I just wanna say
Let me, taste, the, fruit, of, your, space
Oh what a, oh what a day
I just wanna play
Ma-gick-al vi-sions, what, we, lay
I wanna, I wanna stay
I just wanna say
Let me, taste, the, fruit, of, your, space
Oh what a, oh what a day
I just wanna play
Ma-gick-al vi-sions, what, we, lay
Ghetto to ghetto, backyard to yard
We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods (come on)
Precious metals round our necks and arms (yea)
We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods
Ghetto to ghetto, backyard to yard
We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods (come on)
Precious metals round our necks and arms (yea)
We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods
Whatever in your heart is where you want to be
My hood is the ghetto
Even when you look
Its never what you see
My hood is the ghetto
I've been down before up is just a reach
Cause my hood is the ghetto
Catch a second wind
Then begin again
My hood is the ghetto
Black magic in the hood, its tragic but understood
Crack addicts, crack windows, crack wood
Even whats bad becomes good, status becomes stood
Upon the pedestal welcome to the ghetto show
Federal buildings, pissy hallways filled with children pushing children
Fiends lips peeling, shit seems real and
What's real is the estate of mind that we're in
The situation feels great
My man peels weight, so he can fill plates
You might get love but you still feel hate
Through and chain plates, we communicate
Chicago to brooklyn nigga real ones do relate
If lyrics sold then truth be told
I'll probably be just as rich and famous as jay-z
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like common sense
Next best thing I do a record with common sense
Cause its the music, its blues, its jazz, its acoustics
Soul, rock and roll the hip hop we be producing yea
It's the gear, it's the flare, it's the stare
Nowadays they'll shot you where they used to shoot the fair
Remember the lost soldiers, pour a beer, shoot the air
We got our own elected officials, no matter who the mayor
I know you know what I'm talking about
From New York to the South, take off your shoes when you walk in the house
I grew up where they're playing skele in the parking lot
And sell paintings of Aaliyah, BIG and Pac up in the barbershop
Buildings too big so you don't really see the stars a lot
But rapping, drinking, and going to prison you see them bars a lot
I feel the spirit in the dark and hear it in my heart
And always keep my ears to the block till I dearly depart
Hip hop is really the art
We have to express the part of ourselves that make us want to martyr ourselves
It ain't harder to tell when somebody stick you up and put the hammer to you
They want them dead presidents like Stickman and Mutulu
With a gun to your jaw, these kids don't run anymore
Kicks is a hundred or more
A man in front of the store, begging for money and mercy
I told him say a prayer under his breath, he cursed me
Niggaz is thirsty, I heard it's a drought
Up early, serving from their grandmother's house
Sometime the ghetto feels desolate, yo the eyes of the hood yo is desperate
Effected by the deficit, times and lessons get hard
Either get by or get god, but but you try to get by
It's like the block keep blocking
You try to make moves, its like the car just keep stopping
We shorties in the court, need cochran yea
I tell them why the weed seeds popping, in the game you need options
Let me, let me practice.. hehehe, ehehe
Talib.. T'Kwi, Kweli - I can't say it!
That's wack..
[Talib Kweli] (Vinia Mojica)
Yeah, you pronounce my name (Kweli), any questions
I bring many blessings with my man Hi-Tek and he from the Natti (Natti)
We make the sky crack, feel the fly track,
get your hands up like a hijack
Fist in the air for (Kweli), keep 'em there like
Natural mystic or smoke when they spliffs lit
It's a revolutionary (party), they ask me what I'm writin for
I'm writin to show you what we fightin for
Say Taleeb or Talib (Kweli), if it's hard try spellin it phonetically
If not then just let it be like Nina Simone,
you probably (ably) don't listen B
Even when we suffer loses I account the victory
Sometimes it's far and between I'm sad to say
it got my brain crowded like sunset on a Saturday
I know my son wept 'cause his dad's away
Stop cryin be strong for your momma is what I had to say
[Chorus 1]
To my little man named Amani (mani)
Start the party, my crew hot feel these two shots
Like the blast from a double barrel shottie (shottie)
It's got to be, your man Hi-Tek and Kweli
Who make you rock your body (body)
Start the party, my crew hot feel these two shots
Like the blast from a double barrel shottie (shottie)
It's got to be, your man Hi-Tek and Kweli
[Hi-Tek]
I remember when it all started
Back in the day when me and moms first parted
Hi-Tek from the beginnin I stayed advanced
A young chameleon, adapt to any circumstance
Peep game nigga never been a lazy nigga
Stayed on my hustle concentrate to get the paper bigger
Stay focused, while other cats stay hopeless
While niggas stay high I stay lower
Stacking my chips to get a foreclosure
This shit ain't over..
Going for the gusto, keep getting that provo
It's Hi-Tek (and Kweli) on the track like Flo Jo
Bet you ain't even know I had flow though
[Chorus 2]
Yo, make you rock your body (body)
Start the party, my crew hot feel these two shots
Like the blast from a double barrel shottie (shottie)
It's got to be, your man Hi-Tek and Kweli
[repeat 3x]
Keep on dancing, ya gotta keep on dancing
{Overlapping} oh oh ohhhhhh, yeah yeahhhhhhh
Keep on dancing, ya gotta keep on dancing..
(Big Nel)
Let 'em know how we do it down in the C.O.
we 'bout to get the thang started
Know what I'm sayin' The year 2000
I'm 'bout to let these muthafuckas know, Big D representin'
All the way from the C.O.
Cinncinnati, Ohio - that's what it is
Ay yo I'm givin' some shout-outs to my kids
I'm just a real-ass nigga from the Natti I used to drive caddies
And used to be a Pimp daddy
And now I chill in the studio, roll wit' my niggas
And we sippin' on Henny though
Yeah, I like to smoke on the hydro
Go to the club, might pick up a freaky ho
Yeah, what's up my niggas We doin' it like that
While we in the bank countin' figures
You know how we gettin' things started down here in the Natti
You know, Come down here you kick it with me, Big D
Y'know, ride out, get cloud out, smoked out, know what I'm sayin'
Get things poppin'
You know how we do it, got the forty fluid
Know what I'm sayin', yeah, yeah
[Backing]
Yo ye Yo ye
Yo Yo Ye Ye
[Small girl]
Black is black is something to laugh about black is something to cry about
black is serious black is a feeling black is us the beautifull people
[Older women]
That was when some of them bad niggas made beauty moving juju changes the drum
music hum! Mojo vibrated and high jons screamed through the bloods to no one
hears the blood sounds no more folk intercourses and all the niggas listening
acted visionaries too dig my people they acted the ryhtms pulling there minds
was one and move move move universe earth spirit firing the soils to destroy
the evil un image cleanse the waste from the cold lands till the cosmos was
whole again and the worlds had become nude
[Older man]
3:30 in the morning with not a sole in sight we sat four deep at a traffic light
Talking about how dumb and brainwashed how dumb some of our brothers and
sisters are while we wait for a green light to tell us when to go.
[Applause]
The temperature got tempers flaring people sweat when the weather hot
They argue and they fret a lot then set up the plot
To whet up the block
Wheter or not the blood is red up in the gutter
Music is my bread and butter
I got a show in Brooklyn cause the ghetto love us
Pulled up in Mtulu's truck I'm suited up I'm cool as fuck
security tripping on my baseball hat promoter knew what's up
Plus Chaps had on some denim shorts and white tee shirt and
I told the bouncer they being disrespectful cuz like you we working
I ain't a custy or a patron and trust me no one would be paying
To come in this crusty ass club if I wasn't playing
He's like "I'll put you the fuck out"
And when you put your word like that its like third strike black you struck out
His man tried to rush me from behind Chaps stuck out a size nine
Seen him trip face first into the line
Cats is cowards with no spine and they power tripping too
The next level is the violence so what y'all niggaz wanna
Work it out
We should try to work it out
People lie, people cry, people die to work it out
Read the book, pray to god
Look inside to work it out
We should try to work it out
Yo what y'all ladies wanna do
Work it out
To get fly she work it out
People lie, people cry, people die to work it out
Read the book, pray to god
Look inside to work it out
Show the love
Lose the hate
Work it out
Work it out
Peolpe placed in situations they cant take and what they facing
Is the trials and tribulations to make them say the lords forsaken them
Their loved ones intervening but they always blaming them
For problems they don't realize what they part is in creating them
Like men who so insecure think they women cheating on them
And women who think the proof that they man love them is they beating on them
Keep sleeping on them soon they partner creeping on them
Committing crimes of passion they in caskets mother weeping on them
With her head in her hands
There's only one thing that the dead understand that it's better to be alive
Now what you gonna do stick your head in the sand
You probably the type to fall for anything and take that instead of a stand
Now that's a mouse instead of a man
I cherish my role as the head of my fam
And on the road I meet incredible fans
I rock with singers an a DJ instead of a band we at a theatre near you
So what y'all niggaz wanna do
Stay civilized when they try to kill my high I try to think through problems
Bring honesty to rap like Cam'ron brought the pink to Harlem
You could be on the brink to stardom and suddenly you sink to bottom
Tell the truth about the war and suddenly you linked Saddam
Hate the topic but the closet people get to patriotic
Is red bull white vodka mixed with the straight hypnotic
Paper prophets sell the revolution so they make a profit
Trust they got it fucked up with your taxes started making rockets
Take it off the top like politicians speaking proper diction
Stuffing dollars in they britches like they do a lotta stripping
Got the top position bitching about the quality of life
All that bullshit get exposed as soon as Kweli sees the mic
They cutting down the tree of life the sun rays is running out
The babies ain't eating right so the guns keep coming out
See how they play the streets an night slap the taste out your mouth
To show you what they work about
Yeah ... this is the best part of the trip
Hold on to something, hold on to something
We about to take the road less travelled
You ain't gotta go home, but you can't stay here
Let's go
I get lonelier each time
You go away I lose my mind
I lay awake til you come and make things right (yeah yeah)
I get lonelier each time you go away (cmon)
So baby won't you stay with me tonight? (yeah)
Check it out
There's this lady I'm in love with (yes there is)
Living inside this woman unknown
But she's scared to let it show
I know it sound like some bug shit (yeah it do)
It's just she come with
Hang-ups and
Insecurities they gotta go
She always nervous around me
But see this lady inside
She's ready to be my baby tonight
And ever since this lady found me
This woman think I'm dangerous
And ain't ready to put her safety aside
I try to tell her that I got her back
And no matter where we at
In our lives
I'll treat her like she my girl
I asked her "What's wrong with dat?" (What's wrong with dat?)
She like "It just ain't right
There's so many more women and men in the world"
I have to admit the girl got a point (true)
Maybe my ambition's made to make me want something I just can't have
So now it's time for me to blow this joint
I still know I'm in love
I just stay focused
And true to my path
Word
I get lonelier each time
You go away I lose my mind
I lay awake til you come and make things right (yeah yeah)
I get lonelier each time you go away (uhh)
So baby won't you stay with me tonight? (yeah yeah)
I got to get away
Ladies you ever felt growing away
By your man
Asking "Baby, won't you stay?"
He chilling with his crew
He should be building with you
He got you feeling the blues
Cause the children to glue
He willing to do
Whatever it takes
To save 'em
From a fate he can't see when he misbehaving
Brave men don't let they ladies
Raise they children theyself
You're so busy trying to save 'em
That you you're killing yourself
With the
Stress and strife
And the fights and the advice
From the ladies of the night
Who can't run they own life
Up in your air
Nothing is fair
Why do you care?
Why do you always take it there?
The crying, the tears
You ain't prepared for the jewels
That I'm trying to share
Flying there
Dying inside
Hot in the fear
The writing is clear
On the wall
For you to read the sign
Ayo the fine is the way we design
To be fine
But still ...
I get lonelier each time (I get so lonely)
You go away I lose my mind
I lay awake til you come and make things right
(mmmmmmm .. make it right, make it right, make it right)
I get lonelier each time you go away (la la la la la la la laaaa)
So baby won't you stay with me tonight?
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
Gotta, Gotta
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
Gotta, Gotta
You can tell when people wanna spend they life together
Despite the weather
They treat each other like a treasure
Can't fight forever
You got to give it up
I ain't got a lot of time
We got to live it up
I make my music like I make my love
People use it like they take they drugs
In the morning
When they waking up
This music got me out late but
I holla at you when I'm done
Don't stay up
Will love play with us?
It sting like paper cuts
Doused in alcohol
But if it's real
They ain't no greater rush
I got faith in us
It's only you who really know me
I be surrounded by people
And still feel lonely
So baby won't you stay (why won't you stay?)
Baby won't you stay? (why won't you stay?)
Baby won't you stay with me tonight? (ohhhhh)
Stay with me tonight
Stay with me tonight
Ohhhhh
[Chorus]
They wanna know (All you have to do)
know how I do
Maybe you don't (All you have to do is call me... call me)
Why you playing, why you playing?
I be going like two and two
With some hot shit ready to spit for you
With the songs that you love just to get you through
[Verse 1]
Back in effect
I'm back to collect
Got the respect
Which will turn into the cash or a check
You can, pay me in fear, you can pay me with love
You can, pay me in tears or you can pay me in blood
Spray me with slugs, and the revolution live, I never die in vain
The writer might be dead but the piece remain on the train (yea)
The music help you be true to yourself, accumulate wealth
So what I spit is the embodiment I do for self
As a teen it was kinda hard to find a job
I took over my writer's bloc and ran it like a spot
I'm Pimp C in this game nigga, I'm a hard
But I'm never feasting on it, keep speaking on it God
That's what they say when I'm building, I keep my dialogue street
But still spiritual like we deep inside a mosque
Or the sin of God that don't preach or go where the sinners are
And keep the fire burning like a slum lord in the Bronx
[Chorus]
Of course I will 'cuz you know how I do
Maybe you don't (All you have to do is call me... call me)
I be going like two and two
With some more hot shit ready to spit for you
With the songs that you love just to get you through
Ma
[Verse 2]
Rhyme writer from nine to five
It's the 25 to lifers with the balance of the acrobatic high wires
The pain of the slave with his back feeling like fire
'Cuz the whip talking to his ass like Knight Rider
Most of these rappers now days be sounding like liars
Got visions of guns in they head like the Pied Piper
When I bust they start to disappear like my lighters
'Cuz they shit is faker than the dreads on Mikah Phifer
The industry is in trouble
Plus these industry niggaz is fake, so they tend to be in a bubble
So I hit the block where they're known to thicken the plot
Sticking up cops, kids be pocket-picking they Glocks (my man)
Balling outta control, don't be forgetting that niggaz is broker than dishes at a Greek wedding
They might try to run up on you, take your life quick
It's like this when you walk the strip up on the night shift
[Chorus]
Let 'em know
Of course I will 'cuz you know how I do
Maybe you don't (All you have to do is call me... call me)
I be going like two & two
With some more hot shit ready to spit for you
With the songs that you love to get you through
Ma
[Verse 3]
This right here the bare essentials with no extras y'all
I kept it raw from the school of thought where less is more
Brooklyn is cooking and I blessed it with the special sauce
I got the soul of a prophet and never take a loss
Fresher than kicks out the box, the kids on the block
That is street hungry trying to get that sweet honey out the rock
Crack in the socks when they click the row thicker than sour sop
Listening to my black power rock
Music, of this hip hop we be rock to it
I'm a river, you a valley, watch me run right through it
You wanna learn how to do it, tell the truth in your single first
Lil' Kim went to jail for what you do in every single verse (free Lil' Kim)
Lyrics is perjury, your beats is more plastic than surgery
And we in the United States of emergency
One of the main reasons none of you lames worry me
Is I change lanes like I change planes and change currency
[Chorus]
They wanna know, tell them (All you have to do is call me)
of course I will 'cuz you know how I do
Maybe you don't (All you have to do is call me... call me)
I be going like two and two
With some more hot shit ready to spit for you
With the songs that you love to get you through
Ma
[Talib Kweli]
Yo, we been through this before right? (Word, word...) So we
figurin', if we gonna do it, we gotta freak it, y'know what I'm sayin?
(True, true, true...) Cuz everything gotta go up from here, right?
So Hi-Tek, turn it up a notch...
[Jane Doe]
Hail Mary, 'matta fact hail Jane
Niggaz take my name in vain/vein like I was cocaine
My affirmations kill emcees like assasination
Bringin' you pain until you wish you had a vaccination
Or vaccine, I shine like Vaseline
Gas plays like petroleum, walk over them like linoleum
My vocab expand like a rubber band
Walkin' nekkid through the motherland, give the finger to my brotherman
Niggaz just don't understand my reasons, I transcend like season
And scar these rappers like legion
It's treason, my suspension attract attention
I'm ventin', givin' these chickenheads detention
Did I mention my name, yo, go by the Jane Doe
Drenched in Polo, chill downtown in Soho
You don't know, this is just half my potential
Check my credentials, come harder than sequential
It's essential, you listen, I drive, you a pedestrian
They bless me on the track cuz I attack wit' the estrogen
Rhyme against the best a men, Jane burn it up
When you hear it in the whip, tell your man to turn it up!
[Wordsworth]
Yo...get it...yo
Yo, we fortified live, supportin' allies
The wack is tryin' to shorten our lives, it sorta waters my eyes
But here is some'n the cryin' talk about
The verse on that cassette you and cousin fought about
That led to God and Satan's fallin' out
Encourage the liquor for those who ain't here that you pourin' out
On 3-way, your parents, preacher and spouse called my house
Revive or ruin, my theories of mics
Sony or Aiwa, black or white, I fit in all stereotypes
Search for a cast to plot, I make you a laughin' stock
So shook, I could walk a half a block and feel the aftershocks
Rain of acid drops, seek some help
Now don't rewind, get it the first time,
Shouldn't have to repeat myself
Eternally verbally, I have numbers, succumb to time outs
In rhyme bouts you'll dial 9, just to get a line out
Known fact or factors and non-rappers fractured
Results in more cast appearances than a hundred actors
Emcees I'm testin' like diseases injected in gerbils
Wordsworth, Kweli, Hi-Tek, Reflection Eternal..what...
[Talib Kweli]
My style high life like Fonz when I burn heads like a conk
Cuz niggaz front, when their chances get slim like Pharoahe Monch
Thinkin' they shits is heavy when they light like ilumination
Intellectual masturbation with premature ejaculation
I'm comin' cleaner than vaccinations
My fascination with character assassination,
Got these niggaz burnin' like sensation
We keep it hot like matches and on lock like latches
Wack emcees get they microphones snatched like Lee patches
So YOU GO! To every wack muthafucka that you know (Scram...)
My lyrics they get up in your genes/jeans like Parasucos
So there's no mystery about the father, niggaz is hot and bothered
Like the bitches that they are, takin' pictures with stars
And got 'em open, but after they little hopes and dreams get broken
Me and Hi-Tek, we live long and prosper like Vulcans
Think I'm jokin'? We both got sons, we make cream and break dreams
See through the fake schemes, wipin' your slate clean
Like a squeegee, we be lightin' shit up like phosphorus
Turnin' flamboyant niggaz anonymous, depressin' to optimus
You stoppin' us is preposterous, like an androgenous masohganist
You pickin' the wrong time, steppin' to me when I'm in my prime like Optimus
Transformin', from rookie of the year to veteran
Hip-hop is big business like Con Edison or medicine
But fuck it, they gonna let us in, or else we rush the door
I got to many reasons, save your 'whys' and 'what fors'
CHORUS:
[Kweli] This is twice inna lifetime so I'm lettin' you know (let 'em know,
yo!)
Blackstar, Wordsorth, Punchline and Jane Doe (yo!)
[Mos] Lyrical com-pete and WE emcee
We got the fortified five, exhibit level degree
[Punchline]
Check it...
I keep dough in my pocket while you follow the false prophet
Get deep like Islamics wrapped in a white garment
I touch topics that try to open up your optics
Vacate in the Tropics, you dodgin' bullets in the projects
Cut the nonsense, I'm hotter than alot a men
Start honorin', got more wifeys than Solomon
Fuck the squad you in, a-yo we be the biddomb
Regardless what I spit on, you worse with the tracks I shit on
Once you get on, it's fair you can't trust (Yes!)
Words & Punch, make rappers march like the third month
I build with friends, lyrically spit gems
Call me diamond, cuz I'm your girl's best friend
Emcees are born losers, alcoholic abusers
I'll go on the radio and start a gay rumor
And then I'll talk about how the crowd tried to boo ya
Label shoot ya, stressed out with brain tumors
My gat claps, 50% of the wack
Take it back to real rap, Krylons wit' the fat cap
Get robbed for your ASCAP, leave you inside
Fortified live, reppin' NY 'til I die!
[Mos Def]
Black body radiation situation that we workin' wit'
My verb exists enlisted by the bogeys campin' services
The purpose is, make you go and purchase this, no nervousness
We are, hot like black tar, Black Star with emergerence
Superlative, you fabricated like the word absurditive
I'm rockin this from here to where the purges live
To Brooklyn where the merchants live
Next door to the murderers
And bourbon is a elder man's medicinal alternative
My memory is furnished with, back streets to back seats to fat Jeeps
Legendary athletes who play by the trash heap
My crew wasn't that deep, but beef we didn't act sweet
Treadin' on these stompin grounds you better catch some black feet
Flashy, it was between DeKalb and Pulasky
Off the meter like an out of borough taxi
They run your pockets fastly, black and nasty, nappy and crafty
And SWAT are either sittin' in Clinton or Kaksaki
Man Rudolph can screw off! You too soft to stop us
You and your coppers should see some foot doctors
Got your burnt chest popped up, but keep your guns cocked up
Cuz all them cats that you knocked up and always gon' be locked up
Hide yaself like Donna Summer, another number one
And comin' from the underground, this is how it's comin' down
Baby let me run it down,
Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Jane Doe, Punch, Wor.. umm..E!
Excuse me! Just ate another emcee!
Sometimes that's just how it be
Partner wash you down with green tea and some lime
We like the five on the fist, fortified organized like DIS!
(Intro)
Oh what's up everybody this is Rick James
Talib Kweli, DJ Hi Tek, Reflection Eternal
(Chorus)
[Supa Dav West]
We Make the Music That Change your life
'Bout to touch you just right
All night we gonna to shine the light
'Bout to touch you just right
[Piakhan]
Piakhan floating on the mighty clouds of joy
Building a future, yo, for my baby boy (uh huh)
I moved form the hood yet the shit still in me
And your opinion is nothing to me
I have plenty like bein' out of prison
With a roof over my dome
And possessing the gift such as sparking the microphone
Accumulate the provolone makin' it happen with Talib
A Nattian cat we got em' snappin' Roberta Flackin' the track and
Killin' em softly with out flossin'
But yet the shine is glossy and
the run the lyrical train through your brain shit
Strategy pain, I'm on some Clubber Lane shit
With the iron, ain't no use in you trying quot;I ain't lyin' quot;
Through your ears mesmerize em'
It's about time we started risin'
Once again replace bullets with words, try to make it fun again
(Chorus) w/ minor variations
[Talib Kweli]
if the put my life on the screen then its got to Be the IMAX
I live large stroke your mind, till you reach climax
Terrorist hijack on Hi Tek fly tracks front don't try that
My niggas got my back, you gotta relax, ease back
What's that all about with the feedback
All up in my mouth we don't need that,
the asphault is the place to be at
Where the people fire burn so bright you can see that believe that
It ain't light music (no)
We make the right music (true)
Keep it tight music (yes)
Affirmin' life music (come on)
(Chorus) w/ minor variations
[Talib Kweli]
It's like girls got the bass all up in they hips
My favorite part on the face is the shape of the lips
Yeah I wanna touch you there (right there)
Your mind is my concubine, when I deliver shivers up your spine
Like the bread and wine, my brains embedded with rhymes
That's ahead of they time, I rock the better design
You cats ain't got the touch
You all suck, like getting head from a dime
I run up in em and, clutch em' if they tremblin'
It's a rush like adrenaline, at a point break the joint shake
When you play this (yeah), your crew is haters when they come
Through with the newest/latest (like that)
Reflection Eternal
Shine light bright like the day till the sky turn purple
And the moon arrive, reflection through the night
That touch you just right
(Bridge)
[Talib Kweli]
With the rhythm, the rhythm, God bless the rhythm
It's the rhythm, rhythm; yes ya'll the rhythm
Shorty on the dance floor giving me rhythm
Hi Tek make ya'll nod ya'll neck to the rhythm
And
(Chorus) w/ minor variations (x2)
[Talib Kweli]
Uh yeah yeah yeah
Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh (x2)
Clap your hands everybody (x4)
C'mon, Yeah
I like to take this opportunity, to thank everybody who been riding with me so far
Its a been a long journey
But they say your life's path is not about the destination
Its all about the journey
I appreciate y'all
It's my blood, sweat, tears, years
Struggle, love, hate, fear
New york city!
You could make it here, you could make it anywhere
I came to prepare
For the rain, hail, sleet, snow
Whatever the weather, we ride
Let my people go!
To a place where knowledge is born
We welcome you to the 3rd eye of the storm
Check it out!
Futuristic lyricist, straight from the renaissance
Top of the suffer chain, raps up a edge a lot
My people suffering, slave to another chain
This voyage is maiden, like my mother of the name
Is this your first trip to hell?
Avenge a capitalist, if its a product then we got it for sell
When I first started to spell, my words fell into rhymes
Turned into songs, everything else fell into line
I paint the pictures, you could see the people bleeding my bars
When I was a teen, I was mean, about to reach for the stars
So if I fail or fell, write in the clouds, tighten the vowel
Niggaz word, there use to be no bitin allowed
Now the gangsters no grindin' allowed
Probably see a fight in the stage, fore you see a fight in the crowd
I send this out to my people facing the storm
Homie we riding it out
You inspire what I'm writing about
Its the 3rd eye of the storm
Check it out!
Been fucking around!
I'm not a judge, but I'm handing out sentences
To political prisoners, regular inmates with no visitors
Niggaz in the streets outside to reach up for ministers
Not those that say they spiritual, but actual parishoners
Rap listeners, we open the black businesses
This underground shit, with samples to lack clearances
Once you get a past appearances
You could tell who shit is fake and who's shit is based upon the past experiences
We really been to war, hand to hand like crack sales
Bill the man, the man they try to kill off the blackmail
Female left to raise up a son
From the day he was one
Til' he twenty, and he raise up a gun
Get the blazin, fore the blaze of the sun
Smoke bracin' his lung
Young in his years and he's facing a ton
None of his peers wanna share the road
Love the child, care to provider
But they hand a blunt and share saliva
You ain't a rider
And you hustlin' backwards
To many excess, with imitating these crackers
So our kids looking up to drug dealers and rappers
Taking away all the work away from our black actors
Revelation is first and armageddon is after
Tsunami's, hurricanes and natural disasters
Fast food culture be this, is always a factor
It's the gratification
They want the cash faster!
It's the 3rd eye of the storm
It's the place where knowledge is born!
Check it out! check it out!
Talib Kweli!
That's what it is..
I know there's a first time for everything
First time I let her in my bed she got wetter then the perfect storm
That we weathering together and
This the first time that I've ever considered wedding rings
But first things first yo
I met her at the bar rolling with three wise men like I followed the star
There she is shorty bi coastal
Thick like bifocals, stacked like 2Pac vocals her body so loco
Jewel of the Nile so I'm romancing the stone
The rhythm is to the words and I watched her dance to my poems
The way she move them hips let me know in advance that she grown
I pictured it like Paris Hilton when she answered the phone, yo
Dancing alone because she extra fly
But I got good look so I catch her eye
Gave the rest a try now give the best a try
Leave your nest and I'll fly make you testify
Damn baby I know we got some haters and.
I don't care what people say
As long as you and me okay
Because I never been in love before
See I use to be a player and
All of this is new to me
And this ain't what I'm used to see
Because I never been in love before
You running back to the kid like this was home base
Or a marathon I let you set your own pace
Your own space and the beautiful struggle
Now baby tell what's it gonna take to prove that I love you
When I'm gone you be missing me too
It let me know that my prayers is the music God be listening to
Don't get it confused I'm trying to get religious with you
I never thought I feel like this its like a miracle you
You You stole my heart like a crook in love
Crossing the bridge to the Brooklyn love
When I took above it's clear skies that's surrounding my earth
Your love is drugs and I'm down to serve let's deal with it yo
We go to the spot and you still get it low
I get excited fast and still love to hit it slow
till the walls come tumbling down like Jericho
And you hear the sound is stereo
Hear we go
I don't care what people say
As long as you and me okay
Because I never been in love before
See I use to be a player and
All of this is new to me
And this ain't what I'm used to see
Because I never been in love before
You looked good when I tried you on
So I had to write a song
Use to be the guy that always made her cry when I'm gone
Always kept a stable and I never spent a night alone
no cable or no hard line phone why
I'm never home scared of commitment
Ready to forever roam
We at war like sister souljah and she welcome to my terror dome
Head strong our connection proved them haters dead wrong
From now to R.I.P. Proceeds my name up on the headstone
Leave her be for five minutes
Dudes try to dive in it first
They want to spit on my name and tarnish my image
I tell them do you I don't care who she speaking with
Because I already know she made it clear who she leaving with
And it feels so beautiful
Put it in a rhyme because it feel so musical
Plus you ain't no groupie hoe
Sitting in the studio
Before we do this though there something that you should know
I don't care what people say
As long as you and me okay
Because I never been in love before
See I use to be a player and
All of this is new to me
And this ain't what I'm used to see
quot;The name of the game is.. quot;
[Talib Kweli]
Persistance, dedication
Consistant, motivation, resistance to stagnation
of information, distribute it free to the entire population
No hesitation, makin it public
No privitazation from corporations
Today in order to be sane you gotta go crazy so remain
on top of the game, and master your universe like you was He-Man
See me and Hi Tek knock you out de frame
while I'm stimulatin de brain
in de quot;Train of Thought quot; that's the name
of the Reflection Eternal LP man!
Ain't nuttin new except organic produce that means that's free range
You might see me on MTV, BET, or still up on the D-train
It's just everybody else be seemin strange in they approach
I see these guys and read they eyes
Need to disguise and so I cloak
into a cloud of smoke, I brown a roach
to keep myself from soundin loc'
Destroy they hopes of hatin
Don't move aboard before they rock the boat
Yo it's not the dope,
these snakes will come in peace to slit your throat
Give you compliments, with a promise yet
to get me heated and provoke me
to be rockin shit, shove apocalypse
down your esophagus so swallow that
Guess what you could be coppin that
N'kiru Books for fifteen dollars flat
Cats who spit knowledge on tracks
and get bumped out the back of Impalas and Cadillacs
All my live Cincinatti Bearcats holla back
Tomorrow they gonna wanna borrow raps like
quot;C'mon black, I'll pay you back quot;
I ain't no lyrical ATM even though I'm nice and I'm a mack
Better believe that, leave that crack alone
And you see that there microphone
ain't no place to work your self-esteem issues
Do that shit when you alone!
Nigga you is grown, why is you still suckin on that pacifier
Quickly call that ass a liar, exposin you's my last desire
Olympic skills so pass the fire
I roll with niggaz that match attire
Black aware, that's filled with gas
but rollin on, flat ass tires
Yeahehehe, yo hehehe, yo, yo.. yo yo
Yo I got a special guest
Lil' Baby Tone Tone, tell 'em what's up
{ indecipherable } Yo, true
Yo we bout to be, tell 'em peace out Tone
{Peace out} Yeah word word Baby Tone, what
{Yeah what}
Every night, slips away (phone ringing)
in other words, (yo, who's this?) I should say
there are no words, (y'all heard it) you should say
there are no words, (I mean it's life)
every night, slips away (I mean, what can I say? it's best)
in other words, I should say
there are no words, you should say
there are no words
Ms. Hill, you got skills, that's a gift, it's real
get ill, what you spit got the power to uplift the heel
I wish I could talk to Lauryn
I mean excuse me, Ms. Hill
and let her know how much we love her is real
the industry was beating her up
then those demons started eating her up
she need a savior that'll bleed in a cup, yup
we used to kick it in the salad days
when she look at me like she ain't know me when she see me nowadays
I nod, she nod back, that's how it stay
her songs still better than anything out there
hotter power play
remember how they accused her of saying
she did her album without help
then she went to Rome to sing
and tell the Pope about herself
just after she left the Fugees
started rolling with the Marleys
got back with her crew at Dave Chapelle's Block Party
she made songs about Zion
and trying to be faithful
took the Blackstar on tour in Europe
I was so grateful
speaking for myself but I'm sure I could speak for Dante
I got to watch a show with Nina Simone and Harry Belafonte
we used to chill at Nkiru, her moms was a customer
she used to love to buy the books by Octavia Butler
Parable of the Sower, the main character's name was Lauren
what the album did for black girls' souls was so important
I got concerned when she got sick on the road
she ain't heavy, I'm a brother
and I wish that I could pick up the load, but no
every night, slips away
in other words, I should say
there are no words, you should say
there are no words
another night slips away
in other words, I should say
there are no words, you should say
there are no words
Ms. Hill, you got skills, that's a gift, it's real
get ill, what you spit got the power to uplift the heel
got your assitant on the the phone
"I need to talk to Lauryn"
and I wanna walk through the storm, and I could be the umbrella
when the rain is pouring
please, this no disrespect to whoever your man is though
this relationship is strictly music like D'angelo
I know you hate Babylon, and wanna see it fall
but they won't let you read your poem at the BET awards
you give us hope, you give us faith, you the one
they don't like what you got to say
but still they beg you to come, whoa
now that's powerful sis, it's black power
we get money, keep our eyes on the final hour
and no I ain't saying you Christ, that would be sacriligous right?
but you can blow up the night, sisters the rats is vicious
the raps the sisters recite with their black fist up
the devil's last wish is a queen that rise past bitches
we used to read Francis Crest or anything
by Third World Press will press
but what the power of the word suggest
hatched ideas in our heads like birds in the nest
you gave birth to a new sound like Don did West, yes
should I be saying all of this while the mic is on?
I might as well let it out because one day I might be gone
I write this song and hope you feel how much we love you
and you play it, cause I really ain't got the words to say it
but yo
every night, slips away
in other words, I should say
there are no words, you should say
there are no words
another night slips away
in other words, I should say
there are no words, you should say
there are no words
Ms. Hill, you got skills, that's a gift, it's real
get ill, what you spit got the power to uplift the heel
[Mos] Sometimes, you gotta be direct with the people, y'know like..
[T.K] Give it to 'em (c'mon)
[Mos] Yo!
[T.K] Give it to 'em
[Mos] GET, UP, NOW!
[Talib Kweli]
Yo, we keep it type raw, and know exactly what we fight for
when the nightfall come, we in the right war
Cats who spill blood for a cause, not just because
Defy the authority and follow God's law
Revolutionary entrepeneurs; who make the fans
clap they hands and stompin the floor not start the applause
(Ahhh ssssh! Yeah!) Thank you very much, without further adieu
Let me introduce the rest of my crew, Mos Def!
[Mos Def]
Yo, I am the world renowned, verb adjective adverb
pronoun preposition suffix prefix
Original or remix, sunburst and eclipse
Me and Kwe' combine like strands on a double-helix
My speech seasoned, with dialect of my region
Booga-nam Brooklyn Bed-Stuy Eastern
Where youth and policemen, they nah reach agreement
Pressure in the mornin, pressure in the evenin
{*scratching* quot;Mos Def quot; .. quot;Kwe'-Kweli quot; ..
quot;Hi Tek on the beat! quot; .. quot;brothers and sisters quot;}
Chorus One: BlackStar (Mos Def + Talib Kweli)
You, need, to, get, up, right, now
and, move, with, this, yes, this, means, you
You, you
[Talib Kweli]
Yeahh, alright yeah, alright yeah, alright yeah
Alright yeah, alright yeah, alright yeah, yeah-ehhhh
Uh, uh, uh, uh, yo, yo, yo
Things changed since we came out, been some shit in New York
Niggaz stopped gettin jig in New York, bloods and crips in New York
The Y-2-K celebration wasn't big in New York
Babylon live in New York, should I keep a crib in New York
or just V.I., to handle my B.I.
When with my A-Alikes we see with three eyes
[Mos Def]
Yo Kweli I agree I, was thinkin the same thing myself
Smog in the city ain't no good for your health
Things changed in New York, type strange in New York
Forty-Deuce don't look the same in New York
Just politics, tricks and big games in New York
Switched trains a writer can't get fame in New York
Internet and Wall Street got paid in New York
Poor folks and workin class got slayed in New York
Even still, everyday they make weight in New York
Flashlights lookin for a brighter day in New York
In New York they say it's - red hot
Will the temperature ease up Black I guess not
It's multi-lane traffic, no sign for rest stops
No corner breaks, put on your gloves and just box
No dance school to teach you to wop and bus stop
Better get up in the booth, hop up and just rock
If you think it's like that, it's not so just stop
All mankind time runnin down on one watch, just watch
Chorus Two: BlackStar (Mos Def + Talib Kweli)
If, you, are, just, coming, in, I, will
say it, once, more, so, you, can, hear, cause
You, need, to, get, up, right, now
and, move, with, this, yes, this, means, you
You, you
[Talib Kweli]
Yo, Mos Def and Talib Kweli bring disaster to the industry
We best-sellin authors writin great chapters in history
These cats undercover like gay rappers dealin with mystery
My platinum grey matter spray batter that's specifically
designed to make rappers break faster than eggshells in the mornin
Inhaled the divine in that's laid dormant
Water from the well STAY pourin
I answer back when I hear fate callin
Freedom fighter ready to attack at the crack of a new day dawnin
Way more than necessary skills for the application
My flow is Great like the Lakes and it rocks like Applachains
My facts more than make up for what you lack in imagination
You more confused than Tiger Woods when he made up Cabalaysian
I'm sayin!
