Gutter Rainbows

Talib Kweli Gutter Rainbows Lyrics
1.Palookas


My music represent the change of power*
From now on this thing is ours
Got em painting walls instead of painting flowers
They show their heroes with praises while we hanging ours
We bring the drums to the battle cause we bang the loudest
You don't know a thing about it
If you mix a King and Malcolm bet you that Kweli the outcome
Album is so hot that my ghetto chicks is bringing talcum
Whether you sing or shout it
They gave somebody else the crown, but I'm a king without it
Your queen is riding with me, she always sliding with me
You can't stop me like them bullets that's inside of 50
They try to diss me but whenever I say bye they miss me,
You walking with me or you alien like Mork & Mindy
You talk with me so often if you take it off the table
When the devil wanna label cause the lord is withe me
Arrogance bring fall of many
My name echo like the hall is empty you don't wanna war against
me

Hey if this the cut I'm the surgeon
Assassinate your character cast aspersions
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one
Hey, I know I hurt son, but you against me a.50 cal versus
squirt gun
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one

You see beyond the shadow of a doubt I'm born ready
Steady as the hand of the shooter
In the flesh yes the embodiment of man versus computer
I make all the women abandon they suitors
Do the math you see you can't measure up to the ruler
On behalf of all the fans and consumers
I'm building with Fred Hampton Jr. man we planning the future
Not preaching we do it different we lifting the youth up
We spitting it to tough too sick for these new thugs
Goons whatever they called they softer than nubuck
Vampires in the club sipping that True Blood
I'm a midnight marauder and a slaughter for the tribe
Immortal I'm busting at the cops like Mordecai
Just so the god'll mortify these clown ass rappers
Stand fortified live and you know it

Hey if this the cut I'm the surgeon
Assassinate your character cast aspersions
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one
Hey, I know I hurt son, but you against me a.50 cal versus
squirt gun
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one

Sean Price mad nice accept that
My worst verse sound like your best rap
Put down your bet pack I pay double on trips
I punch you up in your face and double your lips
This be the dumbest shit I ever wrote
No Tupac Shakur just two shots you floor listen
The gun clapper the dumb rapper the young rapper
Dig in your pockets and leave with your funds faster
Fuck it new rap rookies
Get beat to death New Jack Pookie
Face fucked with the 8 stuck in your grill
Play tough and get straped up in the 'Ville
Afro American minus the afro
Bald headed American letting the gat blow
Shut the fuck up before you get hurt son
You ain't got a verse better than my worst one

Hey if this the cut I'm the surgeon
Assassinate your character cast aspersions
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one
Hey, I know I hurt son, but you against me a.50 cal versus
squirt gun
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one
You ain't gotta verse better than my worst one


2.Gutter Rainbows

Lyricist:Ian Erix, Dan Zaklikowesky

Talib Kweli, yeah, hey, get with it, get with it
Here we go, here we go, come on, come on
Here we go, here we go, come on, come on, yeah
Blacksmith, it's the movement

Keep it moving, keep it moving
Here we go, here we go, come on, come on
Here we go, here we go, come on, come on, yeah
Blacksmith, pay attention, Gutter Rainbows, yeah

Watch me flip it like the Blacksmith logo
I shine a light through the darkness when the night is black as
Yaphet Kotto
All these rappers looking mad in photos
Saddest player braggadocio quality make up for all the lack of
promo

You say you blast a fo-fo, you don't shoot
It's more like you shot me an email but forgot to attach vocals
Call 'em a bastard like they dad a no show
I'm too fast for slow pokes running on the track with Yohji
Yamamoto

This ain't fashion rap, I'm bringing the passion back
Find me where the trouble at that's my natural habitat
I take it with me in the booth
To deliver real respect to the dead, we only owe the truth

So if somebody feeling disrespected
Even when his face is smilin' his heart rate escalatin',
violence
Lookin' for trouble, juggling drugs
Using, abusing, beautiful struggling, used to be bubblin'

It's the voice of the voiceless, hope for the hopeless
Spit game way too real, they don't promote it
'Cause the way I approach it from another angle
I stay in the streets and notice the gutter rainbows

It ain't no pot o' gold, it's where the product's sold
It's where we lock and load and cop the rock and roll
So turn it up loud and turn it up now
Turn it up loud, turn it up now

Welcome to my 'hood where the rainbows is in the gutters
The pain that you will discover is making the angels shutter
There's sex in the city but we never claimed to love her
I know you heard of us we're more murderous than Cain famous
brother

Living with death, smoking blunts with the Grim Reaper
Snitch niggas known to blow the whistle like a gym teacher
This gum flapper, swear he a gun clapper
Nah somethin' backwards, he really a dumb rapper

The trap on the corner with the oil spilling
Mixed with the dirt and the water collected in the gutter 'til
the colors brilliant
I paint pictures so legendary
I been doing this, your history is as short as the month of
February

