within
The structure of this world that's corrupted with sin
I'm always hittin, to leave MC's guessin
For any transgression, in my perimeter
there will be a blessing, and your explicit intoxicated
buddha session, to stop stressin
me with the madness, puttin niggaz on my had list
No sadness is felt, you shuffled and your cards get dealt
Jim Carrey ass niggaz start to melt
Impact like a buckle bein swung from off a belt
Any help for shelter, when in the realms of a welter
My weight will tilt ya, hold alignments and change your filter
My attitude a product of society
So sometimes for gratitude, you know you can't rely on me
Niggaz eyein me, with looks of they anxiety
Wonderin what's in my heart, velocity or piety
Yo, it depends on which one, you bring to surface
At times I get trife, but what to worship is my purpose
Malik B blend with the tree, to spot an enemy
You cloggin me up cat, now vacant the vicinity
Chorus
[Malik B]
I'm symbolic to a ballot, it's Abdul Malik
Don't approach with bullshit, I'm quick to call it invalid
Route through your district, we keep it simplistic
No need for the rapper to talk, put it on halt
Show me the vault, or the safe, cause I'm on the paper chase
Wade through route states for bout thirty down my waist
I'm tryin to get it, these rain bottlin thoughts become acidic
With one in the chamber, ready to aim and spit it
A girlfriend and team made nigga cash just splintered
I take what you got to give, cause I got to live
The last hour, I bet your ass ?
Might act up, but I still can pass dowa
I'm usin new ways to try to reach these better days
Instead of tryin to take you under I just make you wonder
I still fast, make salaat, and pay zakaat
I didn't make Haj yet, but that's my next project
Livin two lives, one of turn and one with true lies
Keepin a hoe, knowin these hands into my du'a
In the quarters livin modest with my nigga Trotter
I circle my foes, like tawaf around the kaba
I used to live life, like there was no manana
Now I'm treatin every breath, like it was your honor
I'm Mill-itill-itant with the Fifth that stand firm
like a pillar, I'm I and T-L like Manilla
Chorus 2X
This is what it's all about (7X)

[Intro]
Ladies and gentlemen
The greatest stage show you've ever witnessed
Appearing live, from out the 2-1-5, The Roots crew
[Verse 1]
Big respect to the Get fresh, yes
Have you ever seen a show and fellas on the mic
make one minute rhymes that don't come out right
(They bite) Aiyo, they never write (That's not polite)
Word up, am I lyin? (Nah, you're quite right)
Well tonight on this very mic you're about to hear
We swear, the illest star rappers of the year
So so, cheerio, yell, scream "Bravo"
Also, if you didn't know it's The Roots Show
[Verse 2]
Yo Rahzel (Wassup?), put your Wallies on
(Yo 'Riq, I was about to but I need a shoehorn)
Why's that? (Cos these shoes always hurt my corn)
Six minutes, six minutes, six minutes Roots crew, you're on
Uh uh on, uh uh on, uh uh-uh uh-uh uh uh on
Uh uh on, uh uh on, uh uh-uh uh-uh uh uh on
Here we go, (here we go), come on, (come on)
Here we go, (here we go), come on, (come on)
(Yo 'Riq, where's Malik?) Aiyo, the brother is late
Told him the time, oh, I forgot the date
(Man, you did it again) Oh no!
(Here we go), come on
(Here we go), come on
(Here we go, did we miss the show?)
No, no no nono, no we didn't, w-w-w-word
No nono nono nono, no we didn't, w-w-w-word
No we didn't, (Well don't get us wrong)
Excuse but um, excuse but umm, excuse Roots crew you're on
Uh uh on....
[Verse 3]
Well it, started on-a O'Saints Avenue
When we came up with the squad that's called The Roots crew
It was me, Qwest Kemal, Hubbard and my man Malik-
B, and Rahzel from the NYC
Who used ta, scratch and sing, make sounds and things
For example, check out this telephone ring
[telephone ring]
Hello? Hello? Can I speak to Rahzel?
No, he's not in right now
Well anyway, no more delay
Just peep out the ill my man display
But'cha gotta be (fresh), Rahzel'll rock (fresh)
like D-O-U-G-I-E (fresh)
And I'm known for the.......
and not for the........
Rahzel the Godfather, the entertainer
No other title could fit me plainer
In the past generation, I am the remainder
And I'm also known as the beatbox trainer
Cashin cheques, makin sound effects
After I finish rockin, Black Thought is up next
Well here's a lil' sometin that needs to be heard
Rah, I was headin Uptown, (Word 'Riq), word
(Chillin) and all alone, no one to be with
Hopped up on the train headed for 2-5th
and saw this pretty girl (what?), so I sat beside her
Then she went [roar] like she was Tony the Tiger
I said "Oh no, there's been a mistake
Love, my name is Black Thought, not Frostie Flakes"
(Oh, golly wally) Well, she was raisin hell
She said "Aah, my name is Maggie but call me Michelle"
[something in reverse]
Check it out, Roots crew and yeah, we rock the house, y'nahI'msayin?
And when I'm on the mic, there won't be no delayin
So bust a move, we show and prove
Yo Rahzel, do that record Jam on the Groove
[Outro]
As you can see, most definitely
The Roots are....
Come up Rahzel, come up Illa Del
Come up ?UESTLOVE, and then come on up Hub
Come up Malik B, and then behind him D
Come up Dice Raw, the 5th Dynasty
and Black Thought sendin out a shout to the Get Fresh Crew
and Doug E.

[Black Thought]
From the Tunnels in the wee hours of the black morning
From The Roots sprout the Foreign Objects family tree
This is mad abstract
All the way live from Philly, we got the hip-hop coalition
called the Foreign Objects in effect
It's like dat, now dig
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Mr. Trotter, a.k.a.
[BT/Tariq Trotter]
Well um, Black Thought from The Roots y'all
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Mr. Simmons, a.k.a.
[AJ/Joseph Simmons]
A.J. Shine, The Dollar Sign, funky bid'ness
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Mr. Pitts, a.k.a.
[LA/Micah Pitts]
Lord Akil, social misfit
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Mr. Greene, a.k.a.
[MM/Tony Greene]
Straight from Sector 6 it's Mr. Manifest
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Ms. Thompson, a.k.a.
[SNM/Terresa Thompson]
Shorty... pussy (Oooooh!)
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Mr. Cee, a.k.a.
[Myself ? ? ?]
Myself, me Myself and I
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Mr. Dorsey, a.k.a.
[PP/Jamal Dorsey]
Pazi Plant, The Soul Plant
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Mr. Armstead, a.k.a.
[Bo/Conway Armstead]
Bo-watt, The Rhythmic Priest
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Mr. Basset, a.k.a.
[MB/Malik Basset]
Malik Blizzunt, Foreign Objects
[?uestion/Ahmir Thompson] Mr. Thompson, a.k.a.
[B?/Ahmir Thompson]
BROther ?uestion, from Square Roots y'all (yeah, ha-hah)
[BROther ?uestion]
And we the Foreign Objects (yeah, yeah)
And it's like this..
Now get loose, get loose, Malik B get loose
And just rock heartbeat showin you got juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[Malik Blunt]
Yes, I will address and press about my microphone
me-ssiah, am the best siah? Yes-I am
most quick to go because I'm equipped to flow a script
I will just slay and disobey, I will display banana clips
that slaughter with the words and the herds of the verbs
I gots the urge to splurge, like a Bosnian Serb
A-drift I means a-draft I means I riff I means I raff
Rap's ca-tas-trophe, don't want no brass tro-phy
So okey-dokey folks, most provoke me ? so hold your ?
was willin, cause I'm strollin with the quotes
Like Shakespeare, Mark Twain, or Edgar Allan Poe
But since I'm a ne-gro, I flows like Maya Ange-lou
No banja-lo was played, I means banjo betrayed
so the guitar, had to take the bitch off, and slay
You might think I'm a rookie or an amateur, but put me
on a panel or a channel I'll dismantle like the vandal-er
I meants to say the scandalous, vandalous, handle this
like my man Emilio, what y'all should really know
You couldn't get the picture, if you was in an orchard
or fortress, (so you niggaz better forfeit)
[BROther ?uestion]
Now get loose, get loose, ? get loose
And just rock heartbeat showin you got juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[? ? ?]
Picture this as I get rugged with the scrpiture
Evacuatin scenes, spreadin thoughts like a drifter
I exit through my state of greater elevation, unifying
grains through the force of the imagination, you dig
what I'm saying? But I see your mind's playing tricks
You thought you got the channel but you couldn't get a fix
upon my mental -- I keep it complicated
Explosion of the spirit cause I opened up my soul and created
So now you dig the flavor, you're tasting what I gave ya
Seeping through the cellar cause I be the freak of nature
With, the images that I hold in my head
I be the kid from the Fifth, so y'all holding what I've said
I've said, I be the omnipresent factor from the void
Fatter is the flow, so my styling is employed
I'm ragged, pants worn bagged, and umm
the ghetto be my home so I shouts to the slum
Come, the misfit's got a tale, take you on a mad trip
The thoughts unveil
I'm too deep, you sinks down, I creeps round, the lowest
of the levels, the positive raps that kill devils
The abstracts, right and exact, knapsack's on the back
Rip poetical flows upon the track
My thoughts escape onto a tape, you'll play it back
and listen, I brought to your mind what's missing
[BROther ?uestion]
Now get loose, get loose, Pazi Plant get loose
And just rock heartbeat showin you got juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[Pazi Plant]
I'm hip to release ill units, I displays major soul
The ? out, so soul stays rhythmatic
to the static when it plays, levels from the bass
They chase but they'll never catch my patt-er-ns
Soul surrounds this Plant like the rings upon Sa-tur-n
Yo, I'm fatter than many, came to kick away any job
Umm, cat, conniver if it's abstract I'm liable
take portion cause I'll fly that head ?
Dig the jazz that's closets from the Paz be-low bugged
Groovy like the nickel bag of love, slidin
through the groovy fuzz, Plants is the buzz
Mad abornmal, is my flow, much confusion, enhanced in
My scenario's too advanced'n, for duplication
If it's violation, soul power, will shower ya
defenses now you're falling, and crawling
Cause your styles are infantile not poetically correct
to test I'm laughin at ya, lyrical stature, cause my status
be that is the coolest kid to do a bid on fakers
with the grammar that be blamma, back in eighty-three
I was the Grand Fruit Jammer, but now I gets down
and wreck shit with the Foreign Objects..
Yeah that's right, the Foreign Objects
[BROther ?uestion]
Ahhh yeah, now two check, two check
Now check it out, now check it out
Get loose, get loose, Myself ? ? ? get loose
And just rock heartbeat showin you got juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[Myself ? ? ?]
Kinda like, ? catch, of the day is mad wreck
I raise heck, no raise hell, you plays back, your tape's ill
Show me just exactly what it is you want, I give you what we got
We got flow, we got soul, we get off, a lot
So lock up, your doors, cause I'm
Busting Loose like Richard Pryor, setting stuff on fire
We got funky, rhymes
Stuff you had swinging, like a monkey, I'm
always hanging 'round, living off of Vine
as in West Philly, 56th Street
The kids be getting jay'd on the corner
Swing my hat to the back, Kangol, no maybe 5 Soul
Not no bootleg treat, you get from 52nd Street, word up
Word to life, word is bond, word to God
I'm like the bean he's like a bean
I guess the stage is like a pod, ain't with
no metamorphosistically I kiss a licorice
and any miss I wish to kiss or else I diss like this
So I step to the left, drop the mic, catch my breath
then, watch the Foreign Object catch wreck, uhh
[BROther ?uestion]
Get loose, get loose, Shorty get loose
And just rock heartbeat showin you got juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[Shorty No Mas]
Can I kicks it?
I kicks it for the others so I kick it for you
I gotta nag a dog and note to Billy - I gets down
Sound's got a lot I got my own I'm throwin passes
Asses are grabbed, when I swing with The Roots
Suits, I got none, but throwin off that accoutrements
ever since I winced at the thought of a dress
Yes you might be wantin to consider me a tomboy
Boy get it right, I'm still strictly lovin men
Send me your love, don't ever think I don't need it
Shit I got problems, can you help me out?
Shout a little louder if you're sure that you hear me
Fear me not, I'm just another average girl
Curls in my head, and yeah I think I look good
Should I be the one, to break the bad news?
Snooze when I'm tired, not when I'm hype, your type
Yo I just came off!
[BROther ?uestion]
Get loose, get loose, Manifest get loose
And just rock heartbeat showin you got juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[Mr. Manifest]
Introducing lyrics for the year of ninety-three
The black brainchild is about to kick the groovy
speak out the head, provided for the hardrocks
Here to resurrect the ghetto beats for the blocks
You can dig the styles cause the styles are for the digging
A fat sack of soul, that's how the Sector roll
Never making fake material, why should I?
The mind is so equipped to rip, so why would I
give you less than that, you in fact, this is where it's at
cause lyrics I've provided is about to swing the bat
and shake up the levels from New York to Montego
It's all about the lyrics, it's not about the ego
Quick to make a jam and slam sound like the pro that I am
It's profound, like the kids from the underground
Every single lyric is prepared, in the hunt for the metro
with scoops of fat loops and funky lingo
Level's being felt, all over in the fifty states
Breaking more beats than my moms breaks the china plates
Transmitting, hitting areas we freak with funk
when we come to planet Earth, with a trunk of fat, soul
Alert doing work on the everyday
Here to bring the swing like my man Donny Hathaway
Just, follow the dotted line, and do what we do
Because you gotta get a grip, if you want your shit
[BROther ?uestion]
Now get loose, get loose, Lord Akil get loose
And just rock heartbeat showin you got juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[Lord Akil]
Umm, from the Southern side of Philly yet of The Roots
there comes me, who?
The janky little brother of Mr. Bruce
A jazz kickin kid who flows, like the river Jordan
Not fond of Honda scooters, but I'll take an Accord and
zoom right through your borough, because I'm crazy thorough
No offspring running 'round but no my penile is not sterile
Collects the crazy papes from, selling crazy tapes, umm
Big heads be gettin swollen, I crush em just like grapes
The level that I'm zoning, the one that's on the third
Eatin buds or mad grass that gets you HIGHER than a bird
Kinks, be in the head, cause I leave the curls to Jheri
Got mad souls out the ass with shit, fat like William Perry
A poor black kid with rhythm, a eye for jazzy beats
Straight from the underground, found new life on the South Streets
We ? off the jams that will uplift the people's souls
Cause the Objects that are Foreign, the kids with baggy clothes
are the cats that I'm coolin with, when we be together
Two and two equals four but Foreign Objects be forever
So, just let me flow as I reach up to the next plateau
And then you'll give me my respect
Uhh, cause I'm a Foreign Object
[BROther ?uestion]
Now get loose, get loose, A.J. Shine get loose
And just rock heart-beat showin you got the juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[A.J. Shine]
First off, I'm burstin off shots of gab
and gettin lifted by the gift, I start to jab
The rhymes that I grab send schools to the slab
As I write scores, the funky orator's gone
on some next ish lookin
for the next fish with a wish that used to be a duck
but now you're stuck dumbstruck
Trying to hang but you can't swim I think you're fucked
You traded in your blues for boom, tap shoes
I do shows and change all opposing views
I get down, I go up as I blow up
cause I got this O.M.B. rhyme you can't defuse
Yeahhh, here to rock all of you rockers
When I carry the ball, I stay be-hind my blockers
I move swift, I needs no lift
I don't have to riff because I shift the gift
and now my name is Joseph Simmons, but I'm not Run
With the mic in my hand, I've only just begun
to hold mine, I'ma goldmine plus a ton
The way I shine, I be the rising sun, huh!
How many times must I have to say
this I never miss yo when I display?
From styles I paint the funky picture I portray and
before I hit the court I made it my forte
cause I got this, you can come and get this, cause my
method is the most and I boast so you can bet this
is like the best of the rest of the flock
And now you're walkin down the hallways of the Always Jock
Abbreviated A.J. here for the day
Bustin rhymes in your face while I'm fadin away
It's like that y'all, and ya don't stop
The funky Bid on the root with the hip-hop
[Black Thought]
Now.. get loose, get loose, ?uestion get loose
And, rock heart-beat showin YOU got juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[BROther ?uestion]
It's me the BROther ?uestion on the M-I-C to flow
To bust a fat rat-a-tat rhyme one mo' gen'
I'm flexin with my mental verbalistic chocolate
Sucker know you're listenin so please get off of it
A score and two years ago began the ?uestion's mission
South of 52nd Street, on ?
and anybody wanna diss the sure shot body rock
fresh flowin dude, we can take it to the stage
Sucker, Foreign Objects coming soon
From the rat cave to a room with a view
My brother's B.G., and my band is Josh U
And the stank whole rhythmic funk, plus my nuc'
You can comprehend the verbal letters that I send
Ahh, ooooh, ahhhh, like Boyz II Men
I don't have a Benz-y shoes are walkin like Jimmy
Make em say, ";Yo ?uestion's demi,"; make em squeal like ?
Man, yo, I jams on every gram
Move out the way, I gets on, rockin round the clock
In school I used to doodle, nowadays I use my noodle
And I'll be rockin planets, and soon I'm livin fatter
I'm a levelheaded son who knows where I came from
Umm, lights, camera... ?uestion
[? ? ?]
Get loose, get loose, Black Thought get loose
And just rock heartbeat showin you got the juice
And have fun (HAVE FUN) have fun (HAVE FUN)
Have, HAVE, HAVE FUN!!!!
[Black Thought]
Well umm, yik-yik yak-yak, chi-chi-chi-ka-SPLACK
Thoughts that I stutter and brother that I left back behind
Lines of swine I'm qualified for groovy stew achoo
I caught the boogie like the flu and God Bless the Black
Cardiac cerebral abstract cathedral
The mental is the temple and the central sees you tryin to flam!
Man I catch a lift like Bob Mar-ley, and par-lay
On airy clouds I drop, bombs like a Sau-di, Arabian
Flocks I rocks like Fabian
It's the nipple sex upon the grits that call me baby and
run a finger, through the knaps of the rap, singer that
pull a scat, from the stack, that I keep in the shack
of my soul, bring the bowl I got the flat out good
That's why I'm dug by the hippies plus the pimps and hoods
in the slum, could I umm, come, should I umm, come
Yes I does, and gets down said I wasn't know that I was
but they gel, that's why they blow up cause they didn't give spect
to the erector of the Foreign Object, I collect, to preserve
Plus develop and envelop in The Roots of rhyme
Yo that's the end of the line, I got mine, and I'm out
[Brother ?uestion]
A-ha! Ahh, suki suki now
It's the Brother ?uestion
and now you know how it is
when the Foreign Objects get wreck
Like that, yeah, ha ha ha
And we out y'all, and we out y'all
And we out y'all, and we out y'all
And we out y'all...

Verse One: Black Thought
Lyrically versatile
My rap definition is wild
I wrote graffiti as a juvenile
Restin on deuce trey
And used to boost gray Kangol's
with 555 Soul's from the streets
of the Ill-a-delphiadaic insane
For monetary gain, niggaz is slain on the train
It's homicide
For wealth stealth missions for crack
In the alleyways, where niggaz get grazed in the back
From stray shots
Clips with hollow tips, for your spine or
Either remain calm, catch a rhyme, to your mind
Niggaz ya know my style
I run a--motherfuckin-rap--muk
When Malik get a U-Haul truck
I stand five, foot seven, in command of the party
and scam like Uncle Sam
I'm never caught up in the glass eye
of your action cam, cause I'm down low
Artistic exquisite rap pro, that get the dough
It's the Philly borough dread
thoroughbread for dolo
I bag solo, like a nigga that boost Polo
Steppin through the corridor, of metaphors
Lookin over my left
Shoulder the mic, still feel colder than before
With this jazz shit I hit your jaw
Dice Raw, get up on the mic, my young poor
I be the nigga blowin up the spot on tour
Surely real to the core, old school like eighty-four
I never die, and raps till my lungs collapse
Then relax until my knack for tracks
Bring it back, on time
When I rhyme my rep remain
Either go against the grain or your ass is found slain
I overcome, niggaz want styles then I throw you some
Show you some, get on the mic and take it over son
Dice Raw, the motherfuckin Wild Noid
Get on the mic and perpetratin is void
Verse Two: Dice Raw
Ya leave niggaz missin in action like their dads in the projects
My style like an old mac, travel round and catch wreck
I'm ill versatile, with the skill no more
Wack MC's wanna flex but their styles they bore
Got to know the real meaning of the ill shit, kid
I do mad damage but never will catch a bid
With my knapsack, full of ill shit that I just boosted
From the corner store when I let loose more
Flavor that's me, rippin heads off from the seams
Niggaz didn't play like Jeru and Come Clean
[he heh ha ha ha] I beat down on they heads like drum machines
Or 808's cause my style flows out great
And superspectac, with all the raw rap
Pull a metal chair out my knapsack across your back ka-crack
Now do you feel the pain of course
I guess you're believin that I'm insane
When I'm taggin my name, upon the train I got so much pride
I got so much soul, with lyrics high
To make niggaz stop drop and roll, now check me out one time
For your ass, fat styles equivalent
of an AIDS infected Glock blast
Niggaz know my style, plus they know they want more
Props from Mount Vernon, to Mount Rushmore
OK kid, you know my style is buckwild literature
That you can never get when I'm thinkin your particular
flavor that you want
I sit back and smoke a fat blunt in class
Teachers can kiss my ass, I'm twice, Dice
Nigga de Raw, never take a bad fall
Smack your head up against the wall
Like playin handball, my style's ill
I slam like Hulk Hogan, Dice Raw bettin on my arm
Niggaz know my slogan while I breathe your last breath
Niggaz better watch they step, fat bull catch wreck
Ill, gots ta keep you in check
With the hellified beats and hard rhymes
Niggaz know my style, when I go the whole nine
I beat down punks, cut em up into fruit chunks
Like fruit salad, my style's smooth like white owl
Blunts, so whatcha want if you got beef then come get it
if ya don't well then forget it
My rap style's exquisite, I'm Raw Daddy
Like niggaz with no Trojans on the stage when I rhyme
I gots ta keep, my composure
Where I'm from it's like a whole different world
Hoppin a train honeydip and I'ma snatch your squirrel
Most corrupt, motherfucker in the tenth grade
Juvenile cause Jeff McKay could not fade
Don't ask me honey I'm not the one for stressin
If you wanna know better ask BR.O.Th.E.R ?
Cause he know the time like I know the time
When I grab the microphone
It's like, summertime, laid back, to recline
In my La-Z-Boy chair
Dice Raw, the Wild Noid
I'm the fuck up outta here

(The hypnotic, the hypnotic)(The hypnotic, the hypnotic)7X
Yo,
I knew this girl named Alana with mad persona
She delt with reality never fed it to the drama
I met her through my nigga named Jermaine Palmer
Who knew her through his peoples by the Baltimore harbor
Alana was a Marylan' thurough and attractive
Shorty that's relaxed with me and kickin back
Wif a phat flick to cool out
Was stressed cause the game'll make you wanna pull a tool out
And go the old school route
But all-a that cease - when that piece checkin the jewel out
A bruver was charged - light a spliff and listen to the dabarge
Let the shorty hit me wif a massage to annoint
Lubricatin my maridian points that was the Summer easy to remember
Alana was all up on - to read the gender how I used to back bender
She even told her best friend Blinda from Virginia
Who asked me if I had a cousin I could recomend-a
But as time float on we grew more mature - and further apart
When I began to do tours, we lost contact
And slowly parted - reminissin of when it started
It keep me feelin heavy hearted - a stolen moment periodic
Addicted to her presence like a narcotic
Though I wonder if she ever got it - the hypnotic
That faded like a dream sequence that pursuaded
Beyond being infatuated - spiritually intoxicated
Comps are dated - I concentrated
On how to get in touch with her
Cuase the fact of the matter remain that I miss the hypnotic
Driftin ------- (driftin)
(the hypnotic, the hypnotic)
X7
Driftin ------- (driftin)
I would begin to dial -
Her number but knowin it's been awhile it's hard to link
I figure what she probly think and soon start to drink
Fightin the feelin I'm concealin apparently I first appealin
Later revealin to be deeper - resistance increasingly weaker
The essence of life is more than just mic's and puffin reefa
This universe of Black Thought that I can teach ya
I'm tryin to touch ya only if I can reach ya
I hit this kid I sign up on his beepa
And ask him if a had a chance to speak ta
Jermaine Palmer who fathers a preacha
To make the story short me and my man soon ran
Into each other von the humble at a show in San Fran
I said ";Yo Palma, when did you last see Alana";?
He offer me a seat and attempts to make me calma
When he began to break it down my mind start to wander
Response beyond somber incredible crushed
Kinda feelin on my shoulder - that of a boulder
To find out that her life was over - it made the room feel colder
I thought I could get wif her when she was a little older
But she a victim of the wicked system that controlled-a it's all chaotic
But if my life it's symbolic forever shadow on my mental I never forgot it
Yo the psycotic, the hypnotic check it out the Most Melodic hypnotic
Driftin -------
Driftin -------

featuring Dice Raw and Shanky Don
Shanky Don Intro:
Now this one is dedicated to the good the bad and the desolated. And The
Roots crew you know them lyrically orientated program you lose in life
instantly ? we're like acid we burn you. Watch a rude bwoy now.
Black Thought:
Yo you should see some of these cats that vocalize
They get props from they local guys and try to raise
Speaching through the mic like "Yo I apologize"
They blind and wasn't as wise and fail to realize the com-
Plectual sexual side of the rhyme
When I make love to the mic the crowd respond
Your promoter love the vocal over dub when I control the club
So throw your hands up in the air show your love
We waste not the bangingest beats but make use
The Roots get you open like parachutes
Yo who in the house only deal with hip hop that's authentic?
Back to renovate your state of mind for a minute
It's I, Bad Lieutenant represent fine lye
Delphia empire fifth dynasty
Your third eye couldn't wait for you to relate to what I activate
While the fake spectate
I'm less then immpressive for beyond stressin'
And battle as a reveloutionary adolescent
But now in the present with fake masters of ceremonies yo that's phoney
You'll get capped with colonial force that of a cannon
Examinin the compact disc to start rammin'
To put the diagram in effect and get fly
On immature MC's who try
Wake 'em up outta they High School High
Shakny Don:
Yo bumbading bumdadabedang
The Roots crew boy we mash things again
Bumbading ripapadededang The Roots crew bwoy we runnin' back again
Bumbading dumdadadedang The Roots boy dem run the island
Bumbading ripadededang look ? I mash up the scene
Malik B (M-illa-tant):
I blast off the roof to prove she lay in there blazed
Enslaved by the soundwaves as the skills amaze
Insight skin type annalitic cause I live it
My ? brow pivot over your style like "give it"
The lyricism I'm contemplatinng your neighborhood or legion
Brutalize your section stalk your whole region
When you blink it's hell then you drink Sifendale
You wonder what's goin' inside of my thinkin' cells
We bomb like militias I'm trying to stack riches
Look first comes the money the power then the (?)
They all will bring you down but I Milliant the sound
With a bargaid of pirate raps that's running through your town
Surrounded by a wise dome my ledge knows horizons
I keep at a distance confused and feel cyclones
You know I'm trying to make it because I probably take it
Hustlin' stickin' pickin' it or scrape it
Tracks appeal that's why I'm trying to mack a mil
I stay sedated worth a Zantac that's a pill
It gets hectic that's why niggas try to exit
Stress relates to those who walk around protected
Shanky Don:
Yo bumbading ripadingdedingdedang
The Roots crew man dem mash up the scene
Bumbading bumdadadedang The Roots crew man is running back again
Bumbading ripadingdedingdedang
The Roots crew man them come back again
Bumbading bumdadadedang The Roots crew man they run the islang
Dice Raw:
Naw nigga what's up then? Thanks for the man outroduction
Go ask your girl inside my world is the duction
No frontin' finger on the button of destruction
Play nice like entice and keep your styles on the hush and
Step inside the illafifth dungeon
Where it smells of pungent
The underwater the brotherly lovin'
Where crabs get knocked out respect from
Brought back to the lab were the scientist will dissect 'em
The old heads sniffin' start bitchin' when we testin'
Interupting my class when my class is in session
Was when I manifestin' or come to teach a lesson
What's inside of my dome I'll have all you clones guessin'
Lets begin as the color gets tossed in with the pen
It feels good that's when you know it's a sin
Everytime I rhyme I might get charged for murder
Slicing your back with rap turn a brain into burger
Lyrically I shot with radioactive waves
Like Kolby and Big Kev on fridays
Your styles older than dolo we on the top of ?
Claim to gettin' over but you ain't makin' quota
Shanky Don:
Bumbading bumdadadedang The Roots crew man they mash up the lane
Bumbading bumdadadedang this a poor rap boy you might not see again
Bumbading bumdadadedang The Roots crew man they run things again
Bumbading bumdadadedang Rufugee Camp step on thee scene
Bumdading bumdadadedang

Yo I'm tha anti-circle
On tha mad train like a rain
Thats verbal I storm
Never comin twice in one form
Tha black'll act a fool and I'm gone
Crumbs bust it pass tha popcorn
As I kick flava behavior your absctract I get recognition
But I represent no religon or sect
So I'm no preacher but I reach your soul
Cause I'm stronger than younger
Son of Casandra like ganga I grow
From tha root like water I flow
Could sport ebrotha low or tha nappy afro
I still a have tha pick cause I choose to evict
Derelicts on tha tip tryin to diss tha mad skit busta skit
How many licks to it take to make a fake
Realize that he can't shake bake or penetrate
This style I demonstrate on a regular
Basis in face that he aint no competitor
I said it a second ago yo I'm tha anti-circle with tha mad style
Crushin any mental that be fragile
You don't wanna see me get like agile
Rippin up tha scene screamin like I was a bad child
Black Thought so hip that I'm square
Tha rhythm that you hear is from tha kids right over there
Tha rubberband in question just one step away
Yesterday was a day away attention you should pay today
To tha Roots stickin boot kickin with flippa
I lift tha party up and y'all get down like a zipper
Tha mista hippa flippa kid tha one who thinks tha music can be hurtin a
Rhythm when I get anti-circular
Chorus:
Square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square y'all
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
What you spot up with ya peepers is tha creeper
Stompin on tha ground smokin a quarter pound reefer
Mista five finger lead singer noise maker
Number one run I'm rush now you must hush
I crush trail mix with tha sandal
Five fingers keep a candlestick lit when I vandalize
Can't see what I is or will be
Only what I was cause I crush an MC
I'm dandy happy go lucky don't touch me
Don't play cause I'm not tha right one baby
Crazy off key never talk softly
Blacker than tha beans still I never sweat coffee
Tha fourth beat following tha third word second after first
Yo never rehearse tha verse that I'm freestylin'
Cause my verse is diverse I'm Mista Versatilin'
Things are easier with oooh chilin'
Ya smilin because you dig tha way that I deliver
And give a style flowin like I was tha Nile river you shiver
Cause I'm cooler than tha coolest act a fool its like a habit
So yo this trick is for tha rabbit
I grab it and snatch it inspect it like gadget
I works tha magic tha mic I must have it
I'm at it kids does tha pin on tha vibe tribe
Members do decide to send around at tha sit down
Get down can't you know I'm quick to rip a kid down
Aim to put wack rappers in containers with tha lid down
So I seal it can you feel it many contacts is caught
On a mad train a Black Thought
Chorus:
Square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square y'all
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square
From tha square to tha circle to tha square

[Ursula Rucker]
Fuck.. kill.. and prosper
is the gospel of Wonderland, where
street sands, are quick..
to suck you down to the abyss
with the lure of pure bliss if you kiss the dicks
of the niggaz? Never.. Nosferatu's
Those witches and warlocks in blue
Government gumshoe, keepers of the First Zoo
Who? .. Me? ..
I'm the modern day vixen vampire slayer
Unauthorized player, in the capitalist contest
to see who ";Gets Money";
No milk and honey, in this land
cause justice has been banned
So it's play dirty or die by the hand
that's holding all the guns
Plunged, deep into religion was my first decision
To save me and my daughter's lives, but
I can't thrive off spirit and scripture
The picture grew clearer; I made the move to rear her
in a life wanting for nothing
so I got into this drug thing
Not doing, but dealing
Sealing fates and, healing struggle gaped, wounds
of the doomed became my mission
Izm was just too small time
I had to find the best design to
fuck with the massive motherfuckers minds, and pockets
So I sold ? kits and, alleyway thigh splits for two bits
and, five year old preschool pussy
and, once strong now bony backs and stretched out
weary racks of snatch, in other words..
.. I sold crack
Morality was buried deep, beneath the new Jeep,
silk sheets and money heaps
Still the good mother, I sent my daughter off to
boarding school to keep shit under cover
All the while envisioning myself, a champion of ghetto causes
plus his, game I was playing, and winning
While sinning, against myself and soul to get the gold
I was the Female Don, the Crack Queen
To me I seemed unstoppable, my coffers full
I went buckwild, wanting more
like the pipe worn whores I began to deplore
No time for playing with my coochie
counting my man's mad lucci
while he was up inside some hoochie's loose piece
I signed the checks and, I counted out the cash
Wasn't saving ass for no niggaz sent upriver
I thought my shit was tight..
.. til my empire started to quiver
Taking every chance, under surveillance, being listened to
And watched, like Assata Shakur
My place on the top was no more sure
Loose lips flipped the script
The fantasy trip, swiftly ended
It took no time to blend in, with the population prison
My jaded vision, busted like a cherry
Every, dream I had, now tainted bad
I fucked and, I killed, to prosper
Upheld each tenant, of the ghastly gospel
Shift to a different Wonderland to pay the price for my vice
A land of fields to toil in like slaves
No lillies in this field just plenty of souls to save
Plenty of fat uniformed rats with
below average size cocks that slither
through cell locks, in the night
Lactating tits being licked, left and right
Plenty of coochie, burning with desire
Like black churches in the South
Black prayers and pussy on fire
Penned up behind barbed wire
Me and my fellow female mammals, animals
Bitches in cages, bodies racked with hormone rages
Minds haunted by our children's faces
They mace us, with promises of rehabilitation slash corruption
Place smoking guns in empty hands of, native sisters and sons
I joined in this nation's favorite pasttime
on a quest to gets mine
Now I'm passing time standing on line
in the commissary to buy Maxi-Pads
instead of shopping at Barney's for Chanel bags
Nana who raised me, went to bed a-dazed
via my mistakes, and my daughter hates
me for what I did
And I'm FUCKED.. and I'm STUCK
Doing the Devil's bid
Being locked in a moral corrupt crib
Psst.. missing my kid.. psst.. hey girl,
you wanna get finger fucked tonight?
I swear I'll stick it in and up tight just right
Yo sis.. I've had to kill and shit
Just blow my head pretty and I'll give you a slip
ALRIGHT LADIES, LIGHTS OUT!