[Mos Def]
Break bounds like the jet Concorde
Win awards before I leave for my world award tour
When they scream encore, that's when they want more
Flow steadily, whether I'm on or off shore
High potent, zone coastin, no jokin
Safecracker sniff gon' keep the joint open
Peep the focus, high resolution, high reception
My quot;Train of Thought quot; connectin with my bredren from Reflection like
Chorus Three: BlackStar (Mos Def + Talib Kweli)
You, need, to, get, up, right, now
and, move, with, this, yes, this, means, you, again!
You, need, to, get, up, right, now
and, move, with, this, yes, this, means, you, we goin
[M] New York [T] Philly
[M] Chicago [T] Detroit
[M] Miami [T] D.C.
[M] L.A. [T] The world
[M] London [T] Amsterdam
[M] Paris [T] Japan
[M+T] Any place that a human being might stand, we goin..
[Talib Kweli]
Yo Dee (What?)
Come on (Yeah..)
What? What? Come on
(Yeah)
"Give me the fortune, keep the fame," said my man Louis
I agreed, know what he mean because we live the truest lie
I asked him why we follow the law of the bluest eye
He looked at me, he thought about it
Was like, "I'm clueless, why?"
The question was rhetorical, the answer is horrible
Our morals are out of place and got our lives full of sorrow
And so tomorrow comin later than usual
Waitin' on someone to pity us
While we findin beauty in the hideous
They say money's the root of all evil but I can't tell
YouknowhatImean, pesos, francs, yens, cowrie shells, dollar bills
Or is it the mindstate that's ill?
Creating crime rates to fill the new prisons they build
Over money and religion there's more blood to spill
The wounds of slaves in cotton fields that never heal
What's the deal?
A lot of cats who buy records are straight broke
But my language universal they be recitin my quotes
While R&B; singers hit bad notes, we rock the boat
of thought, that my man Louis' statements just provoked
Caught up, in conversations of our personal worth
Brought up, through endangered species status on the planet Earth
Survival tactics means, bustin gats to prove you hard
Your firearms are too short to box with God
Without faith, all of that is illusionary
Raise my son, no vindication of manhood necessary
[M.D.] Not strong
[T.K.] Only aggressive
[M.D.] Not free
[T.K.] We only licensed
[M.D.] Not compassioniate, only polite
[T.K.] Now who the nicest?
[M.D.] Not good but well behaved
[T.K.] Chasin after death
so we can call ourselves brave?
[M.D.] Still livin like mental slaves
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[Mos Def]
Yo, I'm sure that everbody out listenin agree
That everything you see ain't really how it be
A lot of jokers out runnin in place, chasin the style
Be a lot goin on beneath the empty smile
Most cats in my area be lovin the hysteria
Synthesized surface conceals the interior
America, land of opportunity, mirages and camoflauges
More than usually -- speakin loudly, sayin nothin
You confusin me, you losin me
Your game is twisted, want me enlisted -- in your usary
Foolishly, most men join the ranks cluelessly
Buffoonishly accept the deception, believe the perception
Reflection rarely seen across the surface of the lookin glass
Walkin the street, wonderin who they be lookin past
Lookin gassed with them imported designer shades on
Stars shine bright, but the light -- rarely stays on
Same song, just remixed, different arrangement
Put you on a yacht but they won't call it a slaveship
Strangeness, you don't control this, you barely hold this
Screamin brand new, when they just sanitized the old shit
Suppose it's, just another clever Jedi mind trick
That they been runnin across stars through all the time with
I find it's distressin, there's never no in-between
We either niggaz or Kings
We either bitches or Queens
The deadly ritual seems immersed, in the perverse
Full of short attention spans, short tempers, and short skirts
Long barrel automatics released in short bursts
The length of black life is treated with short worth
Get yours first, them other niggaz secondary
That type of illin that be fillin up the cemetary
This life is temporary but the soul is eternal
Separate the real from the lie, let me learn you
Not strong, only aggressive, cause the power ain't directed
That's why, we are subjected to the will of the oppressive
Not free, we only licensed
Not live, we just excitin
Cause the captors.. own the masters.. to what we writin
Not compassionate, only polite, we well trained
Our sincerity's rehearsed in stage, it's just a game
Not good, but well behaved cause the ca-me-ra survey
most of the things that we think, do, or say
We chasin after death just to call ourselves brave
But everyday, next man meet with the grave
I give a damn if any fan recall my legacy
I'm tryin to live life in the sight of God's memory
Like that y'all
[Mos Def]
A lot of people don't understand the true criteria of things
Can't just accept the appearance
Have to get the true essence
[Talib Kweli]
They ain't lookin around
[M.D.] Not strong
[T.K.] Only aggressive
[M.D.] Not free
[T.K.] We only licensed
[M.D.] Not compassioniate, only polite
[T.K.] Now who the nicest?
[M.D.] Not good but well behaved
[T.K.] Chasin after death
so we can call ourselves brave?
[M.D.] Still livin like mental slaves
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[both] Hidin like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
[Mos Def (singing)]
Stop hidin, stop hidin, stop hidin yo' face
Stop hidin, stop hidin, cause ain't no hidin place
* repeat 2X*
(Ad libs to fade)
"Check this out..."
Hooooooooooooo~! (HEY DJ!) WHAT? ("I know you're gonna dig this")
Yeah, yeah, yeh yeh! KRS, ohhhh~! Talib Kweli
Talib this is crazy, yo this is crazy
Hah... what'chu doin?
Throw your hands up, c'mon
BK to BX and every place in between, it's all 7-18 like
Grand Concourse, whassup!
We got beats to the rhyme and the rhyme is so fresh yo
So what'chu got? 9's and tecs, you no threat
It's the beat, how you get your cake don't matter
It takes heart the lyrics been replaced with the swagger
I stay sharp enough to slash your face like a dagger
The actors been replaced with the rappers
The rappers been replaced with the actors, see how they try to stay on the beat
The pig route when he walkin down the street to the beat
WOOP~! Sound of da police
What is the life of a true hip-hopper, the beats
Peace love unity livin proper with the beats
In any endeavor whatever we will prosper with our beats
Some cats are real, other are impostors with beats
We the realest, livest
The rawest, crack cocaine heroin survivors with beats
We avoided the cops, we focused on beefs
Spittin, all we saw was stacks of rhymes written, elite
Way too smart for the system of course
We know a smart free black man just pisses 'em off!
What they like is when we glisten and gloss
Flashin millions but still takin a loss
Bump the beat! Yeah, all in the street
Talib yo, I think it's 'bout time to speak
Yeah... yeah... word~!
Watch me take it there, life ain't no Christmas there
Hell yeah it's crystal clear when Kweli and Kris is here
Searching for the perfect beat I went to East Dayt'
It's crazy and fugazi how they slaves to they release date
They try to look away, they're scared to look inside
Askin why like a guy who look for God up in the sky (that's right)
Searchin high and low, behind the do', inside the drawer
Little did he know that the beat was tryin to find a flow
Stuck in limbo, how low can you go
A punched hole through your stomach lining like Tylenol
Build all kind of rolled, metaphors and similies
that'll have you doubtin my competitor's abilities
My whole body is a spiritual facility
Rock a vest after a lyrical killing spree
The illest delivery, later for the talk we need action
Silence is golden but the violence is platinum
When you rappin to the beat
Boom, bap, who's, that?
KRS-One bring the beat back
The perfect beat we seek that, knowledge of mind we speak that
We don't speak weak crap over weak tracks
MOVE, THAT; we speak boom bap live in the club
We can show and prove that
Yeah, it ain't old school or new school it's true school rap
Beat you 'til you're blue and black, true dat, it's
Better beat win again, work the street
Movin again, insert the heat
Lookin again for the perfect beat
Don't look in the book to learn to eat
Write up a hook, learn to speak
Never be shook, follow the heat
Forever they look weak
T.K. you must speak!
Teachin 'em how to eat to live
They cheap and their pimp is pleadin the fifth
Bleedin as if they goin to war
Everytime they leavin the crib
Sneakers and whips, police be peepin the strip
You see 'em walkin the beat
Hoes believin the pimps who eatin the shrimps
So John's walkin the street
Lookin for a sweet face, in each case
Tryin to get they heartbeat racin, and the dark meat be tastin
so delicious, my description so good to the beat
It's lifted right from the sounds that you hear in the hood when you sleep
Bring the beat back!
All that whackness, we don't need that
You gotta bring the beat back!
All that whack garbage, we don't need that
Bring the beat back! All that weakness we don't need that
Selector bring the beat back, bring the beat back!
Selector, listen!
Yeah, DJ Rhettmatic
Expect the unexpected
It's kind of hard to keep faith in the things that you do
When everybody turns they back on you
It's kind of hard to keep faith in the things that you do
When everybody turns their back...
Yeah I know a city that's surrounded by a beautiful beach
The economy boosted by the drugs they move in the street
More clearer than the crystal sky, blue as the beast
The people ain't got shoes for they feet, or food to eat
So they hurtin but what's for certain you can get you some heat
And over beef you laid to rest like you was gettin some sleep
Where the little kids get ammunition (word) you can't get no nutrition
Or any type of suitable living condition listen
They shoot you over that paper, its just survivalist human nature
to put you out of your misery like euthanasia (yeah)
Don't let them fool you we ain't different than the youth in Asia
Africa and Europe, it's a small world we truly neighbors
If they the third world then who the first to get to heaven
I know it's hard but who does God choose to go through it worst
Usually it's the prophets, ask a cat what really matters
Nowadays usually it's his pockets
We gotta get back to what really matters
We gotta search our soul to find out, what we're after
The more I find my voice the more they try to make it harder
Mom and dad don't forget, to warn your sons and daughters
About the-na-ture-of-the-world-to-day, the nature of the world today
The-na-ture-of-the-world-to-day, the nature of the world today
Word~! Don't nobody talk no more they all text message
Drivin and typin, not payin attention, missin they next exit
Dependin on navigation they ever know where they goin
They stayin stuck in one spot they not growin
I'm so over cryin, waitin and hopin playin the blame game
The game changed me into (A Different World) like Dwayne Wayne
I'm gettin high just to maintain (yeah)
Take my music like a drug and drop the needle in the same vein
I get a rush like I'm tweekin off blow
Except it ain't via the nose it's from deep in my soul
The street slang I be speakin in code
Kick in the do's, freakin the flow 'til the speakers explode
We in control, the people know I speak the truth
The power of my roots is thicker than sour sop
And they so strong they bustin out the flower pot
Family tradition is to tell 'em you love 'em
While your family livin from granny in the kitchen the little man in prison
I'm just tryin to get back, to what really matters
I'm tryin to search my soul to find out, what I'm after
But the more I find my voice the more they try to make it harder
So mom and dad don't forget to warn your sons and daughters
About the-na-ture-of, the world today, the nature of the world today
The-na-ture-of, the world today, the nature of the world today
Yeah, it's all natural baby
It's how we put it there
Yeah, Brooklyn to Tennessee
You goin up with me
Intro
[Chapelle]
Our keynote speaker is about to come on and I just wanted to say a few words
about him and you all know who he is... Talib Kweli! Please, hold your applause
until the end. We are GLAD to come and hear you speak. We love it! Kweli
doesn't like me to talk about this but one time we were driving through the
Mississippi delta and there was a brotha runnin up the side of the road and he
didn't have any shoes on. He didn't have a shirt on and I started to drive
right by this man. Kweli said "Stop the car because that brotha might be in
trouble" and I stopped the car. Kweli said to the man he said "Brotha are you
ok do you need a ride somewhere?" and the man looked at Kweli and said
"Shhhhhh... I'm escapin!" and Kweli took him by the hand and said "My brotha
you didn't get the memo, we have been free for some time now" well I'm wisinen
up. Please welcome good friend, scholar, ghetto philosopher, three time Nobel
peace prize winner, first black man to pilot an aircraft, the nigga that made
up the Nike swoosh, the man that made Koolaid say "oh yeah!" Brooklyn's own...
Talib Kweli.
[Intro] {Talib Kweli}
Whoo
We on fire tonight
Whoo
Yeah, we on fire tonight
Whoo
Black Star in the house fo' sho' (Yeah)
Yo, now everybody go... (C'mon)
[Intro Chorus] {Talib Kweli + Mos Def}
Ghet-to p-pole it's time to ride (Supreme, Supreme)
Bay-b get involved go side to side (Supreme, Supreme, Yeah, Yeah)
Side to side...
[Verse 1] {Talib Kweli}
'Bout to slap box with the beat
The shit I spit is a snapshot of the street
You can see the crack spot in the backdrop
The heat in the stash box of the black drop
You wonder why there's more crime
Free food, or a check the only time niggaz on line
Getting information from the nigga-net
The trickle-down theory guess it ain't reached niggaz yet
I make a bigger bet
Kweli 'bout to be a bigger threat
'Cuz there's hardly any real niggaz left
What the fuck these niggaz talking 'bout
Living a movie but the audience is walking out
I fight the temptation to rip the heart from your chest
'Til there's only five hard beats left
It's like a dead man walking
I turn on the radio and I hear dead men talking
[Chorus]
Ghet-to p-pole it's time to ride (Supreme, Supreme)
Bay-b get involved go side to side (Supreme, Supreme)
[Verse 2] {Mos Def}
Yo'
I got my headphones up like I'm listening close
Face blank with expression it isn't a joke
Start fire, sit back and spit its smoke
To get it provoked, blow it back to get in your throat
Mad problems...Take all the niggaz you know
Add that number up with every nigga you don't
Final number, some total of the niggaz that won't
Break me down, shake me of my fame, my style
What time it is, crew you can hate me now
And ten minutes from then you gon' love me again
Buck town republic again
Writing on the wall trouble again
Intensify struggle and such
Killers, Sadˆ lovers deluxe
Sound garnered, for the wild hearted
Downtrodden, up-starters
Young violent, uprising
Cocaine, and gunpowder
Up north, or bus crowded
Daily vibes to thug mountain
Cold caves or peaks of high
Think you present but unclear, and know how to hide
If you wonder why you got so much on your mind
'Cuz your living in a troubling time, this is a puzzling time
Fall back without recovering time, and time's up
Brooklyn, put your dimes up
[Chorus 2X]
[Verse 3] {Mos Def + Talib Kweli}
{Mos Def}
I put feeling inside of my rap
Hold it down for my side of the map
No matter what north, south east or west side of the mat
Bend a needle on the mind and it's back
{Talib Kweli}
Got a problem with that?
The holler back and the stars is black
We the New Era you just a Starter cap
Find out what happens when the artist in tact
Be sharp as a tack, fall back you smarter than that
{Mos Def}
Or perhaps you just ain't as smart as you think
Figure 8'n on the thin ice part of the rink
You a vessel that's promised to sink
Terra Firma ain't as hard as you think
Stare down, and you starting to blink
{Talib Kweli}
Like 182 this for fellas and the ladies who
Don't need to be spoon fed like baby food
I take a bite out the track like a Sabre-tooth
And spit out the truth
'Til the cops come and spray the booth
[Chorus 2X]
[Outro] {Talib Kweli + Mos Def}
Its all right with you its all right with me
Do the damn thing what you wanna be (Supreme, Supreme)
That's right, that's right that's right that's right
That's right, that's right that's right that's right (Supreme, Supreme)
[Repeated 3X More]
[Talking]
We do not (under no circumstances) live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop)
It lives for us
We don't live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop), it lives for us
We do not (under no circumstances) live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop)
It lives for us
We don't live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop), it lives for us
We do not (under no circumstances) live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop)
It lives for us
We don't live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop), it lives for us
It's the eternalist, y'all burn to this, blaze da dro'
Soul rebels trap up, we got a long way to go
Before this here blow like a volcano
We get eternal, this is what you waitin' for
You try to front and play the role
When you more like a pimp who pay the ho
With my name up in your mouth like fellatio
I lace the flow on purpose even up the ratio
Of Hip-Hop to that shit they drop on the radio
Underground classics is what they used to say before
Now we break the surface quiet like an alligator nose
They hate it, 'cause they know if they don't get it, then they may be slow
We still gonna blow like the horn played by Horatio
The stakes is three feet high and risin' like De La Soul
So I got Wonder Why, my man Dave and Maseo
We all got babies so we embrace the taste of dough
But y'all already know so I ain't gotta say no mo'
De La is whatcha need, Reflection is whatcha need
We got the masters of the ceremonies
Blessin' emcees lip professin' emcees
From LI to Brooklyn to Cinncinnati, Hi-Tek and Kweli got this on lock D
Let me hear you scream out loud if you're somebody
Party to party, body to body
When we come into the jam we do it wildstyle
Yo! I'm homegrown for the bain, once I rock the mic plain
It's the extravaganza we glad you came
Made only for them heads, it's infra-red Aim
For such a world figure, we got figures to gain
(Don't sleep on a nigga)
I ain't Icabod Crane get that ass cooked hard 'cause we raw like Kane
Been known to mic spit, infinite per frame
While these girls throw me plenty like jenny to jane
Ain't some old school G poppin' memory lane, been on it future robotic
Since the day I came
If you don't know Plug Wonder Why is my name
Most recognized leo with my size in mane
Matter a fact track is simple and Plain
'Cause the complexities I freeze is too deep to detain
Reflect, Kwa-Tone Tek eternally in the game (and De La) oh fo' sho'
We be shinin' the same
De La is whatcha need, Reflection is whatcha need
We got the masters of the ceremonies
Blessin' emcees lip professin' emcees
From LI to Brooklyn to Cinncinnati, Hi-Tek and Kweli got this on lock D
Let me hear you scream out loud if you're somebody
Party to party, body to body
When we come into the jam we do it wildstyle
Y'all think these challengers is here to make a man fold
Shoot I've been holdin' these joints since I was yea old
Came to confirm the fact that I've been on the payroll
Stay cold til one day make it hot and fade old
Continue til I'm dyin, rottin' out gray and old
I told them fool before they pass they have to pay toll
While I've been sittin' at the table eatin' steak whole, side of greens
Baby yams you know it stay soul, pre-natal
But they want to come spit your way so
So was I supposed to go and say no
Right emcees some walking straight, some take the gay stroll
I get my man to clamp they asses like they staples
I'm from LI we take it far as out as naples
And scrape hoes who'll be willing to take clothes off (off)
See once you bet it all against reflects eternal
You lose every rapper on a dept
Y'all need to pay ya dues
De La is whatcha need, Reflection is whatcha need
We got the masters of the ceremonies
Blessin' emcees lip professin' emcees
From LI to Brooklyn to Cinncinnati, Hi-Tek and Kweli got this on lock D
Let me hear you scream out loud if you're somebody
Party to party, body to body
What's next
These chicken neck MCs get me vexed
My rhymes be blowin' up chat rooms all over the internet
And causin' collisions on the highway of information
And then I head back to my prior engagement
In the nation of Brooklyn
Land of Trinis, Haitians, Jamaicans and Bejans
It's amazin' how lickin' shots is the proper representation
Soon they gonna need wack MC reservations
Cause I endanger the motherfuckers, they needin' preservation
Carry 'em home on the top of a truck like a trophy
Niggas still sleepin' like I'm Jay Z in the video for Hawaiian Sophie
It's cool I stay low key, keep a low pro
Come out crushin' shit just for fun like Co Flow
Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo here we go
Ridin' on the sound waves out your stereo
In the procession to your burial
Callin' Hi Tek little Leon the professional
I got the special flow listenin' to estero
Puffin' vegetables and now I'm red to go
The illest rhyme animal like Chuck
Burn leech niggas like salt when i lay in the cut
Think you about to blow when you continue to suck
The shit I've been through
Make me run up in your venue like What!
I snatch the mic and ask the crowd what are y'all waitin' for
They say nothin' but that fat shit
I got you, say no more i laid the law and all them
Crab rappers played the floor I called them out
A couple of them steeped up and I ate 'em raw
Some more wack niggas tried to spray the door but had no aim
Later for them corn balls
On the way out smacked them in they face with a methaphor
For better or for worse you better call the nurse
Before I send a cleaner and he get to your hospital room first
(Chorus)
What you wanna do I'm runnin' through your front line
Your whole plan is catcha tan in my sunshine
One time 'cause it's some kinda wonderful
Don't stand there lookin' stupid, what you wanna do
(repeat)
I'll take your style and embarras it with
Words beautifully written like Arabic
Got niggas on the run 'cause the fire like chariot
Introduce pen skills to ill deliveries and married it
Put it in your face like big gats and carried it like Harriet
Various crews tried to bury us
But we shut 'em down like Sagiterious with
That wack shit money you can't be serious
You niggas is hilarious actresses
Runnin around the club pissy like ghetto matresses
That's why I smack these kids back to reality
And how it be in actuality
With ready to battle MCs who skip the fuckin' formailties
We spark it in any club or meat market
Sweet artists don't come on the block they become street targets
If you want it I got it, come get it I'm with it
Your career will be shorter than a midget
And the world will know who did it
I smack up these ho ass MCs like a gorilla pimp
You comin' out the box like a gimp, money you still a wimp
My shit blow out filaments and light fixtures
With the right mixture of words used as colors
To paint the right picture
Graphic masterpieces your whole shit is smashed to pieces
Make you look at your man who rhyme and be like, quot;you not nasty like he is quot;
Believe this when you see this, and don't fuck with
Me either, 'cuz you'll be down where my feet is
Curled up in the fetus
Cryin' from the kicks, watch when I flip
People gonna be buyin' my shit like fiends dyin' for a hit, so...
(Chorus)
(Kweli)
Yeah, yeah
(Girl)
La, la, la (continuous)
(Kweli)
It's like what you gonna do when we come through when you
Yeah, shock body like
What you gonna do when we come through, Kweli
Uh, yeah, BK MC, like what you gonna do when we come through when you
Woo, yeah, come on
[Verse 1]
Watch how Talib Kweli Greene do it
What I bring to it
You hear the theme music
My rhymes' life support, dog breathe to it
Rhymes are bright, the sunshine beams through it
Stop haters in their tracks like high beams
Like the moment you was at the crime scene screaming "I ain't do it"
But, I seen through it, it's obscene how I spew it
Martin Luther King had a dream to it, people cling to it
I seen your momma lean to it in a green Buick
Wack niggas get passed over so much they seem Jewish
Better leave and do it now or seem foolish
This music I bleed to it, I raise my seeds to it
I MC with the truest in the game
I stay hungry like I'm the newest in the game
And stay hot like I'm bluish with the flame
You heard the truth when it came
And you knew it was the name that you couldn't pronounce
Now I'm all up in your mouth
My people all up in the house and we calling you out
Y'all niggas crying, what you bawling about
This shit is down like we chalking you out
Hey yo, that's what I'm talking about
[Chorus]
(Girl)
Look up in the sky recongnize it's sunshine (la, la's cont'd)
(Kweli)
Yeah, what you gonna do when we come through when you
(Girl)
How can you deny when it's right in your eyes
(Kweli)
Shock body, ro-ro-ro-ro-rock body
Like what you gonna do when we come through when you
(Girl)
Look up in the sky recognize it's sunshine
(Kweli)
Come on and, come on and
Kweli like what you gonna do when we come through when you
(Girl)
How can you deny when it's right in your eyes
(Kweli)
Yeah, come on
[Verse 2]
Check the writing skills forever coming tight with the quill
You sound like you liking the thrill
Or filling the pipe with the the krill
YOu must be smoking like the spliff we like to light when we build
Out of respect for the dead we let our Heinekens spill
Cats taking Vicatin pills to numb the pain that they feeling
Pertaining to stealing my rhymes finding their brains on the ceiling
I'm blowing their minds wide open when I'm flowing I'm fine
Hey yo my whole style banging like I'm throwing up signs
Niggas get cut like I saw someone I know in the line
I live life to the fullest cause I know I could die
Right now, I don't believe I know when to sto'
My face soldier's going to lie, when I'm going to buy
You gonna see a rainbow in the sky
And my momma's face glowing with pride
My first born held it down and through my baby's soul I survive
Put your hands in the air and let me know you're alive
I love this game y'all, I ain't even going to lie
I can see you all rocking cause you know when it's live, word
[Chorus]
(girl)
repeat chorus
(kweli)
repeat chorus
**Continue
[Outro]
BK, BX, Q-borough, like what you gonna do when we come through
ATL, Chi-Town, Los Angeles, Bay Area
Everybody like what you gonna do when we come through yeah
My whole world rocking
The year is 1975 (yeah, hahaha!)
Brooklyn, New York City (stand up)
A child destined for greatness is born (we goin in)
Let's go!
Get your hands in the air (get 'em up~!)
Put your hands in the air (put 'em up~!)
Get your hands in the air (get 'em up~!)
Put your hands in the air (put 'em up~!)
Talk shit now (now... now... now...) What? What?
Talk shit now (now... now... now...) What?
Talk shit now (now... now... now...) What?
Talk shit now (now... now... now...) What?
Talk shit now (now... now... now...)
Say something, say something (what was that?)
Say something (I dare you), say something
(The Lord Chief Rocka) I'm colder than meatlockers
My people keep throwin it up like cheap vodka
I smack internet MC's and beat bloggers
You can see my (Black Thought) like 'Riq Trotter
It's deep, go ahead and sleep, they know in the street
Kwe' gon flow on the beat proper composin complete operas
Longer than a cigar that's Godfather
Tappin two heart chakras I'm harder than gobstoppers
People comin for the throne not knowin the seat hotter
than fish grease, criminal names on police blotters
You convinced me, I hit targets like top shotters
Out in the mideast like Muslims takin Shahada
I'm sayin makin a profit a product of Reaganomics
Awake and I'm stayin conscious to radio playin garbage (yeh!)
Blacksmith Music, if you don't pay homage
I'ma show you how we break an artist
That's a threat, I'm not makin a promise
Speak to the people like Barack Obama
They worship like the black Madonna, c'mon
Niggaz talk shit, but they ain't got skills
I'm the type of nigga to put lead in your grill
Number two pencil is sharper to bruise mentals, and
beatin in my chest is the heart of a true gentleman
Still spit right in your face
Fuck a Top 8, back up, gimme (MySpace) you're not safe
Hahahaha
Yeah, they say I'm back, but I ain't go nowhere though
Been here the whole time
Where you been? You back
Matter fact, apologize
Yeah, open your mouth, say somethin, I fuckin dare you
Chokin you out 'til you can't suck any air through
Fuck with your man too, thinkin I can't do what I plan to
Vet vandal, niggaz are brand new
Ain't knew I was bad news? Look at the tattoos
Get ran through like you was fingers through Sassoon
Horror chick in the bathroom, off the backstage room
Shit you couldn't imagine, nigga I'll harass you
I'll Ras Kass you, (Soul on Ice) and body cast dude
Past due, Jean and Kwe' the last two action heroes
Actually had the capacity, to be the ones in a class of zeroes
Hip-Hop's not dead, it was on vacation
We back, we bask in the confrontation
You can ask me, have any conversation
You talk shit, Blacksmith, Jean, I'm waitin nigga
We not fallin for your trick cause your image is like a gimmick
Forget it every rhyme is bitten, you like a mimic
I'm talkin to the lord and I'm askin him for forgiveness
Just for kickin niggaz out the club like Michael Richards
Yeah I admit, I'm guilty, the way I spit is filthy
I keep it gritty so they get it they feel me, the flow
is known for touchin the soul of street hustlers
I speak in the language they know I keep customers
The writin therapeutic, it's due to the pain and sufferin
While these dudes get it confused and abuse the creative substance
I'm givin you a contact high, my name buzzin
And I came in the game with nothin, stop frontin nigga
Talk shit now!
The year of the Blacksmith is not defined by any calendar
Just thought I'd remind all you challengers
Get the name right, Talib Kweli, BKMC, say it again
Get your hands in the air (get 'em up~!)
Put your hands in the air (put 'em up~!)
Get your hands in the air (get 'em up~!)
[Talib Kweli: repeat 16X]
Feel the rush
[Talib over the repeated line]
Yeah, I do this shit for real (you get Chuck D'd, "Shut the Fuck down")
Ain't no games being played (remember that, remember that)
It might be the career (yo)
It might be on the stage (yo)
It might be in the street (yo)
But the people come to me (why?)
[Talib Kweli]
They come to me for the lyrical, spiritual, raw shit I spit at you
Original, and I see collective, not individual
Visual, in the mic I'm un-fuck-wit-able
Invincible, offical nigga who they come to
For the hardcore, art of war, rhymes that I got in store
Triple W in curo son or die or
For education and culture, heads is waitin' for Mos to
Do the album with Kweli, we do it like we suppose to
Nobody come close to my crew, we wild nice
You ain't tight, your rhymes is like what a child writes
When he can't spell, you chase crumbs and get ate like Han-sel
Can't hold your mic, like your liquor, your style like an Amstel
Smack a nigga til my motherfuckin hands swell
You ain't fly and you prolly got can-cell
Y'all niggas shaky like handheld, amuteur camera work
In walking this planet of earth
I'm the illest emcee and a man of my word
When I came out, niggaz didn't understand it at first
I'm known to roll up my sleeves and put my hands in the dirt
We at war and I got a battle plan that can work
With the proper execution so I'm killin' 'em right
You get hit like a deer standin' still in the light
I'm spillin' it like, I ain't never had a meal in my life
Feed my family with my pen, it's so real what I write
[Bridge]
We fight, fuck, get buckwild
Kill, chill, make love, have child
Freestyle, b-boy, hit the block
Build, destroy, get it hot
Yo, I make the place go apeshit (c'mon)
Ain't no other way to say it, ain't nuttin to play with
I'm Langston Hughes, "Dreams Deferred" seen and heard in the flesh
Cause so many people believe the word even when it seems absurd
With keen observation I peep the game
And got blood on his hands, I can see the stains
My street slang spray like shots when heat bang out
Niggas keep my name in they mouth, I put they flame out
Where I'm from, action is first and talk is second
I'm sharp like the blade in the logo of Rawkus Records
New York's infected, niggaz beefin' on the mix-tape
Got Nickelback niggaz thinkin' they can fuck with big weight
Hell no, give it up, it's enough
We about to live it up, with ten of us
We ride and you live with us
Pick it up, party people, you about to get in touch
Give it up, everybody, you about to get a rush
You can find Kweli in the cut, wth a Cohiba lit up bout to split a Dutch
Get it up, everybody, you about to get in touch
Give it up, everybody, you about to get a rush (whooo!)
[Xzibit]
Yeah, yeah
Quality material
Yo, check this out
Yeah, you heard it
Kweli
You don't know how to say it by now, fuck you
Broadcastin' live, from Brooklyn, New York City
Yeah, turn this shit up
It's Quality music
You know how we use it
Feel the rush
[Talib Kweli: repeat to end]
Yeah
it's that new Kweli,
I'm gonna give it to you before the bootleggers get hold of it
I figured I'd put it out first make some money on it, now why not ay
Okay,
one two
Yo I'm brooklyn like the 90's
Brown villa pusha, keep it grimy
Without the flapbush, that's where you found me
In brooklyn tec with just an incidaite? Free ??
Always catch me with Juju and Rubic and even truer kids
Dollar van ??, john bow running, never look back
Just the man that kept the hammer in his back
Rubics interduced me to Black and Forte
Dj Enough on avenue Kay I go back a long way,
With supernet and watching square and freestyling every day
Performing at Lyricist Lounge, ate of the g-brake?
Fuckin with mooders how I met Hi-Tek
Blackstar came in effect, when Alycia gave a tape to Mos def
Reflection Eternal was next on deck,
My crew the best and we prooved it.
We knew our music was the vanguard of a movement
Every Rawkus release was banging
They on the come up,
they was like fuck the radio to pharrel state, get the fuck up
Black listen, Jaron and Bryant
Next position was right about now, we need the radiohead ridging me,
While I hit the road on tour to support the record since the day it was sold
Corey had me following the example of De la Soul
Common and the Rooster, and me, these the sickest niggaz
Get my figures with the Okay-players and the Spitkickers
Rawkus got a deal with MCA, that's the grey area
But let us come from music cemetery of America
They try to fool you by switching the name to Geffen
Now they interscopes bitch and every artist who had a chance left â'em
Ain't no big surprise, wasn't no love there, Jimmy Ivy never signed me
I just kinda ended up there, fuck that
literaly, it was my way or the highway
Hit the road with the Beasty Boys on tour Europe with Kayne
I gotta thank him for the love on the album
I knew out on Electric Circus he get it by any means necesary, like Malcolm
I tried a single shot at video, getting control of my situation
Gotta label pop in this assituation??
You boy free I had to get out
I put you on, this is where I'm at
Right About Now
And if you saying it's my time, you
Right About Now
This what's going through my mind
Right About Now
Aiyo Aiyo, it's time Right About Now
And if you're looking you will find it Right About Now 2x
"What'd you do last night?"
"We did umm, two whole cars
It was me, Dez, and Main Three right?
And on the first car in small letters it said
'All you see is..' and then you know
big, big, you know some block silver letters
that said '..crime in the city' right?"
"It just took up the whole car?"
"Yeah yeah, it was a whole car and shit..."
[spanish speaking woman] Escuchela.. la ciudad respirando
(translation of spanish: Listen to it.. the city breathing)
* woman repeats 3X *
[spanish speaking woman] Escuchela..
[Mos Def]
The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis
Shinin, like who on top of this?
People was tusslin, arguin and bustlin
Gangstaz of Gotham hardcore hustlin
I'm wrestlin with words and ideas
My ears is picky, seekin what will transmit
the scribes can apply to transcript, yo
This ain't no time where the usual is suitable
Tonight alive, let's describe the inscrutable
The indisputable, we New York the narcotic
Strength in metal and fiber optics
where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips
for profits, thirsty criminals take pockets
Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin class watches
Skyscrapers is collosus, the cost of living
is preposterous, stay alive, you play or die, no options
No Batman and Robin, can't tell between
the cops and the robbers, they both partners, they all heartless
With no conscience, back streets stay darkened
Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened
My eagle talons STAY sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin
You either make a way or stay sobbin, the Shiny Apple
is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat
You could lose your teeth, many crews retreat
Nightly news repeat, who got shot down and locked down
Spotlight to savages, NASDAQ averages
My narrative, rose to explain this existance
Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance
So much on my mind that I can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving
[Talib Kweli]
Breathin in deep city breaths, sittin on shitty steps
we stoop to new lows, hell froze the night the city slept
The beast crept through concrete jungles
communicatin with one another
And ghetto birds where waters fall
from the hydrants to the gutters
The beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin
You on the wrong side of the track, lookin visibly shaken
Taken them plungers, plungin to death that's painted by the numbers
with crime unapplied pressure, cats is playin God
but havin children by a lesser baby mother but fuck it
we played against each other like puppets, swearin you got pull
when the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes
Gettin knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise
Look in the skies for God, what you see besides the smog
is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene
Thoughts that people put in the air
Places where you could get murdered over a glare
But everything is fair
It's a paradox we call reality
So keepin it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality
Killers Born Naturally like, Mickey and Mallory
Not knowing the ways'll get you capped like an NBA salary
Some cats be emceeing to illustrate what we be seeing
Hard to be a spiritual being when shit is shakin what you believe in
For trees to grow in Brooklyn, seeds need to be planted
I'm asking if y'all feel me AND THE CROWD LEFT ME STRANDED
My blood pressure boiled and rose, cause New York niggaz
actin spoiled at shows, to the winners the spoils go
I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates
New York life type trife the Roman Empire state
[Mos Def and crew]
So much on my mind I just can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Yo don't the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving
[spanish speaking woman] Escuchela.. respirando ??
[Common]
Yo...on The Amen, Corner I stood lookin at my former hood
Felt the spirit in the wind, knew my friend was gone for good
Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, I couldn't mask it
Mixin down emotions, struggle I hadn't mastered
I coreograph seven steps to heaven
And hell, waiting to exhale and make the bread leavened
Veteran of a cold war It's Chica-I-go for
What I know or, what's known
So some days I take the bus home, just to touch home
From the crib I spend months gone
Sat by the window with a clutched dome listenin to shorties cuss long
Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong
Tried to call, or at least beep the Lord, but didn't have a touch-tone
It's a dog-eat-dog world, you gotta mush on
Some of this land I must own
Outta the city, they want us gone
Tearin down the 'jects creatin plush homes
My circumstance is between Cabrini and Love Jones
Surrounded by hate, yet I love home
Ask my God how he thought travellin the world sound
Found it hard to imagine he hadn't been past downtown
It's deep, I heard the city breathe in its sleep
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep
Deep, I heard my man breathe in his sleep
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep
[Mos Def and crew]
So much on my mind I just can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Yo how the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathing
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Kiss the Ide's goodbye, I'm on the last train leaving
What what what, what what, what what, what what
Woaaaahhhhhhh!
One two three, Mos Def and Talib Kweli
We came to rock it on to the tip-top
Best alliance in hip-hop, wayohh
I said, one two tree, Black Star shine eternally
We came to rock it on to the tip-top
And Hi-Tek make the beat drop, wayohh
[Talib Kweli]
RE:DEFinition, turning your play into a tragedy
Exhibit level degree on the mic, passionately
Niggaz is sweet so I bet if I bit I'd get a cavity
Livin to get high, you ain't flyer than gravity
We Die Hard like the battery done in the back of me by the mad MC
who think imitation is the highest form of flattery, actually
Don't be mad at me, I had to be the one to break it to you
You get kicked into obscurity like judo, no Menudo
cause you pseudo, tryin to compete with reality like Xerox
Towards destruction you spiraling like hairlocks, wipe them teardrops
Chasing stars in your eyes, playing games with your lives
Now the wives is widows soakin up pillows, weepin like willows
Still mo' blacks is dyin, kids ain't livin they tryin
"How to Make a Slave" by Willie Lynch is still applyin
Regardless, the Mos is one of my closest partners
Rockin ever since before Prince was called The Artist
Rocker before Funkmaster Flex was rockin Starter
When 'Pac and Biggie was still cool before they was martyrs
Life or death, if I'm choosin with every breath I'm enhancin
Stop, there comes a time when you can't run
[Mos Def]
What, lyrically handsome, call collect a king's ransom
Jams I write soon become the ghetto anthem
Way out like Bruce Wayne's mansion, move like a phantom
You'll talk about me to your grandsons
Cats who claimin they hard be mad fag
so I run through em like, flood water through sandbags
Competition is mad, what I got, they can't have
Sinkin they ship, like Moby Dick, did Ahab
Son I'm way past the minimum, it's a verb millenium
My rap's hold a gat to your back, like Palestinians
Ancient Abyssinia, sure to hold the Gideon
Official b-boy gentlemen, long term, never the interim
Born inside the winter wind, day after December 10
These simpletons they mentionin the synonym for feminine
Sweeter than some cinnamon from Danish rings by Entenmann's
Rush up on adrenaline, they get they asses sent to them
(Gentlemen) you got a tenement, well then assemble it!