In a leap year, what do we fear?
Dead bodies lying on the ground, nothing to see here
Be clear, don't ever cross me like police lines
'Cause libertarians will be not invited to tea time

It's the voice of the voiceless, hope for the hopeless
Spit game way too real, they don't promote it
'Cause the way I approach it from another angle
I stay in the streets and notice the gutter rainbows

It ain't no pot o' gold, it's where the product's sold
It's where we lock and load and cop the rock and roll
So turn it up loud and turn it up now
Turn it up loud, turn it up now

Feel that warm whip around the building to form a corner tornado
Finding nature in the city, we cover our feet in Gators
Bugatti's to bodegas they selling rotten tomatoes
Stacking chips and I don't mean potato, there go another one

Graduated from quarter waters and Butter Crunch
Tuxedo nice with a gun tucked in his cummerbund
He get it from his mama, he ain't nothing but his mother's son
She used to get it popping like bubblegum

Peddling poison was often better employment
The ghetto destroying any sense of self she was enjoying
Survival of the fittest by any means necessary
Got us calling drug dealers revolutionaries

You say he kill his people, he say I feed my family
And you ain't kicking in, you'll never understand me
You just stand in my way, now you an obstacle
And obstacles end up in the hospital

It's the voice of the voiceless, hope for the hopeless
Spit game way too real, they don't promote it
'Cause the way I approach it from another angle
I stay in the streets and notice the gutter rainbows

It ain't no pot o' gold, it's where the product's sold
It's where we lock and load and cop the rock and roll
So turn it up loud and turn it up now
Turn it up loud, turn it up now

Turn it up now
Turn it up loud
Yeah, break it down like
G-g-gutter rainbow


3.So Low

Lyricist:Richard Andrew, Talib Kweli Greene

I can go so low
I can feel the gravity that's in the world around me
I can go so low
I can feel the fire burning as it swirls around me

And I've been so low
I felt ice cold in hours at the bottom of the sea
Might have been so low
You might did low, get low but you never been low to me

Yeah, I always speak for the struggle, my people still hurting
I'm a name brand, I'm a product but still a real person
I'm still flirting with death although I'm still certain
About my commitments in life, although I'm still searching

I bet I find a way, if not I bet I make a path
One that's seldom traveled by the masses
I never get stuck in all the traffic, I cut through all the
plastic
Enemies of the enlightened like the government is fascist

I talk it how, I live it, yet I'm still considered a walking
contradiction
'Cause I'm breaking out of your artistic prison
Listen, I got my own demons, what I'm supposed to do with yours?
Times like this I gotta remind myself what I do it for

People I knew before, celebrity swear they see the change in me
I tell 'em change is God, you gotta let it be
How does it feel to come full circle?
Still cursing, still pursing my lips to pull purple

But I can go so low
I can feel the gravity that's in the world around me
I can go so low
I can feel the fire burning as it swirls around me

And I've been so low
I felt ice cold in hours at the bottom of the sea
Might have been so low
You might did low, get low but you never been low to me

Witness it, the building of a legacy
So let us just pray 'cause the journey that's ahead of us
Got us facing a task that just might get the best of us
That's why we gotta clash with the Titans like Pegasus

No Oedipus but it's like the beat is my therapist
When I let it in it get up in the cracks and the crevices
Of my memories, what kind of treasure are you buried with?
You fight when you die are you a soldier or a terrorist

Remember this there's no one else to blame when you're solo
Establish your fan base local before you take it global
Don't be scared spend your own dough
You gotta speak up, be vocal, sometimes you feel so low

Ain't nowhere to go but up go with us
We just getting started, why you slowing up but know enough to
know
This was done by the collective we even if my name is on the
record sleeve
I ain't into brevity, what the fuck is a celebrity?

I can go so low
I can feel the gravity that's in the world around me
I can go so low
I can feel the fire burning as it swirls around me

And I've been so low
I felt ice cold in hours at the bottom of the sea
Might have been so low
You might did low, get low but you never been low to me


4.Mr. International


Hey how you doing*
We all gonna be like a bunch of little Fonzi's
What's Fonz he's cool

Meet Mr. International on the runway more than a fashion show,
you know
It's all I love like McEnroe but sorry I have to go
One more time yo
Meet Mr. International on the runway more than a fashion show,
you know
It's all I love like McEnroe but sorry I have to go

I've been so many places in my life and time
And I know this for sure I'm a life that's worth living
I've seen a lot of faces made a lot of moves
I'm international cause of you
I've been so many places in my life and time
And I know this for sure I'm a life that's worth living
I've seen a lot of faces made a lot of moves
I'm international cause of you

Yo let me introduce you to the Blacksmith crew we making money
Go to sleep with a dream and we waking up hungry
Its a new day stomach is rumbling oh well
I'm like Lloyd Banks stumbling outta the hotel
Overseas show I'm catching the last flight
Really need to go I'm hangover from last night
Had a ball bout to call a cab like Wet Willie's
When I'm in commuter traffic I'm never worried or panic
First class travel I'm flying Virgin Atlantic
I'm already checked in I'm ready to settle in
Going places I've never been I get my Rosetta in
Racking up the sky miles and getting them upgrades
And you hate the only place that you visit is upstate
Don't be mad cause I'm writing this rhyme on my iPad
Don't be sad cause tomorrow I'm catching the flight back