This beautiful blend, I knew her through a mutual friend
She was a work of art, a part of my heart from back then
A brown skin singer, with a knack for actin
Alana's whole attraction
Just fractionally based on surface
I got into her mental on purpose
And with alertness, as I flirt with her emotion
Walls we built up out of nervousness was broken
I reminisce on how this Black Thought had her open
Wit da energy that got the whole summertime smokin
Very hypnotized
When it was time we spent time
It's no way to rewind or prevent
Time from slipping away like day, into the dark
And the way that things fall apart, will make some start
To feel more, weak or insecure
But for whatever reason our relationship remain mature
Even when she caught feelings cuz I stay on tour
As I reflect on before, and recap the situation
I guess from experience, comes education
We set on a path to opposite destinations
It's best to chalk it up and add it to the elevation
Then eventually flow on to lost communication
I called but lost all information
And with time forgot it, it's not like I'm all in tears about it
But the fact still remains that I miss the Hypnotic
You're a shinin' star
No matter where you are
For the world to see
What you truly be
You're a shinin' star
No matter where you are
For the world to see
What you truly be
She was the hypnotic, and potent as a narcotic
The bizarre logic of it all, is why the clock tick
Pages of the calendar flip, we can't stop it
Time will either tell the tale, or turn a love toxic
Now was she real, or an illusion of this optical
Confusion with the accent of ancient Egypt
Or could it be that she's the one I was supposed to be with
And together walked this twisted
Staircase is somethin realistic
Damn, her lips having me addicted to her presence
Front page material on essence, a queen
Imperial before her adolescence
And as she grew into a woman she became refine
I never knew another like her in my lifetime
So now I travel through a tunnel of space, without a place
On the face of this earth, with this pain gettin worse
Drivin me insane, or release I'm touchin the brink, of sanity
Tto think of how I can link, or contact her
I was a fool before, but more wise after the fact
I'm analyzin how I'm wantin her back
And wonderin exactly where she could be on the map
I'm just sittin here spinning the world on one finger
Reoccuring thoughts of this brown skin singer
Yo, the psychotic, the hypnotic, yo check it out
The most melodic hypnotic, yeah
You're a shinin' star
No matter where you are
For the world to see
What you truly be
You're my shinin star
No matter where you are
Dont know what to say
Was it true to be

Stand up, stretch for the stars
Get somebody else involved right next to ya
Y'all elected me to keep it so fresh for ya
Just cause I make it possible for the rest of ya
To just take it there come on and
Get your head ringin' from the sting of the snare
Spine tingle elevating every singular hair
All the way from South Philly on a wing and prayer
And still bringin' it yeah
[Chorus]
C'mon take it there
C'mon take it there
Let's take it there
C'mon take it there
I'm from the side of town
Where shots get sprayed around
Where the expectancy rate be twenty-eight around
Downtown battleground where cops parade around
Have your whole view of life beyond jaded
How everybody sick of breaking down, tryin' a make it out
Hand over fist the only way to get the paper down
People tired of gettin' pushed around, gettin' gangsta now
Discipline the only way to bring some kinda change around
Chain cirgarette smokin' with bad nerves
And brothas with bad lungs from smokin' mad herb
Whoever in the dark is unseen and heard
Let's submerge, I can feel something close we on the verge
Talkin' bout, to my street sweepers, hotel housekeepers
And my people spillin' this out through jail house speakers
Some people rather use than might than use heaters
Some people rather lose they life than lose freedom
For real
[Chorus]
[poem interlude]
Society's time bomb laying dormant
Our peopledisenfranchised for the free world
Oil for food but they still hungry
No democracy
They said one vote equals one voice
But he told you if he can't work to make it
He'll rob to take it
The villains
Abandoning the planet and the people
Another hot summer yo, they 'bout to flood the prisons
This ain't no do diddley, it's a do somethin'
Flash light, red light, proceed ahead right
Straight into them headlights, you get your head right
Head right get a third strike, hit the turnpike
Life quicker than spliff that wouldn't burn right
Make you wanna holla 'bout it
It ain't no doubt about it
Every now and then you gotta stand up and shout about it
And I'll be shoutin' it to, as if a shout'll count
Yo they got accountin' to do, reamount the ballot
The shit more puzzlin' than a jigsaw
Raw pitbulls hustlin' through the pitfalls
Some of y'all toys let the laughter rip roar
Heart felt truth in every lyric I spit forth
Raise up time to lift off
Written on a lega pad, poetry that sizzle the clip board
My og, my homey who taught me deal
Said in prayer that's the only time you should ever kneel
And that's real, I'm a take it there
[Chorus]

[Black Thought]
Hit the flo' ah, cuz it's bout to blow ah
C'mon, hit the flo' ah, it's bout to blow ah
Hit the flo' ah, it's about to blow ah
Hit the flo' ah, cuz it's about to blow ah
Lyrical landslide, bonafide worldwide live
Shit to make my niggas in the west just vibe
Comin out the numero that don't divide
That's 5, talk hustle that's the way we survive
My alter-ego, Five-Hundred Fifty-Five people collide
Beneath a ?counter-locks? last like a thousand shots
Black Thought, SP side-clout to strut on sidewalk
Dip like high drug, spit fire fly third eye talk
That leave your mind struck
What, Miss Kinda you fuckin the rhyme up
Yo my man OC told ya Time's Up
React/Respond what, y'all MC's is awe-struck
Pull a seat up at my Table of Contents
But kill all the nonsense, I'm readin your contents, you hate it
The CEO, SP Incorporated
Supreme rap manuevers dat deleted orchestrated
Yamsayin, the most awaited back again
Shorty said "Where ya been?"
That I can't divulge, you can check for the bulge
Or roll over in dough
Yamsayin get overwhelmed, develop like film
Step up Into The Realm, what Into The Realm
Yamean, P-P, fam Malik B *scatting*
Yamsayin, word up you gone lose CONTROL
Yamsayin, MC's you got BIT the FLOW
Yamean, it's bout to BLOW
Check it out, c'mon wit the FLOW
Yo yo, aight playa, I got whatever kind of flavor
Rock from LA to Colorado to Decatur
Wherever I walk stay smoked for hours later
I stumble into some trees to scuff up your gators
Now what you and your lady know, don't she tell you how she A this nigga?
She hit me up wit like fifty-five pages
My sound take you from conception to death stages
Introducin Adrenaline, it's outrageous
Lift you up like you're weightless
Yo sit down it's hard to take this bad news to spread around
Now I'm about to let you know what's up now
You'll be like "That's what's up now"
I'm Black Thought, I'll pull the ground up from under your feet
Like it's a throw rug, my vocal impact that of a fo-fo slug
You hold your chest like "Hold up, I need time to think"
And detonate don't blink
Yamsayin, hit the floor again now you extinct
Check it out, when we warrin in we on the brink
Insanity, niggas is panickin, ya tryin to run
Check it out, aiyyo yo the fearsome
What, hit the flo'
Hold up yamean, you just don't know (check it out)
We bout to let this go (check it out)
*scatting* Aight, yo HIT THE FLO'!
Check it out, IT'S BOUT TO BLOW wop bop
Check it out, HIT THE FLO' wop wop
Check it out, SHIT'S BOUT TO BLOW wop wop and a c'mon
HIT THE FLO' wop wop we-wop c'mon
BOUT TO BLOW wop bop check it out
C'mon hit the flo' wop, and ah
It's ya yamean, R-double-O-T-S yes step
Yes, the Lieutent, Table of Contents yo
And the Table of Contents yamean?

[Part One]
[Black Thought]
*Background*
Is this fast or normal speed?
Yea, knawsayin?, yea, Table of Contents
Fuckin wit it, one two, it's the Table of Contents, come on (2x)
Uh yea, uh huh, yo
Check it out, you're now intuned to the sounds of the
R to the, double-O to the, T-S and I stretch limit to this profession
My voice physically fit, tracks I'm bench-pressing
The mic chord is an extension of my intestine
Delicate MC's sliced in my delicatessan
My mind state is that of the S-P
Connection, Pennsy a part of me, South Philly through my arteries
Thought the dark one, fearsome, slump son
My vocal just a knuckle that sucker punched the drum
Hip-hop yo that's my hustle and it kill a kingdom
That Fall Apart to drastic propor-tion
Lost ones out there, you better stand clear
The Fifth Dynasty, it be a world premier
Cuttin through like attorneys at law that's car chasin
You star gazing, the force y'all facin is the
R-to the, double-O to the, T-S an'
Y'all niggaz in the mix, keep guessin
The world traveller in the flesh without question
Last seven years on tour without restin
Yo the kind of rapper you should reconsider testin
Supreme simply, o-fficial Dundee
What I bring'll motivate to move your whole country
Throw your hands up if y'all want me to proceed wit
And carry out strategic plans to leave wit
The title that I'm watchin, Roots we run-ting
My Dundee atire for MC hunting
Step up and out the ring
Y'all niggaz on some other, y'all loud as Don King
But wine drink within the danger zone lounging
You need to be more aware of your surroundings
Reality at times is astounding enough to get your heart pounding
It's safe to assume, in all confidence
That I'm one of the illest in the seven continents
Yo, you on my dick, thanks for the compliments
You be fucked up by my Table of Contents *begins fading*
Bad Lieutanent, you I been rhymin since
The fuckin past tense, fuck no delayin
Or playin taking your wing way back in the day of yo
Motherfuckin mind
[Part Two]
[Malik B]
It' the R-to the, double-O to the, T-S an'
Yo yo, it's the R to the, double-O to the, T-S an' yo
When I strike to excite, I just aim, I never miss
Embrace you wit a hug of death, give your ass a slight kiss
Toxic words that spill over pages, for ages
Impacts like M-16's to twelve gauges
The rage is still in me, never act too friendly
Scully down creepin while you tilted off Henny
Many man begin pure but in this world of sin your
Holdin tight my mor-al by in-jure
We scramble, because this game life is the gamble
Vandalize your terrain, go against the grain
Invade your brain wit the collision causing division
Sweep your sector, leavin you niggaz for stool-pigeons
Sweep your sector, leavin you niggaz for stool-pigeons
Sweep your sector, leavin you niggaz for stool-pigeons
My religion is a way of life, but the trife replays
Cuz niggaz actin shiest these days
Wagin wars, usin dynamics cuz I'ma slam it
You talkin all this out out your mouth, you satanic
Roam the planet, always takin bullshit for granted
Just a cool type of cat but you still can't understand it
You told to sit back, stand still and chill
Niggaz bound to clap shots cuz they all act ill
Wit a sour-ass taste smilin up in your face
I'm like trust, never leavin no trial or no trace
Disappear wit the wind, ? shows the discipline
Twenty-five years of my life I learned to ?miss amend?
Peep the structure of a whole empire
Smuggled sealed tai, pack lyrics like Kya
Verbal messiah, when I cross I set a fire
Wacker MC went in doubt cuz I'm for hire *echoes*

Chorus: repeat 4X
Step into the realm, you're bound to get caught
And from this worldly life, you'll soon depart
[Malik B]
Yo, I walk a-cross this, world that's deceptive
Beats are perfected, the ghetto's infested
with more destruction, my vocal eruption
was speakin bout corruption with no introduction
Approach me with caution cause I spark losses
M-Illitant the rap arson, marchin
Leavin niggaz stiff like I'm starchin, departin
Hollywood Sambos and jokes just like Martin
I'm the type of nigga that belongs in a ward
with a mic and a cord, to hold your head with a sword
Some proclaim lames, callin theyselves bold
They shall be flawed, when the claps applaud
If this a point of life, one I can't afford
Then I have to get sheist and I deal in fraud
Now back to the topic of, the rap philosopher
With more drama than a soap opera
Who stops the propoganda, the hot block commander
Puttin a halt to all the backtalk and slander
Warn every challenger, about the silencer
Muzzle in your mouth for the days that's on the calendar
Chorus
[Black Thought]
I'm from the valley of the heavyheads, watch the ghetto pre-medical
undergrads, and steady red faces of stone
Eyes are crevices, life like a double negative
Philly crimin-al, I rhyme my, dirt Tariq already did
Buildin this, Fifth foundation in the wilderness
Thought-less, trespass and enter Thought's fortress
Limitless entrance, paid, to the order of the
cypher slaughterer, my mic slappin you senseless
Defenseless, niggaz never movin me inches
The beat Fifth, invisi-ble in the trenches
Afficiando, awesome hip-hop drug problem
Fuck stardom, and chickens up in Gotham
Poltergeist, slit or choke the mic, til it scream to me
STOP THAT, cash we conveniently got that
I stroll through your scenery cocked back
Me and Hot Mack, the nine-eight, El Dorado Cadillac Jacks
Chorus

[Black Thought]
Bass for your face, highs for your eyes
Don't blink, Black Ink has arrived, all rise
Rudebwoys keep dem thing at your side, be alright
Muh'fuckers Philly we up in here, we all live
I'm puffin this Cohiba mami coolin her heels
All she ever seem to do is play it cool f'real
She be pushin, pop vessel, and her shoes is ill
But her hand, keep slippin on the woodgrain wheel
But it's cool, we never slippin when there's moves to make
Especially when what we talkin ain't ya usual cake
I pump bass for y'all bathin apes, to get charged
Nah, I'm not a dealer, I'm a poet at large
We in the wind with the roof back, lettin the breeze hit us
The bathrobe on with sweatpants and slippers
Comin to pay a visit to whoever on the hitlist
Some of y'all been tryin for years, you'll never get this fool
Check it out (stay cool) stay cool daddy (stay cool)
Stay cool ma (hey, hey) c'mon
(Stay cool motherfuckers y'all know the rules)
(Hey, stay cool.. stay cool)
There it is (Yeah hah hah, stay coooool)
[Black Thought]
Hip-Hop my main bitch, I got a few on the side
The game stitched y'all I'm doin my job
Go up against enormous odds
Wouldn't break a sweat, money make her bet
Funny son you threat, well I ain't shakin yet
Twenty-fo'/sev' chillin, tougher than penicillin
From the block where the crooked cops killin like a villain
Children, in the hood gettin rocked by they buildings
And brothers, 'cross the board gettin knocked by the millions
The stress, got me ignitin the potent marijuana leaf
Tryin to play it cooler than a polar bear colony
You feel the music know I'm over there probably
Pimpin on the same system that forever shorted me
I got the soul of a young Sam Cooke when I spit
It make you wanna make a new dance up
It's all to the good shorty 'gwan do that stuff
It's not another sound system rockin steady as us
And it's cool
(Stay cool) yeah (stay cool) stay cool ha
(Hey, hey) check it out, and just
(Stay cool motherfuckers y'all know the rules) yeah
(Hey, stay cool.. stay cool)
(Yeah hah hah, stay coooool)
[Black Thought]
Yeah, when I'm crusin in my vehicle, the chase harass me
They never ride past me, they really comin at me right
They wanna know where the drugs guns and cash be
Probably wanna get me to run, so they can blast me
Just, blast me in your box, play my shit
I know it's crowded at the top, cause I'm on the tip
And that's as high up at the top, as a brother could get
And how I do it make a lot of muh'fuckers upset
But it's fine, re-gizzlin I'm back for mine
In case y'all gettin tired of the same ol' shine
And I'm calm, calculated and perfectly aligned
The way I'm operatin what is a surgery of rhyme
It's not a thang when I lower the gradient lens frames
I'm cooler than Clyde Stubblefield, drummer for James
Hip-Hop is out of Hustleville, comin for change
I exercise 'til a muscle build, breakin the chains
And I'm cool
(Stay cool) (stay cool) (hey, hey)
(Stay cool motherfuckers y'all know the rules)
(Hey, stay cool.. stay cool)
(Yeah hah hah, stay coooool)

[40 seconds of instrumental to start]
[Black Thought]
Get 'em up high - okay, yeah
[Chorus]
Go all-star, and get down for yours
To the ladies in the house, be proud of yours
You got the, Roots crew with the sound of course
High, lift 'em up high, okay
[Black Thought]
When that adrenaline get in they system
It get 'em out on a quest for stardom, could be a motherfuckin problem
in Philly, Cincinatti, Los Angeles or Harlem
Kids call theyself killers let they hammers do the talkin
Don't even know the meaning of life, ain't seen a thing
and you dream of floodin the scenery with, llello and greenery
But for now, you stickin her with the heavy machinery
Wonder how, you lift it up, be only 17
And like e'rybody he wanna shine, young brothers on the grind
Holdin somethin in they spine, "Bowling for Columbine"
Stressin to me how it's all about a dollar sign
Dig the way you out of line, out of sight and out of mind
Up against the clock and damn near out of time
"The Tipping Point" has arrived, and that's the bottom line
To all my peoples that's stars, it's our time to shine
Let's get 'em up high, c'mon
[Chorus - 2X]
[Black Thought]
Yo, ain't it strange how the newspapers play with the language
I'm deprogrammin y'all with uncut slang shit
I know some peoples in the party armed and dangerous
Twist some cool champagne, I'm goin through changes
A grown-ass man, I done paid my dues
Learn the rules lil' homey, you could be one too
Niggaz know, ain't no tellin what he gon' do
But recognize young bruh, I'ma do it for you
You know why? We all stars and we highly evolved
Hip-Hop, it's not pop like Kylie Minogue
If it bang, them gettin-busy brothers probably involved
In the game, where e'rybody got a shottie to draw
I guess you probably a thug, you boss ballin or what?
I can't call it man, I got the ladies fallin in love
Cause handsome, intelligent, tough - I'm all the above
I know you knew it it's the movement
Groove to it while you doin it up
[Chorus - 2X w/ minor variations]
[Black Thought]
Introducin the band you gotta see to believe
He got the mic in his hand, so keep the heat up your sleeve
It's Black Thought, he rockin sharp so the speakers'll bleed
I run a triathalon, you wouldn't see me fatigued
I'm a star, and maybe y'all should cop somethin to be
Or trade some of y'all equipment in for somethin you need
Cause it's a, lot of bullshit floodin the scene
Where e'rybody's a star, and hot shit is few and far between
We lose the grip of what, garbage mean
Shorties wanna be theyself, I know it's hard to be
Don't wanna do the Ruben Studdard and come off less threatenin
Keepin it real'll kill you if you end up lettin it
Ain't it blowin your mind how the game all in line
Now the best, to the rest, we fin' to end up settin it
I'd tell you that I was a veteran but it's evident
You act like you want it, you gon' end up gettin it
[Chorus - 3X w/ minor variations]
"Everybody is a star.."
[echoes and fades into an instrumental that ends the song]

The Roots f/ Amiri Baraka
Phrenology
Something in the Way of Things (In Town)
In town x3
Something in the way of things
Something that will quit and won't start
Something you know but can't stand
Can't know get along with
Like death
Riding on top of the car peering through the windshield for his cue
Something entirely fictitious and true
That creeps across your path hallowing your evil ways
Like they were yourself passing yourself not smiling
The dead guy you saw me talking to is your boss
I tried to put a spell on him but his spirit is illiterate
I know things you know and nothing you don't know
'cept I saw something in the way of things
Something grinning at me and I wanted to know, was it funny?
Was it so funny it followed me down the street
Greeting everybody like the good humor man
But an they got the taste of good humor but no ice cream
It was like dat
Me talking across people into the houses
And not seeing the beings crowding around me with ice picks
You could see them
But they looked like important Negroes on the way to your funeral
Looked like important jiggaboos on the way to your auction
And let them chant the number and use an ivory pointer to count your teeth
Remember Steppen Fetchit
Remember Steppen Fetchit how we laughed
An all your Sunday school images giving flesh and giggling
With the ice pick high off his head
Made ya laugh anyway
I can see something in the way of our selves
I can see something in the way of our selves
That's why I say the things I do, you know it
But its something else to you
Like that job
This morning when you got there and it was quiet
And the machines were yearning soft behind you
Yearning for that nigga to come and give up his life
Standin' there bein' dissed and broke and troubled
My mistake is I kept sayin' "that was proof that God didn't exist"
And you told me, "nah, it was proof that the devil do"
But still, its like I see something I hear things
I saw words in the white boy's lying rag
said he was gonna die poor and frustrated
That them dreams walk which you 'cross town
S'gonna die from over work
There's garbage on the street that's tellin' you you ain't shit
And you almost believe it
Broke and mistaken all the time
You know some of the words but they ain't the right ones
Your cable back on but ain't nothin' you can see
But I see something in the way of things
Something to make us stumble
Something get us drunk from noise and addicted to sadness
I see something and feel something stalking us
Like and ugly thing floating at our back calling us names
You see it and hear it too
But you say it got a right to exist just like you and if God made it
But then we got to argue
And the light gon' come down around us
Even though we remember where the (light or mic??) is
Remember the Negro squinting at us through the cage
You seen what I see too?
The smile that ain't a smile but teeth flying against our necks
You see something too but can't call its name
Ain't it too bad y'all said
Ain't it too bad, such a nice boy always kind to his motha
Always say good morning to everybody on his way to work
But that last time before he got locked up and hurt, real bad
I seen him walkin' toward his house and he wasn't smiling
And he didn't even say hello
But I knew he'd seen something
Something in the way of things that it worked on him like it do in will
And he kept marching faster and faster away from us
And never even muttered a word
Then the next day he was gone
You wanna know what
You wanna know what I'm talkin' about
Sayin' "I seen something in the way of things"
And how the boys face looked that day just before they took him away
The is? in that face and remember now, remember all them other faces
And all the many places you've seen him or the sister with his child
Wandering up the street
Remember what you seen in your own mirror and didn't for a second recognize
The face, your own face
Straining to get out from behind the glass
Open your mouth like you was gon' say somethin'
Close your eyes and remember what you saw and what it made you feel like
Now, don't you see something else
Something cold and ugly
Not invisible but blended with the shadow criss-crossing the old man
Squatting by the drug store at the corner
With is head resting uneasily on his folded arms
And the boy that smiled and the girl he went with
And in my eyes too
A waving craziness splitting them into the jet stream of a black bird
Wit his ass on fire
Or the solomNOTness of where we go to know we gonna be happy
I seen something
I SEEN something
And you seen it too
You seen it too
You just can't call it's name name name name name name name

From the album: Phrenology
In town x3
Something in the way of things
Something that will quit and won't start
Something you know but can't stand
Can't know get along with
Like death
Riding on top of the car peering through the windshield for his cue
Something entirely fictitious and true
That creeps across your path hallowing your evil ways
Like they were yourself passing yourself not smiling
The dead guy you saw me talking to is your boss
I tried to put a spell on him but his spirit is illiterate
I know things you know and nothing you don't know
'cept I saw something in the way of things
Something grinning at me and I wanted to know, was it funny?
Was it so funny it followed me down the street
Greeting everybody like the good humor man
But an they got the taste of good humor but no ice cream
It was like dat
Me talking across people into the houses
And not seeing the beings crowding around me with ice picks
You could see them
But they looked like important Negroes on the way to your funeral
Looked like important jiggaboos on the way to your auction
And let them chant the number and use an ivory pointer to count your teeth
Remember Steppen Fetchit
Remember Steppen Fetchit how we laughed
An all your Sunday school images giving flesh and giggling
With the ice pick high off his head
Made ya laugh anyway
I can see something in the way of our selves
I can see something in the way of our selves
That's why I say the things I do, you know it
But its something else to you
Like that job
This morning when you got there and it was quiet
And the machines were yearning soft behind you
Yearning for that nigga to come and give up his life
Standin' there bein' dissed and broke and troubled
My mistake is I kept sayin' "that was proof that God didn't exist"
And you told me, "nah, it was proof that the devil do"
But still, its like I see something I hear things
I saw words in the white boy's lying rag
said he was gonna die poor and frustrated
That them dreams walk which you 'cross town
S'gonna die from over work
There's garbage on the street that's tellin' you you ain't shit
And you almost believe it
Broke and mistaken all the time
You know some of the words but they ain't the right ones
Your cable back on but ain't nothin' you can see
But I see something in the way of things
Something to make us stumble
Something get us drunk from noise and addicted to sadness
I see something and feel something stalking us
Like and ugly thing floating at our back calling us names
You see it and hear it too
But you say it got a right to exist just like you and if God made it
But then we got to argue
And the light gon' come down around us
Even though we remember where the (light or mic??) is
Remember the Negro squinting at us through the cage
You seen what I see too?
The smile that ain't a smile but teeth flying against our necks
You see something too but can't call its name
Ain't it too bad y'all said
Ain't it too bad, such a nice boy always kind to his motha
Always say good morning to everybody on his way to work
But that last time before he got locked up and hurt, real bad
I seen him walkin' toward his house and he wasn't smiling
And he didn't even say hello
But I knew he'd seen something
Something in the way of things that it worked on him like it do in will
And he kept marching faster and faster away from us
And never even muttered a word
Then the next day he was gone
You wanna know what
You wanna know what I'm talkin' about
Sayin' "I seen something in the way of things"
And how the boys face looked that day just before they took him away
The is? in that face and remember now, remember all them other faces
And all the many places you've seen him or the sister with his child
Wandering up the street
Remember what you seen in your own mirror and didn't for a second recognize
The face, your own face
Straining to get out from behind the glass
Open your mouth like you was gon' say somethin'
Close your eyes and remember what you saw and what it made you feel like
Now, don't you see something else
Something cold and ugly
Not invisible but blended with the shadow criss-crossing the old man
Squatting by the drug store at the corner
With is head resting uneasily on his folded arms
And the boy that smiled and the girl he went with
And in my eyes too
A waving craziness splitting them into the jet stream of a black bird
Wit his ass on fire
Or the solomNOTness of where we go to know we gonna be happy
I seen something
I SEEN something
And you seen it too
You seen it too
You just can't call it's name name name name name name name

[Hook:]
Somebody's gotta be there when it gets ugly
Somebody's gotta be there when it gets bloody
Somebody's gotta get their hands dirty
Yo, it's a fucked up job but somebody's gotta do it
Somebody's gotta come up with a plan
And be there when the shit hits the fan
I hope ya'll out there understand
Look man it's a fucked up job, but somebody's gotta do it
[Riq Gees:]
Yeah ya'll, ideal for a lyrical perfectionist
Raw, that's what every soldier in my collective is
Thought, control level is that of a gold medalist
My level headedness make it come off so effortless
The rebel is a opposite extreme of devilish
Back setting it with the answer to your deficit
My track record is hot shit, consecutive
Smug, I got game just like a record executive
A kiss to the feminine girls loving a gentlemen
A genius slash gangsta with a skill for swindling
Bet on Black
Bet these cats that's all gelatin
Will fall back spittin' them raps that's unintelligent
Raps that cap, rabid rattlin' out the gattlin'
Crippling rhymes whistlin' past, blow you back in
Smellin' your blood now I'm huntin'
Blowin' your front in for frontin' what up cousin?
Oh, now it's nothin'
Yo, you can't go beyond a point of no returning
I flip like my name Turner
That's for certain nigga, Ted Turner, Nat Turner, nigga Ike Turner
The raw sojourner for truth
The mic burner
[Repeat Hook]
[Jean Grae:]
Mic malevolence defies violence I inherited
Others just rentin' it like rooms at the Sheraton
I gotta jones like Vanessa in the devil in-
And y'all cold like a show in the Netherlands
Cold shoulders and frozen aortic valves -
So I don't form pals - conform to norms - morals different
Gifted - use it to shift shit a mutant shape shifter when I spit it I'm liquid
You could lick a million shots at the character of the body shell
They'll just richochette nigga aura's hard as hell
Before there was ain't hard to tell
The mic's cycle coincided right with mine as well
Since a minor I walked with the spine upstraight
I learned to rhyme to feed the dinner plate
I scraped barrel - even dined up on wine and steaks
Cuz in the bone same marrow that apartheid chased
The narrow margin with the haves and the have nots
Will get smaller as I approach - so watch your stash box
Fox logo if your fave is local
Get bruised till you're the color of the Laker's logo
This is work niggas
[Repeat Hook]
[Mac:]
I made it - ain't nobody believe in me
But this rap game is like selling coke legally
Ain't no innovations - that takes concentration
Nigga's celebrating not knowing the time they wasting
Killin' mics is one of my aesthetics
Rip very live so I'm an entertainer like Cedric
Shit they play on radio's now give me a headache
Can't slow me down I know where I'm headed
The profit on kill if you let it
Nigga's feeling energetic
Wanna rumble - guns will come out
Here come the paramedics
I'm just trying to live like I've Devin
Tired of my people failin'
We all sin - the devil, what di I tell em
Somebody gotta get their hands dirty and shoes muddy
I see things vividly, ya'll vision is blurry
Even if you hate - through my music you gone love
Everybody with me and they was with me when it was ugly
[Repeat Hook]

[Chorus - Dice Raw]
Days are living fast, moves in misery
You got a song you wanna sing for me
Sing a song, singing man
Sing a song, singing man
Sing another song, singing man
Sing another song, singing man
Sing a song for me
Sing a song for me
[P.O.R.N.]
Look, I'm so twisted, so, so twisted
One life to live, and I'm willing to risk it
Terror that the world has never known existed
Left so many clues, now how could they miss it?
Sadistic, ballistic, find a word and pick it
Long as it means the world is on my shit list
Walking time bomb, my mind is on tick-tick
Countdown's on, its too late to nix it
I'm so anxious, so, so anxious
The ones I hate barely know what my name is
Have no clue that I'm armed and dangerous
Willing to spill my blood to be famous
Willing to spill my blood to make changes
Look for a suicide note to explain this
Heinous, inking the ache from my anguish
Sounds insane, you're speaking my language...
[Chorus]
[Black Thought]
One for the pressing, two for the cross
Three for the blessing, four for the loss
Kid holding a weapon, walk like a corpse
In the face of transgression, military issue Kalash-
-Nikova or machete or a pitchfork
He killing cause he feel he got nothing to live for
In a war taking heads from men like Charles Taylor
And never seen the undisclosed foreign arms dealer
13-year-old killer, he look 35
He changed his name to Little No-Man-Survive
When he smoke that leaf, shorty believe he can fly
He loot and terrorize and shoot between the eyes
Who to blame, its a shame, the youth was demonized
Wishing he could see rearrange the truth, to see the lies
And he wouldn't have to raise his barrel to target you
His heart can't give you the years of scar tissue...
[Chorus]
[Truck North]
Uh, what you're witnessing is true dedication
Charged by the call and the cause of the nation
Countdown, minutes away from detonation
A lifetime of grunt work, this is the culmination
My manner, seems patient, inner rage lies
So deep, I can taste it, let's sacrifice lives
Past the first sensation, to paradise I fly
Delusions are lighting up the midday sky
The last days of mine spent in extreme secrecy
Wolves dressed like sheep occur more frequently
Too much faith to be scared, the petrified both fled
Those who live fearing death, might as well be dead
Towers of the occupiers, will soon fall
Martyr or mass murderer? That's your call
Mass transit or a mall? Who can watch them all?
In the name of the merciful, sing me a song...
[Chorus]