Leave your unit tremblin like herds of movin elephant
Intelligent embellishment, follow for your element
from Flatbush settlement, skin posseses melanin
Hotter than tales of crack peddlin, makin em WOOP
like blue gelatin, swing like Duke Ellington
Broader than Barrington Levy, believe me
The hot oppresion rent who burn down your chief teepee
You see me?
One two three, Mos Def and Talib Kweli
We came to rock it on to the tip-top
Best alliance in hip-hop, wayohh
I said, one two tree, Black Star shine eternally
We came to rock it on to the tip-top
Because we rulin hip-hop, yes we is rulin hip-hop
Talib Kweli is rulin hip-hop
Say we Black Star we rule hip-hop-ah-ahh-ah-ahh-ahh
Whoahhhh!
(woman: just give me a try!)
[Verse 1]
(what we gon' do? yeah)
We gon' work, we gon' play
We gon' lead the way
We gon' say everything that we need to say
Then get ghost in the breeze to blow the leaves away
MCs today, it's like they throwin' our seeds away
But that ain't for me to say, right?
It ain't got to be this way
We gon' take charge, make gods out of men
We gon' raise bars, show y'all how to win
Hit the rally, hit the riot, get the party started
Respect the words you herbs, it's the Kwelity artist
I solemnly promised the knowledge will demolish your college
Admonishes scholars, you acknowledge the dollars (yeah)
Want me to payola? Man I don't even know that boy, I'm takin' over
Keepin' it fresh like bakin' soda in your fridge
I keep Brooklyn like Jamaica so ???
[Hook]
That's how it is, "say la wi, ooh la la wi wi"
Please, excuse my French, nigga ridin' the bench
Sayin' "Coach, let me in, yo I know we can win"
(woman: just give me a try!)
[Verse 2]
Yeah I see y'all flossin' like you got shit on your teeth
'Til I get up on the mixtape and I shit on your beat
Well ever since I came back niggas ain't gettin' no sleep
Why beef? NayNay shit on the street
Come on, my words man hit like pure 'caine/+Cane+, ask +Abel+
I got more lines than cokeheads on a glass table
Roll with a thorough crew, everybody follow through
Brooklyn where on the street we either swallow you or hollow you
You know how my borough do
Cats'll pull the ratchet out, start blackin' out off funny style
Cats nothin' to laugh about (ha)
It's hood politics, the hood economics
You get exploited, even your +Daddy-O+ like Stetsasonic
Kweli the best alive, my words spray like pestacide
You niggas keep on buggin' me
When they gonna exercise their right to exit right now
And keep it movin'?
I'm the solution, niggas shootin' to salute
[Hook]
That's how it is, "say la wi, ooh la la wi wi"
Please, excuse my French, nigga ridin' the bench
Sayin' "Coach, put me in, yo I know we can win"
(woman: just give me a try!)
[Interlude]
B.K. in the house, what you wan' do?
L.A. in the house, what you wan' do?
BaBOO in the house, what you wan' do?
West Coast throw your W
[Verse 3]
I'm comin' through like MCs are my students and I'm the sensai
You need to fuck with your boy, fuck what your friends say
It's like my shits are so tight, I need some Ben Gay
I like the energy right, they call me feng shui
Men pray to their false gods and lost God a while ago
And crack up like the ???
No smile, know their inner-child can grow
Go out strapped with the calico
At a party ready to set it, wetted his throat
Had him better to smoke
His eyes red and he ready to let go
Yo oh, and then the DJ threw it on
A nigga like that's my shit, word is bond
[Hook]
That's how it is, "say la wi, ooh la la wi wi"
Please, excuse my French, nigga ridin' the bench
Sayin' "Coach, put me in, yo I know we can win"
(woman: just give me a try!)
[Interlude]
yeah, we gon' work, we gon' play
We gon' lead the way
We gon' say everything that we need to say
Then get ghost in the breeze to blow the leaves away
MCs today, it's like they throwin' our seeds away
But that ain't for me to say, right?
It ain't got to be this way
We gon' take charge, make gods out of men
We gon' raise bars, show y'all how to win
{*DJ scratching*}
We be blazin' (uh)
So amazin' (yeh)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (uh, yeh)
We be blazin' (uh)
So amazin' (c'mon, uh)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down
New year, new record, time to do bigger shit
Caught a plane to Cali linked with my nigga Quik
I figure with the combination we bomb the nation but stay calm and patient
As the world get hyped from hearin our musical conversation
This a beautiful situation right here
Given birth on the track cuz the cypher stay pregnant with ideas
And we rockin it - rock, rock, rockin it
Tell the hater players put a sock in it!
Proper shit, that you got to get, cause we properly document
How cats look more like dicks than the Washington monument
Validly try to challenge me, but who you racin wit'
It's amazing the lyrical lyngerie I be lacin shit, we be blazin it
Put it in the air with the chronic
My lyrics like drugs got you hooked on my phonics
From Brooklyn to Compton the lounge of Soundbombing
Still rockin' over "Balance and Options," now
If you got a spliff then put it in the air
If you want a rift then put it in the air
If you shakin yo' ass, put it in the air
If you makin it last, put it in the air
If you leave the crib strapped then put it in the air
Take ya hand of your gat and put it in the air
Snook your bud in the club, put it in the air
Got nuttin but love, put it in the air
They say my rhymes is too heavy, I come thicker than the fog
You get it when I retire and battle my catalogue
Writin rhymes in my captain's log, BlackStar date
MC's fake like Egyptian Gods in +Stargate+
Lovin the hate, bubble all types of weight in they rap
I draw blood like mosquitos y'all annoy like gnats
Pop that around the wrong cat get laid flat
Concrete adjust to the contours in your back
Quik where you at?
Yo i'm in the back room makin a run
Ain't even touched her n makin her cum
N you can catch me out in Portland we startin mine
Everybody doin shows but i'm the hottest flyin'
Bitches say honest, I swear to God
So how come then believin them is so damn hard
Could you really blame a nigga if you fucked a skate
You ain't even pay that's why you flunked today
All you heard was he sellin talk shit about niggas and drink wine
And your answer kept changin cos bitch you keep lyin'
Talkin bout 'he make me sick
All he do is disrespect me keep callin me bitch
And he only wanna fuck me when he all for that dough'
What the fuck you think i'm here for not to love you I hope
All i'm bout to do is listen for a minute
While I get my drink in n' introduce you to my dog Kweli n go up in it
C'mon
We be blazin' (c'mon)
So amazin' (yeh)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yeh, c'mon, yeh)
We be blazin' (uh)
So amazin' (c'mon, yeh, c'mon, c'mon)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down
Now let me tell you how I am
I'm mild-mannered at day but superhero at night
I got the special invite to make your spot look right
No ice, no rain, not bottles of champagne n'
HALF these motherfuckers can't pronounce my name
I'm so cool while you hyper in the coffee shop
Hype niggas make girls be like 'get off me stop'
Real niggas like thirst so of course we rock
Cos the game unauthordox, off top
You got cold feet like I pulled off your socks
Always goin down town pullin all the stops
Your breath smellin like fish from straight off the docks
Dats how you lost your spot
You too hype
We be blazin' (c'mon, uh)
So amazin' (yeh, everybody c'mon)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yo, all the people in the house)
We be blazin' (c'mon yeh)
So amazin' (yeah, c'mon)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down
Yo, 1, 2, (c'mon) 1, 2
We be blazin' (c'mon, yo)
So amazin' (c'mon get dowwwn)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yeh, everybody yo)
We be blazin' (light it up, light it up)
So amazin' (yeah, i'm feelin that, c'mon)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yeh)
Yo do that shit
We be blazin' (yeah)
So amazin' (c'mon get dowwwn, uh)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yo, yo do that shit)
We be blazin' (c'mon, yo)
So amazin' (yeh)
Everybody get down
[Vinia Mojica]
I'm on my way..
Whether sunny or rain - I'm on my way..
Destiny is pre-ordained - I'm on my way..
Whether ecstasy or pain - I'm on my way..
I'm black and free from your chains - I'm on my way..
Whether sunny or rain - I'm on my way..
Destiny is pre-ordained - I'm on my way..
Whether ecstasy or pain - I'm on my way..
I'm black and free from your chains - I'm on my way..
{*harmonizing fades out*}
[talking]
Yo, you know what we got to do, man, we need to get a whole CD.
Get a collection of all the music and everything we've ever done.
[woman singing]
Bringing back sweet memories (3x)
Life, living in Flatbush and going to house parties
Red lights, bumping, life is what you make it, then sorry
In my lifetime, ain't done too many things
better than watching your first son put his sentences together
Yo, it kinda make me think of way back when
I was the portrait of the artist as a young man
All them teenage dreams of rapping
Writing rhymes on napkins
Was really visualization
Making this shit actually happen
It's like something come through me
That truly just consume me
Speaking through the voices of the spirits speaking to me
I think back in the day, I absorbed everything like a sponge
Took a plunge into my past to share with my son
Bringing back sweet memories (3x)
Like thoughts out the back of my mind
Going back in some time
Like when you used to cut and had to go to the back of the line
Look back and you find
Tracks that make you relax and recline
Now cats rap about packing a nine
When they lacking divine
Inspiration
Running out of topics of conversation
Well I drop it in the pocket because rocking's my occupation
I do it remarkably, spark up a leaf
And possibly you could follow me
Tap into your chi
Utilize your memory
To help you see clearly, then get back to me
Actually, nothing's new under the sun
So when life be stressing me
My remedy is 'bringing back sweet memories'
Like the faces that are woven in the fabric of my consciousness
gt;From cities where making 21's a big accomplishment
Like when my people understood their prominence
And my past life visions of the continent
Like the first time I saw KRS live, rockin' it
I heard Resurrection by Common Sense
Dominant in my psyche
I chose my direction like Spike Lee
To speak my life through mics, and I never take it lightly
It might be something you did to bring you down when you were high
But that karma's a bitch, you steady asking God why
Like when my parents first split up
Yo, I was illin'
Seems like some years they was together for the sake of the children
And I love them for that
I don't know if they saw that
So I'ma say it, and convey it when the world play it (3x)
Bringing back sweet memories (3x)
Like black is beautiful, names from the seventies
Let me tap into your energy
Fields of dreams become my property
When I reach my destiny like a prophecy
Especially when I 'm 'bringing back sweet memories'
I got deep into my mind, see I got a treasury
That float through my head like a sweet melody
What you telling me
Reflection is a collection of memories
Definitely this is how hiphop was meant to be
Eventually, I knew I'd run into Hi-Teknology
It was only a matter of time like centuries
Check the recipe or technique to how it sound so sweet
I freak with word power, my man speak with beats
If I could make it in New York, I figured anywhere I'd make it
Came to Cincinnati linked with Mood, and we did Sacred
Hi-Tek beats became my favorite
Hussle on the Side was the cut
We started to put songs together like 'What!'
Travelled the world, came back to the crib
And hit the motherland
Yeah, this year we put in work and got some other plans
In fact, that's where I'll take the fam
when the Reflection joint is done
By the time you hear this, I'll be basking in African sun
Like Wow!
We made it
We here
instrumental
[Talib Kweli]
Yo, we're going to have the word love
in many different languages translated all through the track
So, whenever you hear the word love
Know that, it's going to be in a different language
The language of love cannot be translated, yo
Love is blind, you just see bright light
You up in the club feelin' the night life, lookin' for the right type
Blood rushing to your heart making it beat
When she swept you off your feet and made it complete
You know the plan you had to conquer the world
Thinking you Scarface, looking for that perfect girl
And now you found her
Started with romantic, then got to frantic
Then things thats normally small become gigantic
Now y'all sinkin like the Titanic here come the panic
Bein with you like a habit without you I can't stand it
It's tragic when you wonder when you lost that magic
Without understanding that you never had it try to grab it
In the bed gettin a nut off, communication cut off
Getting mad cause you turned or wondering where she shut off
Constantly comparing you to someone in my past
We don't smile anymore, and we argue over cash
Advance to that physical shit
See what happens if you keep talkin
See what happens if you lay a finger on me motherf...
Yo, see what I'm sayin'
It's like one big mind game that everybody playin and
Niggas say bitches is trife, bitches say niggas is
We just don't understand our fundamental differences
I'm still learning though, actually
I just do what come naturally, naturally, naturally
(Chorus):
L'amour n'a pas de, frontiere (Love has no boundaries)
Restes car je t'aime comme tu es (Stay because I love you as you are)
J'ai traverse l'ocean du verbe (I crossed an ocean of words)
Et je t'ai trouve (And I found you)
[Talib Kweli]
Women thrive on emotions, men refuse to acknowledge
So when we arguin nobody win
Words get in the way time and again
Sticks and stones break your bones words break your heart
Whether you in touch with that part or not say quot;word quot;
Words are weapons for the revolutionary
Used for evil make the situation very scary
Word up, but love is brave
It flies in the face of fear
Yo, wherever you want to go love'll take you there
Let's go, you know a flower that grow in the ghetto
Know more about survival than the one from fresh meadows
It got love for the sun, that's where I'm comin from
Spit in this fashion cause I love rockin over drums
Word (te quiero) I put my love into my music
If you with me then you love how I do it
If my heart you're livin' in your ocean I'm swimmin' in
Never drowning got me floatin' watching you in slow motion
Love potion overdosin approachin
The explosion of my senses everyday without your heart
is like a sentence in jail
Trust I'll always be mentally free
You got the key to let it out I'll show you how it could be
Love {*different language*} it ain't nuttin but a word
A chicken ain't nuttin but a bird
Yo, yo, yo
(Chorus):
L'amour n'a pas de, frontiere (Love has no boundaries)
Restes car je t'aime comme tu es (Stay because I love you as you are)
J'ai traverse l'ocean du verbe (I crossed an ocean of words)
Et je t'ai trouve (And I found you)
[Talib Kweli]
Some of y'all in love with that material but
love enter my life like a miracle and
It reciprocal that's why I'm feeling you love
We exibit our natural behavior
Like making love under the moon in Jamaica
Get you so hot you call the name of the creata
The morning we hop back into action again
Up on the wall lovin how the sun blacken your skin
Remember when we explored the beach
Swam in the ocean and saw beneith
How the colors of the coral reef looked like the illest floral peice
That's what your beauty remind me of
It's hard to find a love like ours, taking it high above
Them other duns try to spit game but, I dont sweat it though
Know in my heart that we connected so I let it go
Now if they call you out your name and that's a different thing
Anything but Queen I'll go to war like a King
Your friends sweat you cause you aint got a band
But they dont understand
Some things is meant to stay between a woman and man
And they ain't privy to it so they try to get into it
Both you and me see through it so the way we flow is fluid
We speak the love language, they speak from pain and anguish
Some don't love theyselves so they perception is tainted
Out they joint like quot;Shit, he payin for your rent quot; missin the point
When you rub me into your skin just like an ointment
It's more than pillow talk, it can't be translated
Learn how to speak it, and become emancipated
It's a language
Universal love...
(Chorus):
L'amour n'a pas de, frontiere (Love has no boundaries)
Restes car je t'aime comme tu es (Stay because I love you as you are)
J'ai traverse l'ocean du verbe (I crossed an ocean of words)
Et je t'ai trouve (And I found you)
Love love love love, love, love (Repeated)
[Talib Kweli]
So many emcees focusin on black people extermination
We keep it balanced with that knowledge of self, determination
It's hot, we be blowin the spots, with conversations
C'mon let's smooth it out like Soul Sensation
We in the house like Japanese in Japan, or Koreans in Korea
Head to Philly and free Mumia with the Kujichagulia TRUE
Singin is swingin and writin is fightin, but what
they writin got us clashin like titans it's not excitin
No question, bein a black man is demandin
The fire's in my eyes and the flames need fannin (3X)
With that what? (Knowledge Of Self) Determination
*repeat 4X*
[singer]
Things I say and do, may not come quite through
My words may not convey just what I'm feelin
[Talib Kweli]
Yes yes come on, yes yes
Knowledge Of Self is like life after death
With that you never worry about your last breath
Death comes, that's how I'm livin, it's the next stage
The flesh goes underground, the book of life, flip the page
Yo they askin me how old, we livin the same age
I feel the rage of a million niggaz locked inside a cage
At exactly which point do you start to realize
That life without knowledge is, death in disguise?
That's why, Knowledge Of Self is like life after death
Apply it, to your life, let destiny manifest
Different day, same confusion, we're gonna take this
hip-hop shit and keep it movin, shed a little light
Now y'all bloomin like a flower with the power of the evident
Voices and drums original instruments
In the flesh presently presentin my representation
With that what? (Knowledge Of Self) Determination
*repeat 6X*
- - - - these two parts overlap - - - -
Things I say and do, may not come quite through
My words may not convey just what I'm feelin
*repeat 2X*
[Talib Kweli]
The most important time in history is, NOW, the present
So count your blessings cause time can't define the essence
But you stressin over time and you follow the Roman calendar
These people enter Cona like Gattaca, you can bet
they tryin to lock you down like Attica, the African diaspora
represents strength in numbers, a giant can't slumber forever
I know you gotta get that cheddar whatever
Aiyyo I heard you twice the first time money, get it together
You must be History, you repeatin yourself out of the pages
You keepin yourself depleatin your spiritual wealth
That quick cash'll get your ass quick fast in houses of detention
Inner-city concentration camps where no one pays attention
or mentions the ascension of death, til nothing's left
The young, gifted and Black are sprung addicted to crack
All my people where y'all at cause, y'all ain't here
And your hero's using your mind as a canvas to paint fear
With, broad brush strokes and tales of incarceration
You get out of jail with that Knowledge of Self determination
Stand in ovation, cause you put the Hue in Human
Cause and effect, effect everything you do
and that's why I got love in the face of hate
Hands steady so the lines in the mental illustration is straight
The thought you had don't even contemplate
Infinite like figure eight there's no escape..
From that what? (Knowledge Of Self) Determination
*repeat 4X*
Things I say and do, may not come quite through
My words may not convey just what I'm feelin
*repeat 2X*
.. (chatter in the backround)
Kweli: yes yes, yes yes
Kweli: wat the fuck he sayin about mohica.2x
Things I say and do, may not come quite through
My words may not convey just what I'm feelin
*repeat 2X*
What I'm feelin, what I'm feelin, ooooh, what I'm feelin...
Wooaahh! yeah
on top of the world
Yeah, that's how my seeds got me feeling' right now
on top of the world
Yeah, you ever felt like you could do anything, (Yeah)
on top of the world
(?) I'ma hold y'all down for real, (Gotcha!)
It was 1996, 4th of July, looking off in the sky
dealing with thoughts inside, when something caught my eye
It was a silhoutte of a beautiful woman, bright with life
carrying my first seed, looking like she gone bear fruit tonight
We at the African street festival, and she walking around
talking about the midwife said, that bring the baby down
I'm about to be a father, the sights and sounds, seem brighter around me
and for starters, I know I'ma work harder, word
We got home at three in the morning, I was beat
them contractions started coming as soon as I fell asleep
3:05, like every five minutes, then the water broke
we on the go, yelling at the cabbie, cause he's sort of slow
You know them hospitals all trying to get paid, no questions
hear come the doctor's with they drugs, trying to do c-sections
But my baby stay's strong, in labor for yay long
eight-pound baby boy, to carry my name on, joy!
Huh, yeah
I know how you feel, Kweli I know how you feel
(That's the sound of joy)
See my brother, I know how you feel, Kweli, I know how you feel
(That's the sound of joy)
So when you, have a seed, come in the world, say dog that shit's real
(That's the sound of joy, y'all)
Huh, Kweli, yo I know how you feel, Kweli, yo I know how you feel
My baby girl
June 10th, 1999, I been on the grind
since the birth of my son, it's been about, way more then rhymes
Baby on the way, my lady glowing today, at least
that's what the midwife said, on the phone
Anyway, the music got me going away
Like everyday, but it's a blessing, so I gotta have patience
and she got pregnant on a Jamaican vacation
So it's all good, this time well have the baby in a house
I went the hospital route, I know what they all about (Never again)
So I'm out on tour, in Baltimore
get the call around four, when the water hit the floor (Damn!)
I gotta rock my show, but I gotta go
got second thoughts about her not going, to the hospital
I left the show early, Mos held me down, good looking (No doubt)
call the car service, like, take me straight to Brooklyn (Uh huh)
Got the news in the car, stayed sorta calm
but I cried tears of joy, when they put my daughter in my arms, how precious!
Huh, huh
Said I know how you feel, uh, said I know how you feel when you
(My precious joy)
Said I know how you feel, uh, Kwe I know how you feel
(I know you do, huh, my precious joy y'all)
Huh, uh, said I know how you feel (yeah), said I know how you feel
(My precious joy)
Huh, man I know how you feel (yeah), said I know how you feel
I do it for the seeds y'all, in they formative years when they need y'all
we gotta believe, in what we conceive y'all, it's deep y'all
I give them the truth, so they approach the situation, with ammunition
I keep nothing away, they hear everything, cause they know how to listen
Teach them the game, so they know they position, so they can grow
and make decisions, that change the world, and break old tradition
They put kids in jail, for a life they ain't even get to start
that's murder too, and it's breaking my heart, it's breaking our nation apart
We gave the youth all the anger, it's just
we ain't taught them, how to express it, and so it's dangerous
You can't talk to them
Unless your language is relating to what they going through
so busy ignoring them, you can't see what they showing you
And you wonder, why we called baby-daddy's and baby-momma's
when we grow up, we can't act like adult mothers and fathers, yo
I'm so blessed to have a boy and a girl, everyday they bring joy to my world
Huh, yeah
I know how you feel, Kweli I know how you feel
(That's the sound of joy)
Brother Kwe', I know how you feel, Brother Kwe', I know how you feel
(Baby girl, my precious joy)
Kweli, I know how you feel, say bro' I know how you feel
(Fela, be my joy, yo)
Huh, if you know how the people feel, let me really know how you...yo
Yes, welcome to the wonderful sounds of Talib Kweli
Ladies...
I got you in the mood, for an interlude,
Raw like in the nude, I hope this ain't considered rude,
But let's stop talkin, cause it's feelin like an interview,
I know you into me, so, let me get into you,
I'm always in the mood for laughin and lovin and rappin and (fuckin),
And passin the dutch and relaxin and puffin and hittin and duckin,
The rippin production, these kittens ain't muffins,
Just because we stuff 'em in the oven,
My words drippin off the tongue like the wax from a candle wick,
Ill the way I lay down the rap, they can't handle it,
Cats all sappy like romantic flicks, dude, get a clue,
Like Colonel Mustard in the study with a candlestick,
They holdin hands with these dudes like they goin steady,
But, one glimpse and I know they ready, you already know,
Slipped her a note like, 'you ready to go?'
We make a getaway plan and we head for the do'!
I wear the night like a cloak 'cause I move with the stars,
Navigate through the truly bizarre,
Who we are, who we is, it's the kids that stay true to this life,
And if the mood is right, we gon' do it tonight,
You messin up my mo', my whole mood, told you, oh,
Lose, eat crews like crews like soulfood,
The only producer that feel like "fuck rappers!"
Only backpacker with a chip like hackers,
Only Michael Richardson, only much blacker,
So if he say nigger, then I'ma say (cracker),
Is this the Ritz? Carlton? Dress like, fresh, like, just like..
I'm the shit (Uggh)
You ain't figured out what I'm about yet,
Always rockin that 'this ain't out yet',
But this ain't 'bout that,
From a city where niggers plug like outlets,
Far as music go yo, it ain't no outlets, so,
When I go out, niggers always out to get me in the studio,
And I ain't in the mood to flow,
I'm with my girl and I'm tryin to hit the movies yo,
And they tryna act stupid, oh!
In the club with Silicone Suzie,
What happened to real girls like Rudy?
With real titties like Tooty,
This girl got a silicone booty!
And got the nerve to act moody!
Now I ain't tryin to judge like Judy,
But bitch you a man, you can't fool me!
Act like Fifty, throw her in a pool G...
Break it down
Bringin the drum, keep it funky like a stink in a slum,
'Cause see they wanna breed cursin for the things that don't come
The speakers wrong that we rap dudes speakin in tongues
Christmas time choice for what? No we keepin our guns
Smokin a piff to cause a leak in your lungs,
You ain't got shit to do like Friday when the weekend begun,
Completely done with rap dudes - don't compete with the dumb,
I spill my blood for my people, see how deep it can run?
I'm in the mood like Dante and Main Flow,
Never comin with the same flow, got it's change, yo
It's strange yo, to make yo chain glow, that's yo main goal
That's a facade like I'm somewhere over the rainbow
Really these cats sweeter than mangoes, Mr Bojangles-ass dudes,
Dancin around the club, doin the tango,
Go hard like Iverson playin with hurt ankles,
Plus, wrestle the topic from a different Kurt Angle!
[Talib Kweli]
Yeah, yeah
New Talib Kweli
Yeah, you know what it is
Come on, come on, yeah
Hey yo *repeats*
[Hook: Mary J. Blige]
I try, I try (that's all we can do)
I try, you know I try
I try, I try (yeah)
I try, you know I try
[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]
K. West! Kweli!
Got searched on the plane, Arabic first name
Disturbed by the fame just like Kurt Cobain
Breath of life, kiss of death, my lips pursed the same
You flirt 'til she came
Nothin' hurt like the pain and torture
Daughters of the dust lookin' for a vein
Something to take in vain like the Lord's name
Put your hands together, got 'em all sayin'
[Hook: Mary J. Blige]
I try, I try
I try, you know I try
I try, I try
I try, you know I try
[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]
Yo, it's all ghetto in gear higher, the floor settle
More metal for beef that we don't let the law settle
I try to navigate the treacherous waters of
America's ghettos that set up the slaughteres
But there's more of us
Although we speak in different languages
We all pretty familiar with what anger is
Young and dangerous, ??? strangulous
Get up on some gangsta shit
Guns to bang ya wit'
And we put it on records to entertain ya wit'
Our growing pains are way deeper than Mike Seavers
Our uniforms is white sneakers and white T-shirts
On top of wife beaters
We like to light reefers
The 'hood need us for rappers, just ain't the right leaders
I put a lot into it
This is my product and I gotta move it
Stop the industry but you can't stop the music
[Interlude: Mary J. Blige]
An upside down kingdom where life is just not fair (upside down kingdom)
Some many sufferin' cuz deep inside they're scared (so scared)
Fear pumped into their veins to keep them from their destiny
Where would they be if you and I don't care?
[Hook: Mary J. Blige]
I try, I try, you know I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
[Verse 3: Talib Kweli]
Yo, the things I'm seein' on the news is insane
A stock broker shoot his kid and throw himself in front of a train
A mother leave her baby home for two weeks all by himself
Three years old, eatin' ketchup and mustard, cryin for help
Tryin' to bring your struggle to life
The label want a song about a bubbly life
I have trouble tryin' to write some shit
To BANG in the club through the night
When people suffer tonight
Lord knows I try
[Hook: Mary J. Blige]
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
[Interlude: Talib Kweli]
Life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin' the noodle, some people usin' the muscle
Some people put it all together, make it fit like a puzzle
Come on, say it now
Life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin' the noodle, some people usin' the muscle
Some people put it all together, yeah
[Outro: Mary J. Blige]
I try, I try, you know I try
I try, oh Lord I try
Everyday I
{*Mary J. Bliges harmonizes with the beat*}
Upside down kingdom
Oh, they're so scared
Everyday on the news we can't look around with
something somewhere
I try, I try, you know I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
Lord knows, Lord knows we try
Yeah
Yeah, as a kid growin up in Brooklyn, my pops was a DJ
He had a bunch of records - funk, jazz, rhythm and blues, soul
There was this one gospel record I liked like, like
Like holy moly, I might get some religion and leave you holy holy
Yeah, this rhyme is so fat it's roly poly
I give you intimate details so you can get to know me
These corporate rappers like "Why this dude pickin on me?"
You rap your way to the top, but now it's gettin lonely
Kids is hungry and you lookin like a steak from Nick & Tony's
But don't nobody want your jewels, cause your shit is phony
Say word? Your shit is real~?! Damn, your shit is corny
My rhymes turn a new page like Mark Foley
And touch kids like when Larry Clark gave the part to Chloe
Rest in peace to Harold Hunter, the greatest from NEWWW YAWK
Started out skatin for Zoo York
Word hangin out at The Gavin, I was very lucky
To talk to Rash' once I got past Derek Dudley
Got him on "Respiration", that's pre-Badu
Bet you Garnett Reid got a Matt Doo tattoo
Sometimes I feel like I'm drownin I gotta tread water
Head above the water I always remember Headquarters
Heads up, eyes open, I got my mind focused
I find hope inside a line, my rhymes define opus
Sometimes hopeless people, fill my thoughts with evil
My record so hard it broke the needle
At the Mixtape Awards niggaz act like they don't give a fuck though
And disrespect the legacy of Justo
What the blood claat? No, let the blood flow
You ain't come to pay your respect, then what you come fo'?
Too many good niggaz die, it's like a stop loss
Hood niggaz ghetto like fried wings and hot sauce
How you hard? The cops lettin 50 shots off
Baby Jay-Z's with the knockoff Scott Storch beat
You are not Short, you are not Katt
You're not a player or a pimp, money stop that
Learn to master your speech and be eloquent
Rappers keep peddlin sweets, the beats weaker than gelatin
We used to kick up dust, now we settlin
Rest in peace to Dilla, Weldon, we can't forget you
Professor X and, Proof we miss you, word
Rest in peace to Shaka, twenty one gun salute
In the air like "BLAKA BLAKA BLAKA"
You're still here cause you're livin through me
You're like a gift God has given to me
[Talib Kweli]
Yes..
Every day somebody ask me where all the real MC's is at?
They underground
There's mad talented cats underground with that raw shit
Yaknowwhat'msayin? Bringin them raw skills
YaknowwhatI'm sayin?
Really, to me..
It's a Small Wonder, like Vicki, why I'm picky
These niggas suck like hickies
and still get the shit they slip in like Mickies
I'm sick of the hater-players, bring on the regulators
With the flavors like a farm team fucking with the majors
Like a river how I run through it, I do it so cold
Freezin up your bodily fluids, your style is old
You runnin your mouth, but don't really know what you be talkin about
You should retire, get that complimentary watch, be out!
Yo, with the quickness, so swift you miss this lyrical fitness
Now get this, these emcees wanna test me like litmus, bear witness
I'm like shot clocks, interstate cops, and blood clots
My point is, your flow can stop!
By all means, you need more practice, take that ass home
Everybody lookin at you, fish tank syndrome
In full effect, I stay catchin lyrical rep
And keep it blacker than the back of your neck
What you expect, that shit's hollerin
Cause we developin the followin
Gettin played like stone love tapes and dollar vans
Order reverse your universe so your demise is first
Before your rise it gets worse
You need a night nurse like Gregory
Beggin me - stop it hurts! - is what you say to me
Like that's supposed to mean somethin?
You the one I seen frontin in the club
Your act I don't buy it, I got the dub
Come on everybody, come on just show your love
Come on everybody, come on just show your love
Come on everybody, come on just show your love
Come on everybody, come on just show your love
Come on everybody, come on just show your love
Chorus: *chanted in background*
Wo-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-uh-oh *repeated 4X*
[Mos Def]
Visions occupy my synaptic space
Command and shake, to illustrate my mind's landscape
The tall grass, the low plains, the mountanous ridges
Thickets among the forests, rivers beneath the bridges
Presence of hilltops, lit up with tree tops
Eavesdrop; and hear the incline of sunshine, nine
Stones in orbit, refuse to forfeit
They all form a cipher, and they came to observe it
I follow suit, and face it, embrace it
Shinin bright, but still I'm careful not to waste it
Destined to rise, because I'm basement adjacent
Spirit is still so just chill and be patient
Some heads approach like I'm the one to base with
Clowns about to scream and shout but don't say shh..
I ain't your student so I ain't to be tested
I'm majestic, I represent my strength without effort
My, method is unorthodox, but of course it rocks
My serious synopsis will drop kick, my topics
run the gauntlets and galvanize the audience
I must represent, I don't come off with no corniness
It's all luminary, despite commentary
Some people say, Mos how you get so?
My sign will make you jump around like calypso
And, murmur to yourself like a schizo
There ain't no bottom on the ???
Chorus
[Talib Kweli]
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Here we go. Blackstar, hop on the Blackstar line
We bout to take y'all home.
YaknowwhatImean? Here we go...
We got all markets on lock
From meat to stock
Blackstar, what? throwin like head rock in bars
Men flock to where we are, cause its the place to be
Grab my paint, jump on stage and deface emcees
We sell our souls like Spawn and come for the drone I sit upon
Freestyle or written songs so we can get it on!
Going back and forth, fallin back, all across the track
Passin the mic's like quarterbacks
of course its phat, get off of that!
Reverse psychology got em scared to say when shit is whack
out of fear of being called a hater, imagine that!
We ain't havin that reachin past the star status that you grabbin at
My battle raps blast your ass back to your natural habitat
So floss, cause what it costs ain't worth it to me
Cause I'm the one these Spice Girl emcees Wannabe
But they can't, ain't no points forever, so why bother?
Cause your girl calls my name out like Clarence Carter
Clarence Carter, Clarence Carter!
(I be strokin, that's what I be doin)
Aiyyo, as we rock harder
And always drop the bonified head nodders
Aiyyo, later for the hater-players
Yo-yo, yo-yo, later for these hater-players
Chorus
Blackstar keeps shining
Chorus
Blackstar keeps shining
[Kweli talking]
Yeah...
Yeah! That's what I'm talkin about!
Let's do it... Kanye West, c'mon turn me up and
Black Thought, c'mon turn me up and
Pharoahe Monch, c'mon turn me up and
Talib Kweli in the house with
[Hook: Kanye West]
Guerrilla monsoon rap - all the shorties like "who dat?"
Got the whole crowd like "how ya do dat?"
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat
We come through and all the shorties like "who dat?"
Got the whole crowd like "how ya do dat?"
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat
[Black Thought]
Yo, I hit these emcees with the grip of death like I was a Vulcan
Ain't a lot of "ifs" an "ands", it's just straight talkin
It's hard to swallow at times, so take portions
Bitin off more than you can chew, create offense
Emcee species endangered like dolphins
Rappers is spittin nails into they own coffins (c'mon)
Hear come the Dundee moves rocket-launchin (yeah)
Black Thought, quit playin him close and back up off him
[Talib Kweli]
Kweli -- spruce to the tree, Bruce to the Lee
The real emcee, that your favorite rapper used to be
One by one I knock 'em out like Schoolly D - my rhymes is eulogy
A flea could move a tree, before ya think ya movin me
I black and blue emcees - actin new to me, get smacked stupidly
That lack skills, like the black community lack unity (uh)
Still my rhymes heard like Ali DePhrase
Step off the stage to shouts of "Kweli boomayyay!!"
[Pharoahe Monch]
See these four emcees came to get down
Rearrange the rap game, change ya whole sound
Nigga YOU, got ta, understand the plot ta
Movin and groovin and always improvin alot-ta
I'll outfox the, average Porsche ya Boxster talk
Break the bank on some old Frank Sinatra (New York...)
Slash Chi-Town, slash Philly
Check the blast from Genevo, you can get slapped silly
[Hook]
[Black Thought]
Okay... my sound drenches, each of the five senses
And hold the shock value of electrified fences
It's truth or consequences, ride wit us or against us
Is you a dedicated soldier, or you a princess, dog?
I'm in it to win it and not for the wealth
Got a crib with a Grammy and a gat on the shelf
Nan nigga competition, gotta battle myself
And me and Kweli on a mission, gettin Pharoahe for help
[Talib Kweli]
From natives walkin in trailor tears to players sippin Belvedere
We always comin well prepared, and all my dogs' smellin fear
PLUS, even my niggaz from the Bede say you hella-scared
Truth or consequences, and all senses be well-aware
Your style - under-developed there, hell if I care
What hardship you claim to see, but I can tell by your stare
Nigga you fugazi, sayin ya crew blazin
like sayin Miss Cleo is a true Jamaican, we makin...
[Pharoahe Monch]
Guerrilla monsoon rap, smell the fumes, get in tune wit it
When I attack your city, y'all gon' think Dr. Doom did it
Spit it like white trash in seed-spittin contests
With a vendetta that sent a betta letter bomb to Congress
I'm pissed - cumulus clouds of ominous
Words of the Thor, the rawness that'll restore ya calmness
Unless, you wanna be leg and armless
That's parapaleg' for those who believe in bomb threats
[Hook]
[various ad-libs til fade]
Yeah...
Yeah! That's what I'm talkin about!
Let's do it... Kanye West, c'mon turn me up and
Black Thought, c'mon turn me up and
Pharoahe Monch, c'mon turn me up and
Talib Kweli in the house with
Guerrilla monsoon rap - all the shorties like "who dat?"
Got the whole crowd like "how ya do dat?"
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat
We come through and all the shorties like "who dat?"