I've been so many places in my life and time
And I know this for sure I'm a life that's worth living
I've seen a lot of faces made a lot of moves
I'm international cause of you

I'm a traveling man moving through places space and time
Thinking life hard working at your 9 to 5
No matter what you do you can't imitate my grind
24/7 love ain't that rough
When your career is you're passion no that ain't enough
So when you hear me rapping its like I'm making love
Banging your eardrum slinging that good ugh
Taking over the planet you follow my footprints now you rolling
with the greatest
I'm getting to know the neighbors I'm tasting the local flavors
Chicks from the ghetto were richer than portobello
My life is like a movie a novel by Paulo Coelho
Or the Steely Dan song about a bottle of Cuevo
Colombian Gold take a hit for the road
Its given me a vision like I was licking a toad
Consider me so blessed like mama making a cake
And the kids licking the bowl

I've been so many places in my life and time
And I know this for sure I'm a life that's worth living
I've seen a lot of faces made a lot of moves
I'm international cause of you
I've been so many places in my life and time
And I know this for sure I'm a life that's worth living
I've seen a lot of faces made a lot of moves
I'm international cause of you


5.After The Rain

Ay boy, I got moves to make*
See the hood ain't my last stop, you understand me?

Walking under Gutter Rainbows


Yo, son said he 'bout to peel pop's testicles


The fuck you laughin at A.D.A.?

NOTHIN!

Heh, it's not funny, it's not funny

In my house, I'm a wear house shoes
My house shoes is gon' be heelies
I'm gonna be slidin through the crib like Usher
On the Confessional Tour and shit

You lyin ass


6.I'm On One

Yeah*
No sleep til Brooklyn
Khrysis on the board with the heat son
Kweli
Yeah
Let's get em

Son
Come on son
Yuh yeah I'm on one
Son
Come on son
I I I'm on one
Son
Come on son
Yuh yeah I'm on one
Son
Come on son

This that crack must be what you using if you challenge me
You sniffing on that white girl the Valerie's the Natalie's the
Mallory's
Got you sweating like you losing calories
Battle me? You confuse illusion with reality
Back up off me you had your glory
Man I never seen a sadder story
Blame yourself you mad at me you mad at Cory
I left the maze you still the white mice in the laboratory
Don't test the brain son I'm quite nice at Scattergories
Metaphors and allegories speaking at your colleges
Pathologies I keepin gettin promises I promised this
The rhyme'll leave you bloody as first responders get
You hear em coming with the sirens and titans like Kurt Vonnegut
The appetite for dominance rival that of the Ottoman
Phenomenon I'll eat you after dark like this was Ramadan
Ain't no patience for the wack MC
This ain't World Star homie this VladTV

Stop posing for the camera I'm showing all you amateurs
Life is a bitch its how you handle her
You let the chips drop let em fall where they may
This an everyday struggle like Notorious say

Son
Come on son
Yuh yeah I'm on one
Come on son
I I I

I got the recipe for rest in peace
I never ran but I'm looking so presidential
I still command you to arrest the chief rebellion is my
specialty
While the mad cows convince you to they rest in beef
I lay this game without a referee so there ain't no official
So even Too Short couldn't blow the whistle
Oh yeah I flow a little you might a heard of me
Producers got restraining orders I murder beats
State of emergency like Dudus Coke you hate it but you love it
though
We smoke roll one up a double dutch but I ain't jumping rope
My gutter flow ice cold like the love below
Bring the hood right into your bungalow
Teach you how to start ironically bionic Lee Majors
Now you can do us a favor and stop your hoonish behavior
You rudest Judas who was an intruder truly a hater
Stab your neighbor in the back you'll do anything to be famous

Stop posing for the camera I'm showing all you amateurs
Life is a bitch its how you handle her
You let the chips drop let em fall where they may
This an everyday struggle like Notorious say

Son
Come on son
Yuh yeah I'm on one
Come on son
Yuh yeah I'm on one


7.Wait For You

Lyricist:Richard Andrew, Talib Kweli Greene

Better get it while the getting is good, you do what you do
No hesitation, ain't no time for playing games
Go head and take all you can and grab with both hands
Do it big or they won't even know your name

While the getting is good, you do what you do
No hesitation, ain't no time for playing games
Go head and take all you can and grab with both hands
Do it big or they won't even know your name

What are you doing with your life? Your time on earth is sacred
The time you spend at your plantation, is it worth the paper?
It's like you working for Nathan, the money's circulating
Can't pay your mortgage but you buying bottles perpetrating

Chill with them threatening raps
You sound lame, you a snake
You made the plane with your venomous acts
They call me Gentleman Sav
Because I back Miss Congeniality like Benjamin Bratt