Intro/Chorus: repeat 2X
Girl you know that you need
to stop givin' me the silent.. treatment baby
Can't you see what you mean to me?
I wanna love you constantly, but you keep neglecting me
And treating me silently
Verse One: BlackThought
Yo, I had a Queen named Amina, height 5'7";
Caramel-complected, body like heaven
Met her through the sister of my man Big Vince
Like some shit from out the flicks we been in love ever since
She called me her chocolate brotha, I call her my sugar sista
Knew Shorty could work it since before I ever kissed her
I never dissed her, painted my picture to hit
But because sex she wasn't with, she started flippin an' shit
Like, ";Listen man, I'm Queen Amina, Amina's not no freak and
that game is weak and keep tryin to hit I could quit speakin
Tariq in fact, you bein BlackThought don't get ya closer
I dig ya but won't bone ya because I'm so-called supposed ta
Most o' them would, but that couldn't be me, that's not my flava
Go home and think about that, maybe later on I'll page ya...";
I contemplated, and then concluded she was bluffin
Steady pursuin screwin, gettin nothin but the silent treatment
Chorus (+ ";Silently bay-bee"; at end)
Verse Two: BlackThought
Crazy frustration, about my lovin situation
When patience was a virtue, but I wasn't used to waitin
I want some Marvin Gaye healin, feelin is real inside
I slip and slide, my ride'll keep you occupied, I'd..
love to get wit it like that, but my baby's kitty cat's capped
and locked, Love Boat is docked at the shore
And what for? Later for groupies on tour
Why won't my sugar call me no more?
I mean, my Queen gets upset, rejectin and sexually neglect
Then sayin I'm more sewer than Das EFX, and closed-minded
It's like I'm blinded by the skinnin
I'm into women; because of that, this one's into communication
Temptation played the vandal, freakin my brain, my mind
Rippin the handle on physically scandalous acts
Yo! She knew what I wanted, but she fronted
... bust it
Chorus
Verse Three: BlackThought
Well umm
Movin right along with the song, plus the strong
feelings on my mind, desire to intertwine
Combine and blend, baby bust a message that I send
Ain't no need to pretend, cause shit is real til the end
I provide a place to hide from crime, hard times
and livin trife, while I open ya mind, you're in my life
like love, it ain't no way no one can rise above what's real
That's why I'm feelin like you're makin me bugged
I puff an El on fifty deuce while I walk in the rain
Heart feelin killa pain while I hop the train
Dial her number to the rest, and ain't no messages left
Regardless, my chest thumps from stress, yo it's a mess
I don't know what I got to do to make you understand
I'm for real and that's no question, no frontin or no guessin
Undressin, carressin, in the span, that I contain in my hand
could touch and make you say that I'm such a man
and call my name, so let me set your body aflame
I'll never treat you like a dame or run game
Now who's to blame?
I know you're not a hoe for niggaz with a lot of dough
But I just wanted you to know
Chorus (+ ";silently"; at end)
Chorus 1/2 (+ ";silently, si-lent-ly"; at end)
*whistling of music fades away*

Chorus: Black Thought: (2X)
You can't front, we comin with the shots to pump
We got more cuz it's what you want
Thump it in your section and throughout your section
In your area, throughout your whole section, yo...
Black Thought:
Y'all know the dynasty, the Roots repertoire
The lieutenant from the reservoir, serve the spar
The injurar, preditar of a competitar
I send MCs where the paramedics are
At first, I'm like ";nah";, I'm nonchalant from afar
Then strike to cut the fake rap star jugular
With irregular balance of the cat burgla-rar
Known to parlay with Garcia Vega cigars
I know the flavor because me and the thugs minds are mutual
We congruent, lay on the corner with the trauma unit
I'm from the lab where the bomb's distibuted
So never try to duplicate the skills executed
Son you'd get electrocuted from the worldwide reputed
Shine like nickel heat that blow your mind when I shoot it
Some know me as the man that's from the Roots crew
Others as the bad lieutenant of Snyder Avenue
We go an eye for an eye
Behead like a samurai that'll command the dynasty until he die
Who will imply that I lack a-biliti?
Make your words known, amplify the u-tiliti
I'm crooked like the ";I"; on a toxic malt liquor
The land whipper, the Dom Perignon champ sipper
The fifth'll bring it all together like the zipper on a butter leather
The bad lieu a bring the bad weather
So to whoever got riff, let it rest
Reflect, then recollect on the way it was set
It's the veteran architect that flows with the rhythm of sex
Be on the low shotgun in the Lex
With my man low to flex
I'm restin where they handle the Tecs
And the lyrical vandal is next flow
So my man, my mizza, my man
M-ilitant, what's the master plan?
Once again...
chorus:
Malik B.
Peep the oratory, niggaz bore me with theatrics
Moms listen to they daughter story about my packets
The adverse is on your table, stabilize emotion
A soldier at ease, but on post of up most in
Brag and boast in my anecdotes that choke
Invade your whole terrain, you feel the pain provoke
When I breaststroke your wavelength of intensity
My alliance bring forth to you an entity
Your whole vicinity, I contaminate with hate
Got no time to debate, but hold up wait, sit straight
It's in mil, the elicit, you violate, you get a ticket
MCs you can't tell I expel, you get evicted
>From out your misery, serve your ass with my delivery
Allah makes the ground you steppin on shivery
Permanent tears run through your thoughts you queers
It's all upstairs, where there's a crowd, table and chairs
For years, been on the mic, I'm like a dike with stairs
When I strike, I stay severe, niggaz stay low in they glare
>From over here, my Range Rover square to blast offside
Switch the pitch from southpaw to unorthodox
I shock your brain with the miscellaneous
Who beez the zaniest...nigga with words that are spontaneous?
Black Thought:
A yo, the purpose mainly is to generate the Luther Van
Lyrical contraband, controllin your command and...
chorus:
Black Thought:
All the way live from 2-1-5, all the way live from the 6-1-0
Gettin cash, get the gusto
One time, it's the dynasty flow
Runnin it down the line, it's another
Yeah, you in tune to another ill
5th dynasty production baby (fading out)

[Verse One: Black Thought]
Listen, I got you phobic off of this like arachnids
Drastic, it ain't plastic it's Pro-Blackness
Grown man tactics, no pediatrics
the kind of track that make the comeback miraculous
the catalyst, Thought with the knack for splashin'
I'm dashin' I mastered the craft of mashin'
The level-headed throughbred, the female's passion
Mag-netic attraction be keepin' them askin'
The crews in the Cadillacs with the Pendergrassin'
Swerve half-naked, won't come near crashin'
But if I go to heaven, would y'all know my name
or would it be the same for you like I was Eric Clapton, huh?
Clap for you freedom dog, that's what's happening
My spit take critical political action
The hustle is a puzzle each piece is a fraction
And every word that's understood is a transaction
I'm an S.P. soldier, microphone holder
Rep Philly set from Bolivia to Boulder
Paris, France to Tip and Tioga
How we gonna make it through the dark, I show ya
[Chorus: Black Thought & Nelly Furtado]
I tell you one lesson I learned
If you want to be something in life
You ain't gonna get it unless
You give a little bit of sacrifice
Ooohh, sometimes before you smile you got to cry
You need a heart that's filled with music
If you use it you can fly
If you want to be high
[Verse Two: Black Thought]
Listen, yo kick off your shoes, jump off the jock
I fly higher than them dudes, from off your block
My name Black, the style is unorthodox
It tap chins in your mens 'til you thought could box
A couple of people wanted Thought to stop, but guess what?
My man grab the missile, plug for the gut
Now next time beatty stop being such a glut
I'm precise with it like Faheim with haircuts
We up close on 'em with toast but no crust
It's fructose on 'em they froze and won't bust
Choke on your face you jewels is lacklust
Got to put it to you straight, y'all fools is jacked up
Came close to the upmost but no cigar
Nose to the grindstone, head to the stars
The number one runner with the number one drummer
Grammy award winnin' it's the world's eighth wonder
Come on
[Chorus]
[Verse Three: Black Thought]
Your first impression might be I'm a asshole
Or say I'm sometimey and give people a hassle
Or try to suntouch and put the heat in the capsule
Dog I'm far deeper than that though; I get in the zone
Recognize I'm a rolling stone
No time to lollygag or lounge with scaliwags
Give me the disc or I put it where your body at
Old school spit flow laid over Trotter tracks
With no apology fraud or trick-knowledgy
Just trust, what I see and I say and follow me my way
I read an open booklet inside me
The star of the story that groove teller got me
Through all the dark times part of the business
The light be contingent on small forensics
My microphone'll make a man a newborn infant
It's true so the crew gon' sense it
I get in the zone
[Chorus x3]
The fact of the matter is a matter of fact....

[Chorus: Kweli & Dice Raw]
Downtown everybody move to the beat
Uptown everybody moving the heat
Cross-town the party where both sides meet
Eastside, westside, there's always beef [X2]
[Kweli]
I tattoo the page with the permanent ink
Mr. Rourke on your Fantasy Island
The umbrella in your tropical drinks
Still run it up it, liquor in your cup
Fucking you up
Hang over the banister
You feel the rush of the blood going straight to your brain
Ain't no love, you only love bringing hate to the game
Taking my name in vain, mistaking license for freedom
He make music for the people, people dying to meet him
People!
We still abuse it, while the rich is made of music
He probably driving a Buick and be rocking van-- ?
G-U-E relevant, see how his man do it
Fucking with niggas from illa fifth, see how we ran through it
The river in the valley
The nigga in the alley
Rolling with the heat from BK to killer Cali
The hands will fake the clapping
You'll be collasping
You softer than the land on legs
Transforming the landscape
Like a sandstorm in the Sahara
I am the truest nigga
I do more shows than The Roots to Carol Lewis
Creative artist, never play the targets of game hunters
You may want to test this product like cane smugglers
Dis disco shit
Popping like Crisco
Hitting your face
Spit in your face like pistol shit
My style, wild like wipple whip
I go back like a pistol grip
It's pro-black, Kweli!
[Chorus w/o Kweli]
[Black Thought]
I'm a FED like Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Willy gank, spit the killer dank dialogue
Pyro-maniac like Dr. Molotov
I knock the bottle off
And knock the model off
Gots some non-believers here
Some how I'll save y'all
Or stop y'all worries, you makin me vexed
Hit up gekko, this ain't got gold correct
I'll fucking bounty hunt your body like I'm Boba Fett
Cause you a toy not a soldier yet
You better hold your neck
You dick smokers get no respect
With the blood, ice your watch, rock your rocks
Better rock it on the screen and not the blocks
Cuz them crews don't stop them shots
It's so many that fly, they chase down, I just stop and watch
I'm from the south side of philly, it's known to get gruesome
Heavy hitter villians these alleyways produce them
Heavy hitter on a pocket we find a way to juice them
They may as well pay, schmuck
Introducing the B-to L-A see me the king splitter
Then analyze this dime, the main thing glitter
Then analyze the taste in your mouth, it seem bitter
Ganster, valid dick torian, graduate of I dare you
If you are paper thin I'm a tear you
I'm a come take care of you put a part in your hairdo
You barking like I'm a starting to scare you
But speak up like a man nigga so your body guards can hear you
[Chorus w/o Kweli]

[Chorus]
Rock you [repeat 6X]
Come on [repeat 2X]
Aiyyo y'all rappers less play, what I'm about to say
Will probably hit y'all niggas in a real strange way
Shmucks, ducks and half hearted prankster crews
Willie dank Langston Hughes, put shanks in crews
I debut to make the news and I've been killing it since
Still in the trench, buzzin off the killin dispense
I want my niggas out that barbwire still in the fence
Verbal assassin I'm a killer still in a sense
Rhymes is graphic
Aimin straight at your minds and blast that weak shit
The pieces and particles of fragments mad vocabulist
Yes I must confess
I'm like Diddy tryin to sink a slug in Elliots chest
Just taste on that it's Black you can tally up that
You never knew that fate cut you until your belly was wet
New Delian cat the Fraggle Rock skully is split it's Black comin
You can tell it's a hit, comin to drop you nigga
[Chorus]
We will Rock you [repeat 6X]
Yo yall savages is primitive
I'm true penmanship
Here come the neuro-linguistic rhyme hypnotist
Making sound waves
Prisoners outta the listeners
Legendary magnificent Pope distributors
Man I remain lives ahead of the game
Slang play off the meter cause its never the same
Niggas tell me how they never comin better then frame
They love what I say
Here come the rebel breaking the frame and it's all true
My earning bars arts is martial
I'm comin to off you
I ain't tryin to argue
When you least expect it I'm gonna step out the
darkroom pull out the hardware tools the particles will spark you
My niggas wraps give a slice
I spit nice fucking around this twice
As much as rhythm is rolling a dice
To choose one the noose or the gun
Cause you're getting banged or hanged
Thought second to none nigga
[Chorus]
Yo check it out whether you ballin or just one the
wall and groovin groovin
We've come to get it kickin and get the movement movin
For Tracey and Tamika and for Shelly and Susan
Styles make you wonder what the hell he was usin
Remember your development with out any music
Spit so many spears it's becoming a nuisance to some
But to whoever want to know who the truth is
You never heard another on the mic as ruthless
I drink a little liquor a lot of water and juices
It make money ain't no need for makin excuses
Burn you fuckin with a South Philly exclusive
Them long dick niggas with real short fuses that go off
Chick likes Riq, you such a show off
You cut your locks down to a fro than cut your fro off
I been at your show there ain't no way to cut your flow off
You got to be the illest emcee that people know of word
I will rock you [repeat 2X]
[Chorus]

[Intro (?uestlove & Chrisette Michele)]
Yesterday I saw a B-girl crying; yesterday I saw a B-girl crying
I walked up and asked what's wrong,
She told me that the radio's been playing the same song all day long
So I told her I got something you've been waiting for
I got something you've been waiting for
[Chorus (Chrisette Michele & Black Thought)]
Yesterday I saw a B-girl crying; I walked up and asked what's wrong
She told me that the radio's been playing the same song all day long
So get your glass lift it up in the toast position
We getting paper like John Travolta get it
Cause we focused wit it we supposed to get it
You know me and my whole squad we so committed
We not the kids cooling out on the sofa with it
We about to dominate the globe like Oprah did it
We getting paper like John Travolta nigga
[Black Thought]
Well I'm a downtown shooter who that?
The crown ruler is back
He kind of grew into the shape of a mack
Look how I do it, yo I'm taking you back
This how you rise down to the foundation, how sacred is that?
I'm from the number one place on the map
The generational gap with yet another sensational track
And we don't stress for nothing I just press the button
It's as simple as just making it hap
To all the frauds stop faking, relax
And to the broads if you caking
Then clap then shake it without breaking your back
I know the world been waiting for that
You been aching for that cuz what they playing on the station is wack
And I'm a legend in the flesh that dress to impress
The best is that which I accept and nothing less
My stacks is grotesque my squad, so fresh
You know its Black Thought and your boy the bro ?uest, but
[Chorus (Chrisette Michele & Black Thought)]
[Wale]
Hip-Hop ain't dead cuz the pulse is in us
I got the Everclear flow, they mimosa with it
We are the hope of the culture, they supposed to listen
And I'm supposed to pivot like I'm a forward in the league, I'm Oden with it
Yet don't owe them niggas nothing but potent lyrics
But if you ain't got the dance they revoke your spinning
So good rappers ain't eating they Olsen twining
But I'm so committed, they have grown familiar
With the counterfeit hitters they so-so with it, but they are Sosa with it.
They Mark McGuire with the written, I'm Rodriguez
On the road to riches this is the fork I'm hitting
This is the trial and error era no co-defendant
I push The Seed every time like I'm Cody with it
I said the one-hit wonders pneumonia to us
I don't know you niggas, hit the road my nigga
[Chorus (Chrisette Michele & Black Thought)]
[Black Thought]
Where my grimy figures at? look lively addressing the captain
Show me where your first impression is at
And where your dedication to the true profession is at
How you laugh answer me, "What kind of question is that?"
I'll show you where my rare essence is at, the adolescence of rap
The real muscle in the message of that
My name trouble I'm a blessing to rap
And you can check my stats cuz worldwide they attesting to that
So nigga listen you can probably learn a lesson perhaps
How I'm like Bobby DeNiro, Joe Pesc and them cats
Am I the unsung hero? oh yes if you asking anybody that's aware of the classics
They'll tell you I'm a legend in the flesh that dress to impress
The best is that which I accept and nothing less
My stacks is grotesque my squad, so fresh
You know its Black Thought and your boy the bro ?uest, but
[Chorus (Chrisette Michele)]

Hello hello hello hello...
Hello hello hello hello...
Hello hello hello hello...
Hello hello hello hello...
[Mos Def]
Every anywhere heights plains peaks or valleys
Entrances exits vestibules and alleys
Winding roads that test the firm nerve
Fortune or fatal behind the blind curve
The engine oil purr, lights flash to a blur
Speed work through the earth make your motor go scurrr
Tonight at noon watch a bad moon rising
Identities in crisis and conflict diamonds
Blinding staring at lights 'til they cryin'
Bone gristle popping from continuous grindin
Grapes of wrath in a shapely glass
Ingredients influential on your ways and acts
Zero tolerance to raise the tax
It don't matter how your gates is latched
You ain't safe from the danger jack
Made it way before they made the map
Or a GPS this is DEF leader
[Dice Raw]
I know where I'm goin even when it's dark and being led down that road
Hello hello hello hello...
you don't see that somethings wrong earth's spinnin outta control
Hello hello hello hello...
Everything's for sale even souls someone get God on the phone
Hello hello hello hello...
Northside nigga Southside
Hello hello hello hello...
Shits poppin off Worldwide
Hello hello hello hello...
[Black Thought]
Between the greenhouse gases and earth spinnin off its axis
Got mother nature doin back flips
The natural disasters
It's like 80 degrees in Alaska
You in trouble if you not an Onasis
It ain't hard to tell that the conditions is drastic
Just turn on the telly check for the news flashin
How you want it bagged, paper or plastic?
Lost in translation or just lost in traffic?
Yo I don't wanna floss I done lost my passion
And I ant trying to climb, Yo I lost my traction
They makin' me break, my contents under pressure
Do not shake, I'm workin while the boss relaxin
Here come Mr. tax man, he leavin a fraction, give me back some
Matter fact next pay check it's like that son
I'll fuck around and have to hurt a few men
They probably chalk it up as a disturbing new trend, Hello
[Dice Raw]
I know where I'm goin even when it's dark and being led down that road
Hello hello hello hello...
you don't see that somethings wrong earth's spinnin outta control
Hello hello hello hello...
Everything's for sale even the souls someone get God on the phone
Hello hello hello hello...
Northside nigga Southside
Hello hello hello hello...
shits poppin off Worldwide
Hello hello hello hello...
[Styles P]
Should I say hello or should I say that hell is low
Am I nigga or a niggero? I'm an African American
They sell drugs in the hood but the man, he move the medicine
He'll prescribe you all-med for everything
A little stuffy nose tell you get some Claritin
You know I'm hip to it and its hard to claim the land
When my great great great grands were shipped to it
look at technology they call it downloading
I call it downsizing somebody follow me
Does a computer chip have an astrology
And when it fuck up could it give you an apology (Could it?)
Should it say hello or should it say goodbye
Try to understand how smart and how hood am I
It don't matter though
Until we learn that the world don't turn right
We all oughta the scatter though
[Dice Raw]
I know where I'm goin even when it's dark and being led down that road
Hello hello hello hello...
you don't see that somethings wrong earth's spinnin outta control
Hello hello hello hello...
Everything's for sale even souls someone get God on the phone
Hello hello hello hello...
Northside nigga Southside
Hello hello hello hello...
shits poppin off Worldwide
Hello hello hello hello...

(Ursula Rucker)
Muffled sound of fist on flesh
Blows to chest
No breath
Air gasps
You ain't nothing but white trash, bitch!
With each hit, each kick, each...broken rib
Crack, Crack!
Bones are crying
Mommy's crying and bleeding
And pleading
And then...
Daddy wants to fuck
Dick hard, swelled with power rush
And as if all that wasn't enough
Mommy's seven months heavy with birth
As...Daddy grunts and cursed drunk nothings in her bloodied ear
(singing softly)
First...lullaby
First...Son...will...ever...hear
And never forget
Mommy almost bled to death when she have him...finally
She'd already lost...three
Uterus-bruised, shredded, and weak
>From being daily beat
And Friday nights were the worse and...
Daddy never came with flowers
Instead he spent hours at some corner spot
With some bar pop named Cookie
Putting his thing down
Soiling Mommy's sheets with...
Sweet...talk shit,
Cookie's cheap lipstick,
Hair grease, sperm, and jezebel juice
To hell with the good news that...
He was a father for the first time
His thirst for wine and women
Clouded his vision...
No warm welcome for mother and son
Just...
The rank smell of ass-crack, funk, and cum
But Mommy's prayerful strength-her best defense
She...burned the dirty linens
Made a fresh bed
Laid sleeping First Son down
And never made a sound
As she purged her scourge
With birth-blood and quiet tears
Watching as her fears and love and sacrifice
Lie there in his soft skin and new life
Breathing, dreaming, fresh from God's eye
Mommy's little survivor
Like...her
Mommy called crazy and scorned
'Cuz she two more born
One boy soon after
The girl much later and...
Although they were both sung the same lullabies of hate
Her...First Son, the first one
Whose...womb-world was profaned
Came of age playing street games
With Stewie, Rezzie, and Little Brother
'Till his heart start to wither
In pain and shame
Blamed Mom for the wrong she let Daddy do to her
And him...
Let...sins of the Father cause his Innocence to wander
Found honor amongst thieves
Chose to squander his dreams
Stopped believing in himself
Become prodigal with his life
Make impossible shit right with...
Gang-ties, crime, lies
Erase wise, woeful words of Mother
Replaced them with absurdities of others
Who had also lost their way
Played a different kind of street game now
First Son plunged deep
Speak street-family vows
Espouse no causes but his own
See, he couldn't protect Mommy's neck from Daddy's grasp
Or...protect Mommy's ass from Daddy's wrath
Couldn't shield her ears from...
Daddy's foul-mouthed, liquor-breath jeers
His only defense-served be confidence
Brown bottles housed his swift descent
Phones called cops on block frequent for his shenanigans
Now...Daddy and him twins in addiction
Driven to false-hearted heavens and friends
By liquefied demons
Had become what he despised from Conception 'til End
Destined for a demise
Survived nine lives of staying high
Conning, jewelry-pawning, arrests, theft
Womanizing...only for money, never for sex
Bullet in chest, baseball bat to the head
Left for dead
So, eyes wide and glassy
Speech...slowed and slurred
Lips twitched with caked-up codeine candy
And mouth corners one December 24th
Mr. Hide and False Friend
Took final ride to suburban supplier
Shots were fired by the gray man
With shaky hand
But not shaky enough to miss...
Hit...Lost Boy in back
So-called Friend runs for door
Leaves First Son blood-born
Lying alone in blood on cold floor
Death was the cause of...
Returning to Innocence Lost...
Baby 'Sis awake for dawn on Christmas morn
To Mommy's sobs and shakes
Daddy's silhouettes of regret
All past, omitted, and absolved by lost
As they clung to each other
Knowing...
Text transcribed by www.sing365.com

Its jazzy, hip-hop hanging in my head heavy
Malik said ";Riq, you know the planet ain't ready, for the half";
Boy, we comin' with the action pack
On some Dundee shit representin' the outback
(Yo, we do it like this) All the way live from
2-1-5
(You witnessin' the fifth dynasty family click) All the way live from 2-1-5
(Across the map, one time for your...) All the way live from 2-1-5
(Its time to react to respond to react to respond) All the way live from
2-1-5
Chorus:
We setting it from south-side pushing this up north
From Illadelphian reps to fly points across the map
Bring it back to respond-react
To bring it back to respond-react to this
Verse One: Bad Lieutenant/ M-Ill-itant
The attractive assassin, blastin the devil trespassin
Master gettin cash in an orderly fashion
Message to the fake nigga Flash-in
Slow-up Oc before you get dropped
And closed like a caption
Fractional kids don't know the time for action
Styles got the rhythm that of an Anglo-Saxon
Round of applause then avalanche a clappin
*PLOW* that's what happen, now what's your reaction
We heavyweight traction, pro-pornographin
Specialize in science and math and
Original black man
Bustin thoughts that pierce your mental defense
Rippin your sacks and
Vocal toe to toe impeccable splittin your backs son
Simple as addition and subtraction
Black Thought- the infinite relaxed one
Shorties say they love it with a passion
Bring the international charm
See a squad I harass
REACT
You best adapt when I sling this rap
Another chapter
Before when I have to trap ya
Map your whole path out
Go get your crowd so we can clap out
I drive down streets and take back route- positionin
When I'm in your system like glycerin
Fans listenin , from Michigan to Switzerland
Malik be blitzed again- on the station with the discipline
Solicitin , sometimes illicit or explicit with it then
From the deep end where the hills are steep
Nobody cares to speak- a land where life is cheap
The street mentality mixed with the intellect
Personality, hell where I dwell is well
Niggas rebellious
Bodies are found down in the cellars
My man caught a shot to the stomach
Now who want it
Confronted by these dusty blunted- cats
Who act like they don't know that the fact is that they're being hunted
A process of elimination
Activate your mind with the stimulation
Enter your zone with penetration
I've seen more horror than Brahm Stroker
Strip your broad a play poker, then drink mocha
The sometimes socializer
The joke despiser
You woke the wiser
Dealin with the Roots vocalizer
Up in your flesh from south Philly to west
I stampede your style
I'll compile the bless
Chorus: 2X
Verse Two: Black Thought/ Malik B
Hey yo, I'm just a lyricist
A chemist of the hemp
The beat pimp
The ill Philly resident
That's far from hesitant
Corrupt like a president
Never benevolent
But poetically prevalent
Cooler than peppermint
The lieutenant for niggas talkin bout represent
No doubt, its obviously evident I get bent
Far from temporary son I'm very permanent
Hittin m.c.'s like an intoxicant
Sent to prevent
Monopoly is my intent
The means is what I invent
This mental murder pay the rent
Lyrically I'm the dominant ingredient
The swift extravagant
Smooth lubricant
Down with the M-the-Ill-itant
(ch-ch-ch...) That's the sound of the dynasty chant
We surround your camp
Assumin the war stance
And bring it from the chest
Now let's dance
M-ILL-ITANT
Feel the fifth Gorilla chant
Ya'll talk about bodies
But you would not kill a ant
My skill is amp
Would peel a nigga like a stamp
Caliber is of Excallibur now you be damp
When I operate a crop or copulate my game
I make a womb populate and 2-1-5th is this stock of hate
Peep the logistics
Slump your squad of misfits
They all get they wrists slit
Blast your ass if you insist it
Leave no trace so there's no trace for ballistics
Turn your soul and body to statistics
In particular I've got that extracurricular
Squad in the stash who could be stcking ya
Slip and they vicking ya
Harass your police commissionar
Don't like chicks with weaves talking bout ";I need conditioner";
That shits deader than niggas with a mortioner
A gymnanza(?!)
Up in your flesh like plasma
Take away your last breathe when you got asthma
Then meet Bad Lieu down at the plaza
Hip-hop extravaganza
Tell your man I slump him with a stanza
Now who's the boss not Tony Danza
My force not green but the force is obscene
P.O. took a piss test it came out not clean
Brody with my man Miz-Moose and Hakeem
My squad from deuce-four up the West Oak Lane
All the way to Takahwana and Frankfurt they know the name
It's like that... M-Ill-itant
Chorus to fade

[Chorus]
Don't stop (uh don't stop yo)
Tonight (cheeba cheeba yo, soul shock yo)
(Give it everything you got yo)
(Once again it's time, it's time)
It's time to ride, ride....
[Verse One: Black Thought]
Yo, piss in the staircase, blood on the pavement
I fill the quills with it let it spill on the pages
Compose another anthem for the killers and manglers
Villains and wranglers, fifth still in the chamber
Shit, I'm scientific but my reflex's gangsta
Pull out-rageous arms from the floor of the basement
Then bust 'nuff talons if my peoplez in danger
I'm Larry Davis, duckin' helicopter, hoverin' government agents
We muscle the language
What we spit will leave your shit in utter amazement
I'm hot brolic call it contagious
The shit the Roots started got these other artists going through changes
My vision is the strangest, the rhythm is anguish
Y'all niggaz on the titty in your formative stages
Is something in the iris and the way I spit
That tell these other crab rappers I ain't fo' no shit
Black traumatic, so there you have it
My battin' average, abort full of graphic assault, it's all classic
Thought, put ass-backwards rappers in a small package
Experience is all that is, I'm well established
Me and the mic in holy matrimony like a marriage
The technique in your reach, if only you could have it
For me it's automatic, it's na-tu-ral, I'm mad thoro
Poet for hired pack metal
You feel me?
[Chorus]
[Verse Two: Black Thought]
Yo, the load heavy
We walk around a little edgy, all ready and steady
Withdrawal like Darryl Strawberry, it figures
Niggaz mad from them ghetto sandwiches and swine
Cryin' hard times, disadvantegeous, man listen
The story in the ghetto the same
Seem like it's just some things that never will change
Give birth to a style and won't give it a name
Talk 'bout consciousness it's a different thang
Envision again, the honorable 'Riq, general Hannibal speak
The understandable diabolique, animal style
Out of your dreams kid, you proud that you seen this
Fifth supreme linguist, a lyrical genious
Inject you with the broke down english
The most freshest and cleanest, three G's, guess what the fame is
Kareem's beat makin' me fiendish
Don't act shaky and squeamish, if you real make me believe it nigga
[Chorus]
[Verse Three: Black Thought]
Yo, the rebel Jake Rivera
You felt another date, you better
Don't copped off, create it just save your cheddar
I hit the studio with a pen and a vendetta
Sippin' an ice cold Beck, huffin' the tenth letter
Driftin', shots lickin while the plot thickens
Sands in the hourglass thinnin', the last inning
The flash and the cash and the fast women
It's nothing, a lust for the crabs keep the passion and
Blaow, kissin' my tablet with firing pins
Poke holes in the plastic for oxygen
MCs jumpin' out shoes and socks again
Must have seen their face in the news it's gots to been
Thought known as the cure for cancer
Same corrupt city as Mumia the Panther
Man to man, hammer cocked, block and standoff
Bang, gunfire slang up in the dance hall
Yo, I hold the mic that could be thrown as a pipe bomb
Bring it just to sling it at your favorite icon
Thing about my music is it ain't shit like y'all
Thought, diesel like a 28-inch python
You know what I'm saying?
When I'm on the mic there won't be no delayin...
[Chorus]

Dancin on the dance floor
Girl it's you that I adore
Step on stage and scream for more
All I see Pussy Galore
Snap my fingers make you mine
If not I'll snap a 2nd time.
After that I guarantee you will be standing next to me
An old head once said, "that's more power for the cocaine. Freaks dancing on
line like Soul Train"
To give your product that extra push
Niggas lookin for the time of their life, coppin a rush
Yo I know sis, Dog, her name Lorraine
She that thick brick house with the chocolate frame
I went to school with her, 12th grade I used to fool with her
She put me on with her squad, I got cool with her
She useta say she wanna be a doctor and couldn't nothing stop her From giving
up that cash for tuition even if
She had to "shake that ass"
Fucked up her money ain't accumulate that fast
Lorraine know it's real, and sex control America
Turn the T.V. it's in the open on the regular, yo
What the freaks in the video for?
Fuck a song, give me a thong and Pussy Galore
Chorus
You see, life's about marketing and Pussy Galore
Every time I turn around it's more Pussy Galore
Nations goin to war for the Pussy Galore
Either the cash, the raw or the Pussy Galore
Yo, gang wars more Pussy galore
From the streets to the record store
Every time I turn around it's more Pussy Galore
Either the cash, the raw or the Pussy Galore
Yo desire and lust can make a man kill
Or jump off a bridge cuffed to a muthafuckin anvil
So it's promoted like that's all yawl know
Keep a nigga under the spell you under control
But Yo I seem to make people slit they wrists
Weakness, pussy make a spots they secrets
But what for, cause sex is the law, law
And done been many an empire rise and fall
From the Squares to the Players to the Pimps and Whores
To big checks that never would have been endorsed
You know, I just sit back and just peep things
9 out of 10 it's the same song, only the beat changed
So don't be looking at Tariq strange
When I conduct a little litmus test up in your heat range
That's when you see me on stage with 6
Wicked ass chicks
Finna get crunk with this
Chorus
Fresh cut, with the thick black velour
With the black Louis sneaks
Headin out for tour
Looking out the limo window up at the billboards
For 200 miles, She was the only thing I saw
Promoting everything from the liquor, to the nicotine,
cell phones, antihistamine, chicken wings.
You gotta show a little skin to get them listening, for real
Yawl know the world is a sex machine
Full of, pretty freaks in designer jeans
Who go to extremes to conjure all kinds of schemes
Half the time it ain't even responsibly
Trying to take me somewhere I ain't tryna be
GHETTO sin city where the P is free
You catch a bid far worser than a 1 to 3
All up in the after hours on the 2nd floor
For that good thang that keep em comin back for more
Chorus
Bridge x2
Pussy Galore x2