Got the whole crowd like "how ya do dat?"
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat
Yo, I hit these emcees with the grip of death like I was a Vulcan
Ain't a lot of "ifs" an "ands", it's just straight talkin
It's hard to swallow at times, so take portions
Bitin off more than you can chew, create offense
Emcee species endangered like dolphins
Rappers is spittin nails into they own coffins (c'mon)
Hear come the Dundee moves rocket-launchin (yeah)
Black Thought, quit playin him close and back up off him
Kweli -- spruce to the tree, Bruce to the Lee
Favorite emcee, that your favorite rapper used to be
One by one I knock 'em out like Schoolly D - my rhymes is eulogy
A flea could move a tree, before ya think ya movin me
I black and blue emcees - actin new to me, get smacked stupidly
That lack skills, like the black community lack unity (uh)
Still my rhymes heard like Ali DePhrase
Step off the stage to shouts of "Kweli boomayyay!!"
See these four emcees came to get down
Rearrange the rap game, change ya whole sound
Nigga YOU, got ta, understand the plot ta
Movin and groovin and always improvin alot-ta
I'll outfox the, average Porsche ya Boxster talk
Break the bank on some old Frank Sinatra (New York...)
Slash Chi-Town, slash Philly
Check the blast from Genevo, you can get slapped silly
Okay... my sound drenches, each of the five senses
And hold the shock value of electrified fences
It's truth or consequences, ride wit us or against us
Is you a dedicated soldier, or you a princess, dog?
I'm in it to win it and not for the wealth
Got a crib with a Grammy and a gat on the shelf
Nan nigga competition, gotta battle myself
And me and Kweli on a mission, gettin Pharoahe for help
From natives walkin in trailor tears to players sippin Belvedere
We always comin well prepared, and all my dogs' smellin fear
PLUS, even my niggaz from the Bede say you hella-scared
Truth or consequences, and all senses be well-aware
Your style - under-developed there, hell if I care
What hardship you claim to see, but I can tell by your stare
Nigga you fugazi, sayin ya crew blazin
like sayin Miss Cleo is a true Jamaican, we makin...
Guerrilla monsoon rap, smell the fumes, get in tune wit it
When I attack your city, y'all gon' think Dr. Doom did it
Spit it like white trash in seed-spittin contests
With a vendetta that sent a betta letter bomb to Congress
I'm pissed - cumulus clouds of ominous
Words of the Thor, the rawness that'll restore ya calmness
Unless, you wanna be leg and armless
Kweli: (Woman's Voice)
Yea (yeaaah)
Come on
Yeah
Kweli
[Bridge]
Yo Yo
Ayo my silent moments, loud as the crack of thunder
My hunger is like the crocodile that attacks the hunter
It ain't commercial or underground, its true cause I
(wanna be good to you)
[Chorus]
Call it skill, call it game, call it glow, call my name
Like the lord, all in vein, screaming like you all in pain
Treat it like a drug, all up in ya vain cause (wanna be good to you)
[Verse 1]
We make the squares dance, and get the do like dotsey
Y'all niggas roll with pussy-cats like Josey
All spoiled rotten like ghetto groceries yo
I clutch the mic like ya grandma clutch her rosary yo
Swooping the industry, like a bird to prey
My stance has got stamina, ya verses lack vertebrae
I heard them say I was a conscious rapper
But I'm a monster when I hafta smack the shit out of a nonsense actor
Using my 'hands solo' and I don't need chewy
Over your head like Yamakas and Koofies yo
Fuck the ? movies, type of niggas proud to be groupies
Followers in the herd running over the cliff, I'm the
Buffalo soldier, smoke ya like a dread like rasta
blowing the spliff, loading a clip to spit high
Like you holding blow in a stolen whip, rolling the strip
Looking to hit cops, now that's a 4 alarm
Black queen falling on my arms, you could call it charm
Mater fact call it what you want, its up to you bro
(wanna be good to you)
Chorus (1x)
[Verse 2]
How many niggas ever been in love'
How many niggas really think they thugs
And can't think without the drink and drugs
How many niggas can't get in with hats and sneakers on
Say 'fuck security' and get inside and keep them on
How many niggas think that gats make the weaker strong
Can't do for self and wanna snatch the plate you eating on
That don't take heart, slave, nigga play ya part
I'd rather jump over board nigga, face the sharks
We stay doing it, later for the conversation
Hammers is cocked and waiting, niggas is not debating
We ain't got the patience You found popping shit
Come in to town just to run you down like poppa ditch
And dig a proper ditch, you lying like a politician
Your proposition meets opposition like contradictions
Get out my house, you ain't no real representative
I make it happen, you ain't official, you tentative
Niggas is sensitive, see how they catching feelings
It's so hot, the sweat rise and it wet the ceiling
Barracuda, Spitkicker nigga that's the crew (wanna be good to you)
[Breakdown]
Whoo! (yeaahh)
Come on
Yeah
Low ride
[Verse 3]
Niggas be claiming shit, find a gangsta movie, put
they name in it, biting like there ain't no shame in it
You the hardest on the beat, I'm the fire that you playing with
You a artist from the street, I'll give you the blood to paint it with
So yeah I'm positive, I'm positive I'm the best
Spit bullets to split ya vest and deposit them in ya chest
Dark is the flesh on my bones, calling Brooklyn home
Hang up on niggas like 'I want you to meet my nigga tone, word
Leave me alone like Michael Jackson
Or there will be more than butterflies in your stomach
waiting to see what happens
You see me out, know that my crew is flawless
So called gangstas need more security than the Rawkus office
Yo, I thought you bust ya gun
You just a big joke, thinking you a Big Pun
Yo, Kayne this is the big one (wanna be good to you)
me and my niggas having big fun
Bridge (1x)
Chorus (1x)
Come on,
BK and
BX and
Q boro and
Manhattan and
Harlem niggas and
Long Island
Wanna be good to you you you come on! (wanna be good to you)
The whole world rocking
Yo the whole world rocking
quot;Good morning, Brook-nam quot;
Another stop... on the train
(wake up... wake up... wake up...)
We come to a stop that everybody got to make...
Whether you local or express
[Talib Kweli]
What's the meanin of ghettofabulous
Not ridin the back of the bus
I'm a revolutionary antagonist
Some playas is mad at us for just doin our music out of love
Some underground heads is hatin cause we have fun at clubs
I'm probably on some government list for my rhymin
You a fool if you don't think they already tapped your line
Medicine is big business so my remedies is herbal
It's music is for the people so we Reflection Eternal
Listen, you hear the difference between science and science fiction
We blow it out like if you leave on every appliance in the kitchen
at once; still rolling kind bud in Cuban blunts
On the corner watchin how kids comin to Brooklyn for they fronts
Niggas run past what they need chasing after what they want
Fuckin chumps, you walk down the street and get jumped
Brooklyn cats like to bubble out of town no lookin back
When you a ghetto chef you mastered the art of cookin crack
Some get caught sleepin on the Mother City so when they go
They come back as tales of niggas we used to know
Never looked up to see the stars in all they heavenly glory
Just straight ahead cause the peripheral is buildings with mad stories
Not floors but dramas is played out, shorties get laid out
like respect and fade out like TV sets
into the banks of our memories (let it be) we'll never forget you
Lyin on your deathbed askin for God to bless you
[Hook: Talib Kweli]
Good mourning, good afternoon, good night
What have you done with your life
Everybody time comes to be embraced by the light
You only scared to die when you ain't livin right, man
I'm puttin up a hellafied fight
{*Hi Tek scratch: quot;Stay awake to the ways of the world quot;*}
[Talib Kweli]
I need you all to be clear on exactly what I'm sayin
With your attention span I understand that I ain't playin
You mistaken if you somehow think it's just me you facin
Starin me down while your enemy is standin adjacent
My heart is racin but I know just what I stand for
We chasin death carelessly like +Jessica+, I +Care Moore+
Who said, quot;Just because no one can understand how you speak
don't necessarily mean that what you be sayin is deep quot;
In case you die in your sleep you ask the Lord for a blessin
Sometimes they sneak up so quiet that the silence is deafenin
You'll never know who the assassin is until it's your time to go
Your life is flashin, askin for forgiveness but you move too slow
Now the people that you love bear the pain that you once harbored
You was livin for yourself so you could never be a martyr
Life is hard, death is harder; you somebody baby father
Someone's lover, son of your mother, somebody brother
Somebody nigga, now your spirit in the air like a whisper
Hearin your name mentioned when we pourin out some liquor
The days go by quicker and the nights don't seem to differ
It's gettin cold, so I shivered and asked my soul to be delivered
[Hook: Talib Kweli]
Good mourning, good afternoon, good night
What have you done with your life
Everybody time comes to be embraced by the light
You only scared to die when you ain't livin right, man
I'm puttin up a hellafied fight
{*Hi Tek scratch: quot;Stay awake to the ways of the world quot;*}
[Talib Kweli]
Yo, the time come for everybody..
It ain't somethin you can really prepare for
Yo, yo, Mad Duke, rock rock on and
Curtis Mayfield, rock rock on and
Grover Washington, rock rock on and
My Aunt Hazel, rock rock on and
Big L, rock rock on and
Freaky Tah rock rock on and
Jerome Green, rock rock on and
Slang Ton, rock rock on and
We celebrate life.. {*echoes*}
This is a tear jerker
The revolution is here, the revolution is here people
I said it once, I'll say it twice
You gots to be ready
The revolution is inside of you
People, the revolution is here, yeah
The revolution's here
No one can lead you off your path
You'll try to change the world
So please excuse me while I laugh (yeah)
No one can change your ways (rock with me for a second)
No one can lead you off your path (come on)
You'll try to change the world
So please excuse me while I laugh
Yo, I heard it's said the revolution won't be televised
But in the land of milk and honey there's a date you gotta sell it by
Otherwise it just expires and spoils
And these folks jump out the pot when the water too hot
Cuz the fire boils inside
You go to church to find you some religion
And all you hear is connivin' and gossip and contradiction and
You try to vote and participate in the government
And the muh'fuckin' Democrats is actin' like Republicans
You join an organization that know black history
But ask them how they plan to make money and it's a mystery
Lookin' for the remedy but you can't see what's hurtin' you
The revolution's here, the revolution is personal
They call me the political rapper
Even after I tell 'em I don't fuck with politics
I don't even follow it
I'm on some KRS, Ice Cube, Chris Wallace shit
Main Source, De La Soul, bumpin' "2Pacalypse Now"
The revolution's here (yeah)
No one can lead you off your path (uh uh)
You'll try to change the world
So please excuse me while I laugh (ha ha, ha ha)
No one can change your ways
No one can lead you off your path (uh uh)
You'll try to change the world ('scuse me)
So please excuse me while I laugh
Yo, I speak at schools a lot cause they say I'm intelligent
Nervous cause I'm dope, if I was wack I'd be irrelevant
I'm like the dope in your tracks until your high is settled in
You leanin' to the left, the laughter's the best medicine
But the troubles you have today you just can't laugh away
Stay optimistic, they can change, it's gon' come like Donny Hathaway
You have to pray, on top of that, act today
Cuz opportunity shrivel away like Tom Hanks in "Cast Away"
Everybody pass away, the past will pay, the family mournin'
Everybody act accordin' to the season that they born in
You fight in the streets, start bleedin' 'til the blood is pourin'
In the gutter, mothers cry 'til the Lord be livin' by the sword and
All that folks want is safety, they goin' gun crazy
The same reason Reagan was playin' war games in the '80s
The same reason I've always rocked dog chains on my babies
The struggle is beautiful, I'm too strong for you to slave me
The revolution's here (yeah)
No one can lead you off your path (uh uh)
You'll try to change the world
So please excuse me while I laugh (ha ha, ha ha)
No one can change your ways (yeah)
No one can lead you off your path (uh uh)
You'll try to change the world ('scuse me)
So please excuse me while I laugh (yeah)
The revolution's here
No one can lead you off your path
You'll try to change the world
So please excuse me while I laugh
No one can change your ways
No one can lead you off your path
You'll try to change the world
So please excuse me while I laugh
It's a beautiful thing that's happenin' right now
Right now G
Yo, I'm rockin' with my man Hi-Tek on the track right now
We fightin' the good fight
The Beautiful Struggle
Yeah, let's go
Dave, this a monster
When them boys wit the Tec's throwin' up they set
And the spot so hot the ceilin' start to sweat
Yeah, that's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out, that's when the beast
When you just a little tipsy, you lookin' at them lips
And you lockin' up them hips, get the drillin' wit the tips and
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out, that's when the
Knowledge is the founder of everything in existence
If you not droppin' knowledge about us, it's 'cause you ig'nant
A top-notch scholar wit honors, I'm so gifted
Life is the most vicious, honest and prolific
I drop diabolical brollic wit no gimmick
Astonish the flow critics, rhyme wit the most lyrics
I paint pictures, jot it and dot it but won't print it
My project is photogenic, I am the most vivid
Man, I got a brain the size of the most biggest
Wide as them cold rivers, wise as them old niggaz
Tired of this, though, half of you rhyme it but don't live it
Watch it and go spit it, stop it, I know physics
Breakin' yo physical, demolishin' yo spirit
The struggle got me thinkin' demonic and so wicked
Man, I'm so deep I'm bottomless, yo, kill it
Wise wit the flow, rhymin behind 'em it's so senseless
When them boys wit the Tec's throwin' up they set
And the spot so hot the ceilin' start to sweat
Yeah, that's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out, that's when the beast
When you just a little tipsy, you lookin' at them lips
And you lockin' up them hips, get the drillin' wit the tips and
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out, that's when the
Yeah, live New York rap, stay away from the pork crap
Actin' like you all that, get smacked if you talk back
Spiritual like Rakim on ice, like Kane with the females
Slick Rick and Biggie Smalls attention to detail
Political like PE, I'm spittin' fire like Ice Cube
Kweli and Ice do 'til you start fuckin' wit my fool
Rap 'll set the right mood, fin' to blow like a light fuse
You might lose, ya chance of winnin' slimmer than a size two
Plus, the shit you kick so wack, niggaz ready to fight you
Fuck rap, you better off wit spoken word kickin' Haiku
Or rhymes got teeth that'll bite you, make it clearer than white booze
You ain't special, there's a million rappers like you
Far from clumsy but I drop lines and spill bars
Smoke more trees and be around more black chicks than Bill Maher
Peel a card off the deck, this that real hard hip-hop shit
Niggaz, feel y'all, it's real, y'all
When them boys wit the Tec's throwin' up they set
And the spot so hot the ceilin' start to sweat
Yeah, that's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out, that's when the
When you just a little tipsy, you lookin' at them lips
And you lockin' up them hips, get the drillin' wit the tips and
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out, that's when the
The beast is out when the police is out
They be pullin' out and really showin' you what peace about
Upholdin' the law that's designed to keep my people down
Bourgeois niggaz walkin' around like everything is equal now
I'm peepin' how from the beat cop to the interstate trooper
To the Feds who put a price on the side of head of Cuba
Be protectin' the property value over the people life
To take action against a foul government is the people right
But not too many ready to fight
It's like you'd rather be at home watchin' a flick or a fight
Or maybe 'Nick At Nite'
It's sick how I'm addicted to mics, become a flickerin' light
After I spark I'm always ready to write
Where I'm from? They be watchin' us but we be watchin' them
And bust shots 'til the coppers bring the choppers in
The squad cars try to box me in
But I got knowledge of self and it's stronger
Than any cage you can lock me in
When them boys wit the Tec's throwin' up they set
And the spot so hot the ceilin' start to sweat
Yeah, that's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out, that's when the beast
When you just a little tipsy, you lookin' at them lips
And you lockin' up them hips, get the drillin' wit the tips and
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out
That's when the beast come out, that's when the
Lot of different beasts or demons roamin' the planet
And they surface at any given time
You never know when they can surface and come right up out at you
No matter how righteous you think you are
Yo, yo
Niggas always wanna cheak u, make sure u keepin it real niggga
Im over here doing me, you do u, come on
(Back up offa me)ah high tec
(Back up offa me)why dont you get outta ma face
(Back up offa me)betta stay on your place
(Back up offa me)stand up !! ah how much can i take u need to jus
(Back up offa me)(Back up offa me)(Back up offa me)
(Back up offa me)i got money to make not a minuite to waste
(Back up offa me)need space what im tryna' create u need to jus
(Back up offa me)(Back up offa me)(Back up offa me)
I know he aint talkin this , this is grown men's business
Be your own man stand on your own feet
I thought we were homies, but now u coming at me acting like you dont know me
You think u do but your proberly wrong
Im surrounded by more babies than Ashanti's song
Aww baby !! i know you dont get it
Tryna' walk into ma shoes i know you won't fit in
Just coz i know you and your flow too
This mo too, and you wont get it, i dont owe you
You want high tec to do a record for you
So niggas do checkup for you,
Comfortable, coz niggas get respected for you
Get your own respect dude that aint mean it evil
Aint no crutches in no crew, my crew is crued equal
Shit was cool when we was teenagers we grown men,
You my people but
I dont need you moanin and groanin i cant feed you, i already gotta kid
Tell a nigga try to regulate some shit thats not his
Im not tryna' sign im not an artist nigga
Im jus tryna' rhyme and go the hardest nigga
Radio
Suckas never play me coz i dont let em
They like a pimp, on they hoe sweat em
When i do a show i love to catch a ladies eye
Thas a paperatsie's eye i dont wanna see no lady die
Sports, entertainment, academics, business and politics
Fine hoes swollow dicks, for dollas quick
Young boys brought up in gangs like young lords
Jump off stratagye way and now your done for
What you thought that shawrty about to act a rage(nope)
Right now somebody done at the back stage
Its a master's label relationship and guess who told me
Its the white girl from Colarada and guess who cobie
Try to tell you not to fall with this everytime
Thats more cobie than the jappnesse musta rhyme
Dont need these thieses and tryna catch nuttin'
And when they throwing pussy best believe u catcha suttin'
Yeah man what he on back up offa me, nigga he think can talk about me , nahimsayin !!and i
Know nigga be talkin about me man,nahimsayin !! who u think put him on !! i put him on !!TALIB
!! KWELII
THAT WHATS BE HIS RAP NAME OR SSOMETHING LIEK THAT!!nigga's name was Henry Abernafy, thas what
His real name is
Henry Abernafy fitty first street.man he gonna get that money. i gotta book of rhymes but i
Gotta book of rhymes
Nahimsyain!! BACK UP OFF ME !! he need to back up off me.look im serious if he come round the
Block, if he come
Back round the block in my lines of ma grocery store, im tellin him right now soon as i bag his
Groceries.
U know what im sayin imma take imma take it liek a like a snape a bottle
And just crack accross his forehead and i be liek YEAH !! TALIB !! AKA HENRY ABERNAFY !! huh !!
Okay
This what it is now a days right
Little noises and whatnot
I got one though
Ready or not
It's all going to (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
Yup, we living in (Hell)
Yup, they giving us (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
Yup, we living in (Hell)
Word
Every Sunday dressing up catching gossip at its worst
Couldn't see the difference in the Baptist and the Catholic Church
Caught up in the rapture of the first chapter and second verse
If we all God's children then what's the word of the reverend worth
Taught early that faith is blind like justice when you facing time
If we all made in God's image then that means his face is mine
Wait or it's that blasphemy it's logical it has to be
If I don't look like my father then the way I live is bastardly
Naturally that's confusion to a young'n trying to follow Christ
Taught that if you don't know Jesus then you lead a hollow life
Never question the fact that Jesus was Jewish not a Christian
Or that Christianity was law according to politicians
Who was King James?
And why did he think it was so vital to remove chapters and make his own
version of the Bible
They say Hell is underground and Heaven is in the sky
And they say that's where you go when you die but how they know
It's all going to (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
Yup, we living in (Hell)
Yup, they giving us (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
Yup, we living in (Hell)
I've been to many churches I've quoted many verses
I've dealt with my base self I controlled my many urges
I used to study my lessons
It was a blessing not a curse
I learned that Heaven and Hell exist right here on Earth, word
Studied with Rastafarians and learned from the dreads that Hell is called
Babylon
And that's where them crazy boarheads dwell
They got us thinking that Muslims like to make bombs
But real Muslims believe in paradise and the resist the Shaitan
So it all sound the same to me
That's why when they say one is right and the other is wrong it just sound
like game to me
It's like God skipped past the church and came to me
No that ain't vein to me
It's just a particular way that I came to see
The difference between those who claim to be
Religious and those that say they spiritual
And recognizing that life is full of miracles
You could see my glow in a rhyme
The poem divine 'cause it coincide with a grow in the time that those who
looking for God knowin' to go inside
It's all going to (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
Yup, we living in (Hell)
Yup, they giving us (Hell)
Yup, we living in (Hell)
Yup, they giving us (Hell)
Yup, we living in (Hell)
Yo, living in mass confusion
Looking for absolution
The gas seducing and psychopath produce the last solution
Based on his interpretation of what the words were saying
Trying to get to God but ended up doing the work of Satin
Religion create the vision
Make the Muslim hate the Christian
Make the Christian hate the Jew
Make the rules of faith
That you condition to and to you gotta follow
And God forbid you go to Hell
But if you ever walked through any ghetto then you know it well
We in the third eye of the storm
It's all going to (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
Yup, we living in (Hell)
Yup, they giving us (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
It's all going to (Hell)
Yup, we living in (Hell)
Yup, they giving us (Hell)
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want
Just because the lord is my shepherd don't mean I gotta be no sheep
You feel me?
More blood is spilled over religion than anything in world history
Artist: Talib Kweli f/ Common, Anthony Hamilton
Album: The Beautiful Struggle
Song: Ghetto Show
(Intro: Talib Kweli)
Ghetto to ghetto, backyard to yard
We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods (come on)
Precious metals round our necks and arms (yea)
We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods
Ghetto to ghetto, backyard to yard
We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods (come on)
Precious metals round our necks and arms (yea)
We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods
(Hook: Anthony Hamilton)
Whatever in your heart is where you want to be
My hood is the ghetto
Even when you look
Its never what you see
My hood is the ghetto
I've been down before up is just a reach
Cause my hood is the ghetto
Catch a second wind
Then begin again
My hood is the ghetto
(Verse 1: Common)
Black magic in the hood, its tragic but understood
Crack addicts, crack windows, crack wood
Even whats bad becomes good, status becomes stood
Upon the pedestal welcome to the ghetto show
Federal buildings, pissy hallways filled with children pushing children
Fiends lips peeling, shit seems real and
What's real is the estate of mind that we're in
The situation feels great
My man peels weight, so he can fill plates
You might get love but you still feel hate
Through and chain plates, we communicate
Chicago to brooklyn nigga real ones do relate
(Verse 2: Talib Kweli)
If lyrics sold then truth be told
I'll probably be just as rich and famous as jay-z
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like common sense
Next best thing I do a record with common sense
Cause its the music, its blues, its jazz, its acoustics
Soul, rock and roll the hip hop we be producing yea
It's the gear, it's the flare, it's the stare
Nowadays they'll shot you where they used to shoot the fair
Remember the lost soldiers, pour a beer, shoot the air
We got our own elected officials, no matter who the mayor
I know you know what I'm talking about
From New York to the South, take off your shoes when you walk in the house
(Hook)
(Verse 3: Talib Kweli)
Yo
I grew up where they're playing skele in the parking lot
And sell paintings of Aaliyah, BIG and Pac up in the barbershop
Buildings too big so you don't really see the stars a lot
But rapping, drinking, and going to prison you see them bars a lot
I feel the spirit in the dark and hear it in my heart
And always keep my ears to the block till I dearly depart
Hip hop is really the art
We have to express the part of ourselves that make us want to martyr ourselves
It ain't harder to tell when somebody stick you up and put the hammer to you
They want them dead presidents like Stickman and Mutulu
With a gun to your jaw, these kids don't run anymore
Kicks is a hundred or more
(Verse 4: Common)
A man in front of the store, begging for money and mercy
I told him say a prayer under his breath, he cursed me
Niggaz is thirsty, I heard it's a drought
Up early, serving from their grandmother's house
Sometime the ghetto feels desolate, yo the eyes of the hood yo is desperate
Effected by the deficit, times and lessons get hard
Either get by or get god, but but you try to get by
It's like the block keep blocking
You try to make moves, its like the car just keep stopping
We shorties in the court, need cochran yea
I tell them why the weed seeds popping, in the game you need options
No time for feet watching, me and kwe keep rocking for the ghetto
Hook times 2
[Talib Kweli]
These niggaz ain't thugs, the real thugs is the government
Don't matter if you independent, democrat or republican
Niggaz politickin the street, get into beef
Start blastin, now a new cat is executive chief
With a, passion for heat you get, blast in yo' seat
Die before you crash in yo' Jeep, never passin in your sleep
like an old man, you ain't a fool you got a whole plan
to conquer territories like Europeans who stole land
The future of your whole fam' hang in the balance
You the king, and your block is the palace
Y'all niggaz is the parliament, untouchable, spot unrushable
Keep your weight wet, call in collect to save a buck or two
Get mad, who the fuck are you What you gonna do
Exactly what I thought - NOTHIN, in the sport of frontin
you the undisputed champion, I'm in a class you can't be in
My words is flesh like Jesus, the aquarian
{*scratched* quot;Let's stop right here () quot;}
{ quot;So you think that I'm a fool.. quot;}
{ quot;Ayy man.. () quot;}
Chorus: T. Kweli and Kool G. Rap
[T] It's just a chapter of the night, in the ghetto afterlife
Where you just seen or heard about or gonna have to fight
[K] Where they sacrifice the life and niggaz see flashes of light
When you trapped up in the heights but clappers aimin at the wife
[Talib Kweli]
Yeah, dudes gettin money is still thuggin
Chicks gettin money is still ghetto
Still livin the whole thuggish stilleto
Your team let the metal burst before you take an L
you raised in hell, let the dust settle first
Then you ask the question, snatchin the life of the innocent
Shit happens huh, a man's respected by his actions
It's the karma of the street, you try to meet the karma
while the karma sleep, yo it's deep, but the karma can't be beat
You don't know your enemy, so you fightin with yourself
Relate to rap niggaz cause they writin what you felt
You got top shelf connects you gettin seasoned like a veteran
We suck the venom out the snake bite, without the medicine
We benefit from niggaz in tenements, dyin for benjamins
So bad that they know they own coffin measurements
Ghetto eloquence, in the moment of truth, don't be hesistant
or fall victim to the element, word is bond
quot;So while y'all keep on fakin the funk,
we gonna keep on walkin through the darkness carryin our torches quot;
- gt; DJ Premier
{*scratched* quot;I'ma give-give-give it to-to you straight quot;
quot;Straight up and down! quot; - gt; DJ Premier
Chorus: T. Kweli and Kool G. Rap
[T] Just another chapter of the night, in the ghetto afterlife
Where you just seen or heard about or gonna have to fight
[K] Where they sacrifice the life and niggaz see flashes of light
When you trapped up in the heights but clappers aimin at the wife
[Kool G. Rap]
Niggaz get caught up in the struggle
End up in court in trouble, sportin a bubble
Ford azure bubble, importer smuggle, forcin a rumble
Hit the blocks with a portion to double
Flip and get tossed in the huddle
Police with one piece short of the puzzle
It's a hustle, peep the street life, they movin muscle
and the G's'll make your knees buckle
Tussle with heat until your feet stand in a pee puddle
Cheese double but all the speedy niggaz bleed puddles
Make the headlines; some try to escape the fed time
Phone taps on direct lines - tec-9's with the red shine
Jake climbin through the bedroom blinds
Tryin to bring you to your deadline, it's slippery when wet signs
Red time, wipe the sweat around your neck time
One shot spill out your red wine, rock shots to deafen your prime
Pieces of hot lead left in your mind
One slug to the left of your spine
Forever late to rest on the shrine
{ quot;So you think that I'm a fool.. quot;}
[Talib]
Yeah.. my Lord.. yeah
[Verse 1: Talib]
We sell, crack to our own out the back of our homes
We smell the musk at the dusk in the crack of the dawn
We go through "Epidodes II," like "Attack of the Clones"
Work 'til we break our back and you hear the crack of the bone
To get by.. just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
We commute to computers
Spirits stay mute while you eagles spread rumors
We survivalists, turned to consumers
To get by.. just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Ask Him why some people got to live in a trailer, cuss like a sailor
I paint a picture with the pen like Norman Mailer
Me and Willa raised three daughters all by herself, with no help
I think about a struggle and I find the strength in myself
These words, melt in my mouth
They hot, like the jail cell in the South
Before my nigga Core bailed me out
To get by.. just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
We do or die like Bed-Stuy through the red sky
with the window of the red eye
Let the lead fly, some G. Rap shit, "Livin' to Let Die"
[Chorus: Background singers]
This morning, I woke up
Feeling brand new and I jumped up
Feeling my highs, and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smokin, and stop drinkin
And I've been thinkin - I've got my reasons
Just to get (by), just to get (by)
Just to get (by), just to get (by)
[Talib and background singers]
(ba ba ba, ba da bada, ba da bada, ba da bada, ba da badahh
Just to get (by), just to get (by)
Just to get (by by by by by by)
(ba ba ba, ba da bada, ba da bada, ba da bada, ba da badahh
Just to get (by), just to get (by)
Just to get (by by by by by by)
[Verse 2: Talib]
We keeping it gangster say "fo shizzle", "fo sheezy" and "stayin crunk"
Its easy to pull a breezy, smoke trees, and we stay drunk
Yo, I activism - attackin the system, the blacks and latins in prison
Numbers of prison they victim black in the vision
Shit and all they got is rappin to listen to
I let them know we missin you, the love is unconditional
Even when the condition is critical, when the livin is miserable
Your position is pivotal, I ain't bullshittin you
Now, why would I lie? Just to get by?
Just to get by, we get fly
The TV got us reachin for stars
Not the ones between Venus and Mars, the ones that be readin for parts
Some people get breast enhancements and penis enlargers
Saturday sinners Sunday morning at the feet of the Father
They need somethin to rely on, we get high on all types of drug
When, all you really need is love
To get by.. just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Our parents sing like John Lennon, "Imagine all the people watch"
We rock like Paul McCartney from now until the last Beatle drop
[Chorus: Background singers]
This morning, I woke up
Feeling brand new and I jumped up
Feeling my high's, and my low's
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smoking, and stop drinking
And I've been thinking - I've got my reasons
Just to get (by), just to get (by)
Just to get (by), just to get (by)
[Talib: repeat 2X - with background singers]
Yoyoyo, yo
Some people cry, and some people try
Just to get by, for a piece of the pie
You love to eat and get high
We decieve when we lie, and we keepin it fly
Yoyoyo, yo
When, the people decide, to keep a disguise
Can't see they eyes, see the evil inside
But there's people you find
[Talib Kweli] (Spoken)
Yea, so we got this tune called quot;For Women quot; right
Originally, it was by Nina Simone
She said it was inspired by, you know
Down south. In the south, they used to call her Mother Antie
She said No Mrs.
Just Antie
She said if anybody ever called her Antie
she'd burn the whole goddamn place down
I'm over past that
Coming into the new millenium, we can't forget our elders
[Talib Kweli]
I got off the 2 train in Brooklyn on my way to a session
Said let me help this woman up the stairs before I get to steppin'
We got in a conversation she said she a 107
Just her presence was a blessing and her essence was a lesson
She had her head wrapped
And long dreads that peeked out the back
Like antenna to help her get a sense of where she was at, imagine that
Livin' a century, the strenght of her memories
Felt like an angel had been sent to me
She lived from nigger to colored to negro to black
To afro then african-american and right back to nigger
You figure she'd be bitter in the twilight
But she alright, cuz she done sseen the circle of life yo
Her skin was black like it was packed with melanin
Back in the days of slaves she packin' like Harriet Tubman
Her arms are long and she moves like song
Feet with corns, hand with callouses
But her heart is warm and her hair is wooly
And it attract a lot of energy even negative
She gotta dead that the head wrap is her remedy
Her back is strong and she far from a vagabond
This is the back of the masters' whip used to crack upon
Strong enough to take all the pain, that's been
Inflicted again and again and again and again and flipped
It to the love for her children nothing else matters
What do they call her They call her aunt Sara.
Woman singing in the background
[Talib Kweli] (+ Background Vocals)
I know a girl with a name as beautiful as the rain
Her face is the same but she suffers an unusual pain
Seems she only deals with losers who be usin' them games
Chasin' the real brothers away like she confused in the brain
She tried to get it where she fit in
on that American Dream mission paid tuition
For the receipt to find out her history was missing and started flippin
Seeing the world through very different eyes
People askin' her what she'll do when it comes time to chose sides
Yo, her skin is yellow, it's like her face is blond word is bond
And her hair is long and straight just like sleeping beauty
See, she truly feels like she belong in 2 worlds
And that she can't relate to other girls
Her father was rich and white still livin' with his wife
But he forced himself on her mother late one night
They call it rape that's right and now she take flight
Through life with hate and spite inside her mind
That keep her up to the break of light a lot of times
(I gotta find myself) (3X)
She had to remind herself
They called her Safronia the unwanted seed
Blood still blue in her vein and still red when she bleeds
(Don't, don't, don't hurt me again) (8X)
[Talib Kweli] (+ Background Vocals)
Teenage lovers sit on the stoops up in Harlem
Holdin' hands under the Apollo marquis dreamin of stardom
Since they was born the streets is watchin' and schemin'
And now it got them generations facin' deseases
That don't kill you they just got problems
and complications that get you first
Yo, it's getting worse, when children hide the fact that they pregnant
Cuz they scared of giving birth
How will I feed this baby
How will I survive, how will this baby shine
Daddy dead from crack in '85, mommy dead from AIDS in '89
At 14 the baby hit the same streets they became her master
The children of the enslaved, they grow a little faster
They bodies become adult
While they keepin' the thoughts of a child her arrival
Into womanhood was heemed up by her survival
Now she 25, barely grown out her own
Doin' whatever it takes strippin', workin' out on the block
Up on the phone, talkin' about
(my skin is tan like the front of your hand)
(And my hair...)
(Well my hair's alright whatever way I want to fix it,
it's alright it's fine)
(But my hips, these sweet hips of mine invite you daddy)
(And when I fix my lips my mouth is like wine)
(Take a sip don't be shy, tonight I wanna be your lady)
(I ain't too good for your Mercedes, but first you got to pay me)
(You better quit with all the question, sugar who's little girl am I)
(Why I'm yours if you got enough money to buy)
(You better stop with the compliments we running out of time,)
(You wanna talk whatever we could do that it's your dime)
(From Harlem's from where I came, don't worry about my name,)
(Up on one-two-five they call me sweet thang)
Scratches + Woman singing in the background
[Talib Kweli] (+ Background Vocals)
A daughter come up in Georgia, ripe and ready to plant seeds,
Left the plantation when she saw a sign even thought she can't read
It came from God and when life get hard she always speak to him,
She'd rather kill her babies than let the master get to 'em,
She on the run up north to get across that Mason-Dixon
In church she learned how to be patient and keep wishin',
The promise of eternal life after death for those that God bless
She swears the next baby she'll have will breathe a free breath
and get milk from a free breast,
And love beeing alive,
otherwise they'll have to give up being themselves to survive,
Being maids, cleaning ladies, maybe teachers or college graduates, nurses, housewives, prostitutes, and drug addicts
Some will grow to be old women, some will die before they born,
They'll be mothers, and lovers who inspire and make songs,
(But me, my skin is brown and my manner is tough,)
(Like the love I give my babies when the rainbow's enuff,)
(I'll kill the first muthafucka that mess with me, I never bluff)
(I ain't got time to lie, my life has been much too rough,)
(Still running with barefeet, I ain't got nothin' but my soul,)
(Freedom is the ultimate goal,
life and death is small on the whole, in many ways)
(I'm awfully bitter these days
'cuz the only parents God gave me, they were slaves,)
(And it crippled me, I got the destiny of a casualty,)
(But I live through my babies and I change my reality)
(Maybe one day I'll ride back to Georgia on a train,)
(Folks 'round there call me Peaches, I guess that's my name.)
Talib Kweli Flash Gordon Lyrics
[Intro]
Yeah
Kweli in the house
Dave West is what I'm talkin' about, you know?
Yea yea yea yo yea yo yea yea yea yo yea yo Yea yea yea yooohh yooohh
[Verse]
Make a joy for noise until the lord people have flawed
Cause the pen is mightyer than the sword
Leavin' the floor
Cause my words cut deeper than a tissue massage
I got hooks and lines that sink y'all like the fishermens ride
I'm on mission for god he blessed me to spit it this hard
A lot of niggaz star shit but they don't finish the job
I'm like Minister Farrakhan or an african that finish' the marathon
The pain in my voice is *?*
No matter what playin' 'em on I carry on
Even if the dawn is over head I carry on
Then a Flash Gordons scar on my face is a *?*
Passports splash with blood from the battle I last fought in
I want to cash all in
Or I start breakin' like glass *?* put The Blast on 'em like my last tourin'
Or fast forward just to catch what I said
Yo I say some shit like that just to mess with your head, come on
[Chorus]
Grabbin' the black steel, bowh
In the hour of chaos
We ain't rapper till they pay us, is that real?
We got babies
We got bills
Put your hands up in the air if you know how I feel
And let it out (let it out)
Get it out (get it out)
Work it out (work it out)
Sweat it out
[Hook]
I don't know
If you know
My history I do it big
Like Notorious did
Get all the play like this accordin' the kid
Gangster like knock out never little *?* all in his *?*
Crazy like the little hand on the seven, the big hand on the six
JayLo, yo
Whether you all in the mix or if you stay low
Everybody say hoooo hoooo hoooo hoooo
[Hook]
I don't know
If you know
My history you don't know me
Chop the game till it's blue like a varicose vein
And I can't remember the last time I felt this terrible pain
And the whole shit blew up
Was it for vain ?
