• Lyrics: play full screen play karaoke
• I Remain Calm - The Roots
• I Don't Care - The Roots
• Clones - The Roots
• Clock With No Hands - The Roots
• Ya'All Know Who - The Roots
• Proceed IV (AJ Shine's Proceed W/o A Pause) - The Roots
• Proceed III - The Roots
• YOU GOT ME - The Roots
• You Ain't Fly - The Roots
• The Show - The Roots
• Web - The Roots
• Water - The Roots
• Thought @ Work - The Roots
• The Spark - The Roots
• What They Do - The Roots
• U.N.I.Verse At War - The Roots
• The Session (Longest Posse Cut In History) - The Roots
• What Goes On Pt. 7 - The Roots
• The Unlocking - The Roots
• Why (What's Goin On?) - The Roots
• What You Want? - The Roots
• Up There (Unwritten) - The Roots
• The Ultimate - The Roots
• Take it There - The Roots
• Table of Contents (Parts 1 & 2) - The Roots
• The Hypnotic - The Roots
• The Adventures In Wonderland - The Roots
• The Anti-Circle - The Roots
• The Lesson, Pt. 1 - The Roots
• The Good The Bad And The Desolate - The Roots
• The 'Notic - The Roots
• Table Of Contents Part 3 - The Roots
• Singing Man - The Roots
• Rising Up - The Roots
• Rising Down - The Roots
• Stay Cool - The Roots
• Sacrifice - The Roots
• Rolling With Heat - The Roots
• Rock You - The Roots
• Quills - The Roots
• Step Into The Realm - The Roots
• Return To Innocence Lost - The Roots
• Section - The Roots
• Respond React - The Roots
• Push Up Ya Lighter - The Roots
• Silent Treatment - The Roots
• Star/Pointro - The Roots
• Somithng in the Way of Things (In Town) - The Roots
• Something in the Way of Things - The Roots
• I Will Not Apologize - The Roots

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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