[Black Thought]
Yeahh..
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark the fire
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark - check it out
Verse One: Black Thought
Southeast to Pennsylvania, Transporation Authority
is what I'm probably on, if I ain't whippin a Land
throughout ya sec-tion, my mind's in traum'
Nine times out of time I rhymes upon the L Train
Within my brain, foun-tains over rugged moun-tains
of my terrain, diggit I came too far to front
So I'm meditatin on how to maintain
Stepped off at City Hall into the rain;
and ran into my nigga named Dane - I mean Hakeem
And we was buildin on how we could organize the team
for this capital gain bein that we in the rap game
It's time to have it all, he said he figured he same
We realized this a planet of CREAM, to obtain
when the predominant rap, conglomerate rap spark the flame
Hark the name, The Fifth from the Ill-Power Hill at that
He dropped me off within the streets of South Phil'
Where niggaz think that killing's living real
Shorties is getting wetted, fulfilling their fantasies to set it
We don't sweat it, by The Fifth you get beheaded
I pivot through my borough givin pounds to the dreaded
At the lye spots I got credit; could run em down
in alphabetic-al order it's sorta pathetic
Yo, I'm livin life within a labryinth of nonsense
This is a consequence of being Philly residents
Tryin to get it on, the rhythm gettin shitted on
The exquisite I exhibit to shine, yo
[Black Thought]
C'mon..
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark the fire
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark - check it out
Verse Two: Malik B
I walk through this field with 'iminals
Ill die-hard soldiers, try to make it to-wards the generals
Hard-headed rugged captains, walkin head on through action
Turnkeys on the closed caption
I bring the skills of wizardry
Treat MC's with bigotry, so now you see the picture vividly
Seduce your brain from the temple over instrumentals
The Fifth chant, you see the exhaust out
the swift camp -- mannerism is to scan your vision
You see the light, you can't eclipse the sun
We call back the young, but still they'll strap a gun
to shoot caps that spook cats and rappers hung
Now you might tube across from the diners where you find em lost
Niggaz hearts so cold, they sport frost
The M-the-Illi-tant, the Bad Lieutenant kill your camp
You're now a victim of reality, my personality
afflicted, for three to five if convicted
Illicit, because most cats will live corrupted
It ain't no pity in this inner city niggaz fuckin
Exquisite I exhibit the shine now check it out
[Black Thought]
Yeahh..
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark the fire
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark - check it out
Verse Three: Bahamadia
Inclined to rap about facts, I never fake jacks
Shit is Real like E packs, forty-fifty-sixes
Trims and gimmicks, couldn't faze the true heartache
when I first started, but then few remember this
Anti-Gangsta Bitch, sporting new jew-als
Plain Jane styles internal, to the naked eye
Derived from mindstates of Cold Crush tapes
and beat breaks seduced by means to elevate
Equates my views with the passing
Those matching this intellect identify, for like minds
Intertwine one thought in uni-son
We exquisite I exhibit the shine, ahhh
[Black Thought]
Yeahh..
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark the fire
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark the fire
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark the fire
To all my peoples on the planet stimulatin the mind
All my peoples that be knowin the time; c'mon
and push up ya lighter, up ya lighter
Up ya lighter, 'fore we spark - check it out

[Black Thought]
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (8X)
Yo, I wrote this, basement, Never Never Tunnel type portion
Just to accompany some audio distortion
Bust the popcorn, drop it ons my cassette and
Yo Crumbs, umm, how you feel? I hope it's blessed man
Dig The Square Roots be the setters of examples
Findin mad rhythm in the static of your samples
Quick to make you move to my groove as I sooth
the ear of the listener on the musical
Prisoner G, now you're free you can be all you wanna be
Go where you want or go and see all you wanna see
Because yo, your ambitions I won't neglect
And to them brothers who ain't here, nuff respect
So BROther ?uest, how ya livin, what ya givin black?
To me the brother with the linens and the applejacks;
busy til the break of dawn
The first verse is born I pass the popcorn
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
Say what?
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
Secondly, I speak for the ?uest from the S-Q-T (Square Roots)
And I'm Black Thought, therefore you know it's funky
The rhythms he recycles sometimes prehistoric
The mic for the popcorn's like metaphoric (it's metaphoric baby)
So many different factors in a ?uestion style
Cause he's the father and he's giving more than one child
The abstract soloist, drummin from the heart
All the way from Philly in the West part
Relax your mind and let your body be at rest
Flow in slow mo', and let the BROther manifest
Now the second verse has been born
I'm Black Thought and I pass the popcorn
On to Kid Crumb I pass the popcorn
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
Say what?
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
From the Southern section of Philly my affection
affiliates me with kids, from the store to pastry
The Foreign Object, direct from ? with the skit
that be rugged, it was the drumsticks and the buckets
back in the days, now the Rubber Band plays to accompany
?uestion upon the drums and displays mad soul
Soul be the source of the blam Roots fam
as we grow and expand like the afro
With menacing music seriously I'm sinister
I shout, move about, turn it out like minister
Diggin the flip-side when I slide I gets biz with
mad melanin, chocolate, like a chip that's black man
from the dark room with the mad raps homegrown
Knots and knaps upon the dome from thinkin
I'm sinkin in the sound cause I gets and got down
Lettin Black Thought's out of lockdown, buckshot
Lick it to the tick of my measure's on the Richter
Grits getter so grab your sister
I get wreck so check my respect from the wreck
that I've gotten biting this'll make your fronts turn rotten
The original, rock chewer, from a duo
whatever called po' folkers or Crumbs, and his mouth broke
Kids wanna laugh so I blast on your ass to - wait see
Chase me and see if you catch the circular knot
Style buckwild the acoustic boom
Square Root of Black Thought broadcast with the popcorn
It's like that y'all
The popcorn popcorn as I pass y'all
I go..
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
C'mon
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
C'mon
[ad libs to outro]

(Ursula Rucker:)
I the beginning
It was me
I was rhythm
I was life
Two turntables
and one m-...

[Black Thought]
It looks like another one's comin around (3X)
So the Black Thought gots to get down y'all, yeah
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
It looks like another one's comin around (3X)
So The Square Roots gotta get down, bust it
Yo, I wrote this, basement, Never Never Tunnels type portion
Just to accompany some audio distortion
Bust the popcorn, drop it onto my cassette and
bust it, Kid Crumbs, how ya feel? (I'm feelin blessed man)
Yeah, The Square Roots be the setters of examples
Findin rhythm in the static of your samples
Makin you move to the groove as we sooth
the ear of the listener on the musical
Prisoner G, now you're free you can be all you wanna be
Go where you want or go and see all you wanna see
Because yo, your ambitions I won't neglect
And to the brothers who ain't here, nuff respect
So BROther ?uest, how ya livin, what ya givin black?
To me the brother with the linens and the applejack;
busy til the break of dawn
The first verse is poured I pass the popcorn
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
It looks like another one comin around (3X)
So the Black Thought had to get down y'all, yeah
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
It looks like another one comin around (3X)
?uestion would you come and get down, bust it, c'mon
[?uestlove]
Check it out, secondly
it's me the BROther ?uest from the S-Q-T (Square Roots)
And he's Black Thought, the boy you know is (FUNKY)
The rhythms I recycle sometimes prehistoric
The mic for the popcorn's like it's metaphoric (metaphoric baby)
So many different factors in the ?uestion's style
Arrythmic by the end, I'm givin more than one child
Abstract soloist comin from the heart
All the way from Philly, from the West part
Relax your mind and let your body be at rest
Flow in slow mo', and let the BROther manifest
Now the second verse has been pourn
On to Kid Crumb I pass the popcorn
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
[Black Thought]
It looks like another one comin around (3X)
?uestion ripped the set and got down baby, yeah
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
It looks like another one comin around (3X)
Kid Crumbs would you come and get down, c'mon
[Kid Crumbs]
Blessed is the next at the second still before the 4th is passed
I'm gassed off the edible raps, and that's illegible
Tommy used to bug, when I come around
Screamin at the top of my lungs -- you gots to get down
Now, they heard the sound and wanna give the kid a pound
on the down low *whispering* Relax baby, keep it underground yo
From the crown of notty hair that I wear to the funk feet
Wonder why the sisters dig the brother missin five teeth
Peace I gots to rock so pass the popcorn and shit
Quick to lick a shot to umm, Wheezy, and Cricket
Used to kick it in the house until I got myself evicted
Now The Crumbs is restricted to the popcorn, elected
from The Roots, I griff the rest and share the stash of popcorn
Back to Black Thought, rock on (and on)
And on (and on) and on (and on)
And on (and onnnnnn), pass the popcorn!
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
[Black Thought]
It looks like another one comin around (3X)
Kid Crumbs ripped the set and got down Baby Pah!
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
It looks like another one comin around (3X)
Black Thought, you know I gotta get down, bust it, yo
Honey, glazed, amazed at the art Black Thought dis-plays
I get mad props and the compliment pays
Makin me more funky and it shows on stage
Word right BROther cause I'm goin through a phase
I wanna be a pioneer so trails I blaze
Straight past the days when I used to be enslaved
But don't eat all the popcorn BROther ?uest (What?)
Yo BROther ?uest say it
A bit for my hit makin it legitimate and give
credit to the attitude you set it don't forget well it's
gotta be live, cause that's the way I'm rockin it and
pop-corn is in my pocket then I guess it's rockin yo,
the S-Q-T'n, Black Thought of seeing
I know you're all agreeing, I'm rocking and I'm being
Ripping another chapter, just for you to clap ta
To the sounds of vexed I make you step just like a camper
I pass, the popcorn, the mix I drop on the mic
gon', have you hummin my song, all the way home
It's cool and as long, as you and the song, be mellowin out
together cause it's kind of peace I'm not embarrased
as I pass the popcorn, and get off the dome
Yo BROther ?uestion, yo Rubber Bandz Square Roots
take it home
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
Another one's comin around
It looks like another one's comin around (2X)
When the Foreign Objects get down y'all, yeah
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
Looks like another one's comin around
It looks like another one's comin around (2X)
When Crumbs and the Po'Fo' gets down, yo
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
Looks like another one's comin around
It looks like another one's comin around (2X)
When my man Malik Blunt gets down y'all, c'mon
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
Looks like another one's comin around
It looks like another one's comin around (2X)
When my man The Rubber Bandz gets down y'all, c'mon
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
Looks like another one's comin around
It looks like another one's comin around (2X)
When the BROther ?uestion gets down, yo
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
Looks like another one's comin around
It looks like another one's comin around (2X)
When the group MU6 gets down, and yo
* in background: ";Pass the what? (Pass the popcorn)"; 4X *
It looks like another one's comin around (3X)
And when the man Black Thought gets down
It looks like another one's comin around (3X)
When my man Mr. Crumbs gets down..
It looks like another one's comin around.. (shut up!)

Black Thought:
I woke up in the darkness at 12:17...to shots and sirenes
Look out the window, peep the high beams
Now they searchin, the cops lookin for the person...
That pulled the trigga
Medical figures is nursin the kid that got shot
Some innocent ak that would front
To flip the rock on them at King Street block
I tried to tell him to stop cuz yo, it's ghetto red hot
Similar to the blood now floodin his top
I take a step out the spot, to the point of attack
And see the shorty wop heart blast out his back
Damn, I'm thinkin it don't cease, it's no more peace
Police level increase, but what the fuck...
It's still crime on the streets
I can't breathe, now what's goin on?
One minute you alive, the next, you're gone
Illadel-P-H-I-A Hell
Bust off into the heavens for the nigga who fell
And hit the L, for the niggaz who fell
When that could have been prevented
In front of the flat your moms rented
And no one expect that from you, cuz you was timid
Fuckin with them cats from outside city limits
Funny how this whole thing changed, an off minute
Yo, dig it, Panic!!!!!
None of this is ever granted
Drownin in a nightmare, stranded

[Malik B]
Check it out, one two
M-illi-tant
I be the, alias Malik B
Internationale rationale
All the people up 68th Ave.
and across Broad Street
or Silk Lane in South Philly
And on, et cetera
Check it out, check it out
Chorus: The Roots
Here on this agenda, there is no pretenders
So when we begin to assassinate your cast members
Here on this agenda, there is no pretenders
So when we begin to assassinate your cast members
Verse One: Malik B
Dig it, cool calm collect in my perspective
Search the premises, I leave no clues for detectives
My verbal impact across your back slap
You talk about you see me, but your vision's full of cataract
It don't matter that, your glass house I shatter that
Bad luck I walk under now show me where the ladder at
Pull up the urinal organs up in your bladder cat
Approachin you with shriller rhetoric, as if you had a sac
Now crews down for it, your gas pedal floor it
with ammo and artillery and stash spots to keep and store it
I used the banner of a slant with a zort
Change your strategic plan, my man's getting bored
Your vocal chord is fraudulent, and not the true porcelain
I bring the fire, earth, and the source of wind
The force of sin will endorse the pen
We all search for sanity, but I think that it was lost again
Now which stick of artists, can be the smartest
My beam of sunlight shines the brightest in the forest
Regardless, artists dislike because I'm ?
Control the temper, makin MC's whimper
I tilt the Earth from off the axis in the center
Next I'm in the womb like a placenta
M-Illi-Tant the city ninja, uplift
cause I'm the soul avenger, remember I'm no great pretender
Chorus 2X
Verse Two: Black Thought
Strategis, I bet y'all niggaz can't believe this
I read you like a whole avenue that's filled with meters
parked, fuck your back talk, I watch how niggaz cat-walk
over my pit of venom and send em to the asphault
For inquisitives, who wanna try to test me
What protects me, will make you shake like epilipsy
Plague your neighborhood with lyrical le-prosy
Stimulate more than Ecstasy y'all niggaz check my recipe
Dig it, I must observe it, analyze when I'm chillin
Peep out who's the villain then make your whole pavillion
of a Sicilian, excuse the greed don't want a mill'
I want a zillion - stacks of Franklins to the ceiling
I counts stacks imported, fuck the yacht and the mansion
I want Pluto and Jupiter, political, universal expansion
Buy out Tommy and Halle Hanson
Kidnap America, ? you hold it for ransom
Pass it down to my grandson, I got no time to be romancin
Only time's for mental food and advancement
This game of Life is strictly chancein - get to know
the nature before I get know the nigga while I'm glancing
Enhancing, is my mental - I play in the midst
a squad a team most crews is not in the halfs of rentals
My utensils, display a whole variety
Even when in the cut niggaz can't cut they anxiety
Peep, I fill your brain with suspicion, pay attention
like you paid tuition, and stop all your bull-ishin
The rap chemist in the lab to the finish
The mic is my apprentice, cause I can't stand
courts or tennis, my pigmentation is the menace
That's why the system's always tryin to pursue with a blemish
Pale asses, think a nigga in this
My flow's tremendous, for the meal you can't replenish
The question you ask me, situation get worse
Fam I won't befriend ya, cause I'm no great pretender
Chorus 2X
[Malik B]
It's like that, one time for your mind
Fifth Dynasty, interwine and combine
M-Illi-Tant
The Bad Lieuten-ant
One hundred X, Bahamadia
Minds and souls, like that
Fifth Dynast', my man ?, P.R. Star
My man Slick Looka
Check it out, one time like that
Feel the Fifth
The One-Fifth attack
Your backbone and spine
Check it out
Brother Q.U.E.S.T.
South Philly, ?

Chorus:
If you seen it or heard it,maybe probably I did it
maybe or maybe not,I'll admit what I committed
exhibit the truth because I'm living proof why
I had no disguises,no verdicts,no alibis
(Malik B)
Look into my window,tell me what you see
m-ill-i-tant school of philosophy
when niggaz get dealt wit mental velocity
connect my sentences and thoughts like apostrophes
we represent hypocracy,it ain't no stopping me
until I fulfill the term of my prophecy
my attitude is scarred by this inner-city urban
iller dolo stress on my brain just like a turban
who get grazed by the bullet?
triggers,who's quick to pull it?
the anti-bullshitter,islamic extortioner
you're the forfeiter unfortunately
niggaz who wanna gyp me
I cause humidity so come and get me
I'm simply,the cat to lay back
I chill and what you
the silent ninja
intends to injure,now I got you
sanity was lost so now I'm found insane
I'm seeking streets to jeeps
hours,days,to weeks
I even speak to geeks
I hold my fortune,it's sweet
I'm discreet in the streets,but that's just the way I play though
I lay low,but over your head just like a halo
hell's angel,these thoughts you cannot untangle
when I drop jewels,niggaz they wear 'em like a bangel
check it out
one time for your mind like that
chorus2x
(Black Thought)
Look into my window tell me what you see
lieutenant university of philosophy
while you not possibly escaping what I'm meditating
my shackle of thought tackle you while I'm educating
your dome's resonating from inhalation of darkness
while I spark the smart shit from what you waiting
since you waiting me at the top of the pile
wild delaware file,pennsylvanian,sub-terranean style
step up into my crevice and taste the medicine of the champagne
king like evelyn leaving you leveled and
sabatoged,it's all camaflouge like the devil and guns
and coke peddling,olympic medaling flashback
that of a war veteran,blast at
the programmer bringing lashes 'cross your back
on some accuracy of a brainwashed Bosnian troop
that swooped down through your roof without sound
on a lyrical Nat Turner mission,reacting off of intuition
continuously alert,no intermission
if your ears hurt,you shouldn't listen
that means you artificial and my style'll poison your brain tissue
your inanes are crippled once the gamma rays hit you
my grains habitual and I should never go against
the ritual I've been mastering ever since
I was among the flavor youth,remain sharper than a saber tooth
my deliverance is self-evidance
vi-tal,lyri-cal science
NOW!!!
chorus2x
(Black Thought)
Who knows what you snorted
or who support what you recorded
but don't get it distorted,in this orbit you're aborted
????,shit's imported,exported
styles,they get sported my paragraphs aortic behold
the illest medely got you in the choke hold
illadel epilouge,top league plus plush in Vogue
slice tongues from your area code
student of life with the rugged exterior mode
blind a devil with the bold black and gold shine
I walk the thin line and hold mine,let the people respond
it's mind detect mind
swine decline let the power refine
build like it's 1999
in this day and time
the reptillion rooms,the sextillion tons
your armageddon gwan come from the sun
untouchable cuts that's unclutchable for some to understand
so y'all sit back and wonder damn
I like to take this time to show you who I am
original man,Black Thought,aka lieutenant
Malik B'll be the m-ill-i-tant
known to vanish in the atmosphere
we up there like the stratos
chorus

[BlackThought]
One two
Yes, The Roots layin back, rela-xin
Coolin out with my man Malik B
we call him Sla-xon
YaknowhatI'msayin? We in effect
Mo like Al B. Sure, for your plea-sure
Aiyyo bust it
We about to flip it on some ol' laid back, mellow my man tip
We gon' set it like this
Yo check it
Bust it, La Di Da Di, who likes to party
like Slick Rick the Ruler I'm cooler than a ice brick
Got soul like those afro picks, with the black fist
And leave a crowd drippin like John the Baptist, it's
the cause of that ";Oh shit!";
The skits I kick, flows like catfish
and got many emcees on the blacklist
I'm sharp as a cactus plus, quick to bust gymnastic tactics
Us, Roots is really true to that rap shit
Now holla to the scholarly, street skats that follow me
Back to the Soul Shack with packs of rap colonies
Max that, Foreign Objects is mad abstract, make Shadrach
offender wanna go like Meshach, Black
Thought the nappy cat a bookworm shoe styles like sperm
Cool as Malcolm Little with conch a la perm burn
The herb sticks like wicks, and flips when I slaps the hand
of my mellow my man, Malik B
[Malik B]
Here I goes, negroes best to know the flower
The pro-fessional, best in those skills that kills so uhh..
WHOA, slow down before you go down (sissy)
Trixie this is Agatha Christie your slain and know now
Next contender, Malik's the axe offender
Critique me so uniquely with mystique that's so deep within the
microphones I grip, psych with poems so's I slits throats
Put him in a quote, when he croaks
They sayin -- isn't it, is it the negro that did it?
Cause wreck with the tech, make you jump and say 'ribbit'
I exhibit many forms, prohibit the corny forms
(And we're in, your neighborhood) on the norms
Capture, was to, whack ya
Manu-facture, you can even ask Anita about the, rap-ture
I figured, perhaps ya, a say it SLAM
for my mellow my man
Chorus: BlackThought
The way we do it like this
That, for my mellow my man
It's like that for my mellow my man
No no we do it like that
This, for my mellow my man
It's like this for my mellow my man
No no we do it like this
That, for my mellow my man
It's like that for my mellow man
No no we do it like that
This, for my mellow my man
It's like this for my mellow my man
[BlackThought]
Yo, I got spunk, plus funk
and Jump Like Punks, to Get Beat Down
turn that heat down, I'm crazy cool
Deeper than the pool than Wilt the Stilt
damn near drowned in clowns bounce to sound
when Thoughts pound
and brown's, my complexion section Southern
my brother-in is Jex, I
sweats no sex, cause this kid gets
grits n shit, it's flex to drains that was crazed
when your heart spit up, dip dup damn
Yo I lost it but --
-- back is the Black Boogey Man
Manic mad musician, maker of noise
that's jocked, by your homeboys
I rocks my flocks of sheep, it's the slickest shepherd around
I was lost but was found, now I gets down
from Philly to the Apple I, stop and holla tunes and then hit
Up-town, Diggin Planets when they get Earthbound
I kick the groovy tunes for you and yours, when I pass the can
to my mellow my man, Malik B
[Malik B]
WHOAHHHHH, shucks, my nuc snuff ducks (uh-huh)
Abruptly I erupt, to destruct, deducts
In wax I like to smack em, stroke em as I cap em
Change my name to Saran or Reynolds then I Wrap em
Negroes know we be furrow to my borough
cause my ass is so thorough, like Levert Gerald
Too strong to be sterile
So I impregnates the greats (say what?)
Bust the Pacino's, I won't trust them
even though I lust them shapes -- females for retail prices
Twice this nice, this witch sure does her spices
I won't smirk, cause my name's not Urkel
The voice with the multiple choice, she does a circle
You wanna turn and page your eyes, and try to plagerize
but I degrade ya, slaughtered ya and slayed ya
Microphones I grip equipped to flip the hyp-ocrites
and nit-wits, with tidbit skits, them ain't *shhh*
That was a curse, but I divide it in half
Gets the airplay, no fair play, you're feelin the wrath
of Malik, aiyyo get tragic, negroes that get dramatic
Because I have the habit to smoke rabbits like a addict
So if you can not rap I will just slap YOU
If you wants to pick up on your nose be shows the chrome
and then we cap, YOU
It's too bad, dem cyan't understand de true check
for my mellow my man
Chorus: BlackThought
The way we do it like this
That, for my mellow my man
It's like that for my mellow my man
No no we do it like that
This, for my mellow my man
It's like this for my mellow my man
No no we do it like this
That, for my mellow my man
It's like that for my mellow man
No no we do it like that
This, for my mellow my man
It's like this for my mellow my man
I think it's for my mellow my man, uhh
My mellow my man, right
My mellow my man, uhh
My mellow my man, right
My mellow my man, uhh
My mellow my man, right
My mellow my man my mellow my man my mellow my man my mellow my man
For Scott Storch, my mellow my man
Leonard Hubbard on the bass, my mellow my man
B.R.O.T.H.E.R. ? on the drums, my mellow my man
Gotta end it on the one, my mellow my man
Check it

[Chorus]
Oooh
It's been a long time
Since I been back around the way
It's been a long time
Let it spin let spin let it spin
Since I been back around your way
It's been a long time
Long time long time
[Verse]
[Black Thought]
Struck by the luck of the draw
Real life preservation
What I'm hustling for
My name black thought
The definition of raw
I was born in South Philly
On a cement floor
I had nothing at all
Had to knuckle and brawl
They swore I'd fall
Be another brick in the wall
Another life
Full of love
That lost
That's silly
This Philly
Y'all really ain't stoppin
The boy with the pen
Like Willie
On top of the hall
Pure soul is what the city
Most popular for
Hear the tones
That will ease you
Smooth
As Bunny Sigler's soundtrack
Keepin your head boppin and all
It's something in the water
Where I come from
They used to sing it on the corner
Where I come from
Making somethin outta nothing
Because everybody fifty cents
From a quarter
Where I come from
Yeah
The streets ain't timid
But I feel at home in it
Gotta see a couple people
I ain't got at
In a minute
Yeah
You can take a brother outta South Philly
Can't take it outta him really
I forever represent it
And it's
[Chorus]
[Peedi Peedi]
Live and dirvet
I don't need no mic check
Remember mommy told me
You ain't write that
It started in the bathroom taking a dump
Listening to Ultramagnetic
Ego tripping you won't
Pressure my word
I'm the urban vision
Of you chump
Stomped on a different ground
Sound second to none
Synthesizers tweet
To improvise your feet
I calculated every lyric to arrive on a beat
It's free
Come get high on me
Before a nine millimeter shell
Hit my pelle pelle
In the p
Yeah
It's somethin in the water
Where I come from
They used to sing it on the corner
Where I come from
Making somethin outta nothing
Because everybody
Fifty cents from a quarter
Yo
Where I come from
It's just a natural reaction
For crack to make it happen
Let the pen ink sink
Into the paper of the pad
Think back
When I was younger
Ghetto could have took me under
Young Peedi can't mess with North Philly
Never had
You don't know about me
You ain't stroll my streets
Look familiar
I feel ya
Longtime no see
[Chorus]
[Black Thought]
Uhh
Clap somethin
But whatever you clap
Clap to the record spinnin
While I'm takin you back
To the top paper era
Baby big on that
Picture the pool room
Where the money getters was at
And street people
With feather in the cap
Or their bossolino Pullin paper
As if it's a small casino
I was a young boy
Sweepin the floors
And runnin to stores
But all those old heads
Woudl talk to me About the way
To clutch the eagle
On a buck and truck
And if I'm down
How to get back up
Just survival kid
And it's a struggle worldwide
I'm positive
Shit the ghetto might as well
Be the Gaza Strip
You know where all the monsters is
Street walkers
You don't see no consciousness I'm coming back to where
The core of the problem is
We on the job again
Y'all know what time it is
[Chorus]

[Black Thought]
From The Never Never Tunnels via satellite
Ceremonies be commencing in the candlelight
Yo is I is up in the res-in-iduals tonight
Absolutely because I'm the kid that's on the mic
And I believe it's destiny that I got put
in a position to throw lyrics like a shotput
Yo no matter the circumstance
Thought can always make you dance
like you got the heebie-jeebies or a hotfoot
The bass is low on the meter, less than zero
So while I'm sinning you be spinning like a planet
Yo if you dig the shit I'm sayin you'll be deeper
Wish for little and your wishes shall be granted
We plant the seeds y'all, to grow The Roots y'all
And mad knowledge I got, from the archives
But now I got a crazy fat question:
what ever happened to Leonard Parts One to Five?
Chorus: Black Thought (repeat 2X)
Why'd you ask me that question? (I don't know)
Where did Leonard Parts One to Five go?
Why'd you ask me that question? (I don't know)
Word/Uhh/Yeah/...
Where did Leonard Parts One to Five go..
[Black Thought]
Chariot, Chariot, come swing low--be
Cause it's on a lower level that I swing low, umm
?uestion, keeps me up, on the swing flow, he
don't got a whole name, I call him, BRO The
Roots is comin through on your audio
For you to cut The Roots down I don't think so
Because the sound from the ground is like be--low
And when the liquid kicks in then The Roots grow
Now my ace boom coon plus amigo
Was Shadrach Meshach and N'bendago
There was a Alpha to Omega, motion, system
but I just call them A to O
And in all states, The Roots'll rock a fat show
Because I drop art like I was Pa-blo
And Pa-blo's last name was Picasso
But as for cash flow, I don't got no
dividends and, ends to spend on blow, yo
Where did Leonard Parts to Five go?Chorus
[Black Thought]
Where's the third verse? Here it comes, here it goes
The second had Oodles and Oodles of..
speaking of O's, I'm hard to sink like a Cheerio
And I speak up loud, so you can hear me yo
Is it A Tribe Called Quest? Is it the J.Beez?
We're Cool Like Dat, but yo we're not the D.P.'s
It's the group The Roots, with the organic rap style
Plus the groove from the rhythmic rhyme file
Umm.. I'm a big fan of the Soul
But I'm trying to get this Roots shit in control
So I hate when people say,
";Umm - you remind me of De La Soul,";
cause I got a soul, of my own, and umm
Yo The Roots are taking big steps and
you can listen as we progress in
Sometimes I might come to teach a lesson
Other times it's with a crazy question like..
Yo.. whatever happened to Leonard Parts One to Five?
Word up; I don't know, anyway, Roots up y'know
Uhh, as we do it like this
Roots up, Roots up
Roots up, Roots up
Roots up, Roots up
Roots up, Roots up
Roots up.. up, Roots up-up
Roots up, Roots up-up
Roots up, Roots up-up
Roots up, Roots _Up From the Ground_
Roots up, Roots up with the sound
Roots up, Roots _Up From the Ground_
Roots up, Roots gettin on down
Roots up, dig it
Roots up y'all, Roots up y'all
Roots is up Roots is up Roots is up y'all
Roots is up y'all, Roots is up y'all
Roots is up Roots is up Roots is up y'all
Roots is up..