They'll be lookin' through the rubble like they searchin' for Hussein
I'm lookin through the club I'm really searchin for who's sane
The music got everyone crazy and who to blame
People pair think there'll be some uglyness up their hair
End up in intensive care with a *?* stare, you know?
[Chorus]
Grabbin' the black steel, bowh
In the hour of chaos
We ain't rapper till they pay us, is that real?
We got babies
We got bills
Put your hands up in the air if you know how I feel (feel it)
And let it out (let it out)
Get it out (get it out)
Work it out (work it out)
Sweat it out
[Hook]
I don't know
If you know
My history you don't know me
It's the black hand bustin' the tek
Gettin' it wet without bustin' a sweat
Swingin' for the upper deck
It's the black man cuttin' the check
The nigger's the boss
The niggers want to test if they addicted to laws
I spit on the floor
The right hook will get at ya jaw
Make to track my baby mama when I'm hittin' it raw
I rap through:
Wars and tours and whores on the floors I did it for force
so I spit at all the shit that I saw
I party with supermodels who wanna take of they clothes
The ones who smokin' cocain so they don't fuck up they nose
I walked the slums of Soweto and the streets of Havanna
Takin' pictures with kids who never seen a camera
From the land of the alabama since the night in the cally
Bumpin' gangster music like a freedoms song in the rally
Out the back of yo' *?* give you the skitty like Ally McBeal
It's the black steel, Brooklyn know the deal, what?!
[Chorus]
Grabbin' the black steel, bowh
In the hour of chaos
We ain't rapper till they pay us, is that real?
We got babies (yeah)
We got bills (yeah)
Put your hands up in the air if you know how I feel (come on)
And let it out (let it out)
Get it out (get it out)
Work it out (work it out)
Sweat it out
[Hook] - repeat 4X with various adlibs
I don't know
If you know
My history you don't know me
Be like yo, let me ask you somethin
I wanna know, I wanna know who you are
*Mos Def singing*
[Mos] Brown skin lady, hey hey
[Talib] Yes
[Mos] Where you goin
[Talib] This goes to the brown skin ladies
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Talib] Yo, indigineous women of the planet Earth
[Mos] What you doin?
[Talib] Givin birth to the brown skin ladies first
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Talib] For what it's worth, from me to you
[Mos] How do you feel?
[Talib] From me to you, watchin you
I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, yes, I live the way you move
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like the WAY you move
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, please, won't you do that dance
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like you baby
[together]
And everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing
Everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing, there she is
[Talib]
Fresher than Tony Rebel's vestibules at African street festivals
My incredible women is, plentiful
Over the years I met a few, none of them compare to you
Preparin you to make food bearable, somethin terrible, let's see:
you fruitful, beautiful, smart, lovable, huggable
Doable like art, suitable to be part
of my life, Coppertone, oh you copyright infringement
Pay you bidness ten cents, way back in the day
It's like I'm standin there you know appreciatin God's design
and then you showed up, it's like you read my mind
DAMN SHE'S FINE, I think I add the R-E, in front of that
and see if she D, to get, with a cat like me
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, yes, I live the way you move
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like the WAY you move
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, please, won't you do that dance
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like you baby
[together]
And everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing
Everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing, there she is
[Mos Def]
Ooooh! Daring me girl, look at you!
Comin on the block lookin fresh and brand new
Ooooh! Headwrap cover your hairdo
Pretty feet peekin through open-toed shoe
Ooooh! No limit to what I would do
Make love to you like long interview
Whooh! Is she for real, me like you
Good look champion, win the title
True, many man try invite you
Shot down lyric each time they cyph you
Jewel, what man you get all insides you
Feet they walk way and just that sheik posture
Ooooh! Can't be a next one like you
Famous like tapes made by DJ Clue
I tighten up my game as I approach you
Yo check her she the nectar the bee get close to
...
[Talib]
I don't get many compliments, but I am confident
Used to have a complex about, gettin too complex
You got me, willin to try, looked me in the eye
My head is still in the sky, since you walked on by
I'm feelin high, got my imagination flickerin like hot flames
it's how it seems, you make me wanna ride the Coltrane to A Love Supreme
My brown lady, creates environments, for
happy brown babies, I know it sounds crazy
but your skin's the inspiration for cocoa butter
You provoke a brother we should get to know one another
I discover when I bring you through my people say TRUE, all I can say
is all praise due I thank you God for a beauty like you
*Mos Def singing*
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Talib] Yes
[Mos] Where you goin
[Talib] This goes to the brown skin ladies
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Talib] On the planet Earth today, yes
[Mos] What you doin?
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Mos] How do you feel?
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, yes, I live the way you move
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like the WAY you move
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, yes, please do that dance
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like you baby
[together]
And everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing
Everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing, there she is
[Mos] There she is, she's a brown skinned lady
Such a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
[Talib]
You know what some people put themselves through
to look just like you?
Dark stocking, high heels, lipstick, alla that
You know what?
Without makeup you're beautiful
Whatcha you need to paint the next face for
We're not dealin with the European standard of beauty tonight
Turn off the TV and put the magazine away
In the mirror tell me what you see
See the evidence of divine presence
Women of the, Carribean, they got the, golden sun
I know women on the continent got it
Nigeria, and Ghana, you know they got it
Tanzania, Namibia and Mozambique
and Bothswana, to let it speak
about latinas, columbianas
...
Tallenas, of course the Brooklyn women walk that walk
And the Bronx women walk that walk
Honies from Queens walk that walk, NYC, ATL, LA
Cincinatti, the Bay Area...
I don't, remember the first time I heard Kwe-li
I don't remember what I was doing
There were no remembered witnesses to my doings
But it seems like I've known him, forever
He who has, moved through mornings and midnights
Through, deaths and dawns
To document our bones our blood our lives
Listen, listen to his exact wings
Strumming mists from clouds
Listen, listen a man always punctual with his, mouth
Listen to his, revolution of syllables
Scoping lightning from his pores
Keeping time, with his hurricane beat
Asking us to pick ourselves up and become, THUNDER
Yeah, they say you can't please everybody...
Let's go~! Yeah, ay, they ain't know what that sound like
Feel the heartbeat, feel the heartbeat
On your eardrum, we got a new heartbeat
Feel the heartbeat, feel the heartbeat
On your eardrum, we got a new heartbeat
Yo, what becomes of a dream deferred
that never makes it to the world to be seen or heard
Do it breathe? Do it got a heartbeat? Is it alive?
Do it leave, only to become a star in the sky?
I believe, no scratch that I know, this ain't my full potential
Only usin 10 percent of my mental on instrumentals
But incidentally my, energy heavenly
Can he be so ill there ain't no, pill or no remedy
The, maker of memories posess the recipe to your fate
Make no mistake there ain't no escapin your destiny
Especially when, 'til death do us part, like wedding rings
I'll be here forever, put that on e'rything
Your everything maaaaaaaaan!
Your Alpha and your Omega, your beginning and your end
Your father, your brother, your lover your friend
The blood in your vein that gets spilled and, runs in the drain
That's right my flow one and the same, the joy and the pain
My name, the burner that destroy the toy and the train
All city all night I'm enjoyin the fame
I'm a hustler, I'm a gangster and a rebel with the rank of a general
In the battle between God or the Devil
I lay claim to your spirit, your religion, your belief system
I'll do your hit in your kitchen and you're relief pitchin
This kid proficient in, every position
The man of your dreams and your nightmares commandin your vision
'Til it's quite clear like light beer, yeah I'm standin right here
I get you hot but stay cooler than the night air
I try to fit it in the same rhyme
But realize, I can't be everything to everyone at the same time
Your everything maaaaaaaaan!
First time I heard him, I was in Japan
Seems like the first time I heard him was like, the Reflection, Reflection Eternal
Like when Kanye came out I guess was when I started to listen, I hate to say that but
New York native, and serious Talib fan
I came all the way from Puerto Rico just to see Talib Kweli
Him, Mos Def all of them man, I need them out here in my life
Yeah, now here we go
Here we go, come on come on, now here we go
Here we go, come on come on, yeah
Stay strong this ain't for the faint hearted
My name's honored 'cause my style is insane retarded
Remain hottest from St. Marks to St. Thomas
Take game farther than the put-put planes charted
The same artist who smoke rain forest and bang hardest
My brain smartest break a nigga like a lame promise
All city like train bombers
Check out the pictures we painted, yeah
More colorful than Kelis naked
Your skills is least debated and your album least awaited
Even Big Tigger wouldn't let you in 'The Basement'
Face it y'all niggas face down with your legs kicking
They call your momma Roy Jones 'cause she raise chicken
You're 'Down for the Count' like Rah Digga I'm straight spittin'
Make pigeons say, "Uh uh', no they didn't
Yes, we did so God bless the kid yo
I got my own so I never stress his no
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist?
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist?
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to thi
Here we go
Yo we send this bullet straight towards your brain
We taking over like Moors in Spain there's more to gain
Runaways get aboard the train come on
You can't ignore the pain no
When it come down like the pouring rain
Caught the train of thought it clanked across the raw terrain
The cold weather break your spirit like a water main
I looked in your eyes and I saw the shame
Y'all don't know that our greatness came before the chains
No you can't imagine a future where this all can change
If one of us ain't free then we all to blame
So we attack each other fighting project wars and thang
It's all the same across the board we fall for game
You wanna see through that shit then you can call my name
Kweli I chop it up like raw cocaine
I drop gems at top ten, I'm not for the fame
You wanna test and I bet you get wrecked like lost planes yo
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist?
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist?
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
And there it is
Say what? Say what, say what, say what
I rock for the purists and I rock for the players
I rock for the fellas and I rock for the ladies, come on
I rock for the elders and I rock for the babies, yeah
I rhyme to the sirens that cry in the night, yeah
Live on the mic even though I've been dying to write, yeah
Since the days of flying a kite and ridin' my bike, come on
Open my eyes and keep the prize within my line of sight, yeah
Now cat's drop out of school to get fiends high on a pipe, word
Seem like that's the ghetto way of tryin' to fight
The system that's based on trying to stop you from shinning your light
We dying in spite of getting rich
That's why I rhyme like a battle emcee
Battling the tragedies and fallacies
That be killing niggas quicker than infant mortality
They acting like what's going on now is distant reality
Behaving so casually that they become a casualty
Plus they don't wanna battle me anyway
They try to walk away but they stumble like Macy Gray
Cats hit the tunnel to rumble and say, "Hey DJ"
Make me wonder why they call Sunday the lazy day
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist?
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist?
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
[Talib Kweli]
Yea
S'what im talkin about
S-A-S, size aint shit, neva dat
Strong Arm Steady, talib kweli
Yea
[Chorus: Talib Kweli]X2
Niggaz gettin caught in the trap
for the cash, it's the drugs basketball or the rap
theres more to us than that
We the shit consider the facts, afta you analyze that
You know you best to fall back
Woah
[Verse: Talib Kweli]
Woah!
I'm dealin wit, nuttin but facts, when I spit it though
You niggas superstitious don't step on the cracks or split the poem
Candle light, flickers so bright, i feel the wick can kick a sicka flow
and spill it like a liquor store, i spit the shit to make a cripple get up and dance
I spit the shit to make the average MC piss in his pants
I spit the shit to make a mothafucka call it a night
I spit the shit to see fuck wit C Delores Tucker sex like
I take a sip from my creative well, in this game for a minute
I play this well to win it, ya go to africa like dave chappelle, you finished
Cause ya prehistoric raps is borin, the number of whack rappers soarin
like the percentages of teenagers who have abortions
these niggas meak they lyrics weak, and they beats is corporate
they try snitchin on records their mouths is leakin ???
drippin em ova system than, chinese water torture
rippin a series of events, more unfortunate than lemony snicket
CHORUS x2
[Planet Asia]
Yea
medalliance mind, bless the mic for the gods, teach the blind
plus get a piece of mine release ya minds for each design
baby food for thought, rappas not ?? for sport
you ?? pork eatin niggas of sort
yo yous a fuckface, burnt out loser thats always up late
planet ais the revolutionary slash nut case
a witchcraft black magic, data load up computers
a spread the message wrote to you where when i show illusions
if all yall niggas is killas then how ya write ya records
how'd you find the time stop lyin ya minds infected
theres only a few, and i aint sayin niggas dont put it down from you town
im talkin bout you
yea the fake dude promotin propaganda, and open on some fanna, and out right snitchin on them cameras
planet ais, gold chain black bandanas low
steady gain click clack rang rang der dey go
CHORUS x2
[Phil Da Agony]
Yea
Just a high skip and a jump
away from gettin everything that I could possibly want
and prostitutes front
get a 4 bar on the roster, scratch that
im talkin about a full roster of raps
monstas that rap, buzzed out ?? check the cadence of the frequency
uniquely, we strong arms strategically
easily i twist the ?? killa cali ?? backalleys burnin backwoods in danelis
or
he probably wit kweli, out in bk
we make it easy for the djs, like instant replays
conversation by the buttons, i talk and touch sumpin
straight shots of the luey he flew me out to london
crunchin numbas flippin more dough, like siccisero
next thing you know we kissin ya hoe, wit out the mistletoe
strong arm steady, agony can ???, phil da rigglies, the big league niggas is droppin indies
les go
CHORUS x2
[Talib Kweli]
Talib kweli, right about now
dis what im feelin right about now
and I invite you all to check it out wit me
Lets go!
S'like,
X2
niggas gettin caught in the trap
For the cash its the drugs basketball or the rap
theres more to us than that
We da shit consider the facts, afta you analyze that
you know you best to fall back
Woah
[Rah Digga]
Yeh, check it out now (uhh uhh uhh)
Rah Digga y'all, Dirty Harriet (uhh!)
Kweli, Xzibit, new millenium! (C'mon, check it)
[all] One, two, three, four
[Rah] Grimy bitch stomp the bogey outside your front door (yeah)
Puffin on Goodie, eatin tuna and rye
Blow the spot with some old school shit from junior high (HEYYY!)
[all] One, two, three, four
[Rah] Jersey's finest in the house, punchlines and metaphors
Make your foul ice grill, thug grimy on the real
Puttin heads to bed like Hennessey and NyQuil
[Rah Digga]
Convertible style, still had the heat knockin
Bumpin shit from way back with my man beatboxin
Shootin the breeze - see I'm nice with these
You'll be suckin it down like fast food high-C's
Type of rap bitch that love underground classics
Gettin more green than that nigga St. Patrick
Makin wack rappers go and merc the set {*dial-up sounds*}
Better off behind a desk tryin to surf the net
cause I be adamant, kill 'em when my joints get added in
Worse than boric acid in your project cabinet
Dirty Harriet, increase the fanbases
Leavin non-writin cats stuck on the plantations
Mini-skirts with tights, eatin lunch with whites
Leave the party over here like they Israelites
Got Cali Brooks critics, Ta' Kwe'() Xzibit
Gonna rock shit down like he can't get no visits
[all] One, two, three, four
[T.K] Rock the whole world like the Rolling Stone tour (AH-AHHH!)
Raw your wack set is faker than a bomb threat
by a nervous terrorist who's so scared that his palms wet
[all] One, two, three, four
[T.K] The stuff legends are made of, urban folklore
Like Jim Morrison we break on through
Before I care about your take on me, we take on you
[Talib Kweli]
Yo, yo, yo
We bring it straight to your face from the start, yo
Rage Against the Machine, break it apart
Might be over your head, but it's straight from the heart
I show my love in the light while y'all hate in the dark
Straight to apocalypse is where I'm takin the art
Givin niggaz battle scars, ALWAYS makin my mark
You fakin the part of gangster, til niggaz break in your spot
You straight bitch whether I say it or not
Shit is hot, spittin flames on the track
Put our town's names on the map
from now until we fadin to black
Where we at Thug rebels love metal clubs ghetto
when the slugs let go like Frankie Beverly
Forever we stack notes like the treasury, flow heavenly
Get you high on speech laced with obscenity
Niggaz be gassed like Cipher Sounds, and need rescue remedy
then fall the fuck off like limbs affected with leprosy
[all] One, two, three, four
[x2z] Why the fuck can't MC's MC no more
Hardcore til somebody put me under the ground
With a dick in your ear, still couldn't fuck with my sound
[all] One, two, three, four
[x2z] Takin me straight to the weed spot, then to the liquor sto'
quot;Gimme Some Mo' quot; like Busta Bus', who do you trust
Swingin through, your favorite neighborhood lush
[Xzibit]
I'm i-rate, usin your body for live bait
Xzibit rockin them heavy gems you can't take
Dilate, cock back the weight, spread hate
Heavy metal we settle and set shit straight
Hit gates in my younger days, from the policeman
Me and my clan used to dance thicker than quicksand
Supply and demand the hand is quicker than the eye
Find some chickens to fry, while you find it hard to stick to your lie
I see through the tricks, destroy the facade
Your little lungs is too weak to hotbox with God
Rah Digga, First Lady of the Flipmode Squad
Gotta be hard like a young nigga walkin the yard
For the first time, we ain't the niggaz you let shine
Expect mines to blow lines like coke everytime
I'm an Alkaholik nigga so I finish the fifth
You at the front door bitchin because you ain't on the list
It's like
[All] One, two, three, four..
Yeah (ohhhhhhh) hehehe (aight y'all, aight y'all..)
Yeah (here we go)
[All] One, two, three, four..
[Mos Def]
Lawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwd, lawd have mercy
All nice and peace and true, follow me now, we say
Say Hi-Tek yes you're ruling hip-hop
Say J. Rawls yes you're ruling hip-hop
Redefinition say you're ruling hip-hop
Say Black Star come to rock it non...
Yo, from the first to the last of it, delivery is passionate
The whole and not the half of it, vocab and not the math of it
Projectile that them blasted with, accurate assassin shit
Me and Kweli close like, Bethlehem and Nazareth
After this you be pressing rewind on top your master disk
Shining like an asterisk for all those that be gatherin
Connectin like a roundhouse from the townhouse to the tenaments
Cause all my Brooklyn residents, ? heavy regiments
Don't believe, here the evidence, where Brooklyn WHAAAAAAAoohhhh
See that? Bound to take it all kid, believe that
From where they sellin tree at, to where the police be at
Talib Kweli e-Kweli-ty yo tell them where we be at
[Talib Kweli]
Brooklyn New York City where they paint murals of Biggie
In cash we trust cause it's ghetto fabulous, life look pretty
what a pity -- blunts is still fifty cents, it's intense
Tree scents is dominant can't be covered with incense
My presence felt my name is Kweli from the Eternal Reflection
People thinkin MC is short hand for Mis Conception
Let me meditate, set it straight, came to the conclusion
that most of these cats is featherweight, let me demonstrate
Walkin the streets is like battlin, be careful with your body
You must know karate or think your soul is bulletproof like Sade
Stop actin like a bitch already, be a visionary
And maybe you can see your name in the column of obituary
Third rate teacher readin and talkin about,
"I knew he'd amount to nothin"
Neighbors like, "He was the quiet type,
who'd have thought they was frontin?"
Talkin +Loud+ like you in RCA, get carted away
with body parts and treys, what a way to start your day
Yo it's like
Chorus: Mos Def and Talib Kweli
One two three
Mos Def and Talib Kweli
We came to rock it on to the tip-top
Best alliance in hip-hop, wyahhhhh
I said one two three
It's kind of dangerous to be a emcee
They shot Tupac and Biggie
Too much violence in hip-hop, wyahhhhh
[Mos Def]
I said Manhattan keep on makin it (Bo!), Brooklyn keep on takin it (Bo!)
So relax we're takin it back, Redhook where we're livin at
Plenty cats be strugglin not hustlin and bubblin
It ain't about production and -- what else we discussin?
When the cock crows, my crop grows, enable me to rock flows
Strivin for perfection ever since I was a snot-nosed
COLOSSAL, true original b-boy apostle
Standin on the rooftop with the, Zulu gestapo
[Talib Kweli]
You think you the shit
somebody in the wings'll force you to quit
It could be your crew or click
or some random kid you smoked buddha with
Consider me the entity within the industry without a history
of spittin the epitome, of stupidity -- livin my life
expressin my liberty, it gotta be done properly
My name is in the middle of e-Kweli-ty
People follow me and other cats they hear him flow
And assume I'm the real one with lyrics like I'm Cyrano
[Mos Def]
Still sippin wishin well water, imported, from Pluto
Three hundred and sixty milliliters for all our believers
In miles or kilometers, most cats, cannot proceed us
in the jungle with the leaders we the lions you the +cheaters+
A cypher, will complete us if we come through your receivers
You can play us and repeat us and then take us home and read us
(line for line) Good Jesus, Mos Def and Kweli just
make a pussy freeze up, thinkin we will ease up
Chorus: Mos Def and Talib Kweli
One two three
Mos Def and Talib Kweli
We came to rock it on to the tip-top
Best alliance in hip-hop, wyahhhhh
I said one two three
It's kind of dangerous to be a emcee
They shot Tupac and Biggie
Hold your head when the beat drops, wyahhhhh
[Child #1] ...and then Jackie Chan just started kickin em
like POW! POW! POW!
[Child #2] Whaaaaa??!
[Mos Def] Alright y'all, alright y'all enough of that
it's time to go to bed y'all
Time to go to bed -- I don't wanna hear that
You know what time it is, you know what time it is
[Children] Uncle Mos?
[Mos Def] Yeeesss?
[Children] Would you read us a bedtime story please?
[Mos Def] Okay, okay. Ya'll tucked in?
[Children] Yeessss...
[Mos Def] Heeeere we go...
Once upon a time not long ago
When people wore Adidas and lived life slow
When laws were stern and justice stood
And people was behavin' like hip-hop was good
There lived a little boy who was misled
By a little Sha-tan and this is what he said
"Me and you kid we gonna make some cash,
Jackin' old beats and makin' the dash..."
They jacked the beats, money came wit' ease
But son, he couldn't stop, it's like he had a disease
He jacked another and another, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder
Set some R & B over the track for 'Deep Cover' (187!)
The kid got wild startin' actin' erratic
He said "Yo, that presidential I got ta have it..."
With liquor in his belly son, he made up the track
But little did he know that his joints was wack
The shiny A & R said "Great new hit G!"
"Whenever you need a loop, yo come get me..."
The kid got amped and he starts to figure
"I'm-a get dough like all-a these otha niggaz!"
So, he's in the studio workin' 'round the clock
For pop radio, jacked the beat to 'Planet Rock'
Was out in the street when he met this sister
Who couldn't sing for shhhh but the mix wit' her sister
Hooked up the track and in excitation
He decided he'd head for the radio station
But (But!) he was runnin' and he made a left
Was skeezin' at top speed and ran into Mos Def
I slowed the young man down and I started: "Yo money,
Yo, why you sellin' lies to our wives and children?"
He ran upstairs up to the top floor
Opened up the door then guess what he saw? (Who?)
JANE the chickenhead radio host
Who be yappin' 'bout beef between east and west coast
He said "This one's a bullet, you got ta give it run!"
The chicken said "Thanks." and spanked it #1
He went outside, was gettin' props all over
Then he dipped into his ride, the 4-point Rover
Raced up the block doin' 83
Some cats with Hennessey saw him at a R-E-D
He winked his eye like his star status mattered
They rat-a-tat-tatted to make his blood splatter
"You rockin' crazy ice and all you do is cling static
And rollin' down to Brooklyn late night is problematic..."
His eyes was bloody red, he hung on every word they said
They told the kid "Back down, that playa shit is dead."
Deep in his heart, he knew he was gone
But he grabbed his 45 and decide to blaze on
Wit' shades on founded had him astounded an'
Before long, the young man got surrounded
Those grabbed the guns, so goes the glory
And that is the way I got ta end this story
He was out chasin' cream and the American dream
Tryin' to pretend the ends justify the means
This ain't funny so don't you dare laugh
It's just what comes to pass when you sell your ass
Life is more than what your hands can grasp
Good Night!
(kids talking)
Knock 'em out the box Mos, knock 'em out Mos
Knock 'em out the box Mos, knock 'em out Mos (3x)
Knock 'em out...
A-nother...Mos Def...Black Star MOVEMENT...
presentation... CRUUUMBS!
[Mos Def]
Be like yo, let me ask you somethin
I wanna know, I wanna know who you are
*Mos Def singing*
[Mos] Brown skin lady, hey hey
[Talib] Yes
[Mos] Where you goin
[Talib] This goes to the brown skin ladies
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Talib] Yo, indigineous women of the planet Earth
[Mos] What you doin?
[Talib] Givin birth to the brown skin ladies first
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Talib] For what it's worth, from me to you
[Mos] How do you feel?
[Talib] From me to you, watchin you
I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, yes, I live the way you move
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like the WAY you move
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, please, won't you do that dance
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like you baby
[together]
And everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing
Everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing, there she is
[Talib]
Fresher than Tony Rebel's vestibules at African street festivals
My incredible women is, plentiful
Over the years I met a few, none of them compare to you
Preparin you to make food bearable, somethin terrible, let's see:
you fruitful, beautiful, smart, lovable, huggable
Doable like art, suitable to be part
of my life, Coppertone, oh you copyright infringement
Pay you bidness ten cents, way back in the day
It's like I'm standin there you know appreciatin God's design
and then you showed up, it's like you read my mind
DAMN SHE'S FINE, I think I add the R-E, in front of that
and see if she D, to get, with a cat like me
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, yes, I live the way you move
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like the WAY you move
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, please, won't you do that dance
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like you baby
[together]
And everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing
Everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing, there she is
[Mos Def]
Ooooh! Daring me girl, look at you!
Comin on the block lookin fresh and brand new
Ooooh! Headwrap cover your hairdo
Pretty feet peekin through open-toed shoe
Ooooh! No limit to what I would do
Make love to you like long interview
Whooh! Is she for real, me like you
Good look champion, win the title
True, many man try invite you
Shot down lyric each time they cyph you
Jewel, what man you get all insides you
Feet they walk way and just that sheik posture
Ooooh! Can't be a next one like you
Famous like tapes made by DJ Clue
I tighten up my game as I approach you
Yo check her she the nectar the bee get close to
...
[Talib]
I don't get many compliments, but I am confident
Used to have a complex about, gettin too complex
You got me, willin to try, looked me in the eye
My head is still in the sky, since you walked on by
I'm feelin high, got my imagination flickerin like hot flames
it's how it seems, you make me wanna ride the Coltrane to A Love Supreme
My brown lady, creates environments, for
happy brown babies, I know it sounds crazy
but your skin's the inspiration for cocoa butter
You provoke a brother we should get to know one another
I discover when I bring you through my people say TRUE, all I can say
is all praise due I thank you God for a beauty like you
*Mos Def singing*
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Talib] Yes
[Mos] Where you goin
[Talib] This goes to the brown skin ladies
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Talib] On the planet Earth today, yes
[Mos] What you doin?
[Mos] Brown skin lady
[Mos] How do you feel?
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, yes, I live the way you move
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like the WAY you move
[Talib] I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, yes, please do that dance
[Mos] I like the way you walk, when you walk on by
I like the way you move, I like you baby
[together]
And everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing
Everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing, there she is
[Mos] There she is, she's a brown skinned lady
Such a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
[Talib]
You know what some people put themselves through
to look just like you?
Dark stocking, high heels, lipstick, alla that
You know what?
Without makeup you're beautiful
Whatcha you need to paint the next face for
We're not dealin with the European standard of beauty tonight
Turn off the TV and put the magazine away
In the mirror tell me what you see
See the evidence of divine presence
Women of the, Carribean, they got the, golden sun
I know women on the continent got it
Nigeria, and Ghana, you know they got it
Tanzania, Namibia and Mozambique
and Botswana, to let it speak
about latinas, columbianas
...
Tallenas, of course the Brooklyn women walk that walk
And the Bronx women walk that walk
Honies from Queens walk that walk, NYC, ATL, LA
Cincinatti, the Bay Area...
Kweli!!!
Yeah! They wasn't expecting this! that's why ya
Hahaha
Gotta hope for the best and play 'em for the worst, c'mon!
Muhfuckers is history!
C'mon!!
This the story of - Lucy In The Sky Wit Diamonds
Ask her why she crying, she wanna live, she got no time for dying
Was a science, dreams too big for a small town
She gotta get to New York and watch a door fall down
Hopped off the Greyhound, gotta make her way now
She sleeping on the park benches in the playground
But cash burn quick, don't wanna have to turn trick
Ready to quit 'til she met the super pimp
Flashing his toothy smile that drove little Lucy wild
She quick to hop up on his dick straight Hoopie style
She let the fella hit but she sang she sell-a-bit
He ain't buying that, she ain't selling it
She looking for love in all of the above
Believing videos, trying to back up all on a thug
Who wanna - put it in her, withdraw like a Citi card
But now she shake that ass for tips at the titty bar
Broken glass - everywhere! (IT'S LOUDER!!)
Louder - than a bomb shattered in in the air (IT'S LOUDER!!)
Try to hold back your tears baby! (IT'S LOUDER!!)
Wait a second, what happens here baby? (IT'S LOUDER!!)
Broken glass - everywhere! (IT'S LOUDER!!)
Louder - than a bomb shattered in in the air, yeah
(How many of y'all think you can do what we do?!)
Yeah! Wait a second (One! Two! Three! C'mon!)
Dreams shattered like broken glass
Press ignore it and your hopes get broken fast
You complain for the life you supposed to have
But when you try to make plans God is known to laugh
Throw a song on the phonograph, and Lucy start wilin
The trick start smiling, watch the loot start flying
The Gucci start pilling up, she live designer plush
Start lining up the coke so she could find a rush
Time's up, she's about to turn 33
Her shit started to sag, she got surgery
Now cats are used to drive past her like a Church van
Acting on thirst, 'She Wants To Move' like a N.E.R.D. fan
Bigger house, 10,000 dollar purse fam
She let you in, she wanted rent by the 1st man
She the ring leader in a clique of birds
And they shadowy, like the silhouette behind the curtain
She was a small city girl with big city dreams
Niggaz try to figure how to get up in them jeans
Put her in them scenes, get her on the team
Hit her wit the cream 'til they figured out the schemes
Now she all up in the club looking for a new love
Really like Huey Lewis looking for a new drug
Cause coke's getting old, started free basing
Graduated to crack, smack on occasion
Not catching the bus, but back at the station
Back and forth pacing, acting all impatient
Last hundred dollars, she got to 'Get By'
Now gotta make a choice, go home or get high
Mommy and daddy miss her, she left for the fame
Now what's left is the dirt that's thrown on her name
She need a ticket home if it's the right course
I do it for the people, I do it for the love
I do it for the poet, I do it for the thug
This is for victory, and this is for the slaughter
I do it for my mother, I do it for my daughter
Promise I'll always love ya, I love to kiss and hug ya
You and your brother should be lookin out for one another
I'm so blessed, man, y'all the reason I got up
Somebody put his hands on you I'm gettin locked up
I'm not playin, that's the prayer I'm sayin for Diani
And if I die then she'll be protected by Amani
That's her bigger brother and I love the way he love her
She a girly-girl, she love to imitate her mother
But she a Gemini, so stay on her friendly side
She'll put that look on you, it's like somebody' friend just died
My pretty black princess smell sweet like that incense
That you buy at the bookstore supporting black business
Teach her what black is; the fact is her parents are thorough
She four reading Cornrows by Camille Yarborough
I keep her hair braided, bought her a black Barbie
I keep her mind free; she ain't no black zombie
This is for Aisha, this is for Kashera
This is for Khadijah scared to look up in the mirror
I see the picture clearer thru the stain on the frame
She got a black girl name, she livin black girl pain
This is for Makeba, and for my mamacita
What's really good, ma? I'll be your promise-keeper
I see the picture clearer thru the stain on the frame
She got a black girl name, she livin black girl pain
My mama said life would be so hard
Growin up days as a black girl scarred
In so many ways though we've come so far
They just know the name they don't know the pain
So please hold your heads up high
Don't be ashamed of yourself know I
Will carry it forth til the day I die
They just know the name they don't know the pain black girl
This is for Beatrice Bertha Benjamin who gave birth to
Tsidi Azeeda for Lavender Hill for Kyalisha
ALTHLONE, Mitchells Plain, Swazi girls I'm reppin for thee
Mannesburg, Guguletu where you'd just be blessed to get thru
For beauty shinin thru like the sun at the highest noon
From the top of the cable car at Table Mountain; I am you
Girls with the skyest blue of eyes and the darkest skin
For Cape Colored allied for realizing we're African
For all my cousins back home, the strength of mommy's backbone
The length of which she went for raising, sacrificing her own
The pain of not reflecting the range of our complexions
For rubber pellet scars on Auntie Elna's back I march
Fist raised caramel shinin in all our glory
For Mauritius, St, Helena; my blood is a million stories
Winnie for Joan and for Edie, for Norma, Leslie, Ndidi
For Auntie Betty, for Melanie; all the same family
Fiona, Jo Burg, complex of mixed girls
For surviving thru every lie they put into us now
The world is yours and I swear I will stand focused
Black girls, raise up your hands; the world should clap for us
My mama said life would be so hard
Growin up days as a black girl scarred
In so many ways though we've come so far
They just know the name they don't know the pain
So please hold your heads up high
Don't be ashamed of yourself know I
Will carry it forth til the day I die
[Mos Def]
Against the canvas of the night
Appears a curious celestial phenomena
called Black Star, but what is it?
[Talib Kweli]
Black people unite and let's all get down
We got to have what? We got to have that love
[Mos Def]
What is the Black Star?
Is it the cat with the black shades, the black car?
Is it shinin from very far, to where you are?
It is commonplace and different
Intimate and distant
Fresher than an infant
[Talib Kweli]
Black, my family thick, like they're striped molasses
Star, on the rise, in the eyes of the masses
Black is the color of my true love's hair
Star's are bright, shining, hot balls of air
[Mos Def]
Black like my baby girl's stare
Black like the veil that the muslimina wear
Black like the planet that they fear, why they scared?
Black like the slave ship that later brought us here
Black like the cheeks that are roadways for tears
that leave black faces well traveled with years
Black like assassin crosshairs
Blacker than my granddaddy armchair
He never really got no time to chill there
Cause this life is warfare, warfare
[Talib Kweli]
Deep on the front lines, and blacks is all there
Black like the perception of who, on welfare
Black like faces at the bottom of the well
I've been there before
To bring the light and heat it up like "la cocina"
Make without imagine happen but maybe I'm just a dreamer
I love rockin tracks like John Coltrane love Naema
[M] Like the student love the teacher
[T] Like the prophet love Khadeja
[M] Like I love my baby features
[A] Like the creator love all creatures
[Talib Kweli]
Who acknowledge truth and peace seekers
We on point like heat seekers
Targettin the black marketing strategists
Run up on em with the heaters
Everybody followin with no leaders
Feelin like we killin ourselves
because I know they can't defeat us
It don't stop til we complete this, keep this fly
There's so much to life when you just stay Black and God
[Mos Def]
Blacker than the nighttime sky of Bed-Stuy in July
Blacker than the seed in the blackberry pie
Blacker than the middle of my eye
Black like feh-lah man cry
Some man wan ask "Who am I?"
I simply reply, "The U.N.I., V.E.R.S.A.L. Magnetic"
Work to respect the angelic, climb the mountaintop
and tell it til the valley's enveloped
You're full of big chat but you nah know me
I'm dark like the side of the moon you don't see
when the moon shine newly
[M] You know who else is a Black Star? (Who?) Me
[T] You know who else is a Black Star? (Who?) Me
[A] You know who else is a Black Star, who we? (And we)
[A] be shinin and shinin, when we rhymin and rhymin
We be shinin and shinin, when we rhymin and rhymin
[Mos Def]
Now everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
The 8th Light, is gonna shine bright tonight
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
[T] You know the light
[M] Go from the dark
[T] The other way is ass-backwards
[M] It's absurd
[T] Make you wanna crow like a blackbird
[M] That's right
[T] You livin from your first day to your last night
[T] Sometimes you show your ass like
[M] Lint on your clothes
[T] When you froze in
[A] THE BLACK LIGHT
[M] Dead that
[T] Before you get your head wrapped
[M] Like Badu
[T] We see through your voodoo
[T] Just like Eve's Bayou, you dealin with that black magic
[M] Try to civilize you
[T] Not walk on by you
[M] Like civil-(lies do get you black listed) it'll
[T] Be unlucky for you like a black cat
[M] A panther
[T] Revolution is the answer
[M] That's what we need
[T] Greed plague my people like the cancer
[M] True indeed
[Mos Def]
Now black people unite, and let's ALL GET DOWN
Now everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
The 8th Light, is gonna shine bright tonight
Everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
The 8th Light, is gonna shine bright tonight
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
Equalin up to eight, light shine bright
[Talib]
Let me holler at you
[Talib and Bilal]
Can I talk to you? [x5]
[Talib]
I want you, cuz you make my heart skip the beat that I drum to
I want to be the one you run to, when pain confronts you
You're everything, sometimes I get nervous when I'm in front you
You can hear it in my voice when I ask you if you comfortable
Look how love do, I'd practice the Art of War for you like Sun Tzu
Come through and arouse you every morning like the sun do
If you blackout and collapse I want to help you to come to
Notice I haven't yet got into what I want from you
I want you to come to when I come through and make you shine like the sun do
I want you to be the valley for my river to run through
You're everything, you send your soul through your lips to my heart
Sweet music will start I want you to be the music of my art
When people try to rip us apart we got to work to stay together
Go through the seasons of love and never change with the weather
This is my wish list, what I want not what I need there's a difference
These days I'm learning that words got power so I'ma be specific
[Bilal]
Can I have a talk with you?
Can I make a dream come true?
Can I be in love with you?