While you only deal with the bitches, I deal with the realest
women
And still how they feel the rhythm in they mid section
When they blessed with the child bearing hips
Softest pair of lips is when they hair get flipped

I love my culture and heritage, keep me from being derelict
Invested in myself like this was Merrill Lynch
Been waiting for my second coming like I'm heaven sent
Even though I'm not your savior I grace you with my benevolence

Better get it while the getting is good, you do what you do
No hesitation, ain't no time for playing games
Go head and take all you can and grab with both hands
Do it big or they won't even know your name

While the getting is good, you do what you do
No hesitation, ain't no time for playing games
Go head and take all you can and grab with both hands
Do it big or they won't even know your name

My style is unfadeable and hater proof I'll slay the proof
I'm known to interrupt the program like late breaking news
Some say it's only egg heads that I cater to
Wait a few in order to make an omelet I gotta break a few

My plate is full, I wasn't suppos'd to be here but I made it
through
My reputation grew, I left blood on the stage for you
How dare you say that my commitment is debatable?
I'm married to the music, you rhythm then I'm a slave to you

Commercial artist so relatable, consumer appetite is insatiable
I could do what they could do easily
But then they say Kweli be seeming fake to you
Record sales ain't making you money is motivating you

The artist gotta lead, I hope the fan base stay with you
The products shoddy if you rush it for the paper true
D'Angelo and Sade, they take a decade or two
Keep that good music coming and they'll wait for you

Better get it while the getting is good, you do what you do
No hesitation, ain't no time for playing games
Go head and take all you can and grab with both hands
Do it big or they won't even know your name

While the getting is good, you do what you do
No hesitation, ain't no time for playing games
Go head and take all you can and grab with both hands
Do it big or they won't even know your name


8.Ain't Waiting

Once upon a time in a land far, far away
I tried to play but my heart in the way
This part a little harder to say
It's like the white girl trapped in a well

Help is coming but it's scary as hell
But very well, here go the fairy tale

Now Cinderella want a fella who is not so ghetto
So she follow bread crumbs like Hansel and Gretel
Hello, that'll make her drop her underwear
Dough longer than Rapunzel hair

Everyone starin' when she walk in, she like
(What you want?)
Yo, I'm not gonna front, I be blunt, I'll my make that ass bump,
I know that's
(What they want)
Me too with my hands up, she turn around like man up
(Yeah, I am)
But I know her from work, she pass by like he ain't that fly,
you got
(One more chance)

To fall down the rabbit hole, let me take you to Wonderland
Or I'll make us some other plans

I don't wanna spend the night
Trying to figure out how to spend my life
I don't wanna spend my time
Waiting for you, waiting for you

Yeah, I don't wanna spend the night
Trying to figure out how to spend my life
I don't wanna spend my time
Waiting for you, waiting for you

Everybody say
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Waiting for you, waiting for you

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Waiting for you, waiting for you

I made you a star, your light was shining, it's so right
So bright that it dwarfed the chicks in Snow White
So nice, got down with the team and now you one of us
Got me singing like Prince, you sexy motherfucker
You could be my princess bride, call you my buttercup

I love when you letting me be the man
Let me take you by the hand like Wendy in Peter Pan
If you fly by night, that's right, I'll let you make a wish
Eat you up like a favorite dish

Man, I pray you not the wicked witch
(Made it through)
Situations where I broke my promise, but now I'm tryin' to be
honest, love
(So can you)
Sometimes people evolve, but that involve knowing exactly
(What you want)
You might now wanna come and high five, givin' your partner
(What they want)
My life is an open book, you had a chapter, but will it end
happily ever after?

I don't wanna spend the night
Trying to figure out how to spend my life
I don't wanna spend my time
Waiting for you, waiting for you

I don't wanna spend the night
Trying to figure out how to spend my life
I don't wanna spend my time
Waiting for you, waiting for you

Everybody in the house say, say
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Waiting for you, waiting for you

Come on, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Say it with me, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Say it with me, oh, oh, oh, oh
Waiting for you, waiting for you

Life ain't a fairy tale

Now they say sisters bitter and the brothers is grim
Time to let the story end and let another begin
I spun straw into gold like Rumpelstiltskin
Still a hole in my soul that love won't fill in

She Sleeping Beauty 'cause her eyes is closed
Tried to sleep on your boy like Brian Rose
Now she wild like the coconut know it
And I'm lying like Pinocchio

Gotta know when it's time to go, gotta know when it's
(Here we are)
We had some good times, had some Little Red Riding Hood times
but
(Once again)
I'm the big bad wolf, don't hit me with the sad look, love
(Here I am)
I'm still the same old me but I don't know if we should give it
(One more chance)
To add another chapter, life ain't always happily ever

I don't wanna spend the night
Trying to figure out how to spend my life
I don't wanna spend my time
Waiting for you, waiting for you

I don't wanna spend the night
Trying to figure out how to spend my life
I don't wanna spend my time
Waiting for you, waiting for you


9.Cold Rain

Let's try something new
It's been a long time coming
Let me try something brand new
Hey yo, Ski, what you ever do, man?
Come on, yo, what we doing it for?