Chorus
------
It's a lazy afternoon
(Summertime, as I recline, lay back and relax, let the sun shine)
Verse 1
-------
[Black Thought]
Consider this a message to my mellow in the front seat
of the Jeep pumpin' beats for your rump
In the summertime I'm risin' to the shine at 12:20
Ghetto streets are sunny, niggas is gettin' money
It's mad hot, and what I got to do I'm not sure of
I call up Maura, this dip I know from Bora Bora
Was rappin' for a second about what I reckoned that I
was doin' at six, she was invitin' me to the flicks
That I'm with, blew a kiss click> Now I'm in the shower
I meant the bath in which I simmer for half an hour
Then got drier, put on attire to inspire
Hit my dresser for numbers of women that I admire
Laid around and lounged 'til around two
Then I got up and ate, drank a brew and caught a page from the crew
sayin' ";Where ya at? Later, meet us up at the Plat
Bring a sack, ayo it's Saturday, it's gonna be fat";
Now it's 3:37 and I still ain't left the rest
Electric Relaxation from A Tribe Called Quest
with the boom, tokin', smokin', coolin' out
as I parlay in my room 'cause it's a lazy afternoon
Other verses as Verse 1, with the following variations:
Verse 2: ";this dip I knew from Bora Bora";
";'cause it's a lazy aaaaaahh!"; (dental style :-)
Verse 3: ";click> I'm in the shower";
";a page from my crew";
";Bring a sack, nigga, it's Saturday";

Verse One: Q-Tip
I wanna be able to reach an mc
and reach a little child in the same degree
And my elders excel
I mean what the hell
we might as well bridge these gaps
in all before we fall in the fire
Black Thought:
It's a million mc's upon a plan they call real tryin' to set it
profess mic techniques illegit
inaccurate perceptions of reality embedded
in their minds thus their rhymes are discredited (check it out)
Q-Tip:
I use my music implemented with jewels import tools
to inspire all those too cool fools who say screw school
'Cause they don't see the conspiracy
that's put here to trap you and me
Black Thought:
Y'all know the battle leutenant be on some whole 'nother other finesse genetic
they say I get it from my mother so its' inheredit-
ary and very necessary to shine
legendarily, heavily refined
Q-Tip:
Contemporaries like the Roots is so radit's like dage
which bag did they come out of, and how can I get in itto win it
like raffle ticket pick
and if you feelin' something, guess who gets the sticking
Black Thought:
I got this Ital mad up close and personal
the first I find to violate, I shall retal-
iate with realisms for their whole local
we on point like decimal Abstract now
Q-Tip:
MCin while I'm breathingmcin is believing
that you can host a ceremony and the dough is never phony
in fact, it's very therapeutic
like B12 hyperdermic needle so shoot it
Black Thought:
Lyrically elicit upstarts the explicit
most wicked seven digit mic wizardmy tongue lashes out and strikes with it
just slightly might miss it
when I blast through your section or district
CHORUS
Verse Two: Black Thought
In my formitive by my peers I was influenced
until the instruments of time killed the congruence
I peeped the blue prints on how to make true sense
of MC's which are a nuisance I know just what to do sinceI'm on another lev.
brothers is fakin' jacks and think they ready for the rev.
but they got a lot to learn, to make theri thoughts long term
'cause on theri short-cuts they made a wrong turn
probably, timelessly I construct the firesome
to rip your eardrum for many years to come
professional style thinkin' rational to move wise
so hard it's a wonder y'all alive...
Q-Tip:
...And still breathin', niggaz is dead and not even
perpetuatin' real life the shit kicked is real trife ayo they fake bleedin'
It's obvious that they needin' attention feedin'
they cold actin' like heathens
when mics is picked up MC's scenes is kicked up
like women with the gripper drinking Moet 'till they hiccup
fellas hustlin' picking bricks up
fantasizin' about the illest stick up
but rip up the jam and we be truly impressed
on stage you won't need your tef. vest
only a mic with and a mic test
and at your best you get blessed by the fans who profess
that they can relate
with the trials you tribulate
or the pains you endure
'cause some cats is pure
tell horors that are true but see cats like you
y'all fake joints just tyo get a woo-woo
the tear jerker
you be that miracle worker
whose miracle just ran out
I think it's time you pan out
or just plain fade, 'cause yo you played
we 'bout to drop on you like the Everglades

Hook:
Dig it, this world is filled with homicides and rape
All the crimes of hate just ain't the size and shape
You can walk don't the block and get slumped or knocked
It don't stop y'all and it just don't stop (x2)
Black Thought:
I leave the microphone intrigued with my practice
This rebel stick your system like a cactus a boys sadness
Who knows what is concealed under the mattress
Ruegurs, losses and grindals when my minds in blackness
Then I act this way the beast unleashed
Rabbis, monks and priests always pray for peace
But it's deceased now only lives the true realance
Open up the mental deaths you rented through my palace
My thoughts contain the plus sign plus the malice
Not equating to your Wonderland so fuck Alice
My style is hostile on the external
But got plenty of love and warmth that's internal
The sin coronal
Surfaces from whispers from the lower
My noun like arks and 950 years of Noah
You're arch rival
You burn a cross I burn the bible
Because I'm liable, to do this
When my actions true this
But I'd rather choose to use my diction
Resurrect that blond blue eyed and put him through another crucifixion
Stay up in your jurisdiction (say what?)
My depiction is the drama
Though these eyes I've seen the trauma
Homicides in the source that was phenomenal
When I find out who banged Muwan in his abdominal
Met with Jesus to learn to Burns not commical
At times this thing ain't logical
I gots to walk around with my brain on cock
Cause it can't (can't) won't (won't) don't (don't) stop
Hook
Malik B (M-Ill-it-ant):
My mentals in flame your brains will drain
When I let the ink drip and then pass out a pink slip
I think quick so check my methodology
My stylagy is more ranty than anthropology
Between your raw legs like it's gynecology
You and your sorry ass style needs an apology
Cause an earthquake and make you shake you need neurology
These niggas kill me actin' like stars fuck they astrology
Imagin' with my badge I snatch the pagent
Turn your city to a smashing and grab it
Now it's time to burn the maggots my message stronger than Elisha
That backslap the ass like your father
Why bother?
Would any care for, lyrics I sling from my mic with cease your laughter
Mind of a bachelor to a master
What I thought that leaves you flabbergasted
Ask you what's the matter bastard?
These types of rhythms man you'd rather blast it
You hear the beats in jeeps over the weekend
Silence is golden and niggas get killed just for speakin'
The only deacon is death when ya left wounded
Layin' on the ground and meet your doom quick
I done been through the deserts of hell with Satin sittin' waitin'
Contemplatin' and trying to get me for the takin'
That's why I walk around with my brain on cock
Cause it can't (can't) won't (won't) don't (don't) stop
Hook
Black Thought:
At times I feel as if could pull a kamikaze
Illuminatti probably in the civic center lobby
They seeds in the world student body probably
Creatin' missles they got my child holdin' pistols
Knowledge and understand will make a man murder
Stand further fuck all the swine plus they hamburger
No hallucination the lieutenant plus Illitant arean murder that's mental
Credentials is I am a hell residental with fire for the presidental
Officially it's havoc in the temple
I terrorize the heavens bring on the renaissance
With the seventh the civili the reverence reprimand
The deacon keepin' 'em from speachin'
Tell 'em seeks the false preacher and I step like a shadow on your way to
hot concrete
And ovserve my peoples in the essence every weekend
We wonder what the fuck is school teachin'
Intoxicating soldiers at chaotic times reachin'
The dynasty is slim
But they only resemble what's when we attack
That split your back then we extort your speciamen
I put this in your system like lesser than
Then manuver mentally for men internal medicine
I hold the fort down with Malik symoblic
To the mind of word that's Islamic
The killer force as I deposit dealin' with logic
I keep my brain on cock it don't stop
talking:
Bad lieutenant, M-Ill-it-ant feel the fifth guerilla chant. Come through. ?
Check it out.
Hook

there's something goin' on
there's something goin' on
we live in this world where there's something goin' on
goin' on going' on

[Black Thought]
Uhh.. the molecular mass
of that rhythmic ass grass
is organic hip-hop jazz
that you are all about to witness
Groovy units check it owwwwt..
The nappy cat, Black Thought, digs the NasteeFatJazz
Artifacts and cardiac cerebral action
Retro is my Roots for my peoples with the plats and
braids are twist clean, cuts or fros beneath the hats and
do the dance, does I boogie backs to relax -- I does
Concentrate, it's not be natural as the grass
Hail the exit-in and let's begin yo take a dip and soul
I spill the normal knot yo kid I got that for your ass
Slips and I drips like butta
Melodic mad noise if you dig it peace to ya
If not, catch a lift to the level of my mental for a smidgen
of my spirit just a little dab'll do ya
Your butts to the cuts dig the buds of my killa
Rememberin the hot, dolla parties of the cellar
I'm deep, ghetto child of some chocolate, complected
groovy head to toe, plus crazy cooler than vanilla
I catch a slap five from my man, that's my mellow
Unique style I speak be the goods that I petal
I'm stoned blam, to the known, known around the city
of Philly that's my home, for makin wack rappers settle
It bein that I'm blem, kid I kicks, in the mix
Rhythm be the quick, fix from the sticks of my Brother
A lot of kids, diss these days I'm not amazed
cause I pays no, mind and lift the roof off the, mutha
Just because I'm out deah
I say peace to all my peoples who be out deah
To hip cats and nappy sweets you're crazy out deah
Just like my Foreign Objects because you're out deah
Just like that sister ? you know you're out deah
Just like the man, Manifest, you know you're out deah
Just like my cousin Shawn G, you're crazy out deah
To Butterfly like dat, you know you're out deah
to get up out!
Brainiac, Black's the mind, color funk, fuse the gut
I catch the what's when I kick it
Mysterious the maker of the raps crazy naps so I lacks
the cut, and got a fro but can't pick it
C-Not's my nigga knows the news of the nappy cats
Crowns and kicks, and how it ease the mind
Yo freak freak ya don't ya don't stop
Cause The Roots got the body rock shit
with the twist for your spine, bring it back, UHH!
Fat is my flow that's fluidic
The critics ain't with it, then their domes is beneath
We be the Funk, Four mind as one umm, Crumbs umm
he told us peace, it was against his beliefs
We couldn't live with him cool, with that out we gon' sprout
the record of The Roots to show my attitude is out
I'm on some crazy linear shit, takin a hit during my set
to let, these niggaz know what I'm about
I'm all about the funk, that's relaxed for your state of mind
Snaps is cool, if layin back is the ever
The unity of Bootsee's grin, growin, cause the juice began
as just deuce, groovy flaves that taste, blam together
I likes that, so doin Bobby Mick, ain't ridic', to this
In fact, that's the pen, hey yo direct
from The Tunnels Never Never via satellite
Here comes The Roots, now dig the shits I said
To all my peoples, cause I'm out deah
Just like the group The Rhythmic Tricks because you're out deah
And the group The Soul Plants yeah you're out deah
Just like I said, Remedy is crazy out deah
To ? and Tin-Tin, I think you're out deah
And to my son whose name is Crumbs you know you're out deah
I'm Black Thought to the beat and yo I'm out deah
And yo my group is called The Roots because we're out deah
to get up out
Uhh, abstract organic artistry
Thought is he, that I be
Gravity does not hold me down
As I rise from the ground into sound
Melting browns drip like wax
Building blocks, nappy cat
Blazes acts, filling facts
Mental sax, sweet mental sax
Sweet mental horn, taking the physical form
of a storm of abnorm-ality, re-ality's
lo-cality, vo-cality, low calorie NOT
I got the fat shit y'all
I got the fat shit y'all
I got the fat shit y'all
I got the fat, shit, y'all..

[Chorus 2X]
He said yeah
You better come out with your hands up
We got you surrounded
I'm in the back
Changin my outfit
He said blink
We gonna send the hounds in
I said wait
Cause here I come
Here I come
Here I come
You boys get ready
Cause here I come
Here I come
Here I come
[Verse]
I'm soul brother one hunted
How much charisma
Could another one stomach
If I be the prisoner then I wasn't more cunning
Or wise
If I come outside I'm not running
Stone lone wolf of the pack
The unwanted
I really got nothin to hide
I'm bout cuttin
Go out in a blaze
Wouldn't pop one button
I'm a murk half hurt leave the cop dogs huntin
The pretty black one in the group
The smooth villain under fire
Cause I'm pennin the words that move millions
Slide right in front of your eyes true brilliance
It's a new bad boy on the rise
Who feelin it
New true skill in it
Y'all the roots still in it
Ready plus willin it's all the true killer shit
You know we got them
Involved
We too diligent
They say the music is strong and too militant
[Chorus]
Yo
Black Inc raw life
In this whatumacallit
Weed smokin junkie alcoholic
One foot in the grave
One foot in the toilet
Still I'm onstage
In front of an audience
Disturbing the peace
And the local ordinance
My eta
I'll arrive by morning
Money long like the arms on Alonzo Mourning
Vampire chicks suck blood
Dusk to dawnin
Waitin to catch me sleep
But I'm not yawnin
They in the vip
At the garden
They gon jump me
When I stop performing
I got something for them
Behind the organ
I always roll deep
With my squadron
The sheriff out front
Gonna sic the dogs in
That nigger talkin bout he got warrants
[Chorus]
I'm in the darkness
Heartless
Fuck you regardless
Move with hardness
Y'all just pressin charges
It's often injury
Floss and force my entry
This peninitentiary
Knockin niggers for centuries
It's elementary
Like KRS and evidently
Incidents
They all stress
I'm lawless
That's my problem
Evolve
And never solve them
Chill in Harlem
Bang you
Bring you stardom
You full of boredom
Bastard you been aborted
Bring your neck out
Bring the tech out
Absorb it
See you check out
And then step out
The orbit
Blow your flesh out
Till I'm fressh out my torment
Street apostle
Pop shit
Preach the Gospel
Still I'm hostile
Sippin a duece When possible
Turn into a monster
Grouchy
Gimme the Oscar
Hit you like vodka
Then screech off in a Mazda
[Chorus 2X]
Yo

Yo Malik Blunt
[B] Whassup?
Tell me how you like your grits man
[B] Man I like ALL KINDS of grits son
I just don't like them sticky grits
Word, that was trippy
Whassup with you Black Thought man, wassup?
[T] Word, organix, groovy stew grits
with cheese, and mad honey
That ain't nuttin man!
[T] That's the grits that needs cash man!
I like my grits with sugar man
[B] I like them with BUTTER
Sweet and smooth man
Who gets the grits? (Say what?) Bust it
I can tell another bout real grits getters
Gettin grits y'all (Say what?) Bust it, let a
brother tell another bout real grits getters
(Dig it, the grits getters get the grits y'all)
Who gets the grits? (Say what?) Bust it, let a
brother tell another bout real grits getters
(Dig it, the grits getters get the grits y'all)
Who gets the grits? (Say what?) Bust it, let a
brother tell another about the real grits getters
(Yeah, the grits getters get the grits y'all)
Who gets the grits? (Say what?) Bust it, let a
brother tell another bout the grits getter
[Black Thought]
Now me, I'm out to get the grits, more than a little bit
If I said, ";Don't get it Black,"; you know I'd be a hypocrite
Levels often fluctuate to surplus from deficit
Rated with the X, is the X-tra X-plicit grits
I, slides, AND, slips, AND, dives, AND, dips
into it, it being grits that I gets like a quaker
But take the raincoats, for the oats
When you crush trail mix yo, I dig my grits fixed slow
with butter, you slip up in the grits and make em other
Some people call it skins but, grits is the other term
that you gots to learn, to keep up on all the scoop
I get a little ends but, never spends loot
for the wiggle, some immature, kids like to laugh
so they giggle for the grits and, when they get close
they start skitz-in, not this kid, because I switched in
flipped in, changed the position that I hits in-side
I glide, words can't describe, how I move be
like, hittin a doobie, Thought'll get ya groovy, so!
Yo Black, here's a bit of advice:
your wife's nice so you better keep the girls away
from the grits getter
Who gets the grits? (Say what?) Bust it, let a
brother tell another about the real grits getters
(Yeah, the grits getters get the grits y'all)
* repeat 4X w/ minor variations *
[Malik Blunt]
Yeah I likes to unzip it, strip it then grip it
To be specific I won't like it, so get the ticket
Flip it like it was a coin, put the loins in the groins
In other words the groins I stretch, now you gets the sketch
You, know I use my mark like the worm on Noah's Ark
But if I happen to see a spark, I umm, parks my bark
Guess I haves to rest my num before the next number to sum
But so I can't slumber or sleep, my shovel's diggin deep
Peep this hick whose name was Vickie
Gettin tricky rather slicky
Her performance showed endurance
She said, ";Me like to licky licky";
Body more gracious, or should I say bodacious
Took my order then she sorta served me
like she was a waitress
Never will I say that she was tasteless
Maker of the pastry, so's I calls her pastress
Still enthused, cause I got my cruise on
P-O-L-O blues on, when I choose to move I puts my shoes on
Protection, against infection
Erect projections travels South in your mouth
like a dentist checked in, commence to be intent
She said, ";I can't understand you, but damn you like Prince";
I make it feel like a Zulu, from Honolulu
By the way she roll away like a dog who name was Ubu
They also said the way I entered from the center
is adventurous, imprint on you dentures when I bust
or I thrust, Mid-Atlantic, they act like a schitzophrenic
Sometimes they panic like I'm Diggin on a Planet
I don't gotta Beama or a Jetta, ?C-ka-Reama alla netta?
Malik is the sleek grits, getter
Who gets the grits? (Say what?) Bust it, let a
brother tell another about the real grits getters
(Yeah, the grits getters get the grits y'all)
* repeat 4X w/ minor variations *
[BROther ?uestion]
I would be lyin if I told you I could not
prepare a fat bowl of sticky, grits for a quickie
Humans get picky, and judge it by the thickness
But if it bends your spoon then add some butter with the quickness
I might get a bit smoother, if you move it to a
better, position, that's probably what she wishin
You can add some groovy spices, to give it extra
But my advice is to first let it simmer
Hot, if it's hot then let the pot sit and cool
Cause if you spill your milk, we label you beginner
Humans gotta know, that I keep my bowl, full of grits
Swingin with their daughters while their parents throwin fits
Tellin me to change my diet plan, to bran cereal
Or rice, I tried that twice, it didn't work
In fact, it made my milk kinda sour
Half and half, part creamer, and skeemer
That's why if it's grits then it gotta be organic
Cause if it's artificial, I panic
Who gets the grits? (Say what?) Bust it, let a
brother tell another about the real grits getters
(Yeah, the grits getters get the grits y'all)
* repeat 4X w/ minor variations *
Yo man, what about me man?
* everybody clowns *
Yo man, just pass your grits down man
(You needs to eat Gerber man)
[Kid Crumbs]
Who gets the grits, now let me tell ya
A plenty posse bloom from the cellar, to nail ya
daughter or your sister, the younger skins elixir
Kick a cat, but I won't like a cat, I'll figure
I'd rather, play the thigh kisser, sister,
I don't die swift, and yo I'm not a quitter
So umm, let me place my hands upon that waist and trace
my way to the right nip and left nip then sip
Similac, until my Jimmy grows fat, grab my pack of hats
from the back, then flee, to the next block
to knock off socks, yo you know my props
So father, don't bother
Cause once the grits is hot, yo they're good as got
Who gets the grits? (Say what?) Bust it, let a
brother tell another about the real grits getters
(Yeah, the grits getters get the grits y'all)
* repeat 4X w/ minor variations *
* talking to fade *

[Black Thought]
On the actual, I swings like I'm Satchel
And brings groovy things to my peoples on the natural
Inclined to align, index to other flow and through beats
the butta kid got yet another bid to serve
in groovy stew, peace to all the kids who smuggle buddha
cross the border cause it beez a remedy to ?cola roda?
Recruiter of refugees, the urbanite objects
Wreck to catch the gravy, grass be the po' baby
that I planted in the long run, dig the rhythmic song from
the one who goes left see, how many brothers test me?
Touch, the texture of the weak and yo I wrecks the comb
from picking cause I'm cool and umm, kicks 'pon the dome
I'm kicking, on the regular I puts masses in motions
Shit'll split your mind open like a canteloupe then
The Roots and the boots Don boost to stomp potholes
Mr. Job Kicker, ease off, cause I got soul enough
to sell it, yo let spell it, B-L-A-C-K
T-H-O-U-G-H-T don't play
When I skits off a land funk that boogies up your pants and
kicks flavor dug by your gramps in Johansen
Jazz cats that's hip, plus them brothers who scramble
Your uncle and your cousins and the wino who gamble..
Hahaha, and for my next trick

[?uestlove]
Peace to all the hip cats, all the nappy sweets
This is the BROther ?uestion, broadcasting live
via satellite, from the Never Never Tunnels
Now dig.. the rituals for today, is good music
So sit back, relax.. and dig the groove
[Black Thought]
Yo bust it, I digs hip-hop, and rocks for hip-hop
Not R&B; because to me that's not my style and
the R-double-O-quotes ain't for radio, but major soul
the ones that's hip won't change the dial and
I remember one morning at the Soul Shack, coolin
in the outback, on the songwritin ship
Blizz a five, off a Bob Marley spliff
On the cloud I be relaxin from last night and shit
In studio today but hey BROther ?uestion
was on the Westside asleep without a clue when
I hollered down to Crumbs to pick up the phone
and tell him to get ready (?uestion, what ya doin?)
(Ain't no thing) Yeah,
Buttered chicken wings, so I met him in the West
where we had to 'lax and wait for Rubber Band and Bes'
Bassey broke down on the other side of town
Yo you know what it's about, The Roots is out
to the subway
Does anybody like good music?
Sweet music, soul music?
You know The Roots is a group that'll choose it
just to use it, to make you move it, yeah
* repeat 2X except 'yeah' *
[Black Thought]
From the subway to the studio
Gots to break fast if we wanna get, to the bus
Runnin like a Mex for the border
(Umm, yo, oh umm, was it a bunch of yas?)
Nah, just the four of us
Nuff nappy sweets on the transit, two fine
(three fine) fo' five mo' fine, UHH!
A girl says, ";Hey ain't y'all The Square Roots?";
and I'm like, ";Heh, worrrd,";
and then the shorty passed the sign
Now we got to make out exit (where?)
to the pavement (to what?) Crushin trail mix
(oh word man, yo look out) Say what? (look out!)
?uestion dropped a whole bag of drumsticks
(Ain't no thing) but a chicken wing, so
he bends down to pick up the sticks
and his pants fall down (dang!)
In my face, ?uestion didn't frown, turned around
and thought he felt a draft, so I laughed
(HAHAHAHAHAH!)
Does anybody like good music?
Sweet music, soul music?
You know The Roots is a group that'll choose it
just to use it, to make you move it, yeah
* repeat 2X except 'yeah' *
[Kid Crumbs]
Here comes the Crumbs, from the chums of the P.O.
Sprouted from The Roots and I was added to the trio
Now I'm cahoots and got a reason for my ego
In the words of, Los Lobos, ad-ios, a-migo
[Black Thought]
At the Rat Cave, mic I'm hand, I'm flowin
Tellin ?uestion, to keep it, goin
What I'm doin, I'm not really knowin
but umm, to me see it sounds oh-and-kay'n (it sounds OK)
layin, to the sounds playin
Umm, hi to hoe and, yeah, hey to hay'n (uh-huh)
Trippin, I'm tryin, not to laugh, bust it
It's the last paragraph, and I'm done half
But ?uestion's jokin, and I'm like hopin
that nobody comes in and opens, the door...
(Ah man, what is up with you man?
I'm leavin, what why you scratchin your face like that man?
Look ugly, self-righteous, do-gooder)
Does anybody like good music?
Sweet music, soul music?
You know The Roots is a group that'll choose it
just to use it, to make you move it
* repeat 2X except *

[Verse 1-Black Thought]
Look, my squad half-Mandrill, half-Mandela
My band 'bout seventy strong just like Fela
Yeah, part Melle-Mel, part Van Halen
and we represent Illadel, where they still rebellin'
Hey yo, Sicko show like Mike Moore
My city ain't nothin' like yours
Slippin' into darkness like war
Nightcrawl with the lights off
You see a lot of life lost for the white horse
Regardless, the charges makin' us all targets
All on the red carpet, guns from the black market
Eh, who got the politicians in they back pocket?
Pimp slap, pump that, give me that profit
When you make contact, give me that gossip
If you break contract, you'll be that hostage
They gettin' busy and the city is raw
Better dead bolt the door, it ain't safe no more
[Hook-Black Thought w/ DJ Jazzy Jeff scratches]
Southside "Get Busy"
Northside "Get Busy"
Westside "Get Busy"
Worldwide "Get Busy"
"Get Busy" "Get Busy" "Get Busy"
[Verse 2-Dice Raw]
Approach with caution, be cautious, when talkin' to bosses
I feel I've been through a metamorphis
I'm mutated by unknown forces, the feeling of course is
Something that's hard to describe
I'm half-dead, never felt more alive
Reborn, remove the gold coins from my eyes
I've been down, but now I'm back up
I'm 'bout to act up, boy, you better back up
When you see me, set up shop, know to pack up
'Cause I crack up, when a rapper get slapped up
Number one reason y'all should give rap up
Dice, it's mines, I got it all wrapped up
I'm kinda like W.E.B. Du Bois
Meets Heavy D and the Boyz, smooth as a Rolls Royce
Built like a tank, smokin' on dank
Walkin' through the Guggenheim, Raw Life, Black Ink
[Hook-Black Thought w/ DJ Jazzy Jeff scratches]
Southside "Get Busy"
Northside "Get Busy"
Westside "Get Busy"
Worldwide "Get Busy"
"Get Busy" "Get Busy" "Get Busy"
[Verse 3-Peedi Peedi]
Now on your mark, uh-huh, get set
Go cop everything you ever heard by Peed Crakk
Dice Raw and Black, fuck the internet
Buy a baseball bat, break a bootlegger leg
All I listen to is vets, you're fresh off the step
I'll come directly at your OG neck
I'm used to the 1,2 check, not the 1,2 step
I'm strapped, I'll leave every cat among you wet
Now let's go, you know I'm politically incorrect
At the show, I start it with a "Can I get a 'ho'?"
And the ho's go retarded
The po-po tape off the stage for caution
It's bad lands, North Philly get it in
It's Crakk man, used to back spin
Now I spend stacks and stacks
and Uncle Sam tryin' to tax all my hard earned raps
Damn, we makin' Yens, Pesos, Euros, we representin'
[Hook-Black Thought w/ DJ Jazzy Jeff scratches]
Southside "Get Busy"
Northside "Get Busy"
Westside "Get Busy"
Worldwide "Get Busy"
"Get Busy" "Get Busy" "Get Busy"

[Chorus A 4X]
This is a game
I'm your specimen
You've got to let me know baby
So I can go, I'd have to fake it
I could not make it
You could not take it
[Black Thought]
Yeah, where I'ma start it at, look I'ma part of that
Downtown Philly where it's realer than a heart attack
It wasn't really that ill until the start of crack
Now it's a body caught every night on the Almanac
Rock bottom where them cops gotta problem at
Where them outsiders getting popped for they wallet at
I had nothin but I made somethin outta that
Now I'm the first out the limo like Charlie Mack
From 215 it's him the livest one
And he's representin Philly to the fullest
Blacks the realest
You can't touch him and not for nothin
If you bout hip hop then you gots to love it
If not then fuck it
I'm still handlin
Smokin more reefer than Redman and them damaging MC's
And my name's Rick Gees you endangered species
For what I do I'm about to up the fees
I'm paperchase motivated I ain't the one to play with
These cats get set ablaze
You can't have it y'all way but I'd rather parlay
Just smoke og and get cabbage all day
The way thought play causes your main thing to say
Your style so splendid you bout your business
You arousing my interests
You sharper than a Shogun
You know the way it go, huh, game know what I'm talkin bout
[Chorus B]
Hus, that's short for hustlers
We Black Inc Raw Life productions
Tryin to find our spota amongst the ruckus
And be sucker free, flea chumps and busters
Man yeah, Get 'em hus, get 'em hus, get 'em hus
[Black Thought]
Hey yo I'm tryin to get it at any cost so it's no remorse
When I'm blastin off like you been askin for it
When Black step in the door all hats is off
Your hands up in the air goin back and forth
I'm about ready for a classic massacre
I'll make it hotter than when Shaft in Africa
Jump outta a black Porshe huffin a fat cigar
Night ridin on 'em like my last name Hasselhoff
Voted unlikely to succeed cause my class was full
Of naysayers, cheaters and thieves
All it gave me was a good enough reason to leave
And put the writing on the wall for y'all to read it and weep
Cause I'm the force of the Lord, the rage of hell
You'd rather head for the hills and save yourselves
My Man rip drums like He ringin the bells
The King of the Realm you seen Him do His thing in a film
Come on
[Chorus B]
[Malik B]
Dreams when M16's with infrared beams
Blowin up presidents' cribs with cans of kerosene
Highjack the limousine with a strategic routine
Then blast my enemy, head for the Caribbean
Militant guerilla camp is ready for war
Lay your corner face down, place down your jewels cash and four four
When I score prepare for toture
Fuck around and make your town Warsaw
I'm from Illadel the land where the killas dwell
My technique is to ambush you guerilla style
My instinct is of a killer whale bang you up from head to toe
With lyrics I pack like a nine millimal
My types subliminal mentality switched to criminal
Importing heroin internash from Senegal
A soldier takes a stripes from a general
Used the mike of iron or lead
You choose your mineral
[Chorus A]

BASS CHECK 1-2
KEYS CHECK 1-2
DRUMS CHECK 1-2
Its The Roots,
Now what we want y'all to do is sit back y'all, and just relax y'all,
Sit back y'all, and just relax y'all,
Sit back y'all, and just relax y'all,
and if you dig it let me hear your mega snap y'all,
Gods thought y'all, he on the keys right,
lenoard hubbord ya'll he's on the bass right,
?: ya'll, he's on the drums right,
Now who I am....
(beat box)
Black Thought.
(beat box)
Everybody say the name of this jam y'all
(chorus)
Essaywhuman, Essaywhuman, Essaywh-uman, Essay whuman, x2
Essay whuman,Essay whuman, EssayWh-uman, Essay whuman.x2
I'm the
(beat box)
Rhyme displayer.
The vocal
(beatbox)
Player.
(beatbox)
I wont chill,
(beatbox)
So show us some freakin skill.
Now, wait a sec,
You got a
(beatbox)
rep.
so....The jam,,,,
The name of this jam,
(chorus)
We got to blah... bring it on,
Steve Cole is... on the horn.
In case you thought my guard was caught,
My name is...
(beatbox)
Black thought.
Im from the...Roots clan,
Say Common is my...
(beatbox)
Man.
We got to...
(beatbox)
rock the jam!
(chorus)
Be-doop... Get a taste,
of leonard, Bang!... Hubb on the base.
He...plays it sweet,
He doesnt... Boom, dont lose the beat.
Your words... you heard just what I said.
So leonard's...freakin with my head,
but yo he's boom, bang still my man.
Rockin the...
(beatbox)
The name of this jam...
(chorus)

Better believe---- it cause it is co --- min ------
You wan't believe the site you see before eyes ---
You wan't believe the site you see before eyes ---
[Black Thought]
Just push the panic button on your remote control
Then enter the zone where our patrolers will get round cold soul
Diddly Bo leave for feelin a saga foretold
Who got caught pon the block for gold got the old
Heads froze - they peepin outa closed windows
They not secure as they supposed I watched it all unfold
Well this another episode with titanic panoramic view is dismantle
depressin um - load with this gun hold
Wild like a sun sold for cash
Guns traded for sensi and hash crack for ass
Entire crews pass not making the news flash
Brews pass a memory and spark not to blast
Whatever have transform to the war path
Pure wrath from north down to 24th and Task
Games store the half the niggas you were prayin the streets
Tainted with camoflouge - guerilla sabotoge
My cousin's da ratatard was livin tight large
Got caught then blast crashed off on Broad and Lambar
So many so called hearts scared they burried in the yard
Lick shots at Babylon de one comfy bombard
Kids run far from traditional credit cards scams
Veterans is nipped in the butt with large plans
Stick up kids is jumpin outta played the Dodge Rams to jam
You and your man it's mad drama and -
[CHORUS]
This is for all of my niggas that are RIP
You ain't missin of life ain't what this should be
I pass a car soon you know who's the enemy
Lots of shit has changed and it's kinda fucked up to see
You remeber Top C nigga think slice of dream
Yo I'm fast for the buck do anything for the cream
Never seen a case like this although it's quite contageous
He even got his little bother actin all outrageous
>From dusk to dawn and from dawn back to dusk
They do anything and everything tryin to come up
It's kinda sicknin how the cash is so fucking addicted
And when I say some bout they say that that's conflicted
Ain't nothin but a contradiction in this world we live in
Cause the loot is for the takin and not for the givin
Then ya got this world well I say I'ma die hustlin
Fuck everybody except my brother who I'm trusted in
I guess the couple just did not know the truth
Cause the following week I seen threw him of the roof
And sometimes I wonder what the fuck I think about that
How nowadays kids get whap for somethin less than a pat
But I guess that's how it goes when there ain't no more rap
Thought he was his borthers keep but fuck all that
Niggas causin mayhem from the p.m.'s to a.m.'s
Americas worst nightname guns against hands
[CHORUS]
It was the year a 84 I was tryin ta get in the mix
The year the niggas roll with sheepskins kitcells and kicks
Even got the patten leather Adidas snatched of your feet
Man that talk is cheap the cripled can't walk for weeks
The first sto was word to Penn and Teller's
Strolled in the dollar house parties and search for Cinderella
Was just a little man real bold
Tryin to act grown and old so da respect can be shown
A Hip Hop a little copped in and break dancin'
When niggas wore wind breakers plot to take lamb skins
Remeber Zigglers? Uptown the bottom to Natrona and
St. Charles in South Phil the ooh mob gang
H-R-M Ogontz Ave. Brickyard to hollow
Niggas was snatchin gazzeles and flippin pockets for tha dallo
You run ya little wolf chain in West Oak Lane
And niggas from Logan came to extort we know tha game
You proclaim this gangster bullshit talk
And never even seen your man shot a bodies in charge
Aggravated assualt another weekend in the precinct
Take everybody for their ring man that's how we think
Back then you catch a sucker punch off guard
Niggas will pull you card tryin to walkaround all hard
Niggas quick to flip your pockets if you lip service
When you see fifty niggas deep with scully's get nervous
It ain't no tellin what they could do to you
So you clutch up thinkin you knowin you gettin stuck up
In another episode in my area code
It's another episode in my area code

[Black Thought]
Uh uh, come on, S-P in the
Up north into the NYC and the out West
And to niggas in Cali and the Down South type dynamite
What, yo yo come on dynamite dynamite
Uh check it out, uh uh
Yo yo yo yo yo check it out
[Chorus]
Eve-ry bo-dy, touch this Illa-Fifth Dynamite
C'mon, touch this Illa-Fifth Dynamite
C'mon, touch this Illa-Fifth Dynamite
Check it out, eve-ry bo-dy
Touch this Illa-Fifth Dynamite
C'mon, touch this Illa-Fifth Dynamite
C'mon, touch this Illa-Fith Dynamite
Yo, check it out
In in tro tro duc ducing
The sole missin link, what could MC's who listen think
It's Black Thought, open your eyes and don't blink
Yo, to rock this mic is like a basic instinct
But yo in-in-tro-tro-duc-ducing
[Elo]
Behind thee, the mic champ-ion
More than a step-ion
Mothafuckers sweatin me, beggin me just to get me on
Macro-cosmic, micro-master
[Black Thought]
Aiyyo I'm all the way way, Phil Phil-lay-lay
People wanna see the way the Illadel play
Yo, look in the mirror, watch what yourself say
I'm from S-P, no mortal man can test me
Thought, I keep a lin-e in, upper eschulone-in
Heineken, hold the rhymin in, flows remindin em
Cats that hear me up, some shit from back in the past
Your half-steppin ass, could never fathom a grasp because
[Elo]
Yo we got a doctrine, in cold-rockin it
Bringin this apocalype, nigga you mad topical
*Bitch* my raps trick your optical
Mister superficial, I'm rippin apart your heart tissue
This is your official, dismissal
I don't study the artificial, who fuckin wit the dark crystal
Yo where are is you? I'm movin like a smart missle
Aimed and guaranteed to hit you
[Black Thought]
Word up, but when the Fifth do get on and perform, you in for it
It ain't no way to cen-sor it, my style metaphoric
To bricks and ten tons stacks hard to lift
The artist, comin out the Fifth darkness
[Elo]
We go back like ancients, while you ain't shit
Sub-terrainean, never against the grain-ean
Afro-American slash half-blade-ean
In your universe, my star's the most radiant
Chorus
[Black Thought]
Aiyyo it's all the way live, from 2-1-5
Plus admission is denied so just wait outside
Two extremes collide like Jekyl and Hyde
And I provie you wit the swerve you need, but take heed
You travellin like speed
Iller than adventures you might read
O-fficial original breed, the just-ice league, yo it's the P-5-D
Style fashionist, other MC's they actresses
[Elo]
Yo it's the high-opposed, you bout to get shot down
Tryin to fly above this Illa-Fifth compound
You've known since the get-go, I rock your disco
Ain't nobody badder, but yo you get my gist so
I represent so you gotta squint
As far as how I do it you ain't compen-sate
We causin nui-sance and get in-decent so save your two cents
Don't come in my district, kickin that *bullshit*
[Black Thought]
Yo it's all simplistic, limited click get
Lyrically lifted, touchin the Fifth shit
Trenches of the mentally twisted, you enlisted
5 was the emblem on the mic you got hit wit
[Elo]
And I stomp ya, till you call me conqueror
Back-slappin all the niggas that slept
Thinkin that Elo could ever disappear
I'm strippin they vi near
Wit this non ether reefer, quiet frequent premiere
Chorus 2x