Cuz I would if I could
[Talib]
Yeah sunflower
You must live in the infinite blackness that exists when I close my eyes
I see you when I fall asleep, I see you when I dream
[Bilal]
Lil' darlin'
Set your soul on fire (lil' darlin')
Be your one desire (lil' darlin')
Lil' darlin'
Can I talk to you? (lil' darlin')
Lil' darlin', lil' darlin'
Can I talk? (lil' darlin')
Can I talk, can I talk, can I?
Lil' darlin' (lil' darlin')
Can I talk to you? (lil' darlin')
Let him talk to you
Set your soul on fire
[Mos Def]
Yo yo, yo, whassup, yo yo
Yo yo, we gonna, we gonna slow it down
so we can speed it up y'all
Right now I want everybody come to the front
That's right, move forward
I want all the poppers and the breakers, to form this circle
I want all the poppers and the breakers
The writers and the exciters, to get in this circle
and make it real live yo
Cause I'm seein too many stars up in here tonight yo
I'm seein the Rock Steady Crew
I'm seein Ken Swift, I'm seein Mr. Wiggles
I'm seein Modesho, I'm seein Crazy Legs
Man I'm seein the Zulu Nation up in here
I'm seein the Rawkus family, Shabaam Shadeeq, Company Flow
Menelik, I'm seein G-ology, Shawn J. Period
Man this the Black Star movement
Mos Def, Talib Kweli we gon' keep it live
for the b boys and b girls universally
Rock Steady Japan, Rock Steady Europe
Rock Steady New York, yo we just gonna keep it live
all over the world -- get live
[Talib Kweli]
Party people, in the place to be
My name is Talib Kweli
Yo, I got my man on the side of me
Mos Def-initely, and we, are
(Fresh) Black Star
(Fresh) G Young
(Fresh) Hi-Tek
(Fresh) Native Tongue
(Fresh) Shawn J.
(Fresh) Eighty-eight
(Fresh) Ninety-eight
we bout to motivate, come on y'all
[M]
[T]
Here's a little story that must be told
About two young brothers who was put on hold
They tried to stop the goal
We on a spiritual plane
Tried to kill the pride
And destroy the name
We just two bad brothers
Who will never quit
I'm Mos Def
Kweli (WE THE ULTIMATE)
Make sure that you tell
Everybody you know
To get on line
Take a ride
To the Black Star show!
Black Star
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house y'all
Black Star
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house y'all
Black Star
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house y'all
Black Star
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house y'all
Where do we go? What do we say? What do we do?
Nowhere to turn, nowhere to run and there's nothin new
Where do we go for inspiration?
It's like pain is our only inspiration
Yea, I see a place where little boys and girls
Are shells in the oceans not knowin they a pearl
No one to hold 'em while they growin
They livin' moment to moment without a care in the whole world
Now, if I could help it I tell it just like it is
And I may say some things that you don't like to hear
I know this: that people lie, people kneel
People die, people heal, people steal, and people shed tears
What's real, blood spills, gun kill, the sun still - rise
Above me, trust me, it must be, morning - time
Wake up, the stakes up
Everybody want the cake up, to break up with the crew
But when the karma come back for what you do
It's too late to make up - some excuse
I come from people who stronger than time and space
Wherever there's competition you gonna find the race
I find a place in my heart for this hip-hop
And pump blood through my vein my skin get hot
I take you very serious and make you write more
If I don't celebrate I got nothing to fight for
I'm tight raw, excite y'all like nightfall
I'm tight y'all, I walk the street like y'all
About action, talk is cheap, right y'all?
You start yappin' think about the beef you might cause
The trouble you could get into
You don't study, you not prepared and cats is testin you
What you gonna do when you gotta face
The manifestation of the words that you put in space
They already there you cant take 'em out
The studio gangsta inside you tryin' to break out
Yea, I see a place where little boys and girls
Are shells in the oceans not knowin they a pearl
No one to hold 'em while they growin
They livin' moment to moment without a care in the whole world
Now, if I could help it I tell it just like it is
And I may say some things that you don't like to hear
I know this: that people lie, people kneel
People die, people heal, people steal, and people shed tears
What's real, blood spills, gun kill, the sun still - rise
Above me, trust me, it must be, morning - time
Wake up, the stakes up
Everybody want the cake up, to break up with the crew
But when the karma come back for what you do
[Intro: Talib Kweli]
(To the music)
Go 'head (What?) go 'head (Yeah) go 'head (Foundation, y'all)
Brooklyn New York is most certainly in the building (Worldwide, baby)
Yeah, go 'head, go 'head, go 'head
Hey?, turn it up man
9th Wonder in the house, let's go
[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]
First rule of the party: respect the DJ
Second rule, if he's got the girls dancin', respect what he play
(Wait a second) Or she play, the woman is the womb
We in the moon with the sky whisperin' to you
She carryin' a sword, like she Joan of Arc
Dude got a Napoleon complex, they bone a part
When I throw them darts, I hit her in the heart
The livest love survive the flood like Noah's arc
Faded, but still jaded enough to be cautious
That's why I never force it, I'm sure she receive offers
Forever she go, clever wherever she go often
Dancin' all night, it's like she's never exhausted
Better forfeit if she's too much to handle
She? open, now they're runnin' both ends of the candle
No I ain't like the rest of the dudes, please don't get it confused
You gave me rhythm cause my heart beat (To the music)
[Hook: Talib Kweli]
And when them other broads get jealous
She stuntin' on 'em like Liz Taylor
(Listen to the music)
Cross the floor like Grace Kelly
Not a care in the world, ain't nothin' they could tell me
(Listen to the music)
[Verse 2: Maino]
I got you Kweli! Maino
We only here once, let's live it out
All black?, glass tinted out
Whole club packed, broads and the liquor
The more patron, the more damage to my liver
Standin' on the couch with my niggas
Screamin' in they ear, "Yeah! We gon' live forever!"
Damn I wish this moment last forever
Or long enough for us to have a moment to remember
Been around the world, lived the crazy life
Shorty said she heard stories, I was hella trife
She said her ex-man was locked up with me
And she know a girl that used to stay in touch with me
It's a small world, girl, now let's make a toast
To the rest of the night, all we need is hope
Hopin' that the liquor gettin' to her head
Hopin' that we wake up in the same bed, yup
[Hook]
[Verse 3: Talib Kweli]
So gorgeous that I couldn't ignore it
To let this opportunity pass by, I know I couldn't afford it
We add a chapter to the life story
I turned around, seen her movin' across the floor headin' right for me
You're sexy and plus you get the raper
They throwin' ice, you slide on 'em like a figure skater
This nigga greater, a demonstrator, I make you come
To my world where your body language is my native tongue
It's like a wave how you rollin', I keep it goin'
We movin' in slo-motion like we walkin' on the floor of the ocean
It's like you floatin', I got you explodin'
Keepin' it tight, I'm like the thief in the night, every moment is stolen
Gotta know when to go in and when to let it go
Gotta know when to chill and when to let her know
Men have groupies, but women have stalkers
She only tryin' to release endorphins
[Hook]
[Outro]
Talib Kweli on this motherfucker, we ridin' out, baby!
Hear how this bitch sound?
The corner, the corner
Will you learn earn it, will you make it term it
so place in your mind where your darkest stores is I
is where I shout and some get elevated
that was just a dream
the corner, the corner
that was just a dream
Man it works it like dogs
I time swag it the copses
corner the market like cooperate from my corner office
smile got a lungs, black is the smokers tryin to pass to the soaking
hit in the back of the dough with the fofin
put Olympics with niggas is passin the torches
to every hand in the ghetto we answer the greatle
we trapped in the force, we ran from captains of boat chips
to the corners with the ragging approaches
now we crime with spectacular focus chock us,
in the corner of the club making the models nervous
any nigga tryin to front them in some bottle surface
we follow verdicts like boo is the follow..
respect what they say yesterday is fights tomorrow is bird us
I'm hopin to pray that you never forget where you came from
post it the slaves accept their lives post to be hand from
nightmare get the shy line the road with the same gun
That was just a dream, that's me in the corner
that's me in the spot,
life fuck a cop don't say I ain't warned you
tryin to keep up the weed
and I don't know if you can do it,
oh no I said too much, that was just a dream
I've been said enough,
That was just a dream, that's me in the corner
Woke up this morning life fuck all of my aponeys
grab my strapped jump up in my hooked
hit the block and hit some donuts
all hangin out the window middle fingers to the police
shining diamonds got them blinded by reflections of this roll it
I remember I was broke a shit
they didn't know me then, niggas hands out
always on that homie shit
sometimes I get paranoid like when I was holing bricks
everyone is a suspect, be careful who you rolling with
for that blow guns blow like pumpets
home invasions get your ticket free lunches
reminiscent on remi that's the remedy roof over my head
you've seen how they did Kenedy
life is a traffic jam tryin to get by
..time to get high no why because
That was just a dream, that was just a dream
that's me in the corner
that's me in the spot light losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no I've said too much
I haven't said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
But that was just a dream, try, cry, why, try
That was just a dream, just a dream, just a dream
I got a letter from the Government the other day
I opened and read it and said it was suckers
they wanna meet for the army or whatever
Benjamin given a damn I said never
Enough enough
E e e e e
Benjamin given a damn
Be-be-be-benjamin given a damn
Be-be-be-benjamin given a damn I said never
Yeah yeah attack the block, attack the block yeah yeah
Tell em Kweli, Z-Trip A A A
What the wisdom of the vetarin, 5 of them
and nobody fuck with them, put that on everything man,
put that on everything
what you got to put up?
put it on, put it on
Nobody fuck em with the crew that I fuck
Nobody fuck em with the crew that I fuck
Nobody fuck em with the crew that I fuck
when I can tell you get disgusting
Nobody fuck em with the crew that I fuck
when I can tell you get disgusting with the crew that you stop with
Hit em like there's nothing while your movement the suspect
he's screaming out flat 'cause your duck sick
the period you nigga for got body to track
and put the fear in it asking you if you could feel let it be literal
up against inside of your temper we're getting spiritual
people on me you niggas ain't passed the physical
arter than the criminal no party if you stand
the market is full of bullets smarter than your average there
my spirit is living proof I'll be scaring em in the boo
they playing you for there but I dare to tell the truth
and get it longer the truth but still here while it..
faking in the..and make it the pass of year
so so assassin nigga curve your enthusiasm
quarter up in the special affection homie that's..
I shit frames and imagine hour
life is an over blast self contain
fray medal like it's over cast
ask something I don't talk too much
then if you ask around that comes to cuff and such
throw the curve and adjust my swing
that is why I..on avoid the ducks
I'm out of nothing, you talk foolish
you love the money is the root or something
now I ain't high and dance around you dooze like burn fire
get your way up and your mixtape suck
Kweli send the alarm, I ain't the beast way accept
I'm from the great abra that you serve your own flow
you still the sneak I serve them..slow to Moscow
go in the work this clouds in the circus
I let the pearl curky so we earl with the purple
education make the nervous they stuck on lanes
this the pop and you will know my name
I'm somewhere between gruff and green
cash in hand knowledge in the book I read from
y'all all been from the install
some real skill hold the steady even when the earth shake..
jealousy and hate never found bake and dark for me
..can be cold from young MC's playing ball but y'all
having you heard your words run but my rhyme is the word
along with it the opposite,
you don't wanna run them the court like the ladybugs in my palm
my progress is a part of my process
mandatory sweat like a fat nigga with breast
just to fight it who is beneath the blog with the promiscuous game
that came to fuck us all
so when you need to make the court know who to trust
that's plug to the one that's it, that's enough
ah they looked to me as I had breathe
hover guns and butter like you see what the stat did
being a block away had a stripling bibe big
now they sayin I'm right like I'm reshup and rhyme his
sky is beyond measure like my speech on level
you peon could you peon together
my queen days was for harder way gin or whatever
my team made..save the hit on the dreadler
raysbach, maybach, crade on the gray bad
what we're seeing is a rover and tucking away and satered
fly guy adiquin PR, PS in it, blue R and everything
like we are we rappin with
and we all models that you find close and every
maybe automatic mouth call that out on series
I'm the serie in this south 'cause I'M having this K
throw a cane to your palm if you..
No one can hit us completely like see my..
this is not dimension yet, run a shit and this dimension
guns is spit man can intoxicate
especially when I run the wind
holla never set the..the next is..
for the more is just discussing no discussion
make em sick the way I kick
bars precaution your head rushin
plus I'm busting melons like Gallagher
not even a challenge to the simple of..
given the circumstance call your commissioner
got protection for your week conditioner
what you call it first, the chick upon from the purse
that..is the worst, how your crew loving my worse
love how I swerve make a nigga shut for the curve
it only rap us in the burbs look in their eyes
everything it start to swerve grab their hand of your girl
about to eye make a sip when shit is given nothing is the pearls
Like rich right I write the classic like
write the passage when I recycle the passage should I type on the average
grab a mike in this mandolin methods of a mechanic
manic, necessary you panic I call an ambulance of my insomnia
I might overdose on ambient mixing with a cancer stick
increasing my chances I got a lot of living to do before I diminish
like I'm spitting to my finishing line limit
rhyme chemist all I'm missing is a dime missing
composition like do a dime mission
once I step inside the mark entrance
old school like you call 9 biscuits
new school like buy a Nicky Minaj tickets
is it a crime that I'd rather listen ride digger
a fly nigga with big dreams and boast
Ladies and gentlemen
Kweli!
Won't you stay around with me?...
And please say the rhyme
Cause these rappers think that I'm
In love with your state of mind
Cause you a favourite of mine
And I know you on your grind
I don't want to waste your time
But baby won't you stay around with me?...
And let my love (and let my love)
And let my love
Kweli you should rap about this, you should rap about that
Any more suggestions? You in the back, yeah you
You should rap more on beat, you should rap more street
And never ever get your mack on please, how bout you?
I like the way you're melodic, it's cause you capture hypnotic
Portraits and seem to make the average exotic
Probably unite, I know you getting some love, but you can't spit like a thug
And you a blow, you make a hit for the club, word
I don't like your voice, I don't like your choice of beats
It sounds like it's forced, and what was up with "Back Up Offa Me"?
I ain't like that, man you should get with Hi-Tek
Now he got nice tracks, them other dudes is type wack
Yeah, people keeping it coming, I keep it bubbling
Like the heat from oven boiling the water and the hate
So they light my fire...
I got a mic empire, my own label
I had to emancipate me-me like Mariah...
At some point I might retire, on some bullshit
My legacy, horseshit like Mariah's...
Illest flow found in the game, soothing like the sound of the rain
It's the dude profound with the fame, I refusing to be sounding the same
Keeping the verses, deleting the curses, defeating the purpose
When the people go on strike, I'm in the street with the workers
Speaking the words from a pulpit like the preachers at churches
Raise my hand, all the teachers get nervous
Cause they know I air them out
And they ain't even really gotta hear me out
Keep it dirty like pigpen, voice in the warrior's head like ??
Clocking like Big Ben, old school slang still find a way to innovate
Pete Rock got em feeling great, the ladies say
Won't you stay around with me?...
And please say the rhyme
Cause these rappers think that I'm
In love with your state of mind
Cause you a favorite of mine
And I know you on your grind
I don't want to waste your time
But baby won't you stay around with me?...
And let my love (and let my love)
And let my love
Light the tip of the L, this heavyweight rap tipping the scale
And we never let the system prevail, real picturesque, missing the sale
Never that, it's forbidden like the candy sisters lifting the veil
I'm still leading the pack, these cats lacking
Just because you be having a dragon don't mean you got the fire...
It ain't nothing to play with, it's sacred
My pen is the paintbrush, and dipping in paint plus
Truth, love, joy, anger, hatred and anguish
That's the spectrum of colours I paint with
I don't feast at the banquet, cause freedom is the set that I bang with
Listen the conditions in my slum village is tainted
I grew through the pavement, like the flower the girl drew in the paper
The sky bluer and the ?eye's? save you
The rules of engagement that they use, attitudes of a slave
Man got me stressed out losing my patience
The moves that I'm making across waters
Through contraband that I'm taking across borders
Information never lost in translation
Too many new words to be learned, I'm spitting fire giving third degree burns
Giving them heat stroke, hotter than rocking a P cote
At ??, all these rappers super like me so, we go
Back in the days like reminiscing with Pete yo
Ladies welcome to the Kweli show
She goes...
Won't you stay around with me?...
And please say the rhyme
Cause these rappers think that I'm
In love with your state of mind
Cause you a favorite of mine
And I know you on your grind
I don't want to waste your time
But baby won't you stay around with me?...
And let my love (and let my love)
And let my love
Ladies and Gentleman, its Talib Kweli
Yeah, this Ear Drum y'all
B-B-B-B-Banging on your ear drum
We got the incredible Pete Rock on the track like...
I like that, I like that
I want to give an extra big shout to my man Dave Dart
Holding me down as always and as usual
And his new born son, Cannon, brand new to the world
He's now down with Blacksmith, Blacksmith is the movement
Jean Grae, Strong Arm Steady gang, Talib Kweli
[Hook: Glensky]
High rises, day breaks
Clouds hide the sun's rays
Quick sand and mistakes
Smash walls to get through
I fight the good fight
Even on the bad days
It's darkest before light
I'm gonna push through
[Verse 1: Curren$y]
Turbo charged bars
Slot cars on tracks, falling off, game stars in these rap wars
Ain't nothing band-aids won't cover
Touring with 7D coverage
Live bands, two buses, my own cash
No budget, no major label fundings, Jets baby
We went from crawling to walking to running
You can't see nothing, you under gag order
Hopping out of Audi's hurting y'all with kicks, I'm the Transporter
Think about it, never mind, you ain't gotta
I'm already on some whole other, word to yo mufuckin self
Nobody else gon' do it for ya, nobody else
Every now and then someone'll offer ya help, but they ain't doing nothing
'Til they really see you tryna do something, I ain't bluffing
Kush puffing on you jive turkeys
Stuffing stockings with these gifts
Audible applaudables homie take a wiff
[Hook]
[Verse 2: Talib]
When you a man, action is what's expected, nothing is spoken on
Producer never got time for no excuses, gotta go beyond
My flow is tom-foolery
I smoke these poor rappers so fast they call me?
I beautifully exude the vibe that's free of ambiguity
Ya goonery for the sake of goonery is cartoons to me
It's coonery, it's lunacy, let's make a plane
On the way? attached to a tree
The moon talk to the sea and speak the body language fluently
She make it rain
When I'm on fire, she always try to douse me
Only reason that you make it rain is 'cause your diamonds cloudy
I see you from a mile away when it get overcast
Old people feel it in they bones, invade your home like I broke the glass
And let myself in, fighting for freedom like the people in Tunisia
Spread through Sudan and Egypt, this the music for the movement
The score to your achievements, never join 'em so you gotta beat 'em
It's carpe diem hey (hey) yeah
[Hook]
[Verse 3: Kendrick]
Like kindergarteners
My vision's bothered by vigilantes that harbor on street corners
Try your hardest to harvest bundles of weed on ya
The starving'll speed on ya, stampede on ya
Impede on your pockets then pee on ya
Dreams of us living lavish in fabrics of fine linens
Spending, established, with women dining and laughing
But this environment got us violent, ready to crash in-
To society, take this driver seat, hope you fastened
Your seatbelts twice, when I rolled them dice, I crapped
So many times I can build casinos from scratch
Too many daps you might receive from the things you achieve, relax
That's what my mental say, but my physical's been detached, I'm on some other shit
Like fuck the government, take the higher rankings, where's the mothership?
I made a covenant that I was changing by my luck is bent
Quite disgusting when reality? where the fuck you been?
Left him face down like he was planking
Can I get a church from the ...ghetto
Can I get a church from the ...ghetto
La la la la la la la, yeah
Girl you’re outstanding
From the hips to your thighs,
It’s splendid how you standing out
Girl you’re outstanding,
So let’s not waste no time
Let’s get it girl cause tonight it’s ours, yeah
While you walking everybody watching you closely
Hitting them high notes, nothing about you low key
Just let it register, body is unreal,
Was animated like Jessica ...
2 wanna stab like a heart
Poneys do, just drive the drum and
Desert, your body like an oasis
The thirst is all real, you can see it all in they faces
Especially when you dropping oh, baby you gotta know
Girl you be killing them, filling them with all kind of hopes
Dude on the block that be selling dope
By the shoes and the watch you can tell he’s broke
So stop with the lies he telling for, you can see with a telescope
Tell him bringing home and glasses up like Sara Pallin knows
Love it in the club when the fellows go
But you hate that your hair gotta smell like smoke
They ask you what is hitting for
Nigga try to fix the prices, never dealt with chicks before
You ain’t got to licking license, do you down to live your life
If dude is down to split this ...how you like to master active fly
Until you hit it right
Hey you girl with the tight upskirt,
In the back of the club where they light up purp
Known to drop it like a stripper, with her night off work
They make it rain and you stuffing dollars right in your, purse
Girl you’re outstanding
From the hips to your thighs,
It’s splendid how you standing out
Girl you’re outstanding,
So let’s not waste no time
Let’s get it girl cause tonight it’s ours, yeah
You just looking for somebody that can fill in the spot
Fill in the blank yeah Shawty you’ve been sipping a lot
Filling the drink as the sips to your head
You a race your regrets
Throw another shot back as you race to forget
Yeah the night just started, we both parted from ex love
Sleep won’t make you forget him baby but sex does
Swear you ain’t looking for no one night stand
But you prepared to risk it all for that one right man
Ask me, let’s have a toast to your future
I know you belong to
Leave your ex in the past, don’t let him haunt you
The last argument was world war 3, but follow me
I introduce you to that birge wazi
Talk is cheap, welcome to the all that show
You be my brigitte bardo, I’ll be your ... ball d
Do what you came for, let me get that car dope
Have you ever made love in the lambo gallardo?
Girl you’re outstanding
From the hips to your thighs,
It’s splendid how you standing out
Girl you’re outstanding,
So let’s not waste no time
[Intro]
Ah, ey, it’s greg nice, e, I’m in the place to be ah
With my brother, kweli, ah, check it out ah,
Brooklyn in the house, ah
Money making Manhattan in the house
Styling out in the house, ah
The q burrow queens in the house, ah
Bring it down
[Hook]
I’m a New York kid, with New York needs
And New York dreams
That live in me, my destination is destiny
Soon you will me shining, shining, shining,
Shining, shining, shining, shining
Yo I’m a native New Yorker, straight shit talker
Holla out in the 4th heads a kaiawaka
Can’t get rid of her, thinks she a stalker
But the trees down, here comes the Chewbacca
Y’all know the deal, with style so ill
Rip shit down, I
Y’all know the deal, with style so ill
Rip shit down, Y’all know the deal, with style so ill
Rip shit down, I don’t care who on the bill
20 years later getting Master pill
Flicing on the wheels of steel
Bang this beat like a flank real foul
Don’t get me mad I get ill like awww
I go 7 30 on your kep buck wild
Stay act up with my old G style
Pass me the vodka yo pass me the juice
I used to watch kung fu flicks on the deuce
Me, cousin meatball and my cousin Bruce
Get up, get down, oh get funky, get loose!
[Hook]
I’m a New York kid, with New York needs
And New York dreams
That live in me, my destination is destiny
Soon you will the shining, shining, shining,
Shining, shining, shining, shining
If my city is my lady, my music is my baby
Lately this chick is crazy, I’m ready to catch the caddie
Living on top of graves and bones of afrikan slaves
Only time is like I’m not in the cage it’s on stage
I’m from the birthplace of Pac and Big
Stop the friss while we calling cops pigs
Way the god lives it’s like they teaching’s never a substitute
When I had in the brighten peace, get in touch with the Russian jews
Egyptians and the Asians will kick it with black arrow
I sneak in the barb dealer while I’m swinging to bob carol
The fact is, they don’t make them like they used to
Plus I miss the old 40 deuce too
We used to do them hood wild thing
Like smoking with the ciga west
The drill is gone now, Mickey Mouse is the biggest threat
Hell’s kitchen, more like hal’s kitchen now
Road tripping, where I’m going I ain’t figured yet
[Hook]
I’m a New York kid, with New York needs
And New York dreams
That live in me, my destination is destiny
Soon you will me shining, shining, shining,
Shining, shining, shining, shining
I’m the New York king, yeah I shine like the North Star
Getting mad, hiding in the 5 star
Or the 4 star, hotel for the meditation
In the hood with this gentrification
What’s the detonation, or the destination
Let me know what the agenda is
And where the 2 50th vendors is
Write rhymes in my head, no pen and shit
Yeah I smoke for the senses,
Think of my niggas doing they same since
See the cops I got the New York 6th sense
Did a couple years but, I ain’t do shit since
Jail is slavery part 2,
Yeah I’m brave and I got a lot of heart too
And I’m real fucking smart too
New York shine king, you should play your part too
[Hook]
I’m a New York kid, with New York needs
And New York dreams
That live in me, my destination is destiny
Soon you will me shining, shining, shining,
Manifesto, this is what we want to see happen
For my peoples still breakin' graf writin' and rappin'
I rock the mic right and exact, my life's my sacrifice
Take my mic and I'm like a Chinese man with no rice
Oh yeah, we flippin' through the pages of time to find design
Like Vaseline on the faces of Black Georgia
We shinin' deeper than petroleum jelly
We in the air like conversations on celly
And just appear like stretch marks on bellies
After givin' birth you had to let go, you playin' for life
The Manifesto, here comes the beat
Because I said so keep pushin'
I got the cushion for the seat of your soul
Back in the day they stole our smile
So we clothe our teeth in gold
And we frontin', from nigga to kid, to Son of God
It's wild dependin' on labels for man, woman and child
My style just is all that's seen and all that's heard
God gave us music so we play with our words
So when Tek be in constant meditation like a monk
While Kweli speaks in tongues to get your intellect drunk
Yo, we bound to take over the 90% of your brain that you ain't usin'
To us it's life or death, we keep you chosin'
Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone
Ain't no rest for the weary yo, forever it's on
The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order
Movin' upon the face of the water like reflections
Aiyo all the real MC's can meet me outside
So we can decide how we gonna change the tide
Like the moon we on the earth takin' a ride around the sun
Now son, we only just begun and the journey's far from done
We all miss you, what your brain gone fishin' like Walter Mosley?
There's an MC that can hold me, supposedly?
No one could come close to me, only the family really know me
Hip-hop's last hope like Obi Wan Kenobi
Through your television I'm shinin' light like a train
Comin out like earthworms when it rains
Bringin' it like the C.I.A. be bringin' in crack
Cocaine bailin' out of planes
With the George Bush connections, I push reflection
Like I'm sellin' izm like a dealer buildin' the system
Supply and the demand it's all capitalism
Niggaz don't sell crack 'cause they like to see blacks smoke
Niggaz sell crack 'cause they broke
My battle lyrics get conscious minds provoked
And ghetto passes revoked
'Cause we surrounded by the evil
You know that the people's minds is feeble
They believe in it
Even if it don't make sense, this makin' dollars shit,
Don't take a scholar to see what's goin' on around you
Either you widdit or you ain't is what it comes down to
Have you forgotten we pickin' 100% designer name brand Cotton
They still plottin', my third eye is steady watchin'
Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone
Ain't no rest for the weary yo forever it's on
The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order
Movin' upon the face of the water like reflections
Yeah, see that's what I'm talkin' about, it be the slaughter, man
We need to break it down because these heads
They don't know what they talkin' about
Frontin' all this nonsense, yo, break it down
From open mics to solutions, I got a collage of answers
And a ten point program just like the Black Panthers
One, first respect yourself as an artist
If you don't respect yourself then your rhymes is garbage
Two, make sure your crew is as tight as you
'Cause when them niggaz fallin' off, they gonna bring you down too
Three, understand the meanin' of MC
The power to Move the crowd like Moses split the seas
Four, know your shit and don't ever be blunted
If you don't know what your words mean then your rhymes mean nothin'
Five, kick facts in the raps and curse with clarity
What's a curse when language is immersed in vulgarity
Six, we gonna fix industrial politricks
Shit, they made an art form out of ridin' dicks
Seven, we soldiers for God needin' new recruits
So if you rhymin' for the loot then you's a prostitute
But eight, acknowledge that you need food on your plate
In order to say your grace make sure your business is straight
Nine, we buildin' black minds with intelligence
And when you freestyle, keep the subject matter relevant
Ten, every MC grab a pen
And write some conscious lyrics to tell the children
I'll say it again, every MC find you a pen
And drop some conscious shit for our children
A keynote speaker's about to come on now
I just wanted to say a few words about him
And you all know who he is, Talib Kweli
Please, hold your applause 'til the end
We are glad to come and hear you speak
We love it, Kweli doesn't like me to talk about this
But one time we were drivin'
Through the Mississippi Delta
And there was a brotha runnin' up the side of the road
And he didn't have any shoes on, he didn't have a shirt on
And I started to drive right by this man
Kweli said,"Stop the car, because that brotha might be in trouble"
And I stopped the car, Kweli said to the man
He said, "Brotha, are you okay?
Do you need a ride somewhere?"
And the man looked at Kweli and said,"Shh, I'm escapin'"
And Kweli took him by the hand and said,"My brotha
You didn't get the memo, we have been free, for some time now"
Well, I'm windin' it up, please welcome a good friend, scholar
Ghetto philosopher, three time Nobel Peace Prize winner
First black man to pilot an air craft
The nigga that made up the Nike Swoosh
The man that made Kool Aid say,"Ohh Yea"
Everyday since we first met
Can't even eat a bit
I can't seem to think straight
When I think about how you love me
Everyday is like a holiday
Something like Christmas Eve
My worst day is carefree
When I think about how you love me
When are we gonna grow up
Why do I love you so much we so touched
Excited by the drama we like when it show up
The fighting don't slow up I light you like close ups
And I call you my Calamity Jane you like my fantasy
Love cause the same chemical reaction in the brain as insanity
Holidays drinking with your family passionate folks
Imagine if they had their own reality show actually no
Desires like fire quit playing or get burned
Or give it away on camera like Montana Fishburne
Our presence is a gift a gift is our present
Breakup text call her a b**** under my breath
And then the makeup sex she forgive me in a session
I know she love me she sending a mixed message though
Everyday since we first met
Can't even eat a bit
I can't seem to think straight
When I think about how you love me
Everyday is like a holiday
Something like Christmas Eve
My worst day is carefree
When I think about how you love me
You need a chick with some fire
I mean unless you want a wife cold as ice
Living life with the biggest debutante
Me and you we considered the upper echelon
The only one I come out my fitted for in a restaurant
You can get it huh remember I was taking your digits same night I was making the visit
Make it the mission to make you cum when we done sometimes you hate to admit it
You a little numb from the toys
And love the noise that you make when you run from the boys
And comfort your man insane how we go so crazy with it
This the asylum so we call relationships committed
You ain't a bird I ain't them others guys that get lost in the name
You the butterfly and I'm the moth to your flame
Love is dying while the mothers crying
Big brother eying me imposing their reality to Shutter Island
Everyday since we first met
Can't even eat a bit
I can't seem to think straight
When I think about how you love me
Everyday is like a holiday
Something like Christmas Eve
My worst day is carefree
When I think about how you love me
Our love is like a Psycho or a trilogy the drama is killing me
I'm grown but the little boy is still in me
We discuss monogamy polygamy the I's the probability
Your momma ain't feeling me it stung like a killer bee
How far from the tree do the apple fall
The things I said was it how I felt was it the alcohol or do i really hate her after all
I apologize for the statements that I made to her
First I swallowed my pride then I ate my words
I tried to pass it off acted like it was nothing
The fact is I was discovering my appetite for destruction
Everything else is bland once you tasted filet mignon
When I'm full I'm taking you home your a plate for later on
I'll eat it up or beat it up
Til your love runneth over yo I need a cup
Everyday since we first met
Can't even eat a bit
I can't seem to think straight
When I think about how you love me
Everyday is like a holiday
Something like Christmas Eve
My worst day is carefree
Yeah, Kweli
Ye-ye-ye-ye-ye yeah get back
Classic Brooklyn, let's go
We sell crack to our own, nigga I'm back in the zone
My passionate poems got the feds tappin my phones
It's like Timothy McVeigh, they say I'm actin alone
I got a whole team that'll put a gat to your dome
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Yo this remix is hot, we only dealin with the live hip hop
Yo get by, get back nigga (Roc)
Just to get by
Nigga I sold coke, nigga I pushed lah
Carried a fo'five
Claimed I was ready to die
Promised never to cry
Held it all inside
Reality was too much to take so I
Kept my mind fly
Slimmed for most of mine
Soon as I closed my eyes
Then I woke up behind
Nigga either I throw it up, these nines
Or blow up with rhymes
The best flow of mines is like blow up on lines of coke up
And your folks think Hov' just wrote stuff to rhyme
Nah, I'ma poster for what happened seein your moms
Doin five dollars worth to work just to get a dime
So pardon my disposition
Why should I listen to a system that never listened to me?
Picture me working McDonald's (uh uh)
I'd rather pull a mac on you
Sorry Ms. Jackson but I'm packin
This morning I woke up
Feelin brand new and I, I jumped up
Feelin my highs and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smoking and stop drinkin
But I been thinkin I got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get (by), just to get
(everybody get your hands in the sky, it go)
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah dah
Bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah daaah
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by
(...hands in the sky, it go)
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah dah
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah daaah
Just to get by, just to get by
(Talib Kweli) Just to get by
We keep it gangsta, stay 'fo shizzle', 'fo sheezy'
To set the tide to the violence on the TV during the war
Killin each other is easy, there's war and liquor for fallen niggas Believe
me, it's ghetto love, I bet you seen it all befo'
Just to get by, my people we get fly
My people we get high, fillin cigars with the lah
Nigga come on, even Jesus was stoned before receivin the throne
I said to rest in peace and leave us alone
Back in the days we was used to doin the shit
I can't call it all in the streets
We was hustlin fiends that asked for it
I guess I was used to just standin on corners
Waitin for paper bags with bundles of crack
Hopin the week was good so I could get money back
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
When I was stressed I possessed a side of my strength
That made me angry and bleed
With the frustration havin me smokin Newports and weed
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Those be the times when I try to rely
On my niggas and street motherfuckers
And reach out to wifey and then I place a call on my mother
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
(Hey yo mom pick up the phone, I g- I gotta to talk to you ma)
If you was (??) sentenced 'stead of actin stupid and guessin
You had to go and study your lessons
And know your math in the building recession to get by
This morning I woke up
Feelin brand new and I, I jumped up
Feelin my highs and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smoking and stop drinkin
But I been thinkin I got my reasons
Just to get (get), just to get (get)
Just to get (get), just to get (get buh buh buh bye bye)
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah dah
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah daaah
Some people try to be fly
They fake and they lie
They snakes'll see the hate in their eyes
Look at the sky to survive
People try to get by
Fightin force, slice of the pie
Tryin to eat and be high
How you know you really alive if you don't reach for the sky?
Your eyes keep on the prize
What you seek and you'll find
Who's the realest niggas? that we let people decide
Who keepin it live?
Brooklyn got the key to the ride, c'mon
Some people try to be fly
They fake and they lie
They snakes'll see the hate in their eyes
Look at the sky to survive
People try to get by
Fightin force, slice of the pie
Tryin to eat and be high
How you know you really alive if you don't reach for the sky?
Your eyes keep on the prize
What you seek and you'll find
Who's the realest niggas? that we let people decide
Who keepin it live?
nowadays we be rocking glasses for fashion
and fucking with life a fraction
covered in max factor, hustling ass-backwards
as sure as hi-tek look like richard from last dragon
your focus on bogus rappers got you caught up in distraction
distraction. who fucking who? who cares? that's distraction
you wish it was you, don't you — why you asking?
try to break the law of attraction
get a piece of my attention just a fraction of a ration
or a measly little morsel
they suck your blood and you believe in the immortals
we nocturnal like a sleeping disorder
see the water drawing away from the shore
this ain't no ordinary storm
we killing for a humanitarian cause
but have yet to show up in darfur
the arab spring is what it's called
but it's looking like the pride before the fall
they say it ain't about the spoils of war
but turn around and tell you how much more the oil will cost
steal the land from the native american and call the missiles tomahawks
make him a mascot, dress up like him for sport
as a final insult to this beautiful culture
scavengers, feasting on the dead like a vulture
snacking; how you keeping up with my rapping?
you barely keeping up with kardashians
you caught up in distraction
it's the living proof you try to make the truth elastic as mr. fantastic
i'm recycling these rappers
truthfully, these niggas is plastic
coming through the front door blasting
i ain't talking bout them e-mails
that you always send to the masses
that somehow end up in my trash bin
my niggas got the aim of sharpshooters and the hearts of assassins
all this war, all this life, all this passion
no time for distractions
give a fuck if the president wear a flag pin
rhyming is deep as holes chilean miners are trapped in
or the cracks in the earth under asia minor causing disasters
my deep cuts way above your minor infractions
talk to rappers like children cause that's how they acting
they holding their hands like minors in traffic
the captains of industry and the lovers of status quo
have a deep-seeded fear of change
for them it's strange they wanna go
back to the 50′s, they asking for a return
but them days is much blacker, for lack of a better term
we adapted to the times, but this culture we had to learn
came about as natural as a perm on a pachyderm
these fascists have had their turn
we packing them german burners, them lugers
the next shooters is waiting for superman, they get nothing but lex luthor
america's nightmare, vivid as fred kruger
our heroes are dead to us
spirit that bled through us
endear us with the rythm so the flow is so foolish
what you hearing is precision
the people so thirsty, what they seeing is mirages
but a passion for photoshopping and your youtube collages
coming through like collossus
exposing the false prophet
taught how to do the knowledge so i'm never off-topic
a lie is like a potion
first it gets you open
then you swallow whole straight for the truth
no chasers, skip religion and the politics
and head straight to the compassion
Down cousins.. across the border
I got cousins.. country cousins
I got cousins.. country cousins
WHOO!