This is for all the day-trippers and the hipsters
Whores and the fashionistas
Spiritual leaders practicing all the laws of attraction
The teachers who read the passages from the back of a G

That be busting off Dalai Lama's or flashing heaters
The last of the boosters

With the shooting, the thugging
And all the booning and spooning
And all the crooning, and cooning
And auto-tuning, you laugh

You be telling, peddling to consumers
I'm helping them to see through it
Get with this new movement
Let's move it

Feel the cold rain, still I'm standing right here
Even the winter, summer days

Yeah, I'm a product of Reaganomics
From the blocks, what he rocking
A feds like Jay Electronica

Drop and make this a lock
If he promises where the heart is
Whether Jesus or Mohammad
Regardless of where the mosque is, word

They hope for the apocalypse
Like a self-fulfilling prophecy
Tell me when do we stop it?
Do they ask you your religion
Before you rent an apartment?

Is the answer burning Korans
So that we can defend Islamics?
The end upon us with a hash tag
A trending topic

You take away the freedoms
That we invite in the game
Then you disrespect the soldiers
You ask them to die in vain
Into the desert praying for rain

The music's like a drug
And they tend to take it to vein
It ain't for the well-behaved

The soundtrack for when you're great
But it's more for when you've felt afraid
More than your average rapper
So you sort of felt the way

The brain is like a cage, you a slave
That's why they loving you
This is the Book of Eli
That starts with a K-W

Feel the cold rain, still I'm standing right here
Even the winter, summer days
Feel the cold rain, still I'm standing right here
Even the winter, summer days

I do it for the trappers, other rappers
The Backpackers, the crackers
The niggas, the metal-packers
The victims of ghetto factories

I do it for the families, citizens of humanity
Emcee's, endangered species like manatees
I do it for the future of my children
They the hope for the hopeless

Karma approaches
We gon' be food for a flock of vultures
The end of the world
Ain't nothing left but the cockroaches
And the freedom fighters
We're freedom writers like Bob Moses

The chosen, freedom writers like Voltaire
For my block, my borough, my hood, my city, my state, yeah
My obligation to my community's so clear
Yeah, we gotta save them, this opportunity so rare

We do it so big over here
That it's no bare
To the punks, bitches, the chumps
The snitches, the sneak in the game

We let them live with all
They're weak and they're lame
The bozo's and joker's
Promoting when they're speaking my name

Feel the cold rain, still I'm standing right here
Even the winter, summer days
Feel the cold rain, still I'm standing right here
Even the winter, summer days


10.Friends & Family

You are now witnessing the demise of the music business*
I say demise of the music business cause people always gonna
need music in they life
You know what I'm saying
I can't do music with people I'm uncomfortable with
You know what I'm saying
I can't be on stage with you pouring out my soul if i don't like
you
So with said shout out to Strong Arm Steady
Shout out to Jean Grae
Thats my Blacksmith family you dig

I just heard a song that reminded me of times when you were
finding me
Rhyming in Greenwich Village circa 1993
Yeah those were the salad days my careers appetizing
The main course a casserole a jambalaya
Different influences that led me where the music is
A student is only as good as his teachers tutelage
Paying for college and not learning was straight foolishness
So I stopped going to school but this
Hard to tell my parents how to now try to get through to them
Thought of no one daily and traveled to different places
Freestyled with Clef and Forte in the Booga Basement
With Rubiks and JuJu on Flatbush my hood amazing
Platinum Island recording with Duro and Just Blaze
And that was right next door to Rawkus what's up Jarret and
Brian relax y'all
I love how you always bring it back sister
You and Reesy making every record
I got classics with Hi-Tek and Mos Def that are so respected
Shout out to Corey Smith shout out to Dave Chapelle
I went on tour with The Roots they played so well
Writing rhymes with Mike and Nine me and Pharoahe Monch were
Soundbombing
Me and Lonnie Lynn got a lot in Common
Mystic Journyman introduced me to Top Ramen
On the bus Kanye West would never stop rhyming
Ain't no mountain high enough for him he never stopped climbing
That's why when the homies win I never stop smiling
See I'm smiling right now

Nothing else matters more than friends and family
No doubt thats how its gotta be
This is my odyssey its just the god in me
Yup they all a part of me
Cause I would die for them and they would die for me
Thats right and plus I love my fans
Love when you throw your hands up its like you all my fam
Like you considered kin
Got me through thick and thin thank you for listening
Nothing else matters more than friends and family