* about 35 seconds of ad libs *
[Black Thought]
We go wow, ba-da-da-dow-da-dah-ow
Either stand tall, just sit the fuck down
All the way from the 2-1-5th to Bucktown
Brace yourself, it's about to go down
[Mos Def]
Runnin one on one and only hip-hop bound
Yo Tariq (whassup) how your micraphone sound
(It sound tight) well aight, show em what it's about
[Black Thought]
We got to blow up the spot, because they must have forget
We double (trouble) bubble (bubble) bubble (bubblin hot)
Well it's like smack the track up and leave dents in it
The vocalist, bustin this blunt, instrument spit
The magnificent, rapper's run from it
All fly girls, nipples and toes, numb from it
MC's in my circumference, is confronted son
Get your growth stunted from this, you don't want it
(What nigga?) The Black Thought and M-O-S Def done it
Who the ultimate? Yo my man speak up on it
[Mos Def]
Aiyyo I stop fools and drop jewels but never run it
Rock mics so nice I make you stock price plummet
All you high noon riders better rally at the summit
It's me and Tariq and your fleet outnumbered
Cross the membrane barkin big game and get hunted
Eyewitness account, say it happened so sudden
Just slid off to the side, didn't really say nuttin
Then BLAOW, blew away the 1900th
[Black Thought]
You better get your rest cause the next day comin
Oh yes, and MC's they scared to say sum'tin
Stop frontin, I'm in the cut just onlookin
Your get your kings, your rooks, rings and pawns tooken
[Mos Def]
Aiyyo, keep your tape on us so you catch the revolve
of the Black Thought and the black man from Black Star
Illadelph and Vietnam we conference, accomplish
Even with stakes inclined, I get mine, regardless
[Black Thought]
Yo, a lot of Smurfette MC's carry purses
And rock, uniforms, that's made for nurses
I burst your verses, your words is worthless
Only touchin surface, the FUCK's the purpose?
[Mos Def]
I shot the sherriff, the deputy, and head of bank treasury
So mounties in the county got a BIG bounty stressin me
But tell 'em to hold off, they too short to measure me
Mos and Black Thought blast forth with the weaponry
[both interwined]
Like blaow-ba-dow-da-da-dow-da-dah-ow
Either stand tall or sit the fuck down
All the way from the 2-1-5th to Bucktown
Brace yourself, it's about to go down
[Mos Def]
Yo Tariq (whassup) how your micraphone sound
(It sound tight) well aight, show em what it's about
[both intertwined]
We got to blow up the spot, because they must have forget
We double (trouble) bubble (bubble) bubble (bubblin hot)
[Mos Def]
Yeah, now check your stove top before you take a listen
And make sure beans don't burn in the kitchen
These gased up niggas just ain't fuel efficient
I play the winter breeze then choke hold your prisoner
Now you niggaz can't make pole position
Classy, chasis, can't hold the transmission
Crew pit, useless, they got they tools missin
Watch me, grand prix, champy for wealth driven
[Black Thought]
Yo, you go one for my hustle (hustle)
Two to rock rhyme (two to rock rhyme)
From the muscle kid I'm one of the illets of all time
I swing from chandeliers and wall climb
And specialize in warfares of all kind
A lot of MC's said I'm a run it down rhyme
But half the time, they run it down one of mine
Thought suffocatin em with yet another stunnin line
You dumb and blind kid, it's enlarged and underlined
[Mos Def]
What I memorized leave your whole staff pressurized
Melt down all of your artificial lies
Y'all niggaz is faker than Yellow No. 5
Swine like mono and diglyceride
My vocals got texture, you just texturized
I'm nicer than your writtens even when I'm improvised
Step into my zone get flown like fly
by the b-boy Lazarus who just won't die
[Black Thought]
Yo, me and Kamal and Leanord Hubbard, ?uestlove and Malik
We go back to dollar holdings and Tahitian Treat
Or like toast in the oven with government cheese bubblin
Me and Dante like Marvin, The Troublemen travellin
Give me the mic, we on that again
b-boy business, off the top actin and battlin
Servin them cats that forgot
But don't get too close, because you might get shot
[both interwined]
Like blaow-ba-dow-da-da-dow-da-dah-ow
Either stand tall or sit the fuck down
All the way from the 2-1-5th to Bucktown
Brace yourself, it's about to go down
[Mos Def]
Yo Tariq (whassup) how your micraphone sound
(It sound tight) well aight, show em what it's about
[both intertwined]
We bout to blow up the spot, because y'all must have forget
We double (trouble) bubble (bubble) bubble (bubblin hot)
We go blaow-ba-dow-da-da-dow-da-dah-ow
Either stand tall or sit the fuck down
All the way from the 2-1-5th to Bucktown
Went from _Do You Want More?!??!!_ to what you want now?
[Mos Def]
Yo Tariq (whassup) how your micraphone sound
(It sound tight) well aight, show em what it's about
[both intertwined]
We bout to blow up the spot, because y'all must have forget
We double (trouble) bubble (bubble) bubble (bubblin hot)
[Mos Def]
Say here's a little story that must be told
About two young brothers who got so much soul
They takin total control, of the body and brain
Flyin high in the sky, on a lyrical plane
It's just two bad brothers who will never quit
Mos Def and Tariq from the 2-1-5th
They rock beginnin to end, on a spiritual blend
And everybody who forgot then baby tell em again
It's just me and Tariq, with Ahmir on the beat
The Roots crew baby yo we got to make it unique
We got the soul-shockinest, body-rockinest
Non-stoppinest, _Fortified Live_ survive the apocalypse
Rhymes we say, the perfect blend
Because we know how to rock when the beat come in
Like zen-zen-zen-zen-zen
Zen-zen-zen-zen-zen, zen-zen, zen-zen
Zen zen-zen, ZEN zen zen ZEN zen zen
Zen zen, ZEN zen zen-zen
Zen-zen-zen, ZEN zen ZEN zen
Here we go, here we here we here we go
Zen zen-zen, ZEN zen zen ZEN zen zen
Zen zen, ZEN zen zen-zen
Zen-zen-zen-zen-zen, zen-zen, zen-zen
Let the poppers pop, and the breakers break
Then zen-zen-zen-zen-zen
Zen-zen-zen-zen-zen, zen-zen, zen-zen
Two years ago, a friend of mine
Zen zen, ZEN zen, zen-zen zen-zen... *fades*

[Black Thought]
Uh, what what, yo yo P-5-D uncut
Check it out, yo yo, S-P uncut
Yo yo, what P-5-D uncut, yeah yeah it's that Philly shit
Yo yo, check it out, yo yo
Chorus 2x
Chorus [Malik B]
You Don't See Us, but we see you
You stuck on sleep, get on your P's and Q's
Cuz you will get crept, wit no discrept
You know the rep, we keep the flows in check
[Black Thought]
Mesmerizing, state of the art caffeine
It's over head like Omniverse screen
I'm not the average savage that curse queens
I'm something from his worst dreams
First we handling first things, I'm subsurface un-seen
Grat'll hold planet by purse strings
MC's are earthlings, not built to hurt things
Speakin the words of weaklings, nothin but sweet things
[Malik B]
Man each world, it ain't no time to recline
Act up, get clapped up, my mind is the nine
Shine like jewels that spark, swimmin wit sharks
Never caught speakin to NARC's, that's weak in the parks
I'm the type to sit back and analyze the prize
Grip it up and flee the scene wit a different disguise
Take a detour, I be all that I can be whore
Talkin to this *bitch* life, had to make her my wife
Live twice, got seven more lives to live
I'm all out, takin things to the fullest extent
Help me get it down and we can split one-hundred percent
Run a rapper through a maze like a experiment
Word up, you know the legendary Roots crew, yo
Chorus 2x
[Dice Raw]
The Raw Dice rise like a creature from out the swamp
Wit my blood-thirsty clergy that's on the hunt for conk
Who pumps your heart, I made you wanna rhyme from the start
You should be more alert, then you wouldn't get hurt
Get off your horse and on your P's and beware
Of images you seein, did deceiving, you're scared
And even more shook up than the scenes that's near
I'm Dice Raw, sting the inside of your mouth like a cold sore
Who wanna piece, well it's Round One, let's begin
I got a gun that's don't bust, it just suck niggaz in
I got shit that'll have you beggin me to shoot ya
I'm the professor, you rock a dunce cap, go get a tutor
[Black Thought]
Yo, Okay Computer, Radiohead's knock to the
Future Shock like Kurtis, at your service
None other than, the Fifth governing playin the cut again
Y'all clueless to what the fuck is up again
Yo, hard times and sufferin
What, my peoples in the crevices strugglin
'Nuff of them ?untie? soldier thespian
But I'm from the next e-on, supreme being that's unseen for MC'n
Chorus 2x
[Malik B]
Yo, they all around me 'round me
On my head, they got a bounty
I'm tryin to get this bell up so I can flee your county
Triple-six, come in my mix, flood it wit tricks
I'm sharper than rough spoons for icepicks
Niggaz price bricks till dawn, if the money is long
Cats who play strong will inhale, then go play bong
You wrong son, you thought I wasn't droppin a ton
Sit and think about the way I wanna tally a sum
[Dice Raw]
Aiyyo I sneakfully snuck up from behind and got you
>From over there in them bushes, I chilled and watched you
Dancin all dolly as you pussy for them folly
I knock you out wit one punch from me you been Ali-ed
I float like hovercrafts and sting like vaccinations
WHen my name said out loud, you'll lose your concentration
Dice Raw, D-I-C-E-R-A-W, you wanna take it
Otherwise, fuck you gon' do?
That's what I thought, nada, nothing, caput, zero
Rough as sandpaper but still smooth as a tiptoe
Raw's takin over, baby don't tell me you ain't know
A lot of kids can rap but you fuckin wit the pros
[Black Thought]
Namsayin, y'all know the legendary Roots crew, it's like
Chorus to fade

[Verse 1 - Black Thought]
Yeah! That all mighty amazing, ill, highly contagious
Kamikaze south splash like it shot from a gauge
Until your body sound clash
Head of the Class, Magna Cum Laude
Beats bring the beast out me, flagrant - foul rowdy
Reed pipe but deed tight, disposition keep on flipping
Keep em playing they position
Keep making the people listen what I spin
Put em out on a limb
Got tears, got blood, got sweat, leaking out of the pen
Y'all fake niggas not setting a trend
We never listen to them
It's like trying to take a piss in the wind
My home team doing visitors in, yo don't test em
They all standing close to the edge, so don't stress em
Now who the type built to last?
It's no question, the Master!
Villain in Black wit no stets in my sound
Hitting you hard from - every direction
Your head and shoulder, area your midsection dawg!
[Chorus]
Yeah.....
Give it here, and don't say nuthin
Just give it here, and don't say nuthin
.....Cut the check
Give it here, and don't say nuthin
Nigga, give it here, and don't say nuthin
[Verse 2 - Black Thought]
Yeah, Illadel! Home of the original gun clappers
Out on the wrong corner your shit'll get spun backwards
You got the fool wanting the rules, enter at risk
Or your own nana'll keep a gat under the matress
Shorties running reckless from Philly to Texas
Suprising what niggas willing to do to get a neckless
Some emotions felt better left unexpressed at times
Niggas' crime record longer than a guest list
Yes, I done seen things you wouldn't believe
Seen people reach levels thought they'd never achieve
Silhouettes waiting in the wings ready to D
Thirst decise or need at least a buck to breathe
C'mon! Stick up kids, they be out to tax
Most times they be sticking you without the gats
I'll still be on the grind when it all collapse
And if it's my worst bar then I'm a take it right back nigga
[Chorus]
[Verse 3 - Black Thought]
Yeah, it ain't nothin like I rush I get, in front of the band
On stage wit the planet in the palm of my hand
When a brother transform, from aynonomous man
To the force, crush whoever might of thought I was playin
I'ma flame some, sentence the shit, the cold twist to slang
Thicker than big boy baby, mom, sister pain
Beyond measure, relaxed under pressure
You see the master piece, but to me it's unperfected
Give it here Geffen Records, I'm off the handle
Cut the check, and yo it better be as heavy as anvil
Next joint comin, all bets is cancelled
Nigga black ink, red was a G finacial
We finna have the whole industry at a stand still
See me put the system on lock like can pill
So get wit them endorsements, and call reinforcements
Cause my click come a full sizeable portions
[Chorus]

[Chorus]
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I don't feel it no more
Things don't feel right over here
Lately I ain't been seein' clear
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
Seems to me nowadays things have changed
I don't know if I feel the same
[Verse 1 - Black Thought]
Yo, in the land of the unseen hand, and hold trouble
Theorize your game, it's difficult to roll a double
The struggle ain't right up in your face, it's more subtle
But it's still comin' across like the bridge and tunnel vision
I try to school these bucks, but they don't wanna listen
That's the reason the system makin' its paper from the prison
And that's the reason we livin' where they don't wanna visit
Where the dope slang and keep swayin' like Sonny Liston
The money missin' and there's mouths to feed
Yet the brain kickin', thinkin' of a thousand things
Remember back in the days, when the kitchen had eggs
And pancakes, thicken and greens and Kool Aid
When the 'fridgerator naked then the cupboard is bare
People got to strip naked, stick 'em up in the air
Wasn't lies when they told you wasn't nothin' to fear
Somethin' don't feel right out here, nahmsayin'? Check it out
[Chorus]
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I don't feel it no more
Things don't feel right over here
Lately I ain't been seein' clear
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
Seems to me nowadays things have changed
I don't know if I feel the same
[Verse 2 - Black Thought]
Look, my eyes open 'cause I'm really a rocksmith
And when inviting me thoughts, I'm really unboxin'
My main adversary in this silly concoction
Freeze your face like bosilium toxin
If you ain't tryin' to get popped, then give me a option
Helicopters choppin' from Philly to Compton
The Jones is the richest since the Smiths & the Johnson's
If you ain't sayin' nothin', you a system's accomplice
It should play with your conscience, do away with the nonsense
I'm overseeing anything within my circumference
This ain't a press junket, I ain't seekin' responses
I stand where the people got the heat in they pocket
You mesmerized by the calm nonchalant-ness
I spit a dart, rub on some John Hitchcock shit
If you ain't speakin' your life, your rhyme's adopted
If it don't feel right, then stop it, you nahmsayin'?
[Chorus]
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I don't feel it no more
Things don't feel right over here
Lately I ain't been seein' clear
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
Seems to me nowadays things have changed
I don't know if I feel the same
[Verse 3 - Black Thought]
Yo, field you work in, weapon producin'
Natural disaster got the planet in a panic
We all gots to make that livin'
Sex, drugs, murder, politics and religion
Forms of hustlin', watch who you put all your trust in
Worldwide, we coincide with who sufferin'
Who never had shit and ain't got nothin'
But most strugglin', and make you wanna run up in the ma' fuckin'
With hots on for a piece of the cake back
I can't work for it, I can certainly take that
I'm fired up, thinkin' about the payback, except
You fuck around and be a enemy of the state, black
Ill, but that'd be too real for TV
It's crazy when you too real to be free
If you ain't got no paper then steal this CD
Listen man, I'll let you know how it feel to be me, it don't feel
[Chorus]
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I don't feel it no more
Things don't feel right over here
Lately I ain't been seein' clear
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
It don't feel right, it don't feel right
It don't feel, it don't feel, I can't feel it no more
Seems to me nowadays things have changed
I don't know if I feel the same

[Black Thought]
The name of the brother to blame
It's quite plain, it's not the rain
But a brother who don't claim or aim
to be a preacher or ordained
I have Black Thoughts, therefore my names the same
Don't question my ability, in a studio facility
As I utilize my God-given utility
On time, I get behind and push along a rhyme
of mine, which I design, with what? The mind
Leave MC's blind with amnesia
Chop 'em into salad and my name ain't Caesar
Think twice before you approach
Get benched by the coach like exit post
I wrote murder, so you can say it's Murder He Wrote
You think I'm Hell sent, so you repent to the Pope
Don't walk when the sign says not to
And don't talk when Black Thought's about to
When I say "Maestro" and bro starts to play it
If you got a rhyme in your mind, then don't say it
Save it for the weaker, pack your portable speaker
and utilize the treads on your sneaker
Take your sorry crew back and forget about rappin'
Forget you ever saw me and forget this ever happened
'Cause you might have nightmares of MC's bein' slain
And I'll be to blame when you go insane

Verse One: Malik B
Yo, I'm every MC, it's all in me
That's the way it is, when ya gotta be
Indeed as I distort I proceed, I need
Gettin hotter than sacks of boom, in my room at the Ramada
Four tanks in your memory banks to fill up
I provide the static, with scratch to match, while you catch the vibe
Most can play high post, but yo that don't mean shit
Because my click'll make a motherfucker sick
I flips, redder than pork, comin to New York to mix
[It's Bob Powers] With the snares and kicks to fix
Rhythmatically, you got ta be, static-y
Magiccally I appear, spark a L and drink a beer
With air smooth, takin niggaz loot with dice
then shoot The Roots, poetic, courageously kinetic
Vagabond, versatile and various, plus rap styles
of mine are blunt, pain is in the mind, so I'm fine and five
Foot seven, inches in height
My mission to strike mics and lighten your tights
Ridin in, like lightning
Flourescent, incandescent, evervescently
I represent, Foreign Objects and Ill Elements
Very relevant, plus intelligently managin matter
that's makin tracks fatter, revolve around
Saturn like rings and brins swings when I sings with bass
Then distort up in your face like mace
Bustin your dreams, I gasp with loaded magazines
I'm on the rap scene, re-color fellas like a vaccine
As I, rocks from under blunderin I'm not, lyrically
Ya getm, shot, get caught so distort with thought, for real
It's the illest out the Phi, short for Philidelph-iada-fly
Money makin move fakin I isn't
Niggaz can nah front, I'm poetically exquisite
Wicked, with the visit while you're wonderin what is it
Dig it, yo my mellow um whattup for the night
[Malik B, get on the mic, get on the mic]
Like that y'all, and yo I'm flowin, my part of the song
It's goin, it's goin, it's gone
Verse Two: Malik B
Now, go get your dictionary and your Pictionary
Cause much affliction with my diction friction slips and carries
Words and hers like some cattle in the steeple
People, there's no equal, or no sequel
SO policies, of equalities, get abolished
Demolished, distortion of the static's gettin polished
Urges of splurge and words will just be merged
Together, damn it's quite clever, however
You never, can sound alike, lyrics don't be poundin like
These, troops, who be's, Roots
Insult ya, mellow of culture, rhythmatic vulture
Approach ya, with Magnetic shit that's Ultra
I make MC's dangle like a bangle
Strangle from every angle, my lingo hingles and it jangles
under Kangols, nahh them niggaz don't want to tangle
Cause Roots get loose, negroes get juiced like the mango
To be particular, extra-curricular, for pleasure
Measure, in any weather, value more than the treasure
Baby, you say you maybe, then come in to flex
Now you wonder what's next...

[Dice Raw]
Yo, look at all the scavengers
All wannabe contenders
Dismember, wack niggaz I intend ta
Y'all ain't shit but sticky shit
on the bottom of Timber-lands
I know you clam heads wanna surrender
Don't even act like the battlefield the place you wanna enter
Yo niggaz is hopeless, you really need to focus
On who's the fuckin dopelist or wind up hopeless
Lookin for some soup, tryin to recoup
some fuckin loot, only thing you get is the boot
To me these punk MC's is nothin but fruit
Cakes, shake they booty on stage and get head
with lyrics that I kick, talkin that bullshit
You might get lit like a front of a spliff
for runnin, off at the lips talkin that nonsense
Raw get on stage, take your confidence
Break you off since powerful defense *fades*

[Chorus]
Monday they predict the storm
Tuesday they predict the bad
Wednesday they cover the grass
And I can see it's all about cash
And they got the nerve to hunt down my ass
And treat me like a criminal
[Black Thought]
Look, it is what it is
Because of what it was
I did what I did
Cause it does what it does
I don't put nothin' above
What I am, what I love
My family, my blood
My city and my hood
Hater for the greater good
I'm back from Hollywood
And I ain't changed a lick
Though, I know I probably should
But, what I'm doin' is not a good look
I never did it by the good book, as a lifetime crook
All the petty crime took a toll on me
I look around at my homies that's gettin' old on me
But still somethin' gotta hold on me
Maybe it's faith
If it's comin', yo I'm willing to wait
I'm not runnin', I done ran through the mud
I done scrambled and such
I done robbed an odd job and gambled enough
Till I'm put up in handcuffs
And pissin' in a cup
If there's a God
I don't know if he listenin' or what
[Chorus]
[Truck North]
Yeah, it is what it is
And that's how it go
Get treated like a criminal
If crime is all you know
Get greeted like a nigga
If a nigga saw your show
A public enemy, to send a eye in the scope
My city like a island where you can't find a boat
Have you wishin' for a raft
And prayin that hope flows
Some real (?) going down on soul (?)
Who lookin' for a chair and some real strong rope
Just to end it all here
Screamin' "fuck the mayor"
He see the faces at the bottom of the welfare
They act like I'm somethin' to fear
Trapped in urban warfare
And pullin' triggers at a college career
Can't ignore the call of the wild
That's drawin' 'em near
Try to make fast money last long some years
Try to laugh it off
Still couldn't lose the tears
To the rules, I will not adhere
Break the law, yeah... [echoes]
[Chorus]
[Saigon]
Who wanna challenge mine?
I'm sick of St. Valentine
I did the violent crimes
That's why I got this style of rhyme
Seek repentance to spittin' them sentences
To senseless experience is the difference
You can't convince this
In a crime sense, niggas is infants
I'm like a senior citizen
Still livin' but gettin' benefits
Put emphasis on hittin' my nemesis in high percentages
Crooked ass cops is the reason for my belligerence
And it gets deeper than that
Remember nights I used to sleep wit a gat
With a package of crack under my sneaker strap
D's sneak attack and raid me
It took a week for that
Beat the rat, but you're sayin' "look, he think he the mack"
Fuck y'all!
Niggas who thinkin' they might try us
Watch us inside riots
Blue cars and light fires
We already been knocked, scrutinized
Plus, cops rush to brutalize us
America's polluted by lust
Who could I trust?
If I can't trust you, then I might touch you
If I ain't got love for you
Then fuck you!
[Chorus x2]

Chorus:
The concerto, of the desperado
R-double-O-T-S check the flow
If you know like I know then you know the motto
That's all the fraud shit got to go/fake shit gots to go
Verse One:
In the glow of the moon, over the melancholy metro
My poetry is set like a U.F.O.
The maestro, the lyricist concerto
My physical play the role of a vessel
The level of my lyrics law manifesto
My thoughts wrestle and attack with the killer instincts
of a gorilla stronger than Samson
Without vanilla my soliloquoy profess my ability to just
stimulate you like the best sensimilla
The halflife the Illadel-L-P-O-phila proceed
hither is my death flower blow your tower to smithe-
-reens to fiends catch another rhyme gripper
Deeper than the meditations of a hidden worshiper
Unorthodox, hip-hop, minister
Then a Serengeti cheetah my thoughts with the
you lose your balance when the sound hits ya
So check for the, fifth militia
A poet's under pressure stressing that you get the picture
Even if it means you gotta hang over the banister
I pull a microphone on any pistol brandisher
And take advantage of ya because you amateur
Styles gunning down your sound man and manager
What?? This how we do it in the year for nine-six
With this delivering attack on pointless rap shit
Breakin MC's down to fractions, tell your squadron
It's time to go to war we spar reaction
Chorus 2X
Verse Two:
The implorer, the universe explorer
Treat MC's like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
Leavin these niggaz open like a box of Pandora
With styles that's newer than the world order
Approximately three quarters of y'all are water
I straight deport ya
Then orchestrate your torture with roots of culture
The pill brimmage to the line of scrimmage up against your image
Where life is a heist, and the strong get a percentage
It's ill as a war and within it I'm the Lieutenant
that surrounds you like a peninsula to snatch the pennant
You fold like Japan's futons and fans
While I design a plan to make a rapper step like a pedestrian
I crush a mountain into grands of sand
Your pain stains the cannon of the mic inserted into the stand
The desperado, that refuse to follow
The lip afficianado, break you up into parts like a bottle
I deep like the dark of the night
Niggaz is sweet and sound silly when they talk on the mic
They use the simple back and forth the same
old rhythm that's plain
I'd rather UltraMagnetize your brain
It's the hip-hop purist, that leave you lost like a tourist
inside the chorus, niggaz is bringin nothin for us
As we breakin em down to fractions, tell your squadron
It's time to go to war we spar reaction
Chorus 2X

[Chorus: repeat 2X]
I've been wondering about the complexity
Of what we have it shouldn't be
More
Just can't see
More
You're physically in this, but how could we tell
If we was meant to be in bliss if you're not mentally as well?
This energy you're sending me is tricky as hell
Usually it's like a 50/50, we could take a L
Before we start things, at this point being apart brings
The feeling of somebody plucking at your heart strings
I know it probably shouldn't feel like this
But any other woman I see is in your likeness
It's from your cheekbones
Yo your lips, to your curves, to your deep moans
To that walk, to your words
You love feeling like a breakdown on the verge
First we on good terms, then you on my last nerves
Got my back just aching, my shoes is all tight
It's too complex when we choose to do it right
It's wrong, one minute you a soldier strong
Then you trying a route talking about it's over and gone
[Chorus]
When your boyfriend's in town, it's bound to be trouble, Love
His name Black, and he known to be a lover of
Getting it on with my smoker's jacket on
Eyes racing back and forth listening to Chaka Khan
Trying to figure the cause why you always acting off
like I'm slacking off
Maybe our signal's getting crossed
For the case Love, you feel like you making a waste of
Your precious time you need to get a taste of
Some space to breathe, a moment as friends
We should've felt ourselves slipping into it again
Cuz it's like off and on, on and off
Passion, lost and found, found and lost
Clashing, asking for nothing but understanding
Your hearts made of glass, use care when handling
Girl, all in all I never leave you stranded
Cuz my respect you commanded, you figure it out
[Chorus]
I used to come into the party and stand around
Cuz I was kinda too shy to really get down
I used to play the corner and watch the scene
Deep down knowing I wanted to find me a queen
And I could feel that in my stomach and up in my chest
Because I knew a lot of women, and some was fresh
But then I found you girl, and just like me
You had a heart that was yearning to be set free
Now listen, see you and me we need to take the time
To erase any doubt that's inside your mind
It's not a mountain that I'm ever too tired to climb
And who's counting, but I know at least a thousand times
I let you know I'm here for you, care for you, and confide in you
Break bread, share with you, and provide for you
And that's full time, it's no 9 to 5 with you
That's why I'm trying to work it out with you, it's gonna work
[Chorus]

Hold your flix, I'm not for the photo op's
It's Black, code name Yaphet Kotto ock
My twist like a ratchet in an auto shop
Since granddaddy old Desoto stopped and he got the Caddie
I been gladly servin, any y'all cats wanna act determined
Spit pesticides for rats and vermin
Seem like none of y'all chumps is learning
Y'all hopeless, and I'm a little better than dope is
Far from a brand new kid to show biz
Tryna hold on, maintain my focus
Coming out a room with a could of smoke
Smokers rolling with the punches
I survive and rock
Cause I keep the crowd alive
And the texture of my voice
Is course and kind of hoarse and cut
Like I'm throwing a thousand knives
[Hook:]
Party people gather round what we have here is a brand new sound
Reach for my waist you hit the ground
You better duck when that awful sound goes
Boom
Thats what's happenin in the parking lot
Thats whats happenin on stage
[Repeat Hook]
The man at hand that rule the school
And reach and teach the blind and find a way from A to Z
And be the most to boast I'm load and proud
The game and reign that remain
The heat is on so feel the fire come off the empire or the
More higher level of depth one step beyond dope
To suckers all scope and hope to cop a note
Cause I could never let em on top of me
I play em out like a game of Monopoly
Let it speed around the board like an astro
And send them to jail for tryna pass go
Shaking them up
Breaking them up
Taking no stuff
But it still ain't loud enough
So quest love let the fire roast
So I can flow and we can kill the whole show cause
[Repeat hook]
I'm live
Design a finer rhyme that's right on time
One step beynd and not behind the line
That seperates thought from divine
You can take it as a caution or a warning sign
Look for antonyms
Words I'm sending em
Homonyms, synonyms good like M&M;'s
You know the time when it's Riq Gees slicing
I turn a Mic's last name into Tyson
My brain like a factory constantly creating
Materials stitch by stitch for decoration
My lyrics one fabric the beat is a lining
My passion of rhyming is fashion designing
Now it get sorted cause people wanna sport it ya bought it
If you didn't then you couldn't afford it
Poetry full of surprises it's like a game show
And my brain go
I do my thing yo
[Repeat Hook]

[Intro / Chorus: Jack Davey - singing]
As I wait for atonement
Trapped in the heat of the moment
Feelin like I can't control it
As I wait for atonement
Trapped in the heat of the moment
[Black Thought]
Uh-huh, feelin the steam from the cauldron
With tension runnin deep as the ocean
Many are called, but so few are chosen
As I go through the motions, of medication uppin my dosage
Bangin Earth, Wind & Fire "Devotion" as I admire the focus
Takin the city with a grain of salt
Where they tastin foul, chase it down, with the latest malt - liquor
Roll and hit it, knife did it, hope you got some smarts wit'chu
Hope you got some heart it ain't no stoppin when it start - nigga
Feel somethin bigger got a hold on me
And I ain't trippin not a Bobby Brown, lippin with my nose runnin
Basically I had two, options I just chose one
And then got ghost, like my picture was on a most wanted
Coast to coast, from L.A. to Chicago
Now I'm faced, with the weight of survival, plus the taste
From the way I been lied to while the preacherman spittin his gospel
I can win if I try to
[Chorus]

[Black Thought - amidst ad libbing voices]
What the fuck, what what what?
Nuttin new, nuttin new..
What? Nuttin new.. check
Nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
I represent the legendary Fifth Dynasty crew
Nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
Nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin, check shit out
It's nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
Nuttin new, nuttin new...
Ghetto related with this hit the whole world awaited
Y'all Dorito-head cats that yak and stagnated
Black Thought, The Doug E. Most war vete-ran
Crown ruler, soul controller of this lyrical land
Spliff wizard kid, who is it?
Fifth Dinosaur Ghetto, beat detonator
Apex my level, NEXT, my complex pattern of speech is like sex
I mastered the art of makin you snap the necks
And Chase Manhattan endorse my mic checks
Upset, poet threat
Just collectin my debt, yo I'm overpaid in dues
blood tears and sweat, when you fuckin with The Roots
that's as good as it get, Ultramagnet
We pull you in a Drag-net then brainwash your click
and extort your assets, then roadie all your homies
on some old school shit, Roots crew represent
[Dice Raw]
Life's a gamble, step up and place your bets
I drift through space, then make my escape on through the 'net
With CD's, cassettes, no C.O.D.'s or checks
Straight from the old school, aiyyo Raw's in full effect
I'm like, Lex Luthor with rifles filled with kryptonite
When you grip the mic it's like -- c'mon kids, let's say goodnight!
You don't like me?! But don't even know why should you hate me
You scared to face these so I still remain safely
confidin, North Phil' where I'm residin
Never let an outside nigga slide in
This ain't home plate, I dunk on you once inside the paint
Flow like this you cain't, take me you out, you ain't!
[Black Thought]
Nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
Nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
Nuttin new, nuttin new, tell me what you could do
Yo we drop the funk, and do the shit
Yo, head lost, slip in this land, ?big framboix?
Spittin it for like whoever demand the answer
What's the cure for this hip-hop cancer? Equivalent
to this avalanche of black snow, rap flow
to get my people thinkin mo', we at the brink of war
What does it all mean? What's it all for?
With knowledge of yourself, then you're through the first door
My people hungry and thirst for more next music explore
It's heavenly to your ebony daughter next door
So what you think The Roots get the world respect for?
The splendid authentic hip-hop that's raw core
Severe, world premier, a superior sophomore
No doubt, wherever you dwell, that's where the bomb fell
Explodin from the imperial en-sem-ble, for real
From the ven-ue to the avenue
We truly only got respect for a few, y'all ain't sayin nuttin new
[Black Thought]
Nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
Represent the legendary Fifth Dynasty crew
Roots crew comin through, tell me what you could do
Yo you lookin for me? Nah we lookin for you
Nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
Represent the legendary.. with nuttin to do
For you.. yo, lyrical one two
Blow up y'all, it's nuttin new, nuttin new
[Dice Raw]
Look at y'all you just a army ant, I'm a gi-ant, arm fist
King of my city, runnin this shit, just like a ty-rant
Y'all clowns know what I meant, that's if we at war
Then my henchmen, will be at your back door, uhh
WAITIN, wise at debatin; trippin over Legos
Runnin up the steps and lookin for a weapon
But you come out wavin a white flag; that's why
I just backslap that ass like Shaq did Ostertag
Either take me or be taken, you think I'm goin down?
PSYCH, the jury, they're still deliberatin
I got half of they kids, tied up in a basement
Nah I'm just playin yo but that's how I'm playin doe
Dig what I'm sayin yo? D-I-C-E
Shove a mic in your mouth, like Ted DiBiase
When you come sloppy, fuck is y'all tryin to do?
Y'all into, some wack shit, and ain't sayin nuttin new
[Black Thought]
Nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
Represent the legendary Fifth Dynasty crew
Roots crew comin through, tell me what you could do
One two, one two, yo.. we lookin for you
One two, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
Represent, Fifty Dynasty crew
Check it out, what? Well one-two one-two, one-two
Knahmsayin yo? It's nuttin new
Nuttin new, nuttin new, y'all not sayin nuttin new
Represent the legendary.. Fifth Dynasty crew
Roots crew, tell me what you could do
You lookin for me.. we're lookin for.. one-two, one-two
Ha hah HAH! Y'all ain't sayin nuttin new
Wha-wha-one-two, one-two
Represent the legendary Fifth.. knahmsayin?
Blowin your vent, yo, content yo, it's like that