Yo son, what the deal son? What's really hood son? (what's really hood?)
Word is bond, shit is real, shit is real
Yo son, this block is def
Nigga need to go over here and pop off real quick
I gotta get that guap by all means, you know what I'm sayin son
Growing up in Brooklyn, shit I thought that everybody talked this way
Raised on Rakim and Run-D.M.C., so we thought that everybody (walked this way)
"We fresh, we chill, we def, we ill," it's just some things that was taught to say
And every Saturday morning, I watched cartoons with a bowl of Frosted Flakes
And.. the puberty came, started hitting them cuties with game and the truancy came (uh!)
Started cutting in acting class, I was comin all fast, I was new to the game (uh!)
Used to playin on T.V., courtesy of video music box
Plus! Knew a lot of hustlas, goin O.T., comin back with the new hip-hop
Like! E-40 holding down the yay (that yay), N.W.A. in L.A.
OutKast from the A-Town, way down in Houston they play the UGK
I walk and talk kinda fast and thought of as a New York kinda rhymer (word is bond)
But must New Yorkers got family in South and North Carolina (come on!)
L.A. is little Alabama, they walk and they talk with a country grammar
And you think everybody else sound country, so they get started, started callin 'em "Bama
Down south where we buy them hammers, down south where we sell them drugs
Down south where life is cheap, where they quick to fill you up with slugs
It's nothin, I'm from New York but I got country cousins
It's nothin, you stay connected by the slang you bustin
Want it simply put? You can't rip me when I spit for the Section One free
I'ma underground king, nigga Pimp C free
Word up to my man Bun B what?
It's nothin, I'm from New York but I got country cousins
It's nothin, you stay connected by the slang you bustin
The thing you bustin, the game you hustlin, the days your cuttin
The flame you cuffin and the lames you snuffin, your name is nothin!
Growing up in P.A., I knew nobody out there talked like us
Nothin but that county slang, "What up dog? What up cuzz?"
Late night you see us guzzling 40's, menthols, wine, and weed
Sitting on the back porch, getting zooted, feeling fine in deed
Listening to Eric B.and Rakim or EPMD
Cool C and Steady B, plus that Public Enemy
Not to mention N.W.A., DJ Quik, and MC Eiht
Down south we listen to it all, we didn't discriminate
Better off them Geto Boys, Raheem, and the Royal Flush
Rap-A-Lot Records based out in Houston, represents for us
O.G. style, they cars, fix them vogues with human trouble
Our squad is gangsta nigga, put it down for H-Town on the double
So I said, "It's time to hustle," got down with my brother C
Put together UGK and shit the rest is history
We make hits by the dozen, put it down when they said we wasn't
Trust me it's nothin, just another day in the life for country cousins
In Brooklyn, New York I'm down with Large and Marl
Back in P.A.T., man we be sippin the barre
I'm down with J. from Houston and I think it should be
But when I'm mobbin L.A. I fuck with Ice-T
Short Dog is my O.G., we been down forever
Taught me the game, lane to lane, and keep my pimpin together
Niggaz don't understand by far back in the day
It was amazing and my brother put me up on Black Star
Starving blacks on the news, I weighed
Cause we isolate ourselves and give our ghetto pass away
My niggaz passed away in an unreal way
They mommas depleted, I'm just tryna make sure that their kids straight
I'm on the chitalin tour with my mic in my hand
Shittin on these jealous niggaz in the new world clan
I wouldn't trade it for nothin, only a crazy man would
I represent for the whole South, I made it just for my hood
The pimpin's good...
I got cousins (I got cousins), country cousins (country cousins)
Like blood that's thicker than water (it's nothin), down dirty 'cross the border
I got cousins (I got cousins), country cousins (country cousins)
Like blood that's thicker than water (it's nothin), down dirty 'cross the border
[Intro]
Lets try something new
It's been a long time coming!
Let me try something brand new
Hey yo Ski!
What you ever do, man?
Come on!
Yo, what we doing it for?
[Talib Kweli - Verse 1]
This is for all the day-trippers and the hipsters
Whores and the fashionistas
Spiritual leaders practicing all the laws of attraction
The teachers who read the passages
From the back of a G?
That be bustin off Dalai Lama's or flashing heaters
the last of the boosters
With the shooting, the thugging and all the booning and spooning
and all the crooning, and cooning and auto-tuning, alive
You be tellin, peddlin' to consumers I'm helping them to see through it
get with this new movement,
Let's move it!
[Hook]
Feel the cold rain
Still I'm standing right here
Even the winter summer days
[Talib Kweli - Verse 1]
Yeah I'm a product of Reaganomics
From the blocks where he rocking a feds like J Electronica
drop and make this a lock
if he promises where the heart is
whether Jesus or Mohammad
regardless of where the Mosque is (word)
They hope for the Apocalypse like a self-fulfilling prophecy
Tell me when do we stop it?
Do they ask you your religion before you rent an apartment?
Is the answer burning Korans
So that we can defend Islamics?
The end upon us with a hash tag, a trending topic
You take away the freedoms that we invite in the game
Then you disrespect the soldiers; you ask them to die in vein
In a desert praying for rain
The music's like a drug, and they tend to take it to vein
It ain't for the well-behaved
The soundtrack for when you're great but its more for when you've felt afraid
More than your average rapper
So you sort of felt the way
The brain is like a cage, you a slave, that's why they lovin' you
This is the book that Eli that start with a K-W.
[Hook]
[Talib Kweli - Verse 2]
I do it for the trappers, other rappers
the Backpackers, the crackers
the n-ggas, the metal-packers
the victims of ghetto factories
I do it for the families, citizens of humanity
Emcee's, endangered species like manatees
I do it for the future of my children!
They the hope for the hopeless
Karma approaches, we gon' be food for a flock of vultures
The end of the World
Ain't nothing left but the cockroaches
and the freedom fighters
We're freedom writers like Bob Moses
the chosen, freedom writers like ?
For my block, my borough, my hood, my city, my state, yeah
My obligation is to my community is so clear!
yeah, we gotta save them, this opportunity so rare!
We do it so big over here that it's no bare
To the punks, bitches, the chumps, the snitches, the sneak in the game
We let them live with all they're weak and they're lame
The bozo's and joker's, promoting when they're speaking my name
[Intro]
Young Moolah baby x 4
Happy music, happy people
Happy people
Everything’s alright
Everything is alright
Hook:
Pop a bottle and celebrate
We made it to a new day
Pop a bottle and celebrate
We done made it to a new day
Oh I take a hit and just elevate
Cause today will be a good day
I got my mind right money right, ready for war
Workin’ hard today for a better tomorrow
[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]
Hey! blow the horns on ‘em
The sun is out, it’s a brand new day and it just dawned on ‘em
The smoke in here got ‘em floating just like in salt water
And break is fast, we got it cooking just like a short order
Feed the hands with them birds cover the cheetah print
A jungle out there and the jail is the zoo that keep us in
Players in gators is crazy, we feel the need to rock ‘em
Furs coming in all different colors like Peter got ‘em
Killing yourself for a salary
Look ya line flatter than stomachs of the women that’s running, watching
them calories
Hope that we linking, we smoking and drinking casually
Cause life without living ain’t nothing but a fallacy
[Hook:]
[Verse 2: Lil Wayne]
Say, who’s that peekin’ in my window?
Is that sunshine? Is that one time?
Let that sun shine through my living room
my hospitality is what I’m giving you
Harsh reality is what I’ve been through
But I’m not alone, ask her and him too
And they shall tell ya, ain’t nothin’ better
Than the smell of a new day
And I know the ocean runs dry and the sky gets dark
And ya don’t see what he’s trying to show ya
And I know the wall may seem tall
But if we help each other I guarantee that he get over
And once I’m over, I’ll reach back for my brother
And pull him over as well
Keep our heads high and our noses wide open
Hopin’ for that new day smell
Love live life
[Hook:]
[Verse 3: Mack Maine]
Yeah homie, I been away since I was 16
To tell ‘em what I’m ’bout to tell ‘em
So I need more than a 16
See I’m the only son of Mary and Joe
So I gotta fulfill my purpose ‘fore I’m buried, ya know
My momma say she having visions of me being a missionary
And the hood looking at me as a walking visionary
So I sit back and wonder will I ever have my time to shine
And die like Pac in his prime
Or will I go out like Len Bias and OD before the tryouts
No tell a reaper, no buyout
I’m good, I pray for a head to protect ya
And I gotta walk the streets with the heat as my protection
Still gotta watch my back, still watch my front home
Cause I seen a lot of niggas die with they gun on
So with that in mind, I just get higher
And pray to the higher Messiah, I’m no liar
And they say that puffing the fire fucks with your memory
But I got a lot of stuff that I don’t wan’ remember see
Like when my homie ? died
I like how I never seen a man cry ’til I seen Lance died
Never seen my pops cry ’til I seen my Grams died
And I’m here to tell him that I miss my Grams too
And I wish that I could hug her for mothers day too
And I feel the same way that you do
But we still gotta move on so she can just smile down on us
And I don’t want the Lord to ever frown down on us
I know that they really got power in a gun
But I also know that they got power in a tongue
So every time I speak, look I try to speak life
Y’all tweaking for broads, I tweak life
They said I was posed to die as a fetus
My momma said I ? that Devil in the name of Jesus
So now I’m here just to talk to y’all
Come and stroll with me homie, let me walk wit’ y’all
Ten million ways to die so I chose
To get my life right by the end of the road
'fore my body in a casket and I’m stiff and froze
'fore I’m laying in a morgue with a tag on my toes
I’m here to tell you take heed to the warnings
School shootings, hurricanes, and global warming
Open ya Bibles up with no hesitation
BC was the Genesis, this is Revelations
So you better pick your destination
Tomorrow ain’t promised, better pick your destination
Rest in peace B Spencer, rest in peace Bipsy
Shit could be worse so I’m feeling like Weezy
I wake up in the morning, take a piss, and wash my hands
Take a knee and thank the Man and leave my life in God’s hands, yea!
Hey Y'all
I feel good right? (mmm...hmmm...)
Yeah, ok, uhh..
Now what that make me talk about?
Love, love, love, love...
Yeah, that's what the world need, ha
Yo, that's what your girl need
All right, we gon' put it down like this
I'll tell you about myself
My name is Kweli and I love to spit it homie
I rap about love and life, ladies get to know me
If you feelin' lonely, I can be your one and only
I put it out in the world, so people show me... love
Yeah, I always get it back
This ain't no pimp game here, that's a different track
We talkin' this and that, we need to get with this
I keep it realer than most, this is our business
What we gotta do to make them see
We got a good thing going on
Wanna tell the world if they don't know
That what we have is real
Wanna shout it from the mountains baby
That I love you, but if they don't hear me
I know, you know, we know
Heheh, yeah..
Yo, hey baby look like you need a break tonight
Let me make it right, baby won't you stay the night
I got a lot of love as you know you're my favorite right?
Hey my lady, what we gon' make tonight (our love...)
That's the dream, but I never sleep
Across the crowded room, our eyes forever meet
But without doubt and gloom, cuz we can never be
That's why I got to go, cuz you're my impossible love
Your the horizon I can see but never ride off into
I write my lyrics to you, you the perfect instrumental
I sound better than the cat who rappin' to you now
That's between me and you, what happened to us now?
Got you hopin' for the glorious
Waitin' for that victorious feelin' wanted by all of us
Kneelin' and praying that the lord in us will help us love ourselves
So much that the confidence attract to someone else
What we gotta do to make them see
We got a good thing going on
Wanna tell the world if they don't know
That what we have is real
Wanna shout it from the mountains baby
That I love you, but if they don't hear me
I know, you know, we know
Yo, Rockin' Los Angeles, House of Blues in Sunset
Performin' like an orgasm, my girl ain't even cum yet
Seen her by the side of the stage givin' me energy
Potentially, wife material connectin' mentally
I felt like heaven sent for me, you're meant for me
The doubters and the haters had to acknowledge eventually
You was a non-believer too if memory serves
And a heart that gives shit, tryin' to play your boy for the her
The harder that I run to you, the farther you become
It's like my heart was part of some movie that hadn't yet begun
This woman moves me and I'm a mountain of a man
You pull me in like the waves do the grain of sand (love, love, love...)
Yeah, I love the way you bring it to me
I wrote a song for you, I love to hear you to sing it for me
And let the melody carry me through the jealousy
And we can cruise like Tom and Phenelope
What we gotta do to make them see
We got a good thing going on
Wanna tell the world if they don't know
That what we have is real
Wanna shout it from the mountains baby
That I love you, but if they don't hear me
Yeah! Come on! What it is
It's the P-l-a-n-e-t R-o-c-k
Kweli, BK, se-la-vis
You could tell I be hell-a-free like college radio
WQHT gonna play me though
this hot shit is to fly like the cockpit
got spit like a french kiss chicks lock lips
coming from the deep black like the Loch Ness
now bring apocalypse like the heart of darkness
it's like the heart of the artist become a target
pop music is the black market
recently we witness bizarre shit
the war hit the same time as SARS hit
terrorists send bombs at the concert
the show must go on yo regardless
I'm just some hip-hop kid to pop shit
and get on some rock shit and start a mosh pit
Yeah
We got the beat to make the planet roooccccckkk
(Come on, Come on)
Yeah, Come on
We got the beat to make the planet rooocccckkkk
(Come on, Come on)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
We got the planet to rock, Kweli's standing on top
I'm like a panther when I answer to cops
and bust back before the man get a shot
and the blood on their veins run cold like the cannibal lox
and bring heat like the blood of the mammal that's hot
and keep fighting like the boy with the mechanical heart
and watch time count down on the hands of the clock
till the hour when the pinnacle start
wow, and go fast like the bullet that ran through the dark
the hollow tip ripped a man apart, blaow
yo these soldiers die in petroleum wars
think they fighting for the holliest cause
it don't matter if you muslim, hebrew, or you a christian
information is the newest religion, is a true way of living
ain't no rule to a surpestition stop me with going through with my mission
come on man
Come on get down, get down, get down, get down
go ladies, go, go, go ladies, go, go
Come on all my ghetto people stand strong
we rocking on and on
one for me, now rocking with the best and is Kweli
you ain't no MC like me, you just a clone like KFC
Come on, B-Boys, B-Girls, we rocking the world
Don't belive niggaz running the place
man everything is dangerous nothing is safe, nigga
think you a man with a gun in your waist
let the cops disrespect you right in front of your face
take it out on your girl, punch her in the face
you ain't a thug you a waste of space
nigga get out the way, B-boys gonna rock till the break!
how much can a planet take
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock (It's your boy Kweli, BK MC)
So I can show you just what I got (Memph Blow in the house)
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Music is the air I breathe
The prayer I leave
Rippin' in the atmosphere
Up there in the breeze
Stronger then the revolution
That you wear on your sleeve
Its all I know
Not an idea you believe
I spit bars you can't touch
Like tips in strip bars
Get charged, man I drop hits that hit hard
Hit bars with my brown shook cuz this starred
the night just start, I'm waitin' ....
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
We all hop in the car deep
We bring Brooklyn to the city
My fellas lookin' sharp my ladies lookin' pretty
When the DJ let the needle drop
The beat'll rock, the beat'll start
Boppin' and my people got it poppin' like needle marks
3 o'clock and it's mass hysteria
I'm about to hit the cafeteria
I'm Waitin' ...
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock (Put it down for y'all)
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock (Put it down for y'all)
So I can show you just what I got
I read the lines and all the between
In my mind I'm rewindin' the scene
The club ain't the place to be findin' a queen
You all in my dream girl
Though I can't sleep on you no
You was a star tonight
It like shown through
Vampires takin' a bite
I'm in the zone too
I always end up takin' the flight
Makin' a right for the fam
So tight in the jam
A fight began
Always heard bad niggas tryin' to act like a man
The DJ had the mic in his hand
Like calm down (Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock)
Yeah, it was like I was the audience at the concert
You at the converse
With the Luis Vuitton purse
Tiger's eye around the wrist
With the fly and the prints
Lookin' up your arm a blender with a tatooed gift
I had to catch a plane but you make me warm as day
I had to catch your name and I'm waitin' ...
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock (Put it down for y'all)
So I can show you just what I got
Cuz they let me chasing (?) through the same old song
So just clap your hands together 'til they make that sound
Yeah, hot runnin' the summertime its why I said it
Guys see the flesh catch a dyed fetish
Hunnies smellin' to sweet its like I'm diabetic
On stars and the sky in seminal, dianetic
Drop the top beat up the block
On plow, now when they smoke a tree up
As shots reach the new tunes
Dogs who lose Hollerin' at the new move
Ours, I'm like the sun, the flower in full bloom
When I come out the house we complete like the number 9
Gimme some of yours, I'm a give you some of mine
Your off the sucka rhyme
A song will sound like one of mine
I know you love it when I shine, I'm waitin' ...
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
Yo, when the bass thump, the place jump
Like it's way crunk, yeah
Fake punks get they face lumped
Sent to the most high, by the most fit
You gotta do, fuck that almost shit
The fam is close knit
You diggin', know the clock don't stop tickin'
Glocks still spittin', the whole block politickin'
Like expresidents with they minds dead on arrival
Leaving no evidence of a struggle for survival
Songs relevant to the times like the psalms read in the Bible
Stepping to this leaves thoughts in your head 'it's suicidal'
It's the T to the A-L-I-B the deep rooter
Rolling with my wanna battle cats who chief Buddha
And see through the overspecialized, under pressurized
No lie texturized, emcees who got the masses mesmerized
With empty rhetoric, they better quit
Niggas so hollow that they echo like sentiments
Nowadays rap artists coming half-hearted
Commercial like pop, or underground like black markets
Where were you the day hip-hop died?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Kwa is chillin', Tone is chillin'
What more can I say, we stay building
And make killings
Take children through the wilderness, by the hand
It's a great feeling, show 'em how to be a man
Exactly, pack trees in my khakis
My sound fat like a Neve while you thin like a Mackey
C'mon, shine so bright when I walk by
You got ta squint like the motherfucking sun in your eye
What! Say somethin, you stay frontin
It ain't nothing, let off like I'm big game hunting
Me and Tek stay way blunted
Wave running on beaches with white sand
With a slight tan
Smack the mic stand with my right hand
When I'm excited
Leave you so far in the dust that you forced to bite it
On fire like property lost to riots
Yo, ain't no stopping us when we all united
Nowadays rap artists coming half-hearted
Commercial like pop, or underground like black markets
Where were you the day hip-hop died?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?
[Talib Kweli]
The proud
Stand tall or don't stand at all, c'mon
Uhh, yeah
Break it down
What we do?
[Chorus]
We survive, it's more than pride
We stay alive, ready to ride
[Chorus] - repeat through intro
[Intro: Talib Kweli]
One two, one two yo
Aight.. put it down yo
June 21, 2001
Timothy McVeigh is executed
And the country breathe a sigh of relief
Goodness prevails over evil, it seems
Somehow when he's gone, we feel safer
Little do we know
[Verse One]
Today the paper say Timothy McVeigh's in hell
So everything's okay and all must be well
I remember Oklahoma when they put out the blaze
And put Islamic terrorist bombing, on the front page
It's like saying only gays get AIDS, propaganda
Like saying the problem's over when they locked that man up
Wrong! It's just the beginning, the first inning
Battle for America's soul, the devil's winning
The President is Bush, the Vice President's a Dick
So a whole lot of fuckin is what we gon' get
They don't wanna raise the babies so the election is fixed
That's why we don't be fuckin with politics
They bet on that, parents fought and got wet for that
Hosed down, bit by dogs, and got blacks into house arrest for that
It's all good except for that - we still poor
Money, power and respect is what we kill for, for real
[Chorus] - repeat through interlude
[Interlude]
August 4, 2001
A drunken police officer mows down an entire family in Brooklyn
The judge lets him go with no bail
It reminds us, of just how worthless our lives are to the justice system
I struggle, to explain the situation to my son, it's hard
[Verse Two]
Niggaz with knowledge is more dangerous than than niggaz with guns
They make the guns easy to get and try to keep niggaz dumb
Target the gangs and graffiti with the Prop 21
I already know the deal but what the fuck do I tell my son?
I want him livin right, livin good, respect the rules
He's five years old and he still thinkin cops is cool
How do I break the news that when he gets some size
He'll be percieved as a threat or see the fear in they eyes
It's in they job description to terminate the threat
So 41 shots to the body is what he can expect
The precedent is set, don't matter if he follow the law
I know I'll give my son pride and make him swallow it all (damn!)
Fuck the pigs! I think the pigs killed Big and 'Pac too
If they didn't they know who did, they got to!
Who they serve and protect, nigga not you
Cops shot off of ten G's but they got glocks too
Let you protect yourself, or better yet respect yourself
Straight into the hospital is where you gotta check yourself
They be gettin tips from snitches and rival crews
Doin them favors so they workin for the drug dealers too
Just business enforcers with hate in they holsters
Shoot you in the back, won't face you like a soldier
Kurt Loder asked me what I say to a dead cop's wife
Cops kill my people everyday, that's life
[Chorus] - repeat through final interlude
[Final Interlude]
September 11, 2001
Terrorists attack the Pentagon and the World Trade Center
Kills thousand and permanently scars America's false sense of security
We see the best examples of humanity in the face of the worst
As fire fighters, police officers, rescue workers
and volunteers of all sorts, fight to save lives
The world will never be the same again
[Verse Three]
My heart go out to everybody at Ground Zero
Red, black, yellow, white and brown heroes
It's more complicated than black and white
To give your own life is the greatest sacrifice
But it's hard for me to walk down the block
Seeing rats and roaches, crack viles and 40 ounce posters
People broken down from years of oppression
Become patriots when they way of life is threatened
It's a hard conversation to have
We lost kids, moms and dads, people ready to fight for the flag
Damn, when did shit get this bad?
America kill the innocent too, the cycle of violence is sad
Damn! Welcome to the world, we here
We've been at, war for years but it's much more clear (yeah)
We got to face what lies ahead
Fight for our truth and freedom and, ride for the dead
Let me holler at you
Can I talk to you?
I want you, cuz you make my heart skip the beat that I drum to
I want to be the one you run to, when pain confronts you
You're everything, sometimes I get nervous when I'm in front you
You can hear it in my voice when I ask you if you comfortable
Look how love do, I'd practice the Art of War for you like Sun Tzu
Come through and arouse you every morning like the sun do
If you blackout and collapse I want to help you to come to
Notice I haven't yet got into what I want from you
I want you to come to when I come through and make you shine like the sun do
I want you to be the valley for my river to run through
You're everything, you send your soul through your lips to my heart
Sweet music will start I want you to be the music of my art
When people try to rip us apart we got to work to stay together
Go through the seasons of love and never change with the weather
This is my wish list, what I want not what I need there's a difference
These days I'm learning that words got power so I'ma be specific
Can I have a talk with you?
Can I make a dream come true?
Can I be in love with you?
Cuz I would if I could
Yeah sunflower
You must live in the infinite blackness that exists when I close my eyes
I see you when I fall asleep, I see you when I dream
Lil' darlin'
Set your soul on fire (lil' darlin')
Be your one desire (lil' darlin')
Lil' darlin'
Can I talk to you? (lil' darlin')
Lil' darlin', lil' darlin'
Can I talk? (lil' darlin')
Can I talk, can I talk, can I?
Lil' darlin' (lil' darlin')
Can I talk to you? (lil' darlin')
Let him talk to you
Go right to left, left to right
Middle passage connection
Yeah, about to build
Tell you which way to go
We go right to left, left to right
If you fight to the death, what's left to fight
Yo, here we go
I wanna write away
I wanna write here
I wanna write brave words to fight fear
Write dreams and nightmares
Might scare the folks stuck in the day
But nothing to say,
Well I'm way ahead by light years
So beware we keep the lights on
I wanna write the songs from right to wrong
Right on
Riding the light so you see in the dark
So deep you gotta be still like your beating heart
My words apply the pressure to make the bleeding stop
See the art, living right, eating smart
I wanna right to life, a right to death
Police read your rights from right to left
But I never write to remain silent
I fight through police line
Cops walk the beat that I write to
I teach minds, write rhymes with the right sound
Right now, journalists write up
I write down
Party people put a hand in the sky
Grab a cloud and squeeze til no man is dry
We wet it up, go ask the people if they plannin to die
Can't stay to live, consumers is plannin to buy
Smoke death operators is standing by
They take you order for the slaughter of the family why
Do they make it so hard for a man to provide
You better get wit it, or {stand to the side
And the story line goes on
Right to left, who's right who's wrong
Fuck the politics and pride
I just to try to stay alive
To witness where the battle lines are drawn
Speak my mind and sing my song
I'm passin on the moral y'all
This is ain't play
True, you got to know the way
It's hard now
Open eyes
See hopeful lives
Sing it now
Making my way through life
Talking to elders and taking advice
Ignoring their words and paying the price
Living in the world where false preachers got us praying to christ
Get with the young girls in the choir and laying the pipe
No control of our soul we all wait at the light
So comfortable they we hating to fight to make it right
Late at night I'm controlled by the DJ on the mic
I love hip-hop and every joint he playing is tight
A day in the life is a brick in the foundation of like
A maze in Egypt amazing when I'm creating a sight
For the world to behold and the story to last
So one day ghetto children can visit their glorious past
After Pac and Notorious past what do we have
Niggas worth more when they dead, it's so sad
Started with the slavery we finish the plan
But I broke the cycle, and became a man
Come on,
I got my man Savion in the house
We about to put it down
Here we go like
Yes yes yawl
To the beat yawl
Ain't no sleep yawl
To the break of dawn
5 o'clock in the morning
We keep rockin on
The workin people runnin like the stop clock is on
We got it poppin in the meat market
Chicks take a seat, park it
By the bar so they can meet the Vick with deep pockets
And them dudes
Buy them cars that turn 'em in to sweet objects
of desire
Big rims and them tires
We finna drop it like it's heavy as hell
The clan of the cavebear
Used to use the club to hit and drag her by the hair
Still use the club to get her a martini or a beer
Try to get her home and put the smell of sex in the air
Come through like the cable guy
Get 'er done
That 'ole hit 'n run
Turn into bitter ones
Tonight is catch me if you can
You can taste the ginger bread
Ain't nothing like wakin' up with a stranger in yur bed
Nope!
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
Tomorrow I'll be like
Were am I?
Whets your name?
Gotta go, I'm glad you came
But tonight you, will be so fun
Maybe you're the one!
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
Puttin on some Airs
King For a Day
Hard to face your fears we wear the mask like Cory McKay
You have a ball today
It's all a masquerade
Shorty paint her face like a clown but can't take away the frown
Found under the make up
I asked her "What's your passion?" answered "What's the paper" she sleep
and they don't want her to wake up
Maybe they should realize their own beauty
Baby you a star and not just a star on some dudes home movies
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
Tomorrow I'll be like
Were am I?
What's your name?
Gotta go, I'm glad you came
But tonight you, will be so fun
Maybe you're the one!
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
Steppin out, I got my best outfit on
Gotta get it in. I'm slippin in the darkness like most of the day is gone
We up all night I wonder if can hang
We used to hang from a tree
Now we hangin behind the rope we V.I.P.
We do it
B.I.G.
Ain't no need to See I.D.
Thee entire scenery
Shrouded in mystery
Clouded with greenery
Six girls to every three dudes
So you have half a chance
If you ask to have a dance
The ones ready to freak off don't need no romance
They belong to the sisterhood of the traveling pants
They got them
Hungry eyes you know sensual trance
At a glance
The alcohol got you sexually advanced
The truth is so boring you gotta pretend a little; the antidote is more
colorful the rainbow and the Skittles
And the quest to trap the cat
The game is the Tinder Fiddles to get the bruce to say the sky's fallin
like your Chicken Little.
Come on!
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
Tomorrow I'll be like
Were am I?
Whats your name?
Gotta go, I'm glad you came
But tonight you, will be so fun
Maybe you're the one!
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
But tonight you, will be so fun
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
But tonight you, will be so fun
Check the block
1 2, 1 2, 1 2
1 2, 1 2, 1 2
1 2 3 the pass to be
not the mighty dollar Kweli
with the Z
My rhymes make love to be mike will get than never force it
I plan my seat to hate a prag and poses, believe
work, perceive the blessing y'all I see the whole picture
while you only see sex
get birth to this style like you to beat the computer
but I never play the moves is too much estate
life is all bout what you do, you don't say
every man got a cold this move we don't break
gotta pay those dues you give me the whole V on trial for my view
he trick my cold D never hore for the sister is pimping like OD
that's the man hoze you know how to hoes B
what is street, what is stuck on this throat
now in the east trade froose when you punch on the trees
that ain't the peach I came through
but I'm not on the leaves
change colors money please that's the rap like the..
in the state of emergency blood is the currency
they spill it on the ground to the mutter burgundy
hotter than the mercury, shopper than the..the doctor for a surgery
a rapper talk about the..
that's absurd they thought it never occur to me
I let it spit it first out the courtesy
currently the best full of fresh to death because of murder beats
because of murder beats, yeah
Yeah I raised the glass for those who raised the bar
wait the waffle to those who probably catch what I say them all
wI need a new challenge so I could new the lies
but two talents running over tracks like some new dollars
will make the..rhymes work to provide got a new time for innocent rhymes
get out the way have em on their needs
asking their master when they feed em
none of them I am half of what I've been seeing
I know you say you pack what I laugh still
you only metal got in the lines that is for deals
you need to smack the kill this is snack for real
the shit is so so if you rap and the ..kill
I'm all seeing like the eyes on the black of bills
the black in the eyes of the shark when the tap seals
keep it so fresh I got you..to see
you're the king I break the crown like Jack Jill
SO so so so so so so fresh
*Yeah*
*Talib Kweli*
*Black Star*
*Reflection Eternal*
[Chorus: repeat 2X]
I am what you want to be but you can't though
Prime example
You cats can't flow but you get an "E" for effort
[from mah say till efforts we stay?] together reign forever
[Talib Kweli]
Please
You think I give a fuck about your Clown Posse? You insane!
You acting like a journalist and racking my brain
since I was tagging my name on the back of the train
like my man in [Lahane?] packing the same
Little Gat that put me back in the frame of mind to say "Fuck the Five-O"
Let me explain the rhyme
Yo, cut the nice flow like Bob Marley
I'm the black star they probably follow my every move
like I'm the son of John Gotti
Escape to Paris like a jazz man round midnight
[Queen?] banging like Josephine Baker raising the kids right
Attack the dreaming
Rap through the demons
See the situation and extract the meaning
Internationally known trees actually grown
through the cracks in the sidewalk
See it in my walk
Hear it in my talk
Bet you cats feel it in my rap flow
You can throw me a spliff but you can keep your tobacco
[Chorus]
[Talib Kweli]
Are y'all with me tonight?
Et vou avec moi?
Y'all love the children and dance like a [labor?]
Say Ma where you goin with that flavor
These cats ain't in my league, this here is major
Mind state of the art
Yeah I play my part with razor-sharp words
shot straight for the heart
Beautiful like chords played on a harp with trumpets blaring
Angels preparing for the fate we all sharing at
one time or another through sunshine or thunder
Ain't got no time for the blunders
Then bond with one another to make the classical track
*What?* The battery in my back
I'm Eveready already plus magical [adapt?]
like mushrooms from the plush womb of the sweet
The city workers pushing dust brooms in the street
We complete the cipher
Push up your lighter
Throw your vanity in the bonfire
*word*
I'm freestyling, for me, myself and I
I write them on the paper til it gets sky high
I say goodbye, to all the bad things I've done
I start a new beginning, at this is how it begun
From, KRS-One to Talib Kweli
Now I'm the best superstar on BET
And MTV, better yet I'm known universally
I am the key, to being the best MC
The prophecy, the one and only
A timeless masterpiece, I ain't the least
I'm the best, cause God said so
I'm just trying to express my lyrical flow
Yo, yo
It feel good, it feel so damn good, it feel
It feel good, it feel so damn, uh
It feel good, it feel so damn good, it feel
It feel good, yo, yo, yo
It feel good, it feel so damn good, it feel
Baby tell me how it feel when I always keep it real
It feel good, it feel so damn good, it feel
Yo, now how it feel? Yo
It feel good, it feel so damn good, it feel
Khalil brought the fly shit, I brought the hood appeal
Notes from the piano is falling out the sky
Like angels losing their wings so they see how it feel to cry
Babies have babies for the welfare coupons
Dudes on the radio rapping, them cats is lukewarm
I get up on it, spit up on it like a new born
The family structure ruptured, there's living proof like a group home
B-Boy being a man, throw a suit on
Stepping out hotter than ??? when the soup's on
My son like "Daddy, I be missing you when you gone"
I said I gotta go so I can stack chips like Lou Corn
I ask my daughter how I look, she fixed my hat so I can wear it cool
Cause she's like "That's what they wear in school"
Then she asked me "Daddy, you know any superstars?"
I looked at her and said "Stop being silly, that's what you two are"
I say it now and I've said it before
And you can trust me on this cause I've been through it y'all
Follow your heart and you can do it dog
Baby you're a star...
All of the days...
All of the days, of my life I spent on trying to find
Yet another way to show you how, how special you are
There ain't no body, that can take that away from you
No matter what...
Even though...
Yeah, yo, yo, yo
And even though mummy and daddy might fight all through the night
Argue and fuss, you a part of us that we've got to get right
I don't love you to death, cause I love you to life
And you a teenager, you might not want my advice
You might be full of spite, think you're grown, still a tyke
And say things that cut like a patient under the knife
I say this, cause I was once a teenager too
And respect for my peers is really all that I related to
But I made it through, you gonna make it too
So much I wanna say to you...
Baby you a star, that's what you are to me
C'mon c'mon ya ya ya ya ya
Get 'em up, get 'em up what
Get 'em up, get 'em up what
Get 'em up, get 'em up what
Yo, yo, yo
What's with the melodrama?
Fella's wanna hover in my cypher like a helicopter
Like it's a special honor
The stealth bomba, gem droppa
Make the ghetto holla, intercontinental
Takin you high like sky divers
When we spark with live wires
Original, cavemen quest for my fire
Express my desire to drop this new shit
These record executives keep tellin me y'all stupid
Now if they right, Shut The Fuck Up
Revolutionaries throw your guns up
Whether you a bourgeois broad who actin stuck up
Or some ignorant thug motherfucker shootin the club up
We gonna make y'all feel this, break y'all spirit
If y'all fake that realness, word we bringin it
Ringin it in from the new millenuim to way after that
I call these cats Reynolds 'cause they plastic wrap
Kill all the yappin lets make it happen
You cats ain't real, you just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin
I start breakin
The whole joint start shakin
This ain't the time or place for you to prove something
Cut the stargazin' yo, move somethin'
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Word alright bring it back to the top
To be continued
Lets see what's next up on the menu run up in you
Lyrics that be fuckin with you
In the mental, pick any mental - instru, funda, detri
Extra Extra large like the borough of brooklyn the residential
Exi-stential-ist specialist
Like Sly Stone wit my poem and fly song
Ride along with cats who live great and die strong, word
We gonna rock till nothin else matters
Y'all catch bodies, we catch excellent cadavers
Your next of kin an' shatter stories splattered in the tabloids
Erase your trace like your cotton mouth and we pepperment altoids
Step in the high reppin the spot called flatbush
Whether rappers or actors you still feel the gat bust
The abstract then becomes the reality
Alcoholics like to call it the moment of clarity
Kill all the yappin lets make it happen
You cats ain't real, you just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin
I start breakin
The whole joint start shakin
This ain't the time or place for you to prove something
Cut the stargazin' yo, move somethin'
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Y'all hear that
Whats that sound
Ya know ya want it
I'ma tell um what we need
More franchisin
Less sanitizin
More uprisin
Less down sizin
More enterprisin
Less sympathizin
More buildin
Less destroyin
More jobs
Less unemployment
Lets skip the devil
Less enjoyment
More originality
Less bitin off Pac 'n' Big
More community activism
Less gigs
More Blacksmith
Def Jux
Less Geffen then the rest
Cause the west suck
They got this shit all messed up
More marijuana
Less coke
More accountablity for politicians
Before we shoutin
Let's vote!
More schools
Less prisons
More freestyle
Less written
More serious shit
Less kiddin
More history
Less mystery
More Beyonce
Less Britney
More happiness
Less misery
More victory
Less losses
More workers
We all bosses
Of course its
Reflections
More love
Less hate
More real
Less fake
More
Less
Less stunin
More fame
Less talkin
More change
Less wishin
More vision
God bless the hood
Where my money always good
I can get you taken now
Dont think I couldn't when I could
Son I live above the rim
Crack is hope
Niggas wishin
Y'all wish a nigga crack a joke
Like he wanna battle for the mic
This is Brooklyn, the planet
And y'all niggas is just satellites
Revolvin round my every word
I adress the crowd like
Lincoln at Gettysburg
Surrounded by the heavy herb
The crowd is more or less wall to wall here
For the pure
Hip-hop thats how I'm rockin
Got them droppin they jaw
Fire marshall blockin the door
This the shit the cops stoppin us for
This the "Reign of the Tec" and the motherfuckin Beatnuts
Slice like a nip-tuck
Specalizin in deep cuts
This the music that you ridin to
Provided by Talib and Hi-Tek
The livest two
The more I put into it
The less it sound like the nonsense
The more natural
The less concious
At the same time the more bomb shit
The less the devil got a grip
I'm gettin loose
We gatta slip away
The ghetto gatta git
More for a dollar
More fresh goods for purchase
Less liquor stores
Less churches lookin like they corner stores
More rap songs to stress purpose with
Less misogyn and less curses
Lets put more depth in our verses
Till they left on the surface
While we stomp through the underground
The cops dont come around
You sorta hoppin for that reflection
You sorta open
I heed the call of the chosen
I dont play with your emotions
Stop actin so god damn emotional
I give you these bars for free like it's promotional
This aint no marketin strategey
It had to be from the heart in order to be reality
[Hook]
Make it classy, make it classy
Pick yourself up off the floor and make it classy
Make it classy, make it classy
You now rocking with the best, I make it nasty
Way too dirty to be washed up
You need a spotter, get your bars up
I know you famous, I will run up on a star, what!