It started with a blast now I'm a iconoclast
Promise to be honest in my craft and make the promise last
I do this for myself but the song for you
Once I put it out for sale then it belong to you
This for Amani Fela plus Diani Eshe
Your daddy love his girl your mother never far away
This is for Eque this for Kierra Paul
We wanna ride like Ciara and we will never fall
Headquarters and Guru is love forever ya'll
Make it plain cause its too strong for a metaphor
Simile your legacy will always be remembered for forever or
Til the end of time whichever come first
Big love to my mom and dad you could have done worst
Jamal and I the way we are cause you put your sons first
Many black parents lose they son to the gun burst
Mommas drowning in they own tears til they lungs burst
Voice cracking like Michael Stipe cause everyone hurts

Nothing else matters more than friends and family
No doubt thats how its gotta be
This is my odyssey its just the god in me
Yup they all a part of me
Cause I would die for them and they would die for me
Thats right and plus I love my fans
Love when you throw your hands up its like you all my fam
Like you considered kin
Got me through thick and thin thank you for listening
Nothing else matters more than friends and family

My first record was with Mood back in '96
In fact it was pretty fresh Google that find that shit
It sound good I was showing you what timeless is
You couldn't catch what I was saying without rewinding it
Believe me every fan is special
You hear me now but I got fans from Lyricist Lounge and
'Manifesto'
So much wack rap I know its hard to tell
The difference but when I heat it up I make the garbage smell
I'm resurrected but I'm no savior
I know the game I can ball a little bit I'm an OK Player
Double meaning cause the flow is layered
We love to say it but its easier than it sound to ignore the
haters
To snap back like the jaws of gators


11.Tater Tot

I'm just wondering what the heck is in our water supply*
What the heck is in our oxygen supply
that creates a rainbow effect in the sprinklers?
What is oozing out of our ground
that allows this type of effect to happen?
It's not just around our sun and our moon any more
Everywhere we look, the visible spectrum, is rainbows
This can not be natural
We as a nation have got to ask ourselves
what the hell is going on?
What is oozing out of our ground?

The day that I enlisted
was the result of a prior visit with Jesus Christ felt like I
was lifted
Then I got injured and the hospital was like a prison
Fell out of touch with my faith I was nihilistic
They call me Cyclops, cause I was blind in one eye
I'm out the army now I'm tryin to decide
how to properly fit in with civilians I'm used to killin
Got me feelin all confused who the hero and who the villain
Hopped in my red Camaro, shot down the street like lead in a
barrel
Decked out in my veteran apparel
I drove aimlessly for miles until I saw this
country that'd want me to kill; I took a bullet for this
muh'fucker
Thousand miles later finally made a stop
Small town restaurant, God damn the waitress hot
Ordered tater tots, got her number, later that night
We was at the bar, takin shots 'til we fell in love
I said let's go Las Vegas and do this
Knew this wasn't made for my soul
Drove all night and was awakened to cold
She wanna play the slots, nicknamed her Tater Tot
cause of how we met, cool I need a shower, bet
Found a motel on the strip, I'm checkin in
when out the blue some Mexicans came in the lobby like they
'bout to shoot
some Asians that was runnin down the hall with they guns brazen
Now e'rybody pullin out they shit like it's an invasion!
The Mexicans let them Asians have it; Asians had to fire back
'til they was outta bullets and the blood splattered everywhere
Deal gone bad or somebody robbin
Either way somebody's rotten all I hear is bodies droppin
I jump behind the front desk in the nick of time
The crook is on the floor, his blood made me slip and slide
But I'm the last man standin
A reflex made me grab a cannon out a dyin man's hand
Then I noticed that a car was runnin
Sack of guns on the floor plus unmarked bills by the hundreds
Driver comin at me gunnin
Sirens blarin in the distance cause the caps are comin
I spun around and I hit the deck
Heard the bullets whiz by my ear I let off, hit him in the chest
Quicker than the bullets left the chamber
I grabbed the sack off the floor hit the door with the bangers
Lookin for my lady at the casino, she was in the zone
I said 'We gotta go' she like 'Why?' and I'm like 'C'MON!'
No need to gamble baby, here the lick
Put the chips down we gotta go right now, this little shit
Now we speedin down the I-15
First time I noticed that her eyes were green
gave her a gun and a magazine
I made her count the loot
But when she saw the score she pointed the gun at me
Now she about to shoot {blam, blam blam}


12.How You Love Me

Lyricist:Richard Andrew, Talib Kweli Greene

I hear footsteps in the dark

Every day since we first met, can't even eat a bit
I can't seem to think straight when I think about how you love
me
Every day is like a holiday, something like Christmas Eve
My worst day is carefree when I think about how you love me

When are we gonna grow up?
Why do I love you so much, we so touched?
Excited by the drama we like when it show up
The fighting don't slow up, I light you like close ups

And I call you my Calamity Jane, you like my fantasy
Love cause the same chemical reaction in the brain as insanity
Holidays, drinking with your family, passionate folks
Imagine if they had their own reality show, actually no

Desires like fire quit playing or get burned
Or give it away on camera like Montana Fishburne
Our presence is a gift, a gift is our present
Breakup, text, call her, a bitch, under my breath

And then the makeup sex
She forgive me in a session
I know she love me
She sending a mixed message though