[Scratch intro]
Chorus [Black Thought and Scratch] 2x
Once again 'gain
Once again 'gain
Once again 'gain 'gain ladies and gentlemen
Once again 'gain
Once again 'gain
Once again 'gain 'gain
Yo, Adrenaline
[Black Thought]
Yo I'm in the eye of the storm, where the pressure's on
And MC's is dressed funny like a leprechuan
I chop rappers up like chicken seczuan
Sells a squads off like a slave auction
Aiyyo my zodiac sign read caution
On stage, I make your seed to an or-phan
Yo, my age an algebraic equation
Niggas want some? I hit em wit a portion
Son, The Fifth foursome, armed at the door son
M-illi-tilla, Dice Raw, quick draw son
You don't want no more son? That's when more come
And drag a nigga Eerie Avenue to Oregon, you're all done
Ladies and gentlemen
Select the weapon at the gate upon entering, The Roots instrumentaling
Spark shit, them niggas try to talk shit
We hit em like the L at 60th and Market
South Philly clip a hold into a nigga park it
Take sneaks, chains and rings and bracelets
Split back this like we the therapist
Adrenaline, Fifth mic terrorist, once again
Chorus
[Malik B]
Zigga zigga zigga tryin to get a grip but still slip, so lift me up
Ever since I was a pup I was designed to errupt
You get to know me, you poke me slowly, when caught puzzin
Some niggas thought they was, when of course they wasn't
Punked em wit a dozen of pellets all in they skelet
Transform, from the norm, start to brainstorm
Yeah Malik B from The Roots, he ain't gone
I took the wrong exit, the sign said Langhorne
I'm trapped up in about five worlds wit live pearls
Shouts to Armour Akquan who's name is Jalil
The moat is deep water so let your hand expand it
Demandin, takin you back like Knotts Landing
I'm Ralph Cramdon, we out, you'll see in Hampton
Yo what the what the what the, what the what the what the
Pivot on this concrete earth until I rot
Didn't figure how to conquer it yet but still I plot, once again
Chorus
[Dice Raw]
Beans passed the mack and we held em, like hostages
Rappers see me, hide they face like ostriches
Dice'll grind your brain into little sausages
Underwater rap, you know who the bosses is
North Philly baby, that's where that Raw shit is
You'll get blown out the sky once you get talkative
A-D devise rise, I fathered it
So when you see me on the street, don't bother kid
Just be on your merry way, or you might get slit
Ask around, wonderin what Dice Raw did
Lay you on floors like ya gettin carpeted
You need a special kind of mic for retarded kids
Me against you's like Kane verse the Partridges
You wanna battle, change your name to The Forfeiters
Cuz that's what you do, face to face wit raw niggas
I give you a bad case of the fucked-up jitters, once again
Chorus
[Beanie Siegal]
They used to talk shit, but I'ma quiet them
Kick in the door wit my boys stick to riotin
First nigga that flinch, I'ma fire em
Tape em up, grip his hands, and plyer em
Know the bricks is in here, where you hidin em?
Don't die in the shit that you lyin in
Used to get fronted bricks, now I'm buyin em
Used to cop off my man, now I'm supplyin him
Paid the front row seat watchin Iverson
First class air crafts what I'm flyin in
To L.A., Shaq, Eddie, Kobe Bryant and them
Save the jokes for Chris Tucker, Richard Pryor and them
Used to shotgun in cars, now I'm drivin em
Used to hustle 'round bars, y'all was robbin them
Ran up in y'all spot wit Rob and them
Grew up, two-four, wit Pie and em
But do my dirt, 21st, wit Kyle and them
Nigga Pop, nigga Buzz, little Mark and them
Brother news, nigga schooled Marley Park and them
Nigga jump, pull a pump, low sparkin em
I know shit right now gettin dark to them
Tore they body all up, ain't no chalkin em
Too sharp for them, move out in the dark on em
These Illadel foul streets what I'm stompin in once again
Chorus
[Scratch outro]

You are all...
We don't even come to see our own, man.
Listen, Freddy, listen...
If we had to depend upon black people to eat,
We would starve to death.
You've been out there,
You on the bandstand,
You look out there, What do you see?
You see Japanese, you see... you see West Germans,
You see Slobovic, you know, anything, except our people man.
It makes no sense, it incenses me that our own people
Don't realize our own heritage, our own culture.
This is our music.
That's bullshit!
Why?
That's all bullshit. Everything, everything you just said is bullshit.
You're complaining about-
I'm talking about the audience.
That's right.
The people don't come because you grandiose motherfuckers don't play
shit that they like. If you played the shit that they liked,
then the people would come.
Simple as that.
Inevitably, hip-hop records are treated as though they are disposable.
They are not maximized as product, not to mention as art.
First section is a scene from "Mo'Better Blues" by Spike Lee.
Second section is an unknown comment.

[Black Thought]
Yeah yeah yeah, yes I, no doubt yes I (P-5-D)
Check it out, yo yo
Areegato, to all my people in Japan
Whether you rockin Cartier or Pierre Cardan
I'm barging in like excuse, I beg your pardon
To crush carbon copy MC's wit clone jargon
Move the crowd to leave the microphone sparkin
Leave you caught inside the lines of my page beneath the margin
Now we could mud-sling to cease the foul-talkin
I personally would rather keep things peace, but it's your option
I hit the block wit hip-hop, it's like oxen
Stampede wit lyrical heavyweight boxing
Yo, just give thanks it's the new shit
For y'all to ever try to sleep on this is stupid
My thought's deep like the upright acustic
Bass, Cold Crush like Charlie Chase
To keep the ladies grindin like a slow jam
You just a slow-jam fizz kid, get wit the program
My style hundred proof, I pause for no man
The Fifth Dy-nas-ty, that's the slogan
>From S-P to West-P to Logan
The planet is a parachute, I got em open
Aiyyo I'm out there, aiyyo I'm still out there
Worldwide yo I'm still out there, Roots Crew forever out there
Aiyyo I'm out there, SP to the, out there
Aiyyo I'm out there, what, I'm still out there
Check it out yo (worldwide) I'm still out there check it out
C'mon, yo I'm out there, aiyyo I'm still out there
Roots crew to the to the to the to the
Y'all know the name, I got game like an Evangelist
Relax to my man D'Angel-ist, who could ever cancel this
Music growth, it's cancerous not glamorous
Yo the lifestyle I embrace to some scandalous
I chop joke MC's like choke sandwiches
And backslap the snare drum open-handed wit my vo-cal
So I'm far from lo-cal
My peoples got to keep me in they fo-cal
Perform Al Jerome style, then act like you know now
Surf the internet, inspect my profile
Return to menu if you miss this
Your girlfriend said my music is futuristic
Then kissed me on my neck, left marks of lipstick
Then came to the spot and we got lifted
I rip shit on the solo unassisted
Or wit Malik and the Fifth Click, so y'all should keep your lips zipped
Y'all don't know what it's about, get on route
I hold it down wit no doubt and sip Stout
And got the hot record out
Y'all need to let your necks snap back, check it out, word up
Yo I'm out there, aiyyo I'm still out there
Worldwide son I'm still out there, check it out
Roots crew forever out there, you know I'm still out there
What what what out there, knamsayin
To you out there, P-5-D out there
What what, S-P out there yaknamsayin (S-P forever)
Philly out there, aiyyo I'm still out there (2-1-5th)
S-P to the, to the to the to the
Aiyyo so what's the Fifth then? The Million Dollar Question
We veterans, lyrically threatening freshmen
Y'all lookin at next year, I see the next ten
And front on me strategically, plan positioning
Out there, steppin into your world I'm visitin
Discography time less you keep listenin
Within the crevices these clones is missing in
Action, mysterious magnetic attraction wit that thing
My melody like Nat King, and MC's is so un-inter-esting
Forever givin y'all the next best thing
I give it to you like pink champelle and ink bing
I drink Yuengling, JaRoots and Ginseng
You testin me, ock? yo what was you thinkin
You buggin off the energy the king bring
A delivery that you're forever remembering
Aiyyo I'm out there, aiyyo I'm still out there
S-P (worldwide) out there, check it out
It's the Roots, we out there
Aiyyo I'm still out there, Roots Crew out there
Check it out, aiyyo I'm out there
We infinitely out there, worldwide son check it out
Out there check it out (S-P), aiyyo I'm out there
Aiyyo I'm still out there, what what (P-5-D, Roots Crew out there)
Check it out, it's like

One one one one two
P-P-5-D
Yeah, yeah, P-P-5-D
I'm sayin, yo
Touch this yo, knahmsayin what?
Yo-yo, yo, 100%..
[Black Thought]
Yo! On these seventy-three keys, of ivory and ebony
I swear solemnly that I'll forever rock steadily
People wanna know where Malik? He right next to me
The weaponry, the secret recipe
Hard to peep this, deep shit, shows I eat with
Contaminated thoughts I walk the street with
I bayonnet cassettes and chop beats with
this olympic lyricism you can't, compete with
Globe travellin, throwin your verse like a javelin
Things Fall Apart and MC's unravellin
Backstage whisperin to management like
";change the order, it's no way that we can rock after them";
My man sport the 'fro like _What's Happenin?_
From the latest hi-atus, The Roots back again
Your crew practicin to catch this natural blend
They packages read ";care when handlin";
It's all soft shit, batteries not included with
Matter of fact, your whole front's a re-enactment
I blow your ba-tty ass into fragments, P-5-D
The new testament, mic specialist, what?
Yeah
Check it out, yo (3X)
Yo yo, Black Thought, I represent the Fifth Dynasty
Lyrical click, 100% Dundee
[Malik B]
Malik B, I represent the P-5-D
Guerilla click, 100% Dundee
[Black Thought]
Black Thought, I represent the Fifth Dynasty
Lyrical click, 100% Dundee
[Malik B]
Malik B, I represent the P-5-D
Guerilla click, 100% Dundee
The Milli-illitant-tant, 'pon cock, ready to rock
Power out, in the clout, it seems out, all through your block
Posse don't play the cut, but what, you get sheist
Got the personality named trife, ready to heist
Smashin 'graphs, snatch the ice, crush your mental device
Thought twice, shoulda thought once, got played for the dunce
Dialogues I moderate, cool out, we outta state
Just blendin in the great, give me room to ventilate
Most niggaz is fraudulent, the rap seargeant
Bargin, through your regiment, call your president
Hittin all targets cuz it's a cause that's lost
Between the killers when they probably Teddy Ruxpin talk
Droppin tears of steel, two drops up in the bucket
Facin three ? and a cop so yo fuck it
If I get abducted, trapped up in the belly
Wacked up my celly, get known like Dawn Stanley
You know the deally on the daily in the ?
If I sense you got a bend to your kite, then send it up
We press up on your corner with windows they're tinted up
Lay our props face down on the ground and get it up, what?
Face on the ground and get it up
[Black Thought]
Yo yo, Black Thought, I represent the Fifth Dynasty
Lyrical click, 100% Dundee
[Malik B]
Malik B, I represent the P-5-D
Guerilla click, 100% Dundee
[Black Thought]
Black Thought, I represent the Fifth Dynasty
Lyrical click, 100% Dundee
[Malik B]
Malik B, I represent the P-5-D
Guerilla click, 100% Dundee
[Black Thought]
Check it out
While you pose for pictures, I'm the invisible enigma
Down low, scope you off the roof like the fiddler
Cage you up in the vocal booth, you're held prisoner
Watch, while I'm bangin out this hot shit from Sigma
Illa-del-P-A, live without a DJ
And it's been that way, since Sergio Vallente
Yo, The Roots holdin it down, is all you can say
Plus the Black Thought em-cey, professional-lay
Push pen to paper like Chinua Achebe
Thumpin, what was your assumption
I lace your function, make it a Black Thought production
Word up I'm on somethin, stellar hold off course
I'm gone bluntin, travel light and broadcast
via satellite, Illa-Fifth Dynamite
Lyrically calculus in this arithametic hip-hop metropolis
But loyal fiends coppin this hot shit
Yaknahmsayin? Hot shit, word up
Illa-Fifth hot shit y'all
Black Thought, I represent the Fifth Dynasty
Lyrical click, 100% Dundee
[Malik B]
Malik B, I represent the P-5-D
Guerilla click, 100% Dundee
[Black Thought]
Black Thought, I represent the Fifth Dynasty
Lyrical click, 100% Dundee
[Malik B]
Malik B, I represent the P-5-D
Guerilla click, 100% Dundee

[Verse 1: Black Thought]
Knocked up 9 months ago
And what she finna have she don't know
She want neo-soul, this hip-hop is old
She don't want no rock-n-roll
She want platinum or ice or gold
She want a whole lotta somethin' to fold
If you a obstacle she just drop ya cold
Cuz one monkey don't stop the show
Little Mary is bad
In these streets she done ran
E'er since when the heat began
I told the girl look here
Calm down I'ma hold your hand
To enable you to peep the plan
Cuz you is quick to learn
And we can make money to burn
If you allow me the latest game
I don't ask for much, but enough room to spread my wings
And the world finna know my name
[Verse 2: Cody Chesnutt]
I don't ask, for much these days
And I don't bitch, and whine, if I don't get my way
I only wanna fertilize another behind my lover's back
I sit and watch it grow standin' where I'm at
Fertilize another behind my lover's back
And I'm keepin' my secrets mine
I push my seed in her push for life
Its gonna work because I'm pushin' it right
If Mary drops my baby girl tonight
I would name her Rock-N-Roll
[Verse 3: Black Thought]
Uh-huh
Cadillac need space to roam
Where we headin for she don't know
We in the city where the pros shake rattle and roll
And I'm a gaddang rollin' stone
I don't beg I can hold my own
I don't break I can hold the chrome
And this weighin' a ton and I'm a son of a gun
My code name is The Only One and Black Thought is bad
These streets he done ran ever since when the game began
I never played the fool
Matta fact I be keepin' it cool
Since money been changing hands
And I'm left to shine, but the legacy that I leave behind be the seed
that'll keep the flame
I don't ask for much but enough room to spread these wings
And the world finna know my name
[Verse 4: Cody Chesnutt]
I don't beg
For no rich man
And I don't scream, and kick, when his shit don't fall in my hands, man
Cuz I know how to still
Fertilize another against my lover's will
I lick the opposition cuz she don't take no pill
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-no dear
You'll be keeping my legend alive
I push my seed in her push for life
Its gonna work because I'm pushin' it right
If Mary drops my baby girl tonight
I would name her Rock-N-Roll
Oh-ooh break it down, break it down, break down beat
[break]
I push my seed somewhere deep in her chest
I push it naked cuz I've takin my test
Deliverin' Mary it don't matter the sex
I'm gon' name it rock and roll
I push my seed in my push for life
It's gonna work becuz I'm pushin it right
If Mary drop my baby girl, tonight
I would name her Rock-N-Roll
I would name her Rock-N-Roll
I would name her Rock-N-Roll yeah
I would name it Rock-N-Roll

The Roots is comin' (16X)
[Black Thought]
I rip the vocal backflip yo the kid is a bad bro
I can drip it hipper than dip into calyp-so
A-dios, amigo, which means I gots ta G-O
Makes you wonder bout my number
Guess my address or my P.O., here's a hint:
I'm from Phila with a Del but not the Rio
Well, I'm guessing here is like exactly where the Phi go
Now, we got the Phila-Del-Phi why not top it off with an A?
The Philadelphiadic rhythmatic way I'm straight from Philly
Silly but rugged then a hill-billy
Just like I said before I sport my skully when it's chilly
My cap is from The Lay Up, my bows from The Gilly
The Roots, is out to blow up like a clip from out the milli
or the oo-wop, I do drop, gizzantic, the crew wop
From out the darkest field I goes to pick the funk crop
You can't deny the props so stop before your fronts
get loosened, introducing, The Roots y'all..

[Black Thought]
C'mon.. and yes y'all
You are now in tune to the sounds..
of the legendary.. foundation
Yeah, you go
Hey you listeners, stop what you're doin and
set it in motion, it's the next movement
You listeners, stop what you're doin and
set it in motion, it's the next movement
Word up, we got the HOT-HOT music, The HOT MUSIC (1X)
The HOT-HOT music, the HOT music (3X)
Yo, one, two, one-two one-two
That's how we usually start, once again it's the Thought
The Dalai Lama of the mic, the prime minister Thought
This directed to whoever in listening range
Yo the whole state of things in the world bout to change
Black rain fallin from the sky look strange
The ghetto is red hot, we steppin on flames
Yo, it's infliction on a price for fame
and it was all the same, but then the antidote came
The Black Thought, ill syllablist, out the Fifth
This heavyweight rap shit I'm about to lift
LIKE, a phyllum lift up it's seed to sunlight
I plug in the mic, draw like a gunfight
I never use a cordless, or stand applaudless
Sippin cholorophyll out of ill silver gauntlet
I'm like a faucet, monopoly's the object
There ain't no way to cut this tap, you got ta get wet
Your head is throbbin and I ain't said shit yet
The Roots crew, the next movement, c'mon!
And yes y'all
You are now in tune to the sounds
of the legendary, foundation, check it out, uh
Testin, yo, you go
Hey you listeners, stop what you're doin and
set it in motion, it's the next movement
You listeners, stop what you're doin and
set it in motion, it's the next movement
Word up, we got the HOT-HOT music, the HOT music (1X)
The HOT-HOT music, the HOT music (3X)
Word up, the formation of words to fit
That's what I usually disturb you with
A lot of rappers never heard of this, or know half the time it is
You doubt the Illa-Fifth, what could you accomplish?
Whether they skywriting your name, or you anonymous
You be speechless, with stinging sinuses
The Roots royal highnesses through your monitors
I tilt my crown, then blow down a dime a kiss
You need to buy a CD and stop rewindin this
I'm the finalist, shinin like a rugged amethyst
And at your music conference, I'm the panelist
Listen close to my poetry, I examine this
like an analyst, to see if you can handle this
Check it out
You, got the groove, emcees
freeze, stand still, nobody move
unless you dealin with The Next Movement
The P-Phi-D we be the mon-u-ment
I live my life nice, but I'm not choopid
You theatrical as a Broadway play, this ain't Rent
One hundred percent, straight out the Basement
Spreading this across a planet on some next shit
How many people feelin this love music? C'mon
Yo, you go
Hey you listeners, stop what you're doin and
set it in motion, it's the next movement
You listeners, stop what you're doin and
set it in motion, it's the next movement
Yo, we got the HOT-HOT music, the HOT music (1X)
The HOT-HOT music, the HOT music (7X)

MC's who slept for days, must be swept away (4X)
[Malik B]
The rhythm just sways, and like a sorceress I slays
foes, and ri-vals, who wanna come
this way, they, better pay attention
or a penchant not to mention suspension
from the microphone, plus the tension
Trey-eight oh's will vacate those
if there's drama with my henchmen
So lamp to my man Mussolini
Go get your whole staff, call the calf
cause half-and-half's couldn't cream me
The lyrics make your head knock
Malik B and BlackThought, the dreadlock
Mannn, transss-gressin
you'll catch lead I, crushin
poundin on the drums like King Kong
We can ring your bellll, ding-dong!
I styles with my vocab-ulary
The Roots the one to call your ultra adversary
Now you're all desert cause I'ma serv ya like a tray
to meet your doom Malik's the boom so you get swept away
MC's who slept for days, must be swept away (4X)
[BlackThought]
Yo, hello everybody do I need introduct'
I be the mic mercenary very un.. clear
to your ear the exquisite pattern that you hear
It's known to be Black Butta Baby
Crazy cardiac my attack on any fat rhythm
that I capture kid I snatch the mic from tykes
while I proceed.. and continue.. to tend to
business, cause this is, how I do
I'm insane, and go against the grain like freight
Never on no nigga dick, cause I'm just too hip
Plus I rest where niggaz pack and never act
other than ill, shit is real in Phy-double
So if you want trouble let's stomp
My mission is to flip on comp
You might aspire to be flyer than I, you must pay
your dues while I bruise niggaz new for the day
shall be swept away
MC's who slept for days, must be swept away (3X)
MC's who slept for days, must be... I'm on a mission
.....: There's somethin goin on :..... (refrain repeats)

Just think, what if you could just, just blink yourself away?
Just think, what if you could just, just blink yourself away?
Jeff X can rock the mic with tooth decay
I be the 5 foot 7, residing at the mecca lesson south section
Used to cut class in the infinite pursuit of ass
Back in eighty-seven
Easy with the chics I was a chocolate boy
Raised in the cellar with the rhythm like Ella
Walking down the streets to the subway where i lay
Til the train stop then a nigga hop
Used to do the pop dance to the planet rock
At the block party everybody jocked [who me?]
It's the MC sucka niggaz envy
I got my contract in 1993 and
I shall proceed
Chorus: repeat 2X
I shall, proceed
And continue, to rock the mic
Verse Two:
I wake up early in the morning, I mean early afternoon
Break a lyrical hymn of the stem like boom
I'm flyer when I'm higher put my shit up on a tomb
That nigga represented on the 28th of June
I'm representing philly on the 28th of June
I can make you feel that i'm a surreal cartoon
with my pistol in the face of hip hop, stick in your face
Because i'm on a paper chase, yes i'm on a paper chase
My Timberlands are fully laced I be the Mr. Boogeyman
With records from 125th to Japan
I laid them play like Johnny Hathaway and shake a hand, shake a hand
Your lady tried to kick it, but I couldn't play my man
My niggaz is my niggaz ya see she didn't understand
I shake your hand and shit'll hit the fan, just think
Just think, what? What if you could, just blink, what?
Just blink yourself away?
Chorus
Verse Three:
Malik B get on the mic yo there's too much on my mind [say what?]
Malik get on the mic, there's too much on my mind
Johnny on the spot, got the rhythm and the rhyme
Fuckin with The Roots you know them niggaz is the dime
I can make a hundred yard line start to dash
I can make a whole lake of fish start to splash
I can make Conan and the Titans clash
I can Metallica and guns 'N Roses crash
Used to smash crash parties like i was disturbed
Used to make plots against the herringbone herb
But now, all I do disperse the verb
And like a nerd i can make you say, ";He's superb";
Word is perfect, never ever shall you misinterpret
I move styles like bowels so now you know i'm worth it
Direct from Philly, the lands where niggas scheme
So you know I got the sheen in my gleam
Chorus

[Black Thought]
Yea we gettin' ready to break y'all it's winner take all
The game is locked we down to the eight ball
The time is now, it ain't nothin' to wait for
I'm a king by blood a soldier by nature
I'm somthin' like a threat to y'all space cadets
'Cause you never met brother nothin' like me yet
So push another slice into your toast and tighten your vests
Cause it's a warrior you seein' here tonight in the flesh
I give you somthin' high voltage double dosage
Runnin' with these vultures givin' me ulcers
Which one of these hustlers bringin' the thunder
Re-gees (refugees?) not another man takin' us under
Nigga please which Philly cat doin' his own thing
Might say black my give you a code name
Round my neck see the microphone hang
Have your lady lips singin' like on soul train
The niggaz that's a problem is minimal margin
The Colonel, Capitan, Lieutenant, General Sergeant
Black, one man army move in on your squadron
You sittin' still you know you a target
You heard you better duck down!
[Black Thought]
Yea we gettin' set to get rid of y'all that's what it's headin' for
The underdog knuckle and brawl with the bigger ?ball?
I spit what your wig absorb sicker than sycamore
I'm creatin' a circumstance that you a victim of
The rebel or the renegade out on the quest
The super black man runnin' wit a S on his chest
And stand for the straight struggle to escape the stress
You think it's sweet tryin' to eat, you ain't taste this yet
So make y'all steps precautious into the darkness
Thoughts cold and heartless makin' me nauseous
Gettin' more remorses for what I done
If the lawyers and courts wonder what I run
You see the liberty is free but just for some
How you a gangster and you scared to bust your gun
For the call, trust your fam' and trust nobody at all
Seein' brothers gettin' struck down
You better duck down!

Black Thought:
Well I'm a fly Philly nigga, finger on the trigga
MCs repent from sins, God's comin again
Original (what?), visionary individual
Original (what?), visionary individual
I proceed, as I give ya whatcha need
Like I'm a medical doctor, watch the damage
I inflict properly, ain't nobody risin on top of me
I be droppin more plot in my mic monopoly
Got to be, got to be reality, Stevie Wonder see
Black Thought be me, I groove ba-by
Or I clue they say baby
Would you get with this? Not even maybe
It's the mister gravy and shit
To explain what's goin on inside my brain
You're scared, jealous
No analyst can maintain or handle this...
Mind train, yo
I'm on some old snap a rapper neck shit
You know what I'm sayin?
So niggaz best get out of my path
Kid, I'm on point like a gat
The basket case, I waste MCs with rapture taste
Facing these leads to cats diminished
They be pullin the mic out that ass when I get finished
Administrative assistant I'm not, yo, I'm the principal
Nigga, takin shots, like I'm invincible
Figure me to be hardcore, my input cuts your jaw
For real, for short, do you want more?!!!??!
Yo, Philly in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
South Philly in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
West Philly in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
North Philly in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
G-Town in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Mount Airy in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Oaklane in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Lodan in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Jersey in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Uptown in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Brooklyn in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Manhattan in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
The Boogie Down in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
L.I. in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Come on, Queens in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
DC in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
West Coast in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Down South in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
London in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Germany in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Tokyo in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Africa in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Puerto Rico in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Yeah, we in the house y'all (Do you want more?)
Come on(*beatbox scratch* You want more, an encore)(until end)
(Do you want more?!!!??!)(repeated 4X)

[Chorus: (Dice Raw) Talib Kweli]
(I will not apologize) I will not apologize
(I will not apologize) I will not apologize
This is for all of my peoples who understand and truly recognize
Some won't get it for that I won't
(I will not apologize) I will not apologize
(I will not apologize) I will not apologize
This is for all of my peoples who understand and truly recognize
Some won't get it for that I won't apologize
[P.O.R.N.]
I'm so sick cause I'm infected but but I don't need a medic
Need a liquid anesthetic, let me show you how I get it
I don't got it but I bet it, I don't worry, I don't sweat it
You can bitch, you can dead it, you can take it there like FedEx
Nothing sweet diabetic, big dog can't pet it
Pack an L then I wet it then I fill it till it's pregnant
(Take the high back) face it everybody got a favorite
I embrace it like I date it but my grandma think I chase it
(Like oh yeah) I told her that her baby moving slower
Cuz the world is on his shoulders then I woke up out that coma
(And got right back) at it with a little black 'matic
Lay you down craft-matic, then I'm gone, black magic
(To the hideout) you don't want to gamble with the devil
Especially when them chewy blueys got me on another level
Cuz my teacher think I'm slow but my momma think I'm special
But even she know I'm coming back like an echo.
[Chorus: (Dice Raw) Talib Kweli]
[Dice Raw]
For the statements I'm about to make I will not apologize
Niggas talk a lot of shit, really need to stop the lies
Jewels rented, cars rented, homie that ain't authentic
Acting tough on TV but to me you seem a little timid
Don't blame the nigga, blame America, it's all business
Acting like a monkey is the only way to sell tickets
Shit I can dig it, niggas gossip silly digits
White kids buy it, it's a riot when we talking about pimping
Or sipping on old English brew or whatever they think we do
Spraying double Uzis cuz you know they think we live in zoos
The problem is with this everyone seems to be real confused
The niggas on the streets to the old people that watch the news
And watch BET and the crazy shit they see
They associate with you do the same shit to me
When you look at me you see just a nigga from the projects
But can't understand this nigga's mind set but still
[Chorus: (Dice Raw) Talib Kweli]
[Black Thought]
Yo, a revolution's what it's smelling like, it ain't going be televised
Governments is hellified, taking cake and selling pies
I ain't got a crust or crumb, to get some I'd be well obliged
Murder is comodified, felon for the second time
Never was I into chasing trouble I was followed by
Facing trouble with no alibi, had to swallow pride
Vilified, victimized, penalized, criticized
Ran into some people that's surprised I was still alive
Look into my daughter's eyes, wonder how can I provide
Got to get from A to B but how can I afford to drive?
Messed around, tried to get a job and wasn't qualified
Had to see a pal of mine, got to get the lightning rod
Now I'm in the black Impala looking for the dollar sign
Palms get the itching man I got to get the calamine
Before I fall behind, guess the grind will be my 9 to 5
I will not be conquered by, I will not apologize
[Chorus: (Dice Raw) Talib Kweli]

[Mercedes Martinez]
When I think about perfect times
I think about yesterday
You can asked me about the future
I don't know what to say
Tomorrow's story's unknown
So listen
It's almost anyone's guess
Unwritten
When I think about perfect times
I think about yesterday
You can ask me about the future
I don't know what to say
It's almost anyone's guess
[Black Thought]
Yo
It was a cold night
Not cold like the winter
Just cold like a energy was in the air
I generally don't like
The driver had to dip, so he left me in the whip
Turned around and said, ("You know you're on your own, right?")
[PAUSE]
I'm the zone like
There's pictures on the wall of my own life
Just like a drive-in
Only it's live, and this a montage of the places I been
My sixth sense taste the problem
The sus-pense had my heart racin', throbbin'
Just like a young punk with a tape revolver
Pointed at the driver of a car, faced to rob him
The cigarettes chased the vodka
The nigga just chased the dream but won't taste the monster
The son won't face the father
The gun won't erase the drama
While you're waitin', the time's up
[GUN COCKS]

The streets talk,
And they hear
And They watch,
So stay clear
Cuz they need,
The streets feed
A street thief
and what they need
[Dice Raw]
And everybody get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.
Everybody get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.
Everybody get up.
[Black Thought]
Uh, I get up.
Read the mornin' paper,
Kiss my baby girl.
Tell my lady friend I'm gone till I save the world.
Jump in my hotrod wheel,
Lookin' super thorough.
Rockin' a long black cape like the Duke of Earl.
My cool don't drop,
I spit where the future twirl.
I smash glass in my hands to produce a pearl.
I do the james on stage, then I do the ??.
You can tell I'm bonafide live, cuz I'm too fo' real.
So the truth prevail, I never fail.
Ask me to key the blaze in the trail.
I never tell,
Like the digits on the check in the mail.
I give 'em hell,
With the clever rhymes in the squad situated ??.
White on white ?? throwin' elbows.
You wanna holla, you can do the rebel yell bro.
I'm not concerned,
When will y'all learn.
Roots Crew muthafuckas,
It's the Grand Return.
The streets talk,
And they hear
And They watch,
So stay clear
Cuz they need,
The streets feed
A street thief
and what they need
[Dice Raw]
And everybody get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.
Everybody get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up.
Everybody get up.