Fronting on me the quickest way to get starstruck
Half of y'all hating on me, half of y'all waiting on me
I make money, money don't make me
You chase money while I make money chase me
Stick to the bottom line like the bass, bass, bass
Get your face girl, why you after that dude?
No, ain't nobody that cute
You got a face for radio
Look around, you gotta face the ratio
Don't let these Brooklyn niggas cold reach ya
What they keeping in the creases of exclusive 'Lo pieces
Got it bouncing like [fat titty?]
Try to rap with me, it's a wrap city
Rap city, bitch, rap rap city bitch
Dejour, Joe Clair, Big Tigger shit
Throw your money in the air if you nigga rich
Stop that stupid ass shit, you kids getting big
Studio at the crib got a nigga rigged
Weed loud, rude, inconsiderate
On the Bradley Cooper, I'm limitless
Faster than a state trooper, I get it in
Four dudes, one bottle, that'll never win
Fly girls at the rope, homie let 'em in
Shorty make 'em pitch a tent like a ?
All in the conversation, meddling
That's when the wondering eyes start settling
Savage, savage, ooh gentlemen
Word to God, got a look so devilish
This a fourth quarter shot and I never miss
Swish, nothing, but, net
Swish, nothing, but, net
Swish, nothing, but, net
Swish, nothing, but, net
Half of y'all hating on me, half of y'all waiting on me
I make money, money don't make me
You chase money while I make money chase me
This the year of the Blacksmith
Talib Kweli (Kweli) K-1 (K-1)
Let's go! {"Listen!"}
Yeah, yeah niggaz don't {"Listen!"}
Back in the days we all used to {"Listen!"}
Now shit is so wack, nobody {"Listen!"}
To that real hip-hop, yo {"Listen!"}
Ladies and gentlemen, get ready here it come {"Listen!"}
Talib Kweli and I'm bangin on your eardrum
{"Somethin I wanna tell you"} Now let me get up in it
Wait, wait, wait, wait {"Wait just a minute"}
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears
Start repentin cause the endin is near
But don't, panic you can't function if you livin in fear
Pay attention you gotta listen to hear {"Wait just a minute"}
Who the fuck you think you talkin to?
Put you on hold, get a specialist to walk you through
Kweli, the flow captain to fast or slow rappin
I'm soul crackin, you ain't heard your shit appear like closed captions
King of the bars and I'm goin hardcores
All my confidence comes from knowin God's laws
Bangin on the system, fightin my kind of war
Loud as a whisper, quiet as a lion's roar
Ladies and gentlemen, get ready here it come {"Listen!"}
Talib Kweli and I'm bangin on your eardrum
{"Somethin I wanna tell you"} Now let me get up in it
It's for your spirits so, but y'all don't hear me though {"Listen!"}
Get up, get into it and get involved {"Listen!"}
There's a little somethin that I wanna spit for y'all
{"Somethin I wanna tell you"} Now let me get up in it
Wait, wait, wait, wait {"Wait just a minute"}
Get it now, get it fast, get it right
Get it big, get it live, get it done, get it tight
{"Somethin I wanna tell you"} But you don't really hear me though
I, spit it clearly so it's live at your stereo
To your heart while it's beatin in your chest
I'm speakin to execs in the seat behind the desk
To your spirit nuttin weaker than the flesh
So while you try to keep it fresh you gettin deeper in the depth
Real hip-hop is missin from the shelf
Yep, it's what you felt when you listen to yourself
Only a few is makin cuts that finish
So before you spend your hard-earned spinach {"Wait just a minute"}
Yeah, you love the sounds comin out your speaker
I spit rounds like a 9-millimeter
The youth today they, frown at the teachers
They ain't down with no leaders, they don't wanna wait just a {"minute"}
They like "What nigga? Wait right there
I got reservoir dogs, you be missin a right ear"
{"Listen!"} Get it clear, figure is my year
I'm everywhere makin appearances in niggaz nightmares
Hear the word, peep the flow, check the cadence
What you heard is a pro I'm so amazin
Don't front girl you know it's your favorite
New Kweli yo they runnin out of patience
Yo, don't it sound so good to ya?
Uhh, it's the return of the greatest y'all
Talib Kweli, BKMC, Blacksmith is the movement
Blacksmith is the music, what you ridin for?
What you livin for, what you dyin for?
{"Somethin I wanna tell you"} Bangin on your eardrum, yeah
{"Wait just, wait just, wait just a minute"}
{"Listen!"}
Yeah, yeah
New Talib Kweli
Yeah, you know what it is
Come on, come on, yeah
Hey yo *repeats*
I try, I try (that's all we can do)
I try, you know I try
I try, I try (yeah)
I try, you know I try
K. West! Kweli!
Got searched on the plane, Arabic first name
Disturbed by the fame just like Kurt Cobain
Breath of life, kiss of death, my lips pursed the same
You flirt 'til she came
Nothin' hurt like the pain and torture
Daughters of the dust lookin' for a vein
Something to take in vain like the Lord's name
Put your hands together, got 'em all sayin'
I try, I try
I try, you know I try
I try, I try
I try, you know I try
Yo, it's all ghetto in gear higher, the floor settle
More metal for beef that we don't let the law settle
I try to navigate the treacherous waters of
America's ghettos that set up the slaughteres
But there's more of us
Although we speak in different languages
We all pretty familiar with what anger is
Young and dangerous, ??
Get up on some gangsta shit
Guns to bang ya wit'
And we put it on records to entertain ya wit'
I'm grown with pains way deeper than my receivers
Our uniforms is white sneakers and white T-shirts
On top of wife beaters
We like to light reefers
The 'hood need us for rappers, just ain't the right leaders
I put a lot into it
This is my product and I gotta move it
Stop the industry but you can't stop the music
An upside down kingdom where life is just not fair (upside down kingdom)
Some many sufferin' cuz deep inside they're scared (so scared)
Fear pumped into their veins to keep them from their destiny
Where would they be if you and I don't care?
I try, I try, you know I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
Yo, the things I'm seein' on the news is insane
A stock broker shoot his kid and throw himself in front of a train
A mother leave her baby home for two weeks all by himself
Three years old, eatin' ketchup and mustard, cryin for help
Tryin' to bring your struggle to life
The label want a song about a bubbly life
I have trouble tryin' to write some shit
To BANG in the club through the night
When people suffer tonight
Lord knows I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
Life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin' the noodle, some people usin' the muscle
Some people put it all together, make it fit like a puzzle
Come on, say it now
Life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin' the noodle, some people usin' the muscle
Some people put it all together, yeah
I try, I try, you know I try
I try, oh Lord I try
Everyday I
Upside down kingdom
Oh, they're so scared
Everyday on the news we can't look around with
something somewhere
I try, I try, you know I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
Lord knows, Lord knows we try
Yeah
Special dedication
I'm sending this one out to you and you and you and you
I said to you and you and you
She cold blooded
I love how we meltin' the ice
She like the sunshine of my life
Cuz all I see is a (hot thing)
You're my "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
Word, you keep my dark sky lit up at night
So bright that you blinding my sight
Cuz all I see is a "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
Word, somebody like a flick
It got surprisin' twists
I write the script
The main character - your thighs and hips
Award for best supporting role go to your eyes and lips
The way you move your body got 'em stiff like a hieroglyph
I watched you dance across the floor to the title track
You 'bout to get me "Off The Wall" like you Michael Jack'
I make a scribe in your beauty my sacred duty
I will write a song, write a book, write a play, make a movie
Good love you a sexy thing
And all I'm sayin' is you got something I like
Love that you like it
Love that you like it
Love that you like it
Yo, I love your country ass
I love your city sass
I love how your normal ways; you catch on pretty fast
These dudes are pretty crass
Harass you in your past
I love how you snap back and get the last laugh
I love the way your crib smell like Votivo candle incense
The white voice you use on the phone when you handle business
I love it when you freaky
I love when you a lady
Rockin' door knockers from the late 80s, raisin' babies
I love her; god bless you
Your body somethin' special
I love to play connect the dots with your facial freckles
No need for fashion policin' because I love your style
Whatever happen to Shenice, baby I love your smile?
I might be fallin' in love, should I let her know?
A pimp told me if I love her I should let her go
I sing her praises every time they play this instrumental
Cuz she instrumental to my life
I love how we meltin' the ice
You like the sunshine of my life
Cuz all I see is a (hot thing)
You're my "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
Word, you keep my dark sky lit up at night
So bright that you blinding my sight
Cuz all I see is a "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
And you're my "hot thing"
Word, lemme take you by the hand
You need to tell your man "Don't fight it, damn"
Have you groupied out like excited fans
I promise you'll be climbing walls like Spider-Man
Knees buckling you'll hit the floor when you try to stand (up)
So you drop it like it's hot - oh so heavy
You and me we can leave now - we can go steady
Deliver us, deliver us (Yeah)
Deliver us, deliver us (What? Yeah)
And what the people say? We wanna live it up
And what the people want? Please deliver us
And what the people need? Hey...
I got that, yeah
I call these rappers baby seals, cause they club you to death
I could call 'em Navy SEALs, cause they government feds
What become of the vets? They drugged up, they fucked up, they in debt
There ain't no love and no respect, it's like a gang it's like a club or a set
Hip-Hop's the new WWF
What do you rap or do you wrestle? Niggaz love to forget
We got til it's gone, you think you on, you still hustlin backwards
Your topical norm a tropical storm, it's a fuckin disaster
Back to the topic we on, it all started at Rawkus
They couldn't find the words to describe me so they resort to the shortcuts
Is he a backpacker? Is he a mad rapper?
An entertainer or the author of the last chapter
We living in these times of love and cholera
Synonymous with the apocalypse, look up the clouds is ominous
We got maybe ten years left say meteorologists, shit
We still waitin for the Congress to acknowledge this~!
What the people want? Please deliver us
We wanna live it up, please deliver us
Th-th-this is the, th-th-this is the, this is the hostile gospel
I'm reaching through the fire - please deliver us
I'm preaching to the choir - please deliver us
Just keep it real with us, you scared to spill your blood
Your words rung hollow, we need someone to follow
You ain't promised tomorrow, so get your paper up
You can't always just borrow and asks for favors bruh
Stand on your own two, never covet thy neighbor's stuff
Karma's a bitch so watch your mouth and what you sayin bruh
I start a conversation based on general observation
Hip-Hop is not a nation, take it to population
Niggaz got a lot to say when locked inside the belly of Satan
Awaitin trial debatin how the hell I got placed in this system
Am I a victim or just a product of indoctrination?
They exploit it and use me like a movie with product placement
You hear the congregation; this is the hostile gospel
The truth is hard to swallow it'll leave you scarred tomorrow
Keep it honest our motto, these niggaz keep it bottled
I'm the writer who reach the fighters like speeches by Cus D'Amato
DJs stickin to vinyl like "Fuck Serato"
Suppliers who ride around the block, in the custom models
Ballin like the struck the lotto you know who the cleanest is
A nigga keep it reeich with the stitch and greedy geniuses
I'm not a hipster, but I flip it like a sneaker pimp
Expose the game, treat it like a bitch
Smack fire out these hoes, cause they snitch and tap wires while I plead the fifth
You can't trust a soul in the biz, so be careful who you eatin with
and sleepin with and also who you chiefin with
You never know they might've added in secret ingredients
Freedom's a road that's seldom traveled, watch hell unravel
Right before the eyes of the soldier who fell in battle
The single mother who raised her daughter to bear the sacred water
And not take the hand of every man who make a offer
To black kids wishin they white kids, when they close they eyelids
Like, "I bet they neighborhood ain't like this"
White kids wishin they black kids, and wanna talk like rappers
It's all backwards it's identity crisis
The industry inside us is vipers with fangs trying to bite us
Drug suppliers is the health care providers
We cakin, makin narcotics outta household products
We ain't workin out 'til we exorcise the demons that's inside us
Plus they seem to just provide us with enough rope to hang ourselves
Enough dope to slang ourselves, enough toast to bang ourselves
It's officially nigga season, these niggaz is bleedin
That's why I'm spittin freedom we had enough of trigger squeezin
In these tryin days and times
All I need is to be free
I can't do it on my own
Lord can you deliver me?
There are trials still to come
It's salvation that I need
So I'm reachin to the sky
Lord can you deliver me?
Deliver us...
Deliver us, yeah
Deliver us, ohhhhhhhhhh
Oh, deliver us
Deliver us
Ohhhhh Deliver us yes
Deliver us, deliver us, deliver us
[Chorus]
Here we go, here we go, here we here we go X4
(dispersed through the first chorus)
Teodross Avery in the house tonight
Put your hands together ladies and gentlemen
You understand, yo we also got my man
A close personal friend of mine, Talib Kweli
Blackstar, Reflection Eternal
Yo, put it down like this
[Verse 1]
I'm sayin
African blood race through my vein
You can hear it in my name
And you can feel it in my game
I'm sayin the streets is drama
Make me wanna rock my body armor
Still I'm probably calmer
Than your average Dalai Lama
I use the meditation, I stay patient
But I never deal with hesitation
I'm way blunted yo, I can give a what
If your favorite stations feelin me
These rap cats are killin me
No type of stability
My ability got more cats in New York
Running than Hilary
We be chillin, where the blood be spillin
We got the red badge of courage for bravery
Me and my man Teodross Avery
Blow away the legacy of slavery
Through any phone, sax or a micro
Hotter than a light show with the pyro-techniques
Through the speakers let the best speak
In less we forget where we come from
Blast you into next week now you got
History to run from
[Chorus]
[Verse 2]
My work ethic, keep me deep in the cut like anti-septic
Respected in the world where people faker than prosthetics
Stay true to a certain aesthetic
Protect it like the hip-hop secret service
Cat off top lookin nervous
Wondering when we gonna set it
Anticipation will kill you if you let it in your aura
Reflect it like god's face upon the water
You can't lead a man to water
Like you can a lamb to slaughter
So I concentrate on me so I can
Keep my plans in order
I clutch like King Cobra
I rock while ya'll boulder
Chop emcees up, put em in the grinder
Like farmer of Dakota
Cuz I'm colder than a polar
Walk, talk and stand on my ancestors shoulders
Told you we at wear like sista soldier
Battle tactics, spray wars
Like gat clips, full metal jackets
That hit, BAW!
Got you lookin acrobatic doing back flips
Even if the track skips,
We improv like Jazz Artists
Freestyle, hop back on the beat
and rock regardless
[Verse 3]
I'm saying, ya'll with me tonight?
I'll travel at the speed of light
When I see the mic, I get this on lock
Cuz my song is in the key of life
I roll with my ????
Cuz we be alike
Consider them family
Make sure they all eating right
See the plan is to feed the fam
Then free the land, before I get old
I can't be young forever like Peter Pan
Cats pale in comparison
So bad they need a tan
Barely see they hand
Craft they face like a seed of sand
See the ??? you got to beat the man
Understand I'm saying
The writing on the wall like a paint can
Spraying graffiti on your soul
Music completely make me whole
I'm saying, trying to keep my
Pockets on swoll
To give back to the community
Make a future for you and me
From my birth certificate to my eulogy
Usually in Brooklyn
But my mind keep it movin
Ain't no mystery
Cuz we showin and provin
Now, If I'm out of town my crew take of your bodies the more the merrier
Point and spray the area
Niggas is quick to bury you
Punk niggas feel inferior
Guns make us superior
Cats start acting scarier
Situations get hairier, yo
You know who killing it, niggas saying they militant
The only blood in the street is when the government spilling it
You could have a hand gun or a cannon
And you still (?)
without the knowledge and wisdom and understanding of
a 22 derringer
a 38 long
a 44 desert eagle
a Glock Nine
time to protect the fam I'm a cock mine
I make the streets run red like a stop sign stop lieing
Co Coi Coi Clak Clak Clak Clak Clak
Gun man music never take shot back (oh!)
Co Coi Coi Clak Clak Clak Clak Clak (Come On)
Ghetto Red Hot 'round the world you hear that (oh oh oh come on)
Co Coi Coi Clack Clak Clak Clak Clak
Gun man youth never take shot back (Yes!)(Brooklyn)
Co Coi Coi Clak Clak Clak Clak Clak
Ghetto red hot 'round the world you hear that
In Jamaica (Kingston), In Brooklyn (Flatbush), In Ethiopia (Yep)
We Go There and Back (Come On)
To all my real live soldier cats where you at
Dogs don't hold them back
those the cats that go to strapped to blow a back
You could be whoever, a black panther or lap dancer
when respect is the question folks coming with the gat answer
Shoot at your feet like spider, you a tap dancer
What am I amusing to you?
You better have that answer
Toys for guns, I got guns for toys
Silencers bring the heat without bringing the noise
Bringing the funk of dead bodies, go ahead bring in your boys
You'll see the soul of black folk like W.E.B DuBois
Israelies got tanks and Palestinians got rocks
Inmates got shanks and dirty cops they got glocks
We got tribes in Africa that listen to Pac
fighting with brothers who pump Biggie like they live on the block
These are the tools of the trade
that we use to get paid
When we cruise on escapades
and escalades with guns to blaze
we been this ways since the younger days
Safe from the hunger pains
Pop Bang when the trouble came
Pioneers of gun slang
Supply you with them things
a little something, something
set fire to the game
my system be thumping
Co Coi Coi! the sounds of guns busting
Co Coi Coi! your heart just start pumping
From a 22 derringer
a 38 long
a 44 desert eagle
Time to protect the fam I 'ma cock mine
I make the streets run red like a stop sign stop lying
I got a part to play, we going hard these days
Fuck the harder way, we doing it the harder way
To my god I pray, that's how I start my day
The bullets starts to spray the revolution starts today
I say the shit these people ain't got the heart to say
Fuck the harder way, we doing it the smarter way
To my god I pray, that's how I start my day
The bullets starts to spray the revolution starts today
You say you never scared there's kids in other countries
Making jerseys, jeans, and sneakers they could never wear
Parents never there, they're busy building homes they can't afford to buy
Cars they can't afford to drive
Working jobs that don't support their life
You busy screaming gangsta, gangsta all that talk is trife
You already know lost the fight if you don't know the cost of life
These kids is forced to fight a war they can't outrun
Ain't got no shoes but got a gun
Now where the fuck he pulled that out from?
People ask me how we wearing diamonds
When there's little kids in Sierra Leone
Losing arms for crying while they mining
Probably an orphan who's momma died of AIDS
He built a coffin working often but he never paid
Forever slaving in the world that's forever cold
Becoming the man of the house at 11 years old
This reality rap, I get inside the mentality that...
Terrorize you like a cowardly act
I got a part to play, we going hard these days
Fuck the harder way, we doing it the harder way
To my god I pray, that's how I start my day
The bullets starts to spray the revolution starts today
I say the shit these people ain't got the heart to say
Fuck the harder way, we doing it the smarter way
To my god I pray, that's how I start my day
The bullets starts to spray the revolution starts today
I was sold to a sick European by a rich African battlin'
Middle Passages, I can't go back again
Battlin' years of denied history, lies and mysteries
Wives with misty eyes watchin' their husbands be beaten viciously
Battle in the wilderness of North America
Run by the river, only stoppin' to pray chased by predators
Terrorists with etiquette who vote and kill their president
Their capacity for evil so evident and prevalent
Ain't no hesitation involved, a nation dissolved
While we sit back waitin' to evolve
Those who would trade in their freedom
For their protection deserve neither
Not a name, not tradition
Religion, you learn Jesus
Turn the other cheek
Inherit the Earth, just stay meek
Fuck the way you speak
Try to run, we chop off your feet
Fast forward to 2004 we selling
Yo this ain't what I'm settling for
I want more, yo
I got a part to play, we going hard these days
Fuck the harder way, we doing it the harder way
To my god I pray, that's how I start my day
The bullets starts to spray the revolution starts today
I say the shit these people ain't got the heart to say
Fuck the harder way, we doing it the smarter way
To my god I pray, that's how I start my day
Hook:
My next move gotta be my best move on the cool
I'm coming through, make rule I'm getting to the money
so if you see me in the streets all my hustle game homie
take notes I'm getting to the money
and I ain't looking for no new friends,
all I'm looking for is my hands pimpin I'm getting to the money
nothing but the big face, big face what you're tryin to do
bitch I'm getting to the money
Nothing take it personal pimpin is all business
my mind on my grind the women is off limits
tryin to make a dollar out of dime is the pennies
I don't wanna hear anybody, if I don't make a percentage
money make the world go round, is not a game
I've been a lot of places man I've seen a lot of things
smoked a lot of drough and pour a whole lot of drink
you say you never see me that's cause I'll be at the bank
you gotta have motive one hustle just to survive
don't do business with em if they don't look you in the eyes
so call friends could be enemies and disguise
man live, women live, numbers never lie nigga
[Hook:]
What I hear you say the money is the voodoo
leave em I don't believe you
'cause the profit gotta get you to the people you fuck the eagle,
best believe that we don't need to be broke
and ain't our doubt to be pow
ain't nothing wrong with wanting more
is so dangerous to think they coming up the sin
that's a design to keep you in condition, you're leaving near
face on their skill, so people getting privilege yeah it's a purse
they went it on the trust front so they don't gotta work
they say it's easier for a camera lookin through the eye
of a nidle in the rich man to get in the heaven the applause for the
previous
you immediately hang yourself
not in them chain till you start to make the change yourself
come on
[Hook:]
The mula..the chatter, the dough,
they say your purpose workless unless you was getting more
I suggest you get out of your behind and on the..
they say the time is money so I can't be given tisine
to any look the hundred tryin to waste a nigga money
she say the pussy prices and I say ha ha you funny
but you ain't gotta call baby you ain't got a house
I guess the pussy prices but you're ringin out the mouth
say you ain't let these lanes niggas what a hot tab
and you ain't got no money till he's here catch your cash
so baby I suggest you price a little less
but I don't bout a pussy he's a retch throw some rest
Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout
Yeah, we on fire
We gotta call the fire department
Let's go, yo, yo, yo
I don't know why people try to be live when they not
I gotta blow up they spot so I fly that knot
Yo, I know you like that
You like that, yeah, yeah
There's an E, true Hollywood story for the pluckin' it's ripe
How cats is stuck in purgatory for life
Tryin' to fight the enemy without sight
They in the dark swingin' right to left
Clingin' to the little bit of light that's left
And can't escape the room, you can't escape the tomb
You all wear a mask sometimes, I can relate to Doom
That make the whole world earthquake, shake and move
The beat create a mood or eat your whole plate of food
You can't come close like an order of protection
That this is myself in the pack was sort of my intention
Slaughter anybody testin' my callin', my profession
Anymore questions will born 'em a lesson
A demonstration of takin' it all the way home
While you stuck at first base and
It's like havin' relations without the penetration
Basically doin' nathin' you a waste of space and time
Always chasin' mine is how you lost your place in line
I don't know why people try to be live when they not
I gotta blow up they spot so I fly that knot
We got that uncut flow that bring the cops out
Pay and groan like young Mike and get knocked out
I don't know why people try to be live when they not
I gotta blow up they spot so I fly that knot
Yeah, free the radio population
Kweli and Doom the 1-2, the combination, let's go
About time you heard a rhyme flow with Doom and Kweli
To catch you with the combo, boom boom, Muhammad Ali
Versus Potsy cursin' Yahtzee at the crap table
Burstin' caps at a Nazi rap label
Oops, a pot of hot tea spilt on the cable
Evaporate an ice grill, read the seeds of Aesop fable
Children, come sit, gather face the rapid fire
Of the super slap shit outta liar
The end villain, the champ tramp
Flowin' since they had him holdin' [Incomprehensible]
He cleaned his mask with a shoe mitt
And a little bit of her blue spit she told him you so stupid
Wiped it off, got dressed and left
Everybody instigatin', not just the ref
We can shoot the fire on the dirt ground
Rocks out live with the worst sound first round knock out
I don't know why people try to be live when they not
I gotta blow up they spot so I fly that knot
We got that uncut flow that bring the cops out
Pay and groan like young Mike and get knocked out
I don't know why people try to be live when they not
I gotta blow up they spot so I fly that knot
Yeah, free the radio population
Chorus:
She's got that ticket I think she's gonna use it
and she's gone to fly away
where you're going
No one shouldn't try and stop her
persuade it with that power
she's a damn her mind is name.
This is story off
Yeah we all tryin to live worry free
pretty young things perfection is like currency
talking bout a country girl living in a city though
searching but she get her more
count us from this video,
girl you'll be killing and searching your faith or new tears
girl you're tryin to fire especially after a few beers
already broke the resolution for a new year
they blushin 'cause they sayin it's nothing inside a few years
until I game across the state I used to baby sit
at the club looking for this lame she had a baby with
wait a minute you're only 17 and she said to me
my baby get this strength to lead the city life ain't meant for m
five the kent bother man and meet my piece
so often this the money 'cause she started the jade to me
I through you in bed I slay this niggas faithfully
I don't need you to pay for me, I just need to pray for me
Chorus:
She's got that ticket I think she's gonna use it
and she's gone to fly away
where you're going
No one shouldn't try and stop her
persuade it with that power
she's a damn her mind is name.
Girl can change your mind
When you call up and captain say that ain't no hero
what you really ring to the table let's keep the real dough
no matter where you're going if you don't get your mind right
first choose between two..like this is twilight
she up in the kitchen tonight cooking the..
gotta take you to right the Peter Pan plus
she gotta take it to..she got a grant..
she gotta take it to fly she had a lan and she try
she tryin to avoid the trap is like the cancer
the love and money runnin the.. that she a dancer
not the blow going in oh to keep her dancin
the high is the only escape, she like a phantom
a ghost just to sell of herself packing them ass tense
closer to selling herself who's in the access
ain't nothing left to shake let's break it all down
got then sign the vein she takin all now
[Chorus:]
Fly high, fly fly
sky high, yeah
hole up, where you're going girl
where you're going, hole up
where you're going girl
where you're going, hole up
where you're going girl
where you're going, hole up
where you're going, damn.
Damn, I'll found her later that she don't know who her father was
I'm like this crazy and baby ain't gotta start the kids
she never met the real..foe they try to steal the goodies
and breaking into a candy store
we all in pistols and willy wanka for soldier system
'cause when we're taking the gold and taking the coldest winter
statistic and give me the true is pitchin
and out of youth the visionary gonna mission for new beginning
it's hard enough for you..and it's twenty block radio
it's wondering who the father of the baby is
to pay relationships to her like sound fiction out to table
and public you write a buy you and provide it with the title
body of a woman with the eyes of a child
driven that she could..is it now
want the future to be write us a smile she like the..
I see and spin it that, well a fortune is by vow
[Chorus:]
Hole up,
I realized early that black girl is carrying universe inside their bodies
writing to be named whole continent
land masters that were once connected
flow through her arms fingers, chest, legs, stomach
feet and head
Ghanna is her heart, her lungs charity
her tongue I'm.., her bones massai
her breath..her skin the color of Moroccan
sand in south african sky lines
her blue blood separates the land fro our riversand great legs
the place where we shit and drink
the place that we love and hate
colonize and liberate
conquer and rebuilt right and so up
escape and imprisoned
the place where questions like if you a woman
[Talib Kweli]
Yeah, this is a ghetto prayer
Prayin for all of those who ain't got it
We gotta get it there, we gotta get it yeah
Yeah the people starvin for somethin new, we starvin for it
(My tummy hurts, I couldn't eat)
Mmmm, mmm, mmm
(Did you have fun at school today Trey?)
My little man go to bed so hungry
Get up, go to school with his nose runny, come home with his nose bloody
His sister laugh and he like "What's so funny~?"
'Til she drowned out by the sounds of hunger pains in his tummy
Nuttin in the freezer, nuttin in the fridge
Couple of 40 ounces but nuttin for the kids
Little man know to eat to live but he don't wanna leave the crib
The kid who punched him in his face house right down the street from his
He went anyway, more scared to face his moms
She'll be home soon and she'll flip out, seein his face scarred
Walkin past the dopefiends with they smoke to take the place of God
Hopes and dreams pourin out the holes in they face and arms
Little man in the face of harm if he don't eat
He need energy so when he go to school he can compete
And keep up, all he got is bodegas
But hey he only got enough a for quarter water and a Now and Later
Anyway, grandma say Jesus'll be here any day
Good - cause with nuttin to eat it's gettin hard to pray... pray...
[Chorus: repeat 4X]
In order to receive, then we need to give
We gotta feed the kids, they gotta eat to live
[Talib Kweli]
Listen...
My rhymes got nutritional value
I get it how I live, it's critical when the conditions allow you
Do you don't trust the critics who doubt you
Try to write shit about you, but they can't make a living without you
Go hungry, you gotta watch what the media feed ya
And don't be a poisoned animal eater either
It's harder than it sound, cause nowadays, put that swine in everything
The white sugar so addictive it's pure 'caine
They got, pork in the toothpaste, soda in the Sunny D
Jello brand gelatin is laced with the lecatin
In Africa they starvin, over here the food hurt you
Cows goin mad and the chickens caught the bird flu
It's too ill how the food kill it's like blue steel
Lies never set you free, but the truth will
The truth still matter the proof is in the batter or the pudding
You can tell we eatin good, we gettin fatter
[Chorus]
Ya, they said I need to change my name
Who the fuck you think you are, brand new being
Now they only playing the famous
Saying that they knew me then
I walk through the flood, see the direction that I’m moving in
Step into the blood, my soul is red like louis vuittons
Know I can choose to be the deepest rapper on right punch
Live back to after the cheaper life, will have to reach the masses
But now they wishing that they peek the faster
Ain’t wanna admit it, but they had to concede it
So I’ma conceded ...
The flow is covered in leather euros color glass
Many degrees to this rapping but I can be the master
Try to describe it anyone on the superlative
This the real what you hear on the radio, alternative
They guessing what I’m making, but they ask to make conservate
Cause boy you see how pure it is
I earned what I said I would it
And got it the way they said I couldn’t
Fuck that, we’re kicking down the door to get afforded
Fuck that, we’re kicking down the door to get afforded
Fuck that, we’re kicking down the door to get afforded
To get afforded, yeah, to get afforded, to get afforded
They told me I ain't got a chance to be a rapper, might as well just hit
the books
And everytime I went to a show a shows I had these people give me looks
Now they watchin while im doin it, they pussy smell the uterus
You haters keep on hating, it ain't nothing cause im used to it
Seem me as a young and eager just to get a chance
Writing in the lab with no one believed I could make a jam
But now I got my fans in the stands with there hand side
They worry bout my morals that I follow and what I stand by
They say im nothing new, I ain't got shit to say
Sit back and i'll change the world, you're in a different age
I burst your bubble, your sttruggle, double da trouble
And dissin with no rebuttle from me laughin from another country
It ain't about tons of money, I’m here to open mines
Around my way...
Around my way...
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with pain
Around my way...
Around my way...
Around my way...
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with pain
Around my way...
People let me paint a picture
You know I ain't a christian
I ain't a muslim, ain't a jew
I'm losing my religion
I speak to god directly
I know my god respect me
Cause he let me breathe his air and he really blessed me
I ain't knocking you, but I don't fuck with hospitals
Spit the gospel, truly knowing jesus like apostles do
Return like the prodigal son to honor Mohammed too
Stay away from ham like Abraham, Lord'll follow you
Even when you took my man Chaka God and what I'm a do
You gave the hood a modern day martyr in Brother Amadou
I'm on the block, I'm tracing your footsteps, I keep the faith in you
Your love, plus hard work and ambition
We gonna make it through, my songs is psalms I'm spiritual when I'm lyrical
This is for my soldier niggaz looking in the mirror who
Sitting home scratching off serials eating cereal
The way we find a way to survive, shit is a miracle
We got mice in the crib and roaches in the toasters, rice in the fridge
Bread in the oven by the roaster
We be takin' gypsy cabs and chasin' 50 bags
They be laced with shitty swag and it really get me mad
The way we saluting flags, wrapping them around our heads
when niggaz ain't become American till 9/11
Feeling like you gotta sneak into heaven
When the reverend looking like a pimp and the pimp look like the reverend
Around my way...
Around my way...
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with pain
Around my way...
These conditions make us strong
And we create our own businesses so later on
Our children have things in their name that they can say they own
A mix tape freestyle become your favorite song
No place like home when the cops ask you about your neighbors
Beat on you, threaten to incarcerate you
Till you spill your guys like you a Garcia Vega
We roll blunts not the papers
Cop the greatest take it coast to coast
L.A. to Chicago like Smooth Operators
Cop the Dro and cop the blacks
Cop the four, cock it back
Drop the flow, rock a hat on top a stocking cap
Be a doctor or a lawyer or make your momma a promise that
You'll finish school, but when you got a dream you gotta follow that
And make sure when you make it out the hood, you always holler back
Think about what you got from that
And always put your dollars back
On top of that, this is a legacy and we a part of that
The hood is where my heart is at
Catch me around my way
Around my way...
Around my way...
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with hate
Around my way...
Around my way...
Around my way...
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with pain
If you can talk you can sing
If you can walk you can dance
That's an old proverb from Zimbabwe
You know what I mean?
If you can talk you can sing
If you can walk you can dance
Yeah, and the trumpet is blown
Yeah, alright, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon
Alright
Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, one more time
Yo, anybody can tell you how it is
What we putting down right here is
How it is and how it could be
Reflection Eternal for real
And with that
These cats is no match
Plus they lack a certain knack for rapping
Chasing but they never catch the wagon
Like rerunning what's hap'ning
Since back when
They had potty issues and snotty tissues, we been rockin'
Think you poppin' next year nobody will miss you
My thoughts is too advanced for the artists on these labels
They come sweeter than sabal and softer than mashed potatoes
I tried to told you the rhymes run over emcees like Land Rovers
Took 'em back in time like Sankofa, Sankofa
We stand over the Atlantic, looking broad like a man's shoulders
The fire is trapped in a belly, ready to pop like canned soda
We outlasting, from middle passage, touched down in New York
Cincinnatay, Big Ohio status what you thought
Money it's classic these bastards try to treat us like cattle
So life has been a constant battle, battle
Rising above the crabs in the barrel
Way too used to living in death's shadow
We stay on point like the best arrow, arrow
We hit the target accurate star, shit, back it up
When we hit town, y'all niggas pack it up
That's how we get down, straight smash it up
Like a whip, hydro planning, hydro on the brain and maintaining
Game changing into subtle shit, we remain blatant
Yo, got to tell you to your face
You get replaced in this game, by Kweli
Place the face with the name
These cats drink champagne and toast to death and pain
Like slaves on a ship talking about who got the fliest chain
Yo, we the reflection of our ancestors
We'd like to thank you for the building blocks you left us
'Cause your spirit possessed us
Yo, you blessed us
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Yo, we the reflection of our ancestors
We'd like to thank you for the building blocks you left us
'Cause your spirit possessed us
Yo, you blessed us
Thank you very much
God bless you
God bless you
God bless you
God bless you
God bless you
God bless you
7-18 stand up (c'mon) Talib Kweli, BK MC
Turn it up (yeah)
We 'bout to drop it low
Baby I got the flow (yeah) to work your abdominal (I'm goin in)
It's the lava flow (yeah) strictly A game
Rock it fast, rock it slow (whoa)
You got to rock it fast, rock it slow (whoa, whoa)
Rock it fast, rock it slow (c'mon, yeah)
You gon' rock it fast, rock it slow (whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah!)
Black rock and roll, black hotter flow
At the end of the black brick road, lets get it goin yo
Geffen don't fuck the shit up, ship it gold
So I could sell like the whole Jigga back catalo'
Matta fact I'm tryin to sell out, concerts and merch' fam
Always get the story straight accounts first hand (yeah)
That nigga, the crack spitter, the black fitted low
Give you that bit of information so
You could know what you see when it's your time to go
The diamond flow cut glass, crack binary code
You're kinda slow, you need a new career (yeah)
You're kinda old, you need to hang the mic up on the wall like a souvenir
Don't blame the mangers, "Be All You Can Be"
Join the Army like Canibus, niggaz avoidin me
like the draft and run to Canada, flash like a camera
That's when his girl asked me to dance with her - so we gon'
(Hop to the beat and then stop) Yeah, drop it low
Baby I got the flow to work your abdominal
(Ladies I know I get hot) Like lava flow
Strictly the A game, rock it fast, rock it slow
(Hop to the beat and then stop) Yeah, drop it low
Baby I got the flow to work your abdominal
(Ladies I know I get hot) Like lava flow
Strictly the A game, drop it fast
That's how we do it all the way live..
I put it down so hard that I developed a rep (c'mon)
From the punchlines to cave in your delicate chest
The fella can test, let's see how jealousy get
I smell the fear in the air and I could tell he was pet'
Kweli - look in my eyes and you could tell I'm a threat
I wet my throat and get bent like a pelican's neck
I make a gentleman's bet with my ghetto connect
And got a .9 in my mind you can't metal detect
I pull it out, put it to your head and shoot from the hip
I fired 13 shots and left 2 in the clip (yeah)
I spit the truth, that's it, I'm not confused one bit (c'mon)
I'm so New York City streets that I'm abusin your whip
Cruisin the strip, sunny day sky blue like a Crip (c'mon)
For the rush hour Enuff threw this in the mix
Quarter to six, Amadeus is producin the hits (oh, oh, oh)
To get a screw loose in your chick, son she losin her shit (whoa)
Check me out, yeah, yeah, yeah
Get your ass up on the dance floor
No we don't stop, when we in the dance off
Baby girl whatchu wanna get into?
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