Every day since we first met, can't even eat a bit
I can't seem to think straight when I think about how you love
me
Every day is like a holiday, something like Christmas Eve
My worst day is carefree when I think about how you love me

You need a chick with some fire
I mean unless you want a wife cold as ice
Living life with the biggest debutante
Me and you we considered the upper echelon
The only one I come out my fitted for in a restaurant

You can get it, huh, remember I was taking your digits
Same night I was making the visit
Make it the mission to make you cum when we done
Sometimes you hate to admit it

You a little numb from the toys
And love the noise that you make when you run from the boys
And comfort your man, insane, how we go so crazy with it
This the asylum so we call relationships committed

You ain't a bird, I ain't them others guys that get lost in the
name
You the butterfly and I'm the moth to your flame
Love is dying while the mother's crying
Big brother eyeing m,e imposing their reality to Shutter Island

Every day since we first met, can't even eat a bit
I can't seem to think straight when I think about how you love
me
Every day is like a holiday, something like Christmas Eve
My worst day is carefree when I think about how you love me

Our love is like a Psycho or a trilogy the drama is killing me
I'm grown but the little boy is still in me
We discuss monogamy, polygamy, the I's the probability
Your momma ain't feeling me, it stung like a killer bee

How far from the tree do the apple fall?
The things I said was it how I felt was it the alcohol
Or do I really hate her after all?

I apologize for the statements that I made to her
First I swallowed my pride then I ate my words
I tried to pass it off, acted like it was nothing
The fact is I was discovering my appetite for destruction

Everything else is bland once you tasted filet mignon
When I'm full I'm taking you home, you're a plate for later on
I'll eat it up or beat it up
'Til your love runneth over, yo, I need a cup

Every day since we first met, can't even eat a bit
I can't seem to think straight when I think about how you love
me
Every day is like a holiday, something like Christmas Eve
My worst day is carefree when I think about how you love me


13.Uh Oh


That is great*
Good for you! Okay, get out of the way though
Ehehe, thank you
Excuse me, excuse me

Been a long time (yes) shouldn't have left you
Without a dope beat to step to
Say - uhh, shouldn't have left you
without a dope beat to step to, sayin
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) C'mon, the word is back
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) Yeah, y'know you heard of that
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) Ohh! Uh, you know the word is back
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) Yes, I know you heard of that

Psychopath, ride a tricycle in a biker's club
Mike Tyson face tatted addict, like it tough
Hey scatterbrain, don't get your grey matter punched up
'til you hunched, talk-talkin like you punch drunk
One love - two maybe if I'm drunk enough
Naked watchin three, painted ladies do the bump and grub
Mean muggin Jean - the Heebs call meshugenah
Bookin her in the Catskills like 'Look at her rap skills!'
He's rockin a backpack, a nerd in the rat pack
Jean Martine de Begerac, you heard of her murder rap
I murder rap, you learn it, confirm it and burn its audio
Music for your convertible, music for burnin cardio!
Don't use it for burners - they'll find me in your stereo
and blame me for the murder sock me up and get me carried off
I know I said murder befo' - murder murder, FUCK IT murder
Make it fo', insert a learning curve
Mine is so high you get vertigo, assertive girl a-fern to blow
Eternally superlative, blindfolded learn to drive
at night up on a girder bridge, heard a 'NO!'
Talib dirty nervousness, yes the boys are back
Oh yes the boys in black, the boy's a {motherfuckin} rap star
Teeny rock star, minus the f'real and all the cop cars
Rocks off, lock bars with the realest (hach-too) in the spot
Really y'all should get on your knees and just pray for
forgiveness sayin

(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) I said the word is back
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) Uh oh, you heard of that
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) I said the word is back
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) Uh oh you heard of that ohh
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) I said uh oh
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) Oh yeah you heard of that ohh
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) I said uh oh
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) Oh yeah you heard of that, ohhhh

I'm a, man of God who asked the Devil for some face time
It's shade time you never see him comin cause you fake, blind
The mainline, Bloods are wavin flags like K'Naan
The Crips throwin gang signs, the Beast in the street
there to keep like a canine, and low like the bassline
Jean and Kwe' think alike like great minds
The crown is on my head, what makes you think that you can take
mine?
They know they'll never win but still they racist like a hate
crime
Runnin track like Tyra in (Higher Learning)
We bleeding gasoline so we keepin the fire burnin
We speedin like Valvoline and we speak fo' a higher purpose
You believe in magazines that deliver entire sermons
Give me some Vasoline cause your shit is dryer than deserts
You never fired a weapon in your life! So
picturin yourself as a gangster the only way that you shootin
My intelligent design is a product of evolution
Psychotic, erotic, catch phrases just to, get at your girl
Create solutions for a digital world
So baby even when I'm spittin game I'm addin on
Rappers goin hard pure for the dope, I got an acronym for
Capricorn
{?} And Prepared, Rigorous, Innovative
Captivatin, Ordinary, Regular, Nigga just
throwin daily your chick goin crazy yo
Handle her like Chelsea Lately
Rockin the fresh kicks like you felt her baby
We'll wait until you done bein whack
We got every hand up from the front to the back
If you wonderin why you just dressin funny in rap
You need attention dog, there ain't no more, money in rap
So if you're mixin with GarageBand, videos on the Flip cam
I'm a big fan - you got more (Hart) than (Bret - The Hitman)
But shit damn, it's the pinnacle, it gets no better
I'm boastin, but still stay humble
Never spinnin, I'm always coastin


(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) I said uh oh
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) Oh yeah the word is back
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) The word is back
(UH OH! UH OH! UH OH!) Yessir the word is back


14.Self Savior


New Chace Infinite, Talib Kweli, yeah*
Music courtesy of, Maurice 'Mo Betta' Brown
Mo Betta, makes it mo' better, yeah

Preacher's playing foul in the system now listen now
It's more hate in the religious now ain't it foul
Gotta be a better way to figure out
How to be a self savior plus help my niggaz out
These pigs playin foul in the system now listen now
Every poor person is a nigga now
There's gotta be a better way to figure out
How to get this paper cause they lockin all my niggaz down

How do expect to live? Dealin with savages is damagin
Somebody gotta lose although you play to win
You know these niggaz hate, despite the color of your face
When I say nigga I'm just speakin on your mental state
Life ain't a game if it is I can't participate
Maybe I've changed but my mind is in a different state
Cause now it seems more like a plan
I'm strivin for perfection, so that's where I'll begin
Your tallies and peaks and valleys can't describe who I am
This music is therapeutic, I define who I am
Through the actions I portray as a man - in combination
With impressions I leave on people through things that I've said
I've had it up to here with the bullshit
So when I rap I sound like I'm in the pulpit
Yeah; they say that I be preachin too much
But I know that through the music's how you teach it to us
It's all real


True indeed Chace; they tried to get rid of me (say word)
But they can't write me off, I'm not a charity
That's a parody right? You kiddin me
There really ain't no challenge, my authenticity
Virtually guarantee me a flawless victory, you kiddin me?
I'm lethal, I'm from a people who was forced into captivity
Original man, there was often a facsimile
I give a little more than your metaphors and wack similes
Thousand yard stare, say a prayer for my enemy
I'm international, half of these rappers laughable
It's tragic how the other half so vaginal
They put the style over substance, they counsel bother me
My style married my substance and now they livin in harmony
But any substance can be abused
Especially when the style is so seductive the substance consider
leaving you
You gotta get back to your essence
Use your gifts and share your presence
Don't count your dollars 'til you count your blessings


15.How You Love Me (Live)

(feat. Blaq Toven)

I hear footsteps, in the dark
Feel like I'm goin fuckin crazy

Every day since we first met
Can't even eat a bit
I can't seem to think straight
When I think about how you love me
Everyday is like a holiday
Something like Christmas Eve
My worst day is carefree
When I think about how you love me

When are we gonna grow up?
Why do I love you so much we so touched?
Excited by the drama we like when it show up
The fightin don't slow up, I light you like close ups
And I call you my Calamity Jane, you like my fantasy
Love cause the same chemical reaction in the brain as insanity
Holidays drinkin wit'cha family... passionate folks
Imagine if they had they own reality show - actually no
Desire's like fire; quit playin or get burned
or give it away on camera like Montana Fishburne
Our presence is a gift, a gift is our present
Breakup text call her a bitch under my breath
And then the makeup sex she forgive me in a session
I know she love me, she sendin a mixed message though


You need a chick with some fire
I mean unless you want a wife cold as ice
Livin life with the biggest debutante
Me and you we considered the upper echelon
The only one I come out my fitted for in a restaurant
You can get it huh; remember I was takin your digits
Same night I was makin the visit
Make it the mission to make you cum
When we done sometimes you hate to admit it
You a little numb from the toys
and love the noise that you make when you run from the boys
and comfort your man, insane how we go so crazy with it
This the asylum, so we call relationships committed
You ain't a bird I ain't them others guys that get lost in the
name
You the butterfly, and I'm the moth to your flame
Love is dying while the mother's cryin
Big brother eyein me imposin their reality to Shutter Island


Our love is like a Psycho or a trilogy, the drama is killin me
I'm grown but the little boy is still in me
We discuss monogamy polygamy, the I's the probability
Your momma ain't feelin me, it stung like a killer bee
How far from the tree do the apple fall?
The things I said - was it how I felt, was it the alcohol?
Or do I really hate her after all?
I apologize for the statements that I made to her
First I swallowed my pride, then I ate my words
I tried to pass it off acted like it was nothin
The fact is I was discoverin my appetite for destruction
Everything else is bland once you tasted filet mignon
When I'm full I'm takin you home, you a plate for later on
I'll eat it up... or beat it up
Til your love runneth over, yo I need a cup


16.Chicken Soup