[Hook: ?uestlove (x2)]
It's the love, in your heart
Or the pain, in your mind
No one cares, what the truth is
Cause 'em fortunes, they don't lie
[Malik B.]
Ok, uh-huh, ok, yo
I'm exhausted, but I never ever forfeit
Y'all just bullshit while I knock a nigga off quick
Y'all start speaking in tongues and start reaching for guns
A militant will put this heat in your lungs
The street and the slums, the weekend is done
The local class always show you what heat is become
The seasons are done, and reasons are none
People dyin' bullets flyin' cause they squeezin' for fun
It's all of a nightmare, that's right there
They hopin' that somebody in the hood just might care
With all this protestin' and rallyin', death toll tallyin'
Foul smells around them, pails in the alley an'
Corner filled with teddy bears, cause they killed a child again,
They sing about murder, so it ain't a song it's hollerin'
Get off the choir with your soft attire,
Niggas out here don't give a fuck, cause they Lost Desire
[Hook x2]
[Talib Kweli]
Yeah
My city's full of, heartbreakers and stargazers
Who puff garsh Vegas
So they "Gone with the wind", like Clark Gable,
Breathin' like Darth Vader, believin' in dark angel
Yeah, we got flags, but they not star-spangled
We not patriotic, the heroes are not them,
Ghetto grills like rims, you stop, they still spin
Tall tales at the bar, witnessed after dark
And we still stop in and chicken and (?) Timbs
And listen to Rakim
With the way that y'all been
For realla, I hadn't been schemin' to ply in
You fear us? Fear is self, personified
Payin' homage to homicide
Prayin' to the dollar sign
It's idol/idle worship, the rebel forces
Bodies lie at the foundation of the fortress
This is war, we expect some losses
And we comin' for the heads of the bosses
[Hook x2]
[Black Thought]
Yo
We on some casualties of war shit
What you stand for, kid?
We in the city where they definitely lost it
You open your eye-lids and get capped in the ribs
Your funeral they have your 12th grade portrait
Pretty corpse in casket, bell-shaped orchids
Said he 19 and left a self-made fortune
And left three orphans
Now he in a box with the same chain and watch
That never came off him
It's a shame what it cost him
Where he come from it ain't nothin'
It's a everyday thing, that's a problem
It's chambers revolvin'
Bustin' like Russian roulette
With a full set, they change what the odds is,
Flames in the mosque, and people held hostage
Everyday I struggle, try to get up out the mosh-pit
Homicide for profit, tell me how we not sick?
This shit is out of control, they can't stop it
[Hook x1]
It's the love... [echoes]

[Hook - Mercedes Martinez]
I, I, I Can't Help It, I, I, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I, I, I Can't Help It, I, I, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
[Verse 1 - Malik B]
Live with it, that's how I survive with it
Talk jive with it, you take a dive with it
Connive with it, depart and arrive with it
Harsh thrive, that's why it's part I with it
I did it, make rhymes in five minutes
Mind of a dentist, crimes of a menace
Press rewind, see what you find in my image
Take you niggas back to the line of the scrimmage
'Riq, you know we pull a freak with the flow
Talk's cheap, that's why we speak with the dough
Ill technique show I'm sleek with the flow
It's cold outside, nigga, sleep with the snow
I tweek in the low tone, freak with the ozone
I can't help hiding my secrets that's so known
I only do what I got to 'cause it's possible
And climbin' over whatever's known as an obstacle
[Hook - Mercedes Martinez]
I, I, I Can't Help It, I, I, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I, I, I Can't Help It, I, I, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
[Verse 2 - Black Thought]
Ugh, I Can't Help It, maybe I'm selfish
Maybe the way I'm runnin' is becomin' a health risk
All I can see is smoke through tortoise shell
Gazelle 650's, I'm feelin' like I'm makin' a sales pitch
My head already so heavy, it's makin' the scales tip
I got my own pressure and got everyone else's
I'm rehabilitated, still feelin' rebellious
Candidate of heart failure, more pills then Elvis
In a layer cake, half-chocolate, half-velvet
I'm listenin' to some Howe Melvin
I got too many options, there's so many toxins
Yo, ain't no really tellin' what we killin' ourselves with
I lit a cigarette and inhaled it
I'm thinkin' of some rhymes more iller then a threatening ailment
I'm on some bomb threat in the mail shit
Because of all the things I dealt with, nigga, I Can't Help It
[Hook - Mercedes Martinez]
I, I, I Can't Help It, I, I, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I, I, I Can't Help It, I, I, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
[Verse 3 - Porn]
I never said I'm ready to die, but I accept it
Never said I'm ready for war, but I'm protected
I don't even know when it's comin', but I expect it
Lost all semblance of hope, so now I'm left with
Nervous conditions, addictions, in addition
to vixens that mixed in with the wrong crowd
My life is on a flight that's goin' down
My mother had an abortion for the wrong child
With the time I felt love, that's gone now
Been replaced by purple rains and some storm clouds
Misery love misery
So why make friends? Let's make some enemies
And now I got a habit that wasn't meant for me
Now I'm in a marriage that wasn't meant to be
One more reason to change identity
The cars, the crime, K's, penalties
[Hook - Mercedes Martinez]
I, I, I Can't Help It, I, I, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I, I, I Can't Help It, I, I, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It
I Can't Help It, I Can't Help It

[Chorus: Patrick Stump]
What is it we wanna doooo..
now that I'm allowed to be alone with you?
Bir-thday girl, it's your birthday
Wherever you wanna go
Now you're old enough to go and see the "R"-rated show, now
"R"-rated show
[Black Thought]
Yo, she said she was a magazine editor named, Janine
Backstage in high-heels and painted-on, jeans
Probably had the most, devious eyes I'd ever sene
Told me she was twenty-two, she was only seventeen
She had sum'hin to hide she snuck in from out-side
and got, everybody gassed like the car I, drive
With all that grown-lady ass and my far-out, vibe
She said she came to see them Roots boys +Fall-Out+ live, but listen...
[Chorus w/ ad-libs]
[Black Thought]
You see the girls look good, but they brains not ready
I talk to a woman, her mind is mo', steady
Probably sum'hin in the way they designed, that's mo' steady
I just let you inside 'cause the line so, heavy
But I shoulda know, better 'cause now I feel like America's
underbelly R. Kelly gutter smut peddlers
Internet predators, chat-room irregulars
This not my twist, you tryna send me to the therapist, miss
[Chorus w/ ad-libs]
[Black Thought]
Now, she told me cheddar cheese grits, two tomato fried fish
'Cause she heard it's my dish, tryna be my sidekick
All the people all around thinkin she was my chick
Sayin, "Damn, the girl thick, but she ain't no twenty-six"
Lookin at me like I'm up to sum'him on the funny tip
Like I ever really been the one to try the honey drip
It's your birthday so let me know the gift you wanna get
In fact, blow out the candles on the cake and make a wish for me
[Patrick Stump]
They can't really seem to look away
so they try, asking her to stay
Fake I.D., you won't get turned away!
You look, lovely toniiiight...
Now you're old enough to buy a gun
So many better ways of having fun
Right now I can only think of one...
You look lovely toniiiight...
[Chorus w/ ad-libs and variations 'til end]

[31 seconds of instrumental]
[Black Thought]
The son won't face the father
The gun won't erase the drama
Why you wait 'til your time's up

I'm from the land of them straight razor face beard niggas
With hammers on their waist, yeah, waste rare niggas
And I race scared niggas, them snake head niggas
That take care of niggas who don't break bread with us
Niggas make dead niggas and hate black niggas
Brown niggas hide yellow niggas and them red niggas
No telling when the bullet coming, be prepared niggas
Cuz when it do it coming land, sea and air niggas
That's everywhere niggas, Am I the muthafucking legendary?
Yeah niggas, make it very clear niggas
Been looking at y'all in my rearview
Mirror niggas want to be a millionaire, I'm already there niggas
I'm the definiere nigga, a bear taking more than my share
Lookee here, yeah, I know it ain't fair nigga
Neither is a bar even with a hair trigger
Haystack, try and find a needle up in there nigga
Leave you up in there nigga, show me the puppet
That don't need a puppeteer nigga, shed another tear nigga
I'm in the field with a shield and a spear nigga
I'm in your girl with her heels in the air nigga
I am such a fair nigga, you in a battle telling
Me you not ready like you figured I'ma bear with you
I don't care nigga, you now listening to the sounds
Of the money making jam trillionaires nigga
Gentlemen of an extraordinary league
You never see me blowing on no ordinary weed
What I'm smoking ain't a product of no ordinary seed
Your boy is heavy treed, I'm feeling merry
As a Tyler Perry scene, that monetary gang green
We tried to launder the cash and never came clean
So now I'm in the story with all the cats before me
And smoke purgatory for doing the same thing
And them niggas ain't change, them niggas can't change
Their moms shake their heads saying it's such a dang shame
?? to the buck, did another dang plan
My stage and my government ain't the same name
I'm a rock star, love it that my wallet chain hang
I'm a modern day saint; I'm a modern day king
My definition I can finally explain
Cold smooth like that dud Sean Connery was playing
I just got to be the man, I'm the father figure and
When I spit it's something like a psychology exam
If you stand where I stood, you could probably understand
How that mic feeling like a million dollars in my hand
It's the silence of the lamb, go and cop another gram
And twist with your zanny, work your set, work it down
What's your net working plan? You better look alive
Cuz them niggas outside looking desperate again nigga
And the blunts and liquor killing our lungs and liver
The asthmatic drug addict I function with it
I put a rapper in a hole where the dust will sit
for spitting played out patterns that once was hitting
I got news for you all, let me show you how to ball
See the legendary fall? I ain't heard of that
Y'all niggas is off the wall like Aresnio Hall
I'ma put you right back where the dirt is at
450 fahrenheit on the thermostat
Somebody starving like a white girl ?? that
But she not a earner yet, she couldn't put in no work,
not earning that, the black microphone murder vet
I'm in a class of my own,
If I got beef with you, you the last one to know
I arrive on time, I'm never fashionable
You late, I'm already international-able
I done toured to Berlin, banged in Beijing
You never seen nothing can't say the same thing
Tell somebody Black Thought, yeah you know the name ring
So give him the game ring for bringing what them niggas can't bring
My hustle is long, my muscle is strong
My man put the paper in the duffle I'm gone
Y'all still a light year from the level I'm on
Just a pawn stepping right into the head of the storm
You been warned, I will blow y'all niggas and disintegrate
I'm a rebel, renegade must stay paid

[Intro / Chorus: John-John: repeat 2X]
Turn up the boombox, put on your hightops
Come on outside, today's gon' be the day we
Start livin in the new worrrld
[Black Thought]
Yo, they got high-powered lenses on the cameras outside
It ain't nowhere to run it ain't hardly nowhere to hide
They hear you when you whisperin so try to keep quiet
You don't even realize that youse a twinkle in the all, seein eye
From the time you in the bar gettin high
To havin conversations on your phone through the wire
You can drive but it's definitely footage of your ride
Livin in this day and time, it's a funny kind of vibe
From the corners of the ceiling feel its eyes in back of me
I couldn't tell you why I think they constantly after me
Maybe it's cause the news put it to me so graphically
How niggaz don't obey no laws, not even gravity boy
No benefit of doubt he had to be from
He from the corner where they known to get they casualty on
Another day another scene to perform, spotlight him on Friday
Come and lock him up Saturday morn, c'mon
[Chorus]

[Chorus 2X: Musiq]
I'm gone break you off (beat started.....start-started..)
I'm gone break you off (beat started.....start-started..)
I'm gone break you off (beat started.....start-started..)
Yeah Baby
[Verse One: Black Thought]
Bad Misses, Throwin raspberry kisses on me
You looking for directions?
Girl I feel your vision on me
Just dont let him see you sweat
and we aint spose to be involved
Knowing when we get it off, Girl I mean it off
Keeping you fiending 'til you taking it tossed
And when I'm breaking it off
Its no denying the fact it's wrong
'Cause you got a man who's probably playing his part
You probably breaking his heart
He trying to figure the reason, Uh
Is it because he's superficial
Or is he too submissive
Or did I come along and hit you with the futuristic
Or is it 'cause you really couldnt see a future with him
All he about is paper, never took the time with you to listen
You want it gripped up, flipped, and thrown
And get stripped and shown, the way the getting is on
The cost, dealing with this you only taking a loss
You need to leave him alone
And go with the one who breaking you off
[Chorus 2X: Musiq]
Off...
I'm gone break you off (beat started.....start-started..)
I'm gone break you off (beat started.....start-started..)
I'm gone break you off (beat started.....start-started..)
Yeah Baby
[Verse Two: Black Thought]
Rolling down the highway
Listening to Sade sing
"The way the smooth operator move my way"
You sitting beside me
Looking like Friday Foster
Pam Grier structure look at your body
Keep eachother thristy
Kisses like hershey
But lips is sealed
'Cause we dont need the controversy
I say I'm in town, You say you want it in the worst way
You probably told your man it was your it was ya lil's birthday
Meanwhile, Its champagne chilling in ice
You ready for the freakiest stage you done in ya life?
We breakin down like we grove dogs pulling a hike
You making sounds like a vive ;got you reaching your height
Prepare for flight, this is your captain
I'm getting strapped in
Theres no denying the strength
That its attraction girl
Workin with this you won't be taking a loss
So stop fooling your man and roll with the one
Who's breaking you off
[beat started]
[Bridge: Musiq]
Baby, Baby, Baby... don't you want me 'round
Nothing 'cause I'm coming too, and do you know..
Whenever you want, that thing you need, I got it
I'm there and I aim to please
I'm coming over to give it to you..
Baby.. baby..
[Chorus 2X: Musiq]
I'm gone break you off (beat started.....start-started..)
I'm gone break you off (beat started.....start-started..)
I'm gone break you off (beat started.....start-started..)
Yeah Baby

[Black Thought]
Yeah, I'm from the illest part of the Western Hemisphere
So if you into sight seein don't visit there
It's somewhere between Jersey and Delaware
Philly never scared and them niggaz ain't timid there
Them young triggers lose lives by the minute there
It might start but the fight never finish there
They all fucked up tryin to get the gingerbread
A few stacks be the price for a nigga's head
Cops and robbers, cowboys and indians
Clips and revolvers and George's and Benjamin's
A celebration of the loss of your innocence
To you old self you've lost any resemblance
They say the city make a dark impression
The youth just lost and they want direction
But they don't get the police, they get the protection
And walk around with heat like Charlton Heston, man
[Chorus 2X]
It's in the music, turn it up let it knock
Let it bang on the block 'til the neighbors call the cops
The cops gone come but they ain't gone do shit
They don't want no problems, what are y'all stupid
It's all in the music [6X]
[Malik B]
It's kinda ill how we grip these bitches in the Bonneville
It's kind of a thrill, my mind it will spill, my nine it will kill
Of course bro like crossbow, I bring the force though
Hittin your guts splittin your torso
It's colder than the North Pole livin unlawful
I'm giving you a jawful Of somethin awful
Yo my theoretic is leaded, Will come and set it
The shit bang and leave you diabetic for paramedics
I spit flames and get dames to get change
With pitbull bark and lock the shock
Don't bother me Och, don't you dare lie to me Och
I don't know, who's this nigga that you try to be Och
Benefit of doubt had me think you in it for clout
Big shit, send it for route and finish him out
Joints stiff from rigor mortis
While we swimmin in waters, women with daughters
Will have us niggaz sinnin with orders
[Chorus 2X]

[Chorus]
America's lost somewhere inside of Littleton
Eleven million children are on Ritalin
That's whay I don't rhyme for the sake of riddlin
False media, we don't need it, do we?
Pilgrims, Slaves, Indian, Mexican
It looks real fucked up for your next of kin
That's why I don't rhyme for the sake of riddlin
False media
[Black Thought]
If I can't work to make it, I'll rob and take it
Either that or me and my children are starving and naked
Rather be a criminal pro than to follow the Matrix
Hey it's me a monster y'all done created
I've been inaugurated
Keep the bright lights out of our faces
You can't shake it, it ain't no way to swallow the hatred
Aim, fire, holla about a dollar, nothin in sacred
We gone pimp, the shit out of nature
Send our troops to get my paper
Tell 'em stay away from them skyscrapers
Ain't long for you get y'all acres
I'ma show 'em who's the global gangster
Sentence me to four more years, thank you
I'ma make you feel a little bit safer
Because it ain't over
See that's how we get your fear to control you
But ain't nobody under more control than the soldier
And how could you expect a kid to keep his composure
When all sorts of thoughts fought for exposure again
[Chorus 3X]
America's lost somewhere inside of Littleton
Eleven million children are on Ritalin
That's whay I don't rhyme for the sake of riddlin
False media, we don't need it, do we?
Pilgrims, Slaves, Indian, Mexican
It looks real fucked up for your next of kin
That's why I don't rhyme for the sake of riddlin
False media, we don't need it, do we [repeat 4X]

[Black Thought]
Slow down when you're hitting them corners
Fuck around, spill this 'gnac on my two hundred dollar suit
(stop being a backseat driver man)
(turn him up)
Your ma don't like to jitterbug, said this unholy music
Hip hop just so ridiculous, everything sounds so confusing
Nowadays ain't nothing like it was, one thing that showed the blues
Is this system so mysterious, can't let that stop the movement
Can't get no satisfaction, they all laughing, glad it's happening
All wings hot for the main attraction
Acting a fool with a lust for action
Young girl caught in a crime of passion
Sitting there crying in designer fashion
Didn't blow, didn't have time for asking
Somebody call for the ambulance, girl
[Hook]
Baby, baby, baby
Baby let me live, please girl let me slide
Baby, baby, baby
Baby if you let me go, I swear I'll change, just change your mind
Your old man don't like to jitterbug, said this old dirty music
Hip hop just so ridiculous, them stories too confusing
Nowadays he ain't loving you like he was
And you ain't there just for using
Could have sworn that was him with another girl
And they wasn't out just for cruising
Can't get no satisfaction
He out late nights, probably smashing
Leaving a trail like Charlie tracks
Or the train on the ground, downtown Manhattan
Everybody seen him run around and you bound to catch him
The condoms, you found and asked him, was all this just for practice?
He didn't realize what he had
Now your heart got fractured girl
[Hook]
Baby, baby, baby
Baby, baby, baby

[Hook:]
Somebody's gotta be there when it gets ugly
Somebody's gotta be there when it gets bloody
Somebody's gotta get their hands dirty
Yo, it's a fucked up job but somebody's gotta do it
Somebody's gotta come up with a plan
And be there when the shit hits the fan
I hope ya'll out there understand
Look man it's a fucked up job, but somebody's gotta do it
[Riq Gees:]
Yeah ya'll, ideal for a lyrical perfectionist
Raw, that's what every soldier in my collective is
Thought, control level is that of a gold medalist
My level headedness make it come off so effortless
The rebel is a opposite extreme of devilish
Back setting it with the answer to your deficit
My track record is hot shit, consecutive
Smug, I got game just like a record executive
A kiss to the feminine girls loving a gentlemen
A genius slash gangsta with a skill for swindling
Bet on Black
Bet these cats that's all gelatin
Will fall back spittin' them raps that's unintelligent
Raps that cap, rabid rattlin' out the gattlin'
Crippling rhymes whistlin' past, blow you back in
Smellin' your blood now I'm huntin'
Blowin' your front in for frontin' what up cousin?
Oh, now it's nothin'
Yo, you can't go beyond a point of no returning
I flip like my name Turner
That's for certain nigga, Ted Turner, Nat Turner, nigga Ike Turner
The raw sojourner for truth
The mic burner
[Repeat Hook]
[Jean Grae:]
Mic malevolence defies violence I inherited
Others just rentin' it like rooms at the Sheraton
I gotta jones like Vanessa in the devil in-
And y'all cold like a show in the Netherlands
Cold shoulders and frozen aortic valves -
So I don't form pals - conform to norms - morals different
Gifted - use it to shift shit a mutant shape shifter when I spit it I'm liquid
You could lick a million shots at the character of the body shell
They'll just richochette nigga aura's hard as hell
Before there was ain't hard to tell
The mic's cycle coincided right with mine as well
Since a minor I walked with the spine upstraight
I learned to rhyme to feed the dinner plate
I scraped barrel - even dined up on wine and steaks
Cuz in the bone same marrow that apartheid chased
The narrow margin with the haves and the have nots
Will get smaller as I approach - so watch your stash box
Fox logo if your fave is local
Get bruised till you're the color of the Laker's logo
This is work niggas
[Repeat Hook]
[Mac:]
I made it - ain't nobody believe in me
But this rap game is like selling coke legally
Ain't no innovations - that takes concentration
Nigga's celebrating not knowing the time they wasting
Killin' mics is one of my aesthetics
Rip very live so I'm an entertainer like Cedric
Shit they play on radio's now give me a headache
Can't slow me down I know where I'm headed
The profit on kill if you let it
Nigga's feeling energetic
Wanna rumble - guns will come out
Here come the paramedics
I'm just trying to live like I've Devin
Tired of my people failin'
We all sin - the devil, what di I tell em
Somebody gotta get their hands dirty and shoes muddy
I see things vividly, ya'll vision is blurry
Even if you hate - through my music you gone love
Everybody with me and they was with me when it was ugly
[Repeat Hook]

Yeah it would be cool it could be too
Stop Running round in circles off of what we fuel
Living a lie eventually believing it's true
A lot of people here for us one could be you
It's outrageous and they just ain't nothing
But save us an ocean of brown fists in various flavors
A favor for a favor man, this is the majors
Tell me what you would do with no phone or pagers
No Kinko's, no Fed Ex and no ATM's
What you gone do when the poliece state vegin
Well it already began but I guess it depends on what's really going on
what's happening, huh
Military target practicing
They finna write another patriot act again
The days is short the nights is long
The fight goes on
The pistol and the pipes are drawn
[Hook:]
The middle of the night
We fight like barbarians
In sight of the former might
You might think that it's a waste
Of our time
And I think you would be right
Till he drop that rhyme
[Repeat]
And some might say that it's a waste of time
Cause ain't no amount of dancing finna break the bondage
We go to war and transcend space and time
When every record ain't a record just to shake behinds
You know the stakes is high we in the face of drama
That's why we can't shake it or escape the problem
Its like a game of roulette the barrel revolving
They only wanna see us occupying a coffin
Mothers crying too often from they lost child leaving
From trying to get over, get under, get even
Get inside getting, getting dumped, getting greedy
We got to get it right
It ain't about to be easy
You better pull you goggles up, it's about to get greasy
Believe it's on as long as we can still speak freely
Pages of my life would make it hard to read me
I know my people hearing me, holler it you hear me
[Repeat Hook]

Hey, hey, hey hey
Hey, yes, yes I
C'mon, c'mon uh, uh.. uh
[Lady B] Another one of those Saturday Nights y'all
Yo y'all, take heed
Yeah, check it out, c'mon
You're now rockin with the best.. uh
[Lady B] Without a doubt, take heed y'all
C'mon, yeah, uh
Uh, yo, about to give you what you need y'all
[Lady B] Without a doubt
[Black Thought]
Check it out now, it's the type cerebral
World renowned, illustrious, ille-gal
My musical affection, bubblin within your zone
like champagne, known as the Fifth campaign
Thought be doin his damn thang
Bent like, a boomerang, tryin to maintain
I'm both yin and yang from Mi Kan Lang
What your lady gettin me up? I'm never answering
Let her miss me, see me then she off tryin to kiss me
Talkin bout, ";I dig you Tariq, the way you twist me";
Meanwhile, she comin home tipsy, all grinnin
And what you used to fit em before, you now swimmin
Just take a dive P-5 deep, the team winnin
Takin hip-hop back to, the beginnin
Cause MC's are pretendin, I slap your sound
out the sky like I'm goaltendin, bring your career
to an endin, enter the next era trascendin for real
Knahmsayin? If not, then man listen
For you to try to fuck with the Fifth, that's ambition
I let y'all know the time indeed, y'all need to
take heed y'all
[Lady B] Get a little P-5-D y'all
Straight from the town of Phil-ly y'all
But we about to give you what you need y'all
Without a doubt
[Lady B] Take heed y'all, get a little P-5-D y'all
Straight from the town of Phil-ly y'all
But we about to give you what you need y'all
Without a doubt
[Black Thought]
Yo, I control the stadium like the law long arm
Warn, ring the alarm, cause here The Roots come
The funk's all ready for whoever want some
Your album get split like, a lump sum
No doubt, under this influencin of outcome
Millenium spaceship, totally wasted
Schoolly D classic, though I vocally laced it
Taste this swerve on a regular basis
Servin y'all whatever the place is
Blowin conniseur quality in my competitor's faces
This is without doubt, your lady pass out
This Illa-Fifth Twilight Zone, you ass out
Shout, to my brothers on back route
Whippin the short that's smacked out, dig it
Strump this in your casette deck, hip-hop has not left yet
I sent a verse in the mail like, a death threat
The critically acclaimed composer, stand over
whichever mute miniscule mic holder
You never knew the real before, yo I show ya
You need to make your thoughts more sober, think it over
[Lady B] Take heed y'all, get a little P-5-D y'all
Straight from the town of Phil-ly y'all
But we about to give you what you need y'all
Without a doubt (repeat 4X)

What?
Hip-Hop y'all, to the top y'all
Hip-Hop check it out
It's like that, and it sounds so nice
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life
We bout to take it to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the check it out
Yo, what? And it sounds so nice
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life
I'm bout to take it to the top, what?
Hip-Hop (hip-hop love)
To the top (to the top) hip-hop, check it out
It's like, word up, and it sounds so nice
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life (of my life)
[Black Thought]
The anticipation arose as time froze
I stared off the stage with my eyes closed and dove
into the deep cosmos
The impact pushed back, the first five rows
But before the raw live shows
I remember I'se a little snot-nosed
Rockin Gazelle, goggles and Izod clothes
Learnin the ropes of ghetto survival
Peepin out the situation I had to slide through
Had to watch my back my front plus my sides too
When it came to gettin mine I ain't tryin, to argue
Sometimes I wouldn'ta made it if it wasn't for you
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life and that's true
When I was handlin the shit I had to do
It was all for you, from the door for you
Speak through you, gettin paper on tour for you
From the start, Thought was down by law for you
Used to hit up every corner store wall for you
We ripped shit, and kept it hardcore for you
I remember late nights, steady rockin the mic
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life
So tell the people like that y'all (that y'all)
And it sounds so nice
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life
We bout to take it to the top..
[Common]
Yo, yo I was speakin, to my guy 'Riq and
How she was desperately seekin to Organize in a Konfusion
Usin, no protection, told H.E.R. on _Resurrection_
Caught in the Hype Williams, and lost H.E.R. direction
Gettin eight/ate in sections where I wouldn't eat H.E.R.
An under the counter love, so _Silent_-ly I _Treat_ H.E.R.
Her Daddy'll beat H.E.R., eyes all Puff-ed
In the mix on tape, niggaz had her in the buff
When we touch, it was more than just a fuck
The Police, in her I found peace (like who?)
Like Malcolm in the East
Seen H.E.R. on the streets of New York, trickin off
Tried to make a hit with H.E.R. but my dick went soft
Movin weight, losin weight, not picky - with who she choose to date
To confuse the hate, with her struggle I relate
Close to thirty, most of the niggaz she know is dirty
Havin more babies than Lauryn, she started showin early
As of late I realized, that this is H.E.R. fate
Or destiny that brings the best of me
It's like God is testin me
In _Retrospect_ I see she brought _Life_ and death to me
Peace to us collectively, live and direct when we perform
It's just coffee shop chicks and white dudes
Over H.E.R. I got into it with that nigga Ice Cube
Now the fight moved to in life, makin the right moves
Besides God and family, you my life's jewel
Like that y'all
Hip-Hop.. *echoes*
[whispered]
Take it to the top, what? Hip-Hop (hip-hip)
To the top, hip-hop (hip-hop) check it out
[Black Thought - louder]
It's like, word up, and it sounds nice
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life, what?
Bout to take you to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the, yo
Fifth Dynamite, and it sounds so nice
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life
I'm bout to take you to the top love
Hip-Hop, word up, to the top (to the top)
Hip-Hop, check it out
It's like that, what? And it sounds alright
Hey, cause you the love of my life
I'm bout to take you to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the, check it out
What? Yeah, and it sounds so nice
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life
Bout to take you to the top love
Hip-Hop (hip-hop) to the top (to the top) hip-hop (hip-hop)
Fifth Dynamite, and it sounds alright
Hey, cause you the love of my life
I'm bout to take you to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the
To the to the to the to the, check it out, yo
Ye-yeh-yo, yo, and it sounds so nice
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life
We bout to take you to the top love, hip-hop (hip-hop)
To the top (to the top) hip-hop (hip-hop)
Check it out, it's like, yeah, and it's sounds alright
Hip-Hop, you the love of my life
We bout, take it to the to the to the *vocals fade*

[Black Thought]
Oooh
Up, up.. up, up.. Up, Up
Up, Up.. UP, UP UP UP!!
UP!! UP!! UP!!
UP I, UP I, UP I step, UP I walk
UP I climb, to the platform
on which I await the arrival of the, black liiiine
2000 the abstract nighttrain that should be arriving
in approximately eight complete lifetimes
Do you dig that, ON, track number one
or is it my one track mind?
With the same two hundred funky people packed together
on one car that seats sixty
Reminiscent of the Middle Passage only now we, gliiiide
over oceans of steel, and at the speed of light
from the window, in my eye, I can't see
Damn! Brother, excuse me brother
Would you mind not dripping your umbrella into my lap?
Now where was I? What, change to spare?
Man you better change your mind, change your plan
change your attitude, change your ideas to change your position
As I change my seat, and I change the channel on my WatchMan
Just in time, special guest, The Roots, on the
SOULLLLL TRAIN!
John Coltrane and chinese food is my date for the night
with that woman, with that girl, with that woman
with that lady, with that woman, with that child
child I'm honey, honey-child, and I gots ta
gotta, gots ta, gotta gots ta, gots ta gotta gotta get ready
Ready ready to go, read-read to go
Going, going, going, going, going, going, going, GONE
DAMN! ...
I missed my stop.. Writters Block, hah!

[Black Thought]
Peaceful minds.. in a land of war
Seek peace of mind, through mental peacefulness
Peacefulness, peacefulness, peace-ful-ness
is in the mind of the beholder
Behold, my mental piece
could shatter your peace, to pieces
Pieces and portions of rhythmic distortion relax me
The echos reverb and feedback of reality disturb my peace
forcing me to retreat, to the below beneath
Down a step and a step and a step and a step
and a step beyond
to a level of my own
private, mystic, ritualistic, culturalistic sanity
Yet some say that I am insane
Is that not ironic? My soul not sonic
as I flow through the tonic, of life I find
that the strife behind, that pushes and pulls
and pulls and pushes me
into all of the bullshit that I experience from day to day
is the reason.. for my search, or journey, or struggle
to find.. the broken pieces of the sign
that combine, to form the crooked line
that we call.. peace y'all

Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust (8X)
Chorus: Black Thought (4X)
It's Common Dust y'all, and you don't stop
For you to trust y'all, with real hip-hop
[Black Thought]
Thought be the ? of the styles of speech
A dusty head brother mighta saw the bleach
Teach I aims not, just to talk my sense
Damn I gives not, 'bout the consequence
Funk the stylistics, and jazz the vibe
Laughs at e-tudes cause I'm stayin alive
Time I grips not, so it limps along
Dust you, collect if you digs my song
Paids and black braids what I aims to ease
Connection L-7 throwin out the breeze
Cool breeze to blow up cause I bust the shit
I'm just a sun child rollin in a dustin ship
It's like that y'all
[Kid Crumbs]
Thought's a Black miss you wanna catch the Crumbs
When I hums a fat song, with derelicts and bums
Smoke gems with the folk from the cellar when they come
Mouth be like cotton, got sticks of gum
Common spear-a-mint, it's like sense is Dust
Accumulation much cause naps I got nuff
Funk feeds the dome see the trees they wanna rise
Out sprouts the ?, free to vocalize
Old school highs I got, for your eyes
Circulize never even though we lock together
Ask the set I'm clever cause I'm severed and I'm pooped
But anyway the wind blows, the Dust you gotta go
Chorus
[Kid Crumbs]
It's like Crumbs stay at a mic, comes to and from the ashes
Pass the what kid? L-7, we massive
Jazz the funk, slow-be-poke, baby she be glass
Puff the stuff you have now I recline and make you laugh
Roots can boost knot and off the docks I rocked your riches
The Edgar shit is locked, that's, if the force is with us
Yeah, deeps pon the streets I reach, be the sound
A pouch full of ouch, soon the freaks is freakin out, uhh
Threes that make you shout, 'bout, ruckus on the corner
Black, ?uest and Rubber, we did it in the summer
Now the po' folk is near, they say I'm not a Square
But when the circle's Root, Black see if I'll be there
It's like that y'all
[Black Thought]
Dig it, cool for me I'm glad when I springs from pad
To those with mad Dust I be just a lad
Rock me rocks not cause my Thoughts is Black
Sports the A-di-das plus my proton pack
Accumulatin Dust as my trail mix crush
Digs the naturale, baby flush the blush
Yeah, when it roams, find your way back home
And dig it with the kids with the Dust-y dome
Soon your zigs roam when you brooms the scene
Dust you gots not, cause your rooms is clean
Trust I knows much cause I blows the horn
It's Common Dust y'all, you go on and on
Chorus w/ variations to end

[Jill]
Yeah, yeah, yeah...
[Black Thought]
What's your named girlfriend?
Girlfriend, what's your name?
[Jill]
My name is J-I-L-L S-C-O-T-T
Jill Scott representin' North Philly y'all
J-I-L-L S-C-O-T-T
Jill Scott representin' lovely
[Black Thought]
Show your love ladies and gentleman
Show your love for Miss Jill Scott
Representin' Philladelphia, ya know what I mean!
The Roots crew, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout