1.Beautiful
No matter what the obstacle is, we fight through it
To survive is only half the battle, we won't lose it
So have faith in better days on the way
I lend my hand to you, whenever you need me I'll stay
I understand sometimes, the world is type cloudy
But like a plane that's over the game, we fly out it
Determination, dedication til the end
I'm there every step of the way, until we win
(？), and God Almighty
Get them burdens off your shoulder, send them to the highest
But we can beat it, overcome the lows
Being positive is key, you believe and it shows
I spread awareness, be mindful of your health
Be here for one another so you never by yourself
One step at a time, one time for the cause
I rep it for the world, I rap it for us all
Don't run away from who you are
Life's beautiful (life is beautiful)
Pick yourself back on up
Life's beautiful (life is so beautiful)
This the highway of life, we stay driven
Then at some point, you arrive at a decision
To fly high, we weather any condition
We doing more than surviving because we living
The music feel good -- yes sir, it'll satisfy you
Like a meal would, real good when it's going down
It's the flavor that you savor when you wait
It tastes great -- compliments to the chef, he got taste
Clean your plate, clear the music in front of a glass of water
Taking stale pictures, see the crystals forming
The horns make me feel victorious, the keys make me feel
glorious
The drums make me feel like a warrior
The track feel big, Notorious
Do it for the people feeling trapped in the corridor
Nobody know what you're going through in a day
But don't let yesterday ruin today
And they say..
They say it's all for the money, but I don't wan' believe it
I'm a man of my word, so whatever you been hearing
Is the truth -- flatline, polygraph, that's me
We could all use a break -- spare of Apache
Catch me crossing items off my bucket list
Cause life is good as you want it to get
I paint a different portrait with any color I find
The canvas is the world and the brush is my mind
I don't mind stepping out my comfort zone
I think the greatest fear is the one of the unknown
If you afraid of living and you afraid of death
Then I'm afraid you'll never take a step to the left
Or the right direction
Tonight's confession -- I used to be scared of my own reflection
And what would really happen if I fought that vision
But the matter all along -- if it's not good, it's gone
2.Manifesto
Manifesto this is what we want to see happen
for my peoples still breakin graf writin and rappin
I rock the mic right and exact my life's my sacrifice
Take my mic and I'm like a Chinese man with no rice
Oh yeah we flippin through the pages of time to find design
Like Vaseline on the faces of Black Georgia we shinin
Deeper than petroleum jelly we in the air like conversations
on celly and just appear like stretch marks on bellies
after givin birth you had to let go, you playin for life
The Manifesto, here comes the beat because I said so keep pushin
I got the cushion for the seat of your soul
Back in the day they stole our smile, so we clothe our teeth in
gold
and we frontin, from nigga to kid, to Son of God
It's wild dependin on labels for man woman and child
My style just is, all that's seen and all that's heard
God gave us music so we play with our words
So when Tek be in constant meditation like a monk
while Kweli speaks in tongues to get your intellect drunk
yo we bound to take over the 90% of your brain that you ain't
usin
To us it's life or death we keep you chosin
Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone
Ain't no rest for the weary yo forever it's on
The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order
Movin upon the face of the water, like Reflections
Aiyyo all the real MC's can meet me outside
So we can decide how we gonna change the tide
like the moon we on the Earth takin a ride around the Sun
Now Son we only just begun, and the journey's far from done
We all miss you, what your brain gone fishin like Walter Mosley？
There's an MC that can hold me, supposedly？
No one could come close to me, only, the family really know me
Hip-Hop's last hope like Obi Wan Kenobi
Through your television I'm shinin light like a train
Comin out like earthworms when it rains, bringin it
like the C.I.A. be bringin in crack cocaine bailin out of planes
with the George Bush connections, I push Reflection
like I'm sellin izm, like a dealer buildin the system
Supply and the demand it's all capitalism
Niggaz don't sell crack cause they like to see blacks smoke
Niggaz sell crack cause they broke, my battle lyrics
get concious minds provoked and ghetto passes revoked
cause we surrounded by the evil, you know that the people's
minds
is feeble they believe in it, even if it don't make sense
This makin dollars shit, don't take a scholar to
see what's goin on around you, either you widdit or you ain't
is what it comes down to, have you forgotten？
We pickin 100% designer name brand cotton
They still plottin, my Third Eye is steady watchin
Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone
Ain't no rest for the weary yo forever it's on
The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order
Movin upon the face of the water, like Reflections
(Yeah see that's what I'm talkin about, it be the slaughter man
We need to break it down because these heads
they don't know what they talkin about
Frontin all this nonsense, yo break it down)
From open mics to solutions I got a collage of answers
and a ten point program, just like the Black Panthers
One： First respect yourself as an artist
If you don't respect yourself then your rhymes is garbage
Two： Make sure your crew is as tight as you
cause when them niggaz fallin off they gonna bring you down too
Three： Understand the meaning of MC
The power to Move the Crowd like Moses split the seas
Four： Know your shit and don't ever be blunted
If you don't know what your words mean then your rhymes mean
nothin
Five： Kick facts in the raps, and curse with clarity
What's a curse when language is immersed in vulgarity
Six： We gonna fix industrial poli-tricks
Shit they made an artform out of ridin dicks
Seven： We soldiers for God needin new recruits
So if you rhymin for the loot then youse a prostitute
but Eight： Acknowledge that you need food on your plate
In order to say your grace make sure your business is straight
Nine： We buildin black minds with intelligence
and when you freestyle, keep the subject matter relevant
Ten： Every MC grab a pen
and write some concious lyrics to tell the children
I'll say it again, every MC find you a pen
And drop some concious shit for our children
The Manifesto!
3.Africa Dream
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene, W Irvine
If you can talk you can sing
If you can walk you can dance
That's an old proverb from Zimbabwe
You know what I mean？
If you can talk you can sing
If you can walk you can dance
Yeah, and the trumpet is blown
Yeah, alright, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon
Alright
Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, one more time
Yo, anybody can tell you how it is
What we putting down right here is
How it is and how it could be
Reflection Eternal for real
And with that
These cats is no match
Plus they lack a certain knack for rapping
Chasing but they never catch the wagon
Like rerunning what's hap'ning
Since back when
They had potty issues and snotty tissues, we been rockin'
Think you poppin' next year nobody will miss you
My thoughts is too advanced for the artists on these labels
They come sweeter than sabal and softer than mashed potatoes
I tried to told you the rhymes run over emcees like Land Rovers
Took 'em back in time like Sankofa, Sankofa
We stand over the Atlantic, looking broad like a man's shoulders
The fire is trapped in a belly, ready to pop like canned soda
We outlasting, from middle passage, touched down in New York
Cincinnatay, Big Ohio status what you thought
Money it's classic these bastards try to treat us like cattle
So life has been a constant battle, battle
Rising above the crabs in the barrel
Way too used to living in death's shadow
We stay on point like the best arrow, arrow
We hit the target accurate star, shit, back it up
When we hit town, y'all niggas pack it up
That's how we get down, straight smash it up
Like a whip, hydro planning, hydro on the brain and maintaining
Game changing into subtle shit, we remain blatant
Yo, got to tell you to your face
You get replaced in this game, by Kweli
Place the face with the name
These cats drink champagne and toast to death and pain
Like slaves on a ship talking about who got the fliest chain
Yo, we the reflection of our ancestors
We'd like to thank you for the building blocks you left us
'Cause your spirit possessed us
Yo, you blessed us
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Yo, we the reflection of our ancestors
We'd like to thank you for the building blocks you left us
'Cause your spirit possessed us
Yo, you blessed us
Thank you very much
God bless you
God bless you
God bless you
God bless you
God bless you
God bless you
God bless you
4.Rush
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Dorsey Wesley
Feel the rush
Feel the rush
Feel the rush
Yeah, I do this shit for real
(You get Chuck D'd, 'Shut the Fuck down')
Ain't no games being played
(Remember that, remember that)
It might be the career
(Yo)
It might be on the stage
(Yo)
It might be in the street
(Yo)
But the people come to me
(Why？)
They come to me for the lyrical, spiritual, raw shit, I spit at
you
Original, and I see collective, not individual
Visual, in the mic I'm un-fuck-wit-able
Invincible, official nigga who they come to
For the hardcore, art of war, rhymes that I got in store
Triple W in curo son or die or or education and culture
Heads is waitin' for Mos to do the album with Kweli
We do it like we suppose to
Nobody come close to my crew, we wild nice
You ain't tight, your rhymes is like what a child writes
When he can't spell, you chase crumbs and get ate like Hansel
Can't hold your mic, like your liquor, your style like an Amstel
Smack a nigga 'til my motherfuckin' hands swell
You ain't fly and you prolly got cancel
Y'all niggas shaky like handheld, amateur camera work
In walking this planet of earth
I'm the illest emcee and a man of my word
When I came out, niggaz didn't understand it at first
I'm known to roll up my sleeves and put my hands in the dirt
We at war and I got a battle plan that can work
With the proper execution so I'm killin' 'em right
You get hit like a deer standin' still in the light
I'm spillin' it like, I ain't never had a meal in my life
Feed my family with my pen, it's so real what I write
We fight, fuck, get buck wild
Kill, chill, make love, have child
Freestyle, B-boy, hit the block
Build, destroy, get it hot
Yo, I make the place go apeshit
(C'mon)
Ain't no other way to say it, ain't nuttin' to play with
I'm Langston Hughes, 'Dreams Deferred' seen and heard in the
flesh
'Cause so many people believe the word even when it seems absurd
With keen observation I peep the game
And got blood on his hands, I can see the stains
My street slang spray like shots when heat bang out
Niggas keep my name in they mouth, I put they flame out
Where I'm from, action is first and talk is second
I'm sharp like the blade in the logo of Rawkus Records
New York's infected, niggaz beefin' on the mix-tape
Got Nickelback niggaz thinkin' they can fuck with big weight
Hell no, give it up, it's enough
We about to live it up, with ten of us
We ride and you live with us
Pick it up, party people, you about to get in touch
Give it up, everybody, you about to get a rush
You can find Kweli in the cut, with a Cohiba lit up 'bout to
split a Dutch
Get it up, everybody, you about to get in touch
Give it up, everybody, you about to get a rush
(Whoo!)
Yeah, yeah, quality material
Yo, check this out
Yeah, you heard it
Kweli
You don't know how to say it by now, fuck you
Broadcastin' live, from Brooklyn, New York City
Yeah, turn this shit up
It's Quality music, you know how we use it
Feel the rush
Feel the rush
Feel the rush
Feel the rush
...
5.Shock Body
Lyricist：Tk Greene, R Karshner, Chuck Mangione, S Mckay, T Phinazee, G
Spivey
Yeah, yeah, it's like what you gonna do
When we come through when you
Yeah, shock body like
What you gonna do when we come through, Kweli
Uh, yeah, BK MC, like what you gonna do
When we come through when you
Woo, yeah, come on
Watch how Talib Kweli Greene do it
What I bring to it
You hear the theme music
My rhymes' life support, dog breathe to it
Rhymes are bright, the sunshine beams through it
Stop haters in their tracks like high beams
Like the moment you was at the crime scene screamin', 'I ain't
do it'
But, I seen through it, it's obscene how I spew it
Martin Luther King had a dream to it, people cling to it
I seen your momma lean to it in a green Buick
Wack niggas get passed over so much they seem Jewish
Better leave and do it now or seem foolish
This music I bleed to it, I raise my seeds to it
I MC with the truest in the game
I stay hungry like I'm the newest in the game
And stay hot like I'm bluish with the flame
You heard the truth when it came
And you knew it was the name that you couldn't pronounce
Now I'm all up in your mouth
My people all up in the house and we calling you out
Y'all niggas cryin', what you bawlin' about
This shit is down like we chalkin' you out
Hey yo, that's what I'm talkin' about
(Look up in the sky, recognize it's sunshine)
Yeah, what you gonna do when we come through when you
(How can you deny when it's right in your eyes)
Shock body, rock body
Like what you gonna do when we come through when you
(Look up in the sky, recognize it's sunshine)
Come on and, come on and
Kweli like what you gonna do when we come through when you
(How can you deny when it's right in your eyes)
Yeah, come on
Check the writin' skills forever comin' tight with the quill
You sound like you likin' the thrill
Or fillin' the pipe with the the krill
You must be smokin' like the spliff we like to light when we
build
Out of respect for the dead, we let our Heinekens spill
Cats takin' Vicatin pills to numb the pain that they feelin'
Pertainin' to stealin' my rhymes, findin' their brains on the
ceilin'
I'm blowin' their minds wide open, when I'm flowin' I'm fine
Hey, yo my whole style bangin' like I'm throwin' up signs
Niggas get cut like I saw someone I know in the line
I live life to the fullest, 'cause I know I could die
Right now, I don't believe I know when to sto'
My face soldier's going to lie, when I'm goin' to buy
You gonna see a rainbow in the sky
And my mommas face glowin' with pride
My first born held it down and through my baby's soul I survive
Put your hands in the air and let me know you're alive
I love this game y'all, I ain't even goin' to lie
I can see you all rockin', 'cause you know when it's live, word
(Look up in the sky, recognize it's sunshine)
Shock body, rock body
Like what you gonna do when we come through when you
(How can you deny when it's right in your eyes)
Yeah, grab it like what you gonna do when we come through when
you
(Look up in the sky, recognize it's sunshine)
Come on and, come on and
Now, what you gonna do when we come through when you
(How can you deny when it's right in your eyes)
Yeah, feelin' that you
Now, what you gonna do when we come through when you
Put your hands together, everybody now, come on
BK, BX, Q borough, like what you gonna do when we come through
ATL, Chi-Town, Los Angeles, Bay Area
Everybody like, what you gonna do when we come through yeah
The whole world rocking
Yo, BK like, what you gonna do when we come through, Kweli
(Look up in the sky, recognize it's sunshine)
Yeah, feelin' that is
Like what you gonna do when we come through when you, everybody
(How can you deny when it's right in your eyes)
Put your hands up in the mornin' skylight
Everybody's like, what you gonna do when we come through when
you
6.Gun Music
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Dorsey Wesley, Tekomin Williams, Darrell
A Yates
Now, if I'm out of town, my crew take of your bodies
The more the merrier point and spray the area
Niggas is quick to bury you, punk niggas feel inferior
Guns make us superior, cats start acting scarier
Situations get hairier, yo
You know who killing it, niggas saying they militant
The only blood in the street is when the government spilling it
You could have a hand gun or a cannon
And wisdom and understanding of a 22 derringer, a 38 long
A 44 desert eagle, a glock nine, come on
Time to protect the fam I'm a cock mine
I make the streets run red like a stop sign, stop lying
Co coi coi, clak clak clak clak clak
Gun man music never take shot back
Co coi coi, clak clak clak clak clak
Ghetto red hot 'round the world you hear that
Co coi coi, clack clak clak clak clak
Gun man youth never take shot back
Co coi coi, clak clak clak clak clakc
Ghetto red hot 'round the world you hear that
In Jamaica, in Brooklyn, in Ethiopia, we go there and back
To all my real live soldier cats where you at
Dogs, don't hold them back, those the cats
That go to strapped to blow a back
You could be whoever, a black panther or lap dancer
When respect is the question folks coming with the gat answer
Shoot at your feet like spider, make you a tap dancer
What am I amusing to you？ You better have that answer
Toys for guns, I got guns for toys
Silencers bring the heat without bringing the noise
Bringing the funk of dead bodies, go ahead bring in your boys
You'll see the soul of black folk like W E B DuBois
Israelies got tanks and Palestinians got rocks
Inmates got shanks and dirty cops they got glocks
We got tribes in Africa that listen to Pak
Fighting with brothers who pump Biggie like they live on the
block
Co coi coi, clak clak clak clak clak
Gun man music never take shot back
Co coi coi, clak clak clak clak clak
Ghetto red hot 'round the world you hear that
Co coi coi, clack clak clak clak clak
Gun man youth never take shot back
Co coi coi, clak clak clak clak clak
Ghetto red hot 'round the world you hear that
In Jamaica, in Brooklyn, in Ethiopia, we go there and back
To all my real live soldier cats where you at
Dogs, don't hold them back, those the cats
That go to strapped to blow a back
These are the tools of the trade that we use to get paid
When we cruise on escapades and escalades with guns to blaze
We been this ways since the younger days
Safe from the hunger pains
Bang when the trouble came, pioneers of gun slang
Supply you with them things a little something, something
Set fire to the game my system be thumping
Co coi coi, the sounds of guns busting
Co coi coi, your heart just start pumping
From a 22 derringer, a 38 long, a 44 desert eagle
A glock nine, time to protect the fam I 'ma cock mine
I make the streets run red like a stop sign, stop lying
Gun music y'all
7.Joy
Lyricist：L Dorrell, Talib Kweli, Curtis Mayfield, D Smith
Woah yeah on top of the world
Yeah, that's how my seeds got me feeling' right now on top of
the world
Yeah, you ever felt like you could do anything, yeah on top of
the world
I'm already feeling like me and you are shame
I'ma hold y'all down for real, gotcha
It was 1996, 4th of July, looking off in the sky
Dealing with thoughts inside, when something caught my eye
It was a silhouette of a beautiful woman, bright with life
Carrying my first seed, looking like she gone bear fruit tonight
We at the African street festival, and she walking around
Talking about the midwife said, that bring the baby down
I'm about to be a father, the sights and sounds
Seem brighter around me and for starters, I know I'm a work
harder, word
We got home at three in the morning, I was beat
Them contractions started coming as soon as I fell asleep
3：05, like every five minutes, then the water broke
We on the go, yelling at the cabbie, 'cause he's sort of slow
You know them hospitals all trying to get paid, no questions
Hear come the doctor's with they drugs, trying to do c-sections
But my baby stay's strong, in labor for day long
Eight-pound baby boy, to carry my name on, joy
Huh, yeah, I know how you feel, Kweli I know how you feel
That's the sound of joy
See my brother, I know how you feel, Kweli, I know how you feel
That's the sound of joy
So when you, have a seed, come in the world, say dog that shit's
real
That's the sound of joy, y'all
Huh, Kweli, yo I know how you feel, Kweli, yo I know how you
feel
My baby girl
June 10th, 1999, I been on the grind
Since the birth of my son, it's been about, way more then rhymes
Baby on the way, my lady glowing today, at least
That's what the midwife said, on the phone
Anyway, the music got me going away
Like everyday, but it's a blessing, so I gotta have patience
And she got pregnant on a Jamaican vacation
So it's all good, this time well have the baby in a house
I went the hospital route, I know what they all about
Never again so I'm out on tour, in Baltimore
Get the call around four when the water hit the floor damn
I gotta rock my show but I gotta go
Got second thoughts about her not going, to the hospital
I left the show early Mos held me down, good looking no doubt
Call the car service, like, take me straight to Brooklyn
Got the news in the car, stayed sorta calm
But I cried tears of joy, when they put my daughter in my arms
How precious
Huh, huh
Said I know how you feel, uh, said I know how you feel when you
My precious joy
Said I know how you feel, uh, Kwe I know how you feel
I know you do, huh, my precious joy y'all
Huh, uh, said I know how you feel, yeah said I know how you feel
My precious joy
Huh, man I know how you feel, yeah, said I know how you feel
I do it for the seeds y'all, in they formative years when they
need y'all
We gotta believe, in what we conceive y'all, it's deep y'all
I give them the truth, so they approach the situation, with
ammunition
I keep nothing away, they hear everything 'cos they know how to
listen
Teach them the game, so they know they position, so they can
grow
And make decisions, that change the world, and break old
tradition
They put kids in jail, for a life they ain't even get to start
That's murder too, and it's breaking my heart
It's breaking our nation apart
We gave the youth all the anger, it's just we ain't taught them
How to express it, and so it's dangerous you can't talk to them
unless Your language is relating to what they going through so
busy ignoring Them, you can't see what they showing you and you
wonder, why we Called baby-daddy's And baby-momma's when we grow
up, we can't act Like adult mothers And fathers, yo I'm so
blessed
To have a boy and a girl everyday they bring joy to my world
Huh, yeah I know how you feel, Kweli I know how you feel
That's the sound of joy
Brother Kwe', I know how you feel, brother Kwe', I know how you
feel
Baby girl, my precious joy
Kweli, I know how you feel, say bro' I know how you feel
Fela, be my joy, yo
Huh, if you know how the people feel, let me really know how
you, yo
I do it for the seeds y'all, yeah, yeah
I do it for the seeds y'all, yeah
I do it for the seeds y'all, yeah yeah
8.Talk to You (Lil' Darlin')
Lyricist：Hal Davis, Herman Griffith, Talib Kweli, Ahmir K Thompson
Let me holler at you
Yeah, can I talk to you？
Can I talk to you？ Yeah
For a minute, yeah, can I talk to you？
Can I talk to you？ Yeah, can I talk to you？ Yeah
I want you, 'cuz you make my heart skip the beat that I drum to
I want to be the one you run to, when pain confronts you
You're everything, sometimes I get nervous when I'm in front you
You can hear it in my voice when I ask you if you comfortable
Look how love do, I'd practice the art of war for you like Sun
Tzu
Come through and arouse you every morning like the sun do
If you blackout and collapse I want to help you to come to
Notice I haven't yet gotten to what I want from you
I want you to come to when I come through and make you shine
Like the sun do, I want you to be the valley for my river to run
through
You're everything, send your soul through your lips to my heart
Sweet music will start I want you to be the music of my art
When people try to rip us apart we got to work to stay together
Go through the seasons of love and never change with the weather
This is my wish list, what I want not what I need there's a
difference
These days I'm learning that words got power so I'm a be
specific
Can I have a talk with you？
Can I make a dream come true？
Can I be in love with you？
'Cuz I would if I could
Yeah sunflower
You must live in the infinite blackness
That exists when I close my eyes
I see you when I fall asleep, I see you when I dream
Lil' darlin', set your soul on fire, be your one desire, lil'
darlin'
Can I talk to you？ Yeah, ooh, lil' darlin', lil' darlin'
Can I talk？ Can I talk, can I talk, can I？ Lil' darlin'
Can I talk, can I talk, can I talk to you？ Set your soul on fire
9.Get By (Remix)
Yeah, Kweli
Ye-ye-ye-ye-ye yeah get back
Classic Brooklyn, let's go
We sell crack to our own, nigga I'm back in the zone
My passionate poems got the feds tappin my phones
It's like Timothy McVeigh, they say I'm actin alone
I got a whole team that'll put a gat to your dome
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Yo this remix is hot, we only dealin with the live hip hop
Yo get by, get back nigga (Roc)
Just to get by
Nigga I sold coke, nigga I pushed lah
Carried a fo'five
Claimed I was ready to die
Promised never to cry
Held it all inside
Reality was too much to take so I
Kept my mind fly
Slimmed for most of mine
Soon as I closed my eyes
Then I woke up behind
Nigga either I throw it up, these nines
Or blow up with rhymes
The best flow of mines is like blow up on lines of coke up
And your folks think Hov' just wrote stuff to rhyme
Nah, I'ma poster for what happened seein your moms
Doin five dollars worth to work just to get a dime
So pardon my disposition
Why should I listen to a system that never listened to me？
Picture me working McDonald's (uh uh)
I'd rather pull a mac on you
Sorry Ms. Jackson but I'm packin
This morning I woke up
Feelin brand new and I, I jumped up
Feelin my highs and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smoking and stop drinkin
But I been thinkin I got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get (by), just to get
(everybody get your hands in the sky, it go)
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah dah
Bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah daaah
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by
(...hands in the sky, it go)
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah dah
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah daaah
Just to get by, just to get by
(Talib Kweli) Just to get by
We keep it gangsta, stay 'fo shizzle', 'fo sheezy'
To set the tide to the violence on the TV during the war
Killin each other is easy, there's war and liquor for fallen
niggas Believe
me, it's ghetto love, I bet you seen it all befo'
Just to get by, my people we get fly
My people we get high, fillin cigars with the lah
Nigga come on, even Jesus was stoned before receivin the throne
I said to rest in peace and leave us alone
Back in the days we was used to doin the shit
I can't call it all in the streets
We was hustlin fiends that asked for it
I guess I was used to just standin on corners
Waitin for paper bags with bundles of crack
Hopin the week was good so I could get money back
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
When I was stressed I possessed a side of my strength
That made me angry and bleed
With the frustration havin me smokin Newports and weed
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Those be the times when I try to rely
On my niggas and street motherfuckers
And reach out to wifey and then I place a call on my mother
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
(Hey yo mom pick up the phone, I g- I gotta to talk to you ma)
If you was (？？) sentenced 'stead of actin stupid and guessin
You had to go and study your lessons
And know your math in the building recession to get by
This morning I woke up
Feelin brand new and I, I jumped up
Feelin my highs and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smoking and stop drinkin
But I been thinkin I got my reasons
Just to get (get), just to get (get)
Just to get (get), just to get (get buh buh buh bye bye)
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah dah
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah daaah
Some people try to be fly
They fake and they lie
They snakes'll see the hate in their eyes
Look at the sky to survive
People try to get by
Fightin force, slice of the pie
Tryin to eat and be high
How you know you really alive if you don't reach for the sky？
Your eyes keep on the prize
What you seek and you'll find
Who's the realest niggas？ that we let people decide
Who keepin it live？
Brooklyn got the key to the ride, c'mon
Some people try to be fly
They fake and they lie
They snakes'll see the hate in their eyes
Look at the sky to survive
People try to get by
Fightin force, slice of the pie
Tryin to eat and be high
How you know you really alive if you don't reach for the sky？
Your eyes keep on the prize
What you seek and you'll find
Who's the realest niggas？ that we let people decide
Who keepin it live？
Brooklyn got the key to the ride, c'mon
10.Space Fruit
Talib Kweli
Ear Drum
Space Fruit
I just wanna say
Let me, taste, the, fruit, of, your, space
Oh what a, oh what a day
I just wanna play
Ma-gick-al vi-sions, what, we, lay
I wanna, I wanna stay
I just wanna say
Let me, taste, the, fruit, of, your, space
Oh what a, oh what a day
I just wanna play
Ma-gick-al vi-sions, what, we, lay
I wanna, I wanna stay
11.Perfect Beat
Talib Kweli
Ear Drum
Perfect Beat
yeah special dedication
im sending this one out to you and you and you and you
i said to you and you and you,
she cold blooded, love how we melting the ice ,
you like the sunshine of my life casue all see is a
a hot thang, and you my hot thang, and you my hot thang,and you
my hot thang , word
you keep my dark sky light up at night,
so bright that you blinding my sight
cause all i see is a
hot thang, and you my hot thang, and you my hot thang, and you
my hot thang, word
your body's like a flick, it's got suprising twists
i write the scropt, the main characters your thighs and hips
award for less important role with your eyes and lips,
the way you move your body got em stiff like a heiroglyph
i watch you dance accross the floor to the title track,
you about to get me off the wall like you Michael Jack
ill make describing your beauty my sacred duty
i will write a song, write a book, write a play, make a movie
{Chorus}
hey, hey, hey special dedictaion
(Will.i.am)
good love you a sexy thang, and all im saying
is you got somthing i like ( X2 )
(Talib)
yo, i love ya country ass, i love ya city sass
i love how ya normal ways you catch it pretty fast,
these dudes is pretty crass, harass you in ya past
i love how you snap back and get the last laugh,
i love the way you crib smell like candle incents
the white that you use on the phone when you handle business,
i love it when you freaky,
i love it when you a lady
rockin doing in the late 80's raising babies,
i love her God bless you,
your body something special
i love to play connect the dots with yo facial freckles,
no need for fashion police because i love your style,
whatever happen Shanese baby i love your smile
i might be falen in love, should i let her know
a pimp told me if i love her i should let her go,
im sing in prasies everytime they this instrumental
cause she instrumental to my life, to my life
Hey, Hey, Hey special dedication
{Chorus} X2
I love how we melting the ice you like the sunshine of my life
cause all i see is a
hot thang, and you my hot thang, and you my hot thang, and you
my hot thang, word
you keep my dark sky light up at night,
so bright that you blinding my sight
cause all i see is a
hot thang, and you my hot thang, and you my hot thang, and you
my hot thang, word
let me take you by the hand you need to try your man to fight
and dance and have your gruopie doubt like excited fans,
i promise you'll be climbing walls like spider-man
knees buckling you'll hit the floor when you try to stand,
so you drop it like its hot oh so heavy,
you and me we can leave now we can go steady,
how bout we be jetty cause im so ready
to bounce like a 64 chevy, word
Hey, Hey, Hey special dedication
{Chorus} X3
12.Wack Niggas
(featuring Common, Consequence ＆ Kanye West)
Yeah
Yo...let me, let me, let me, let me tell you why - why
This nigga...why we dedicated this song to this kind of nigga
'cause number one, duke is drivin' in the motherfuckin' projects
With a - with a Sebring, and with - with a rag off
Y'na'mean？ Y-you not ballin' like that play-boy
Straight up, then the bitch you got playin' shotgun
Like, I used to serve that bitch, c'mon
Really really good, I mean and you gotta shirt and tie
You wack as nigga..
Wack niggas...I don't even like to be around 'em
Give 'em dap or pound 'em
See 'em out they houndin' dawg
Singin' they got tracks for me to get down on
Singin' they hot when that shit don't even sound warm
Nigga I'm nasty, my style is sound porn
The graphic exposin' wack asses
I emcee as free as 'Ol Dirty Bastard
You think you Catholic tryin' to appeal to the masses
The Cassius Clay of rap today
Rock a beard like Castaway
You couldn't be dope for even half a day
We keep it hot like it's after May
Smoke a nigga then I pass to K
The pastor say we goin' to mass today
We have to pray, these niggas is wack 'n' eh
I have to say, since Pac passed away
Most these niggas don't even deserve a track from me
First of all let's get rid of them Louis Vuitton boots
And get yo tall ass out that C Class coupe
Y'see the whiskAY had them girls feelin' friskAY
You was wit mAY (me) she said 'Who's the sissAY？'
And even if they did wanna get bizzAY
Freaky like MissAY and roll the weed up
You would roll three blunts and fuck up three blunts
Motherfucka you a fuck up of free lunch, dawg
Just keep it right thurr like ChingAY
Yo girl don't like me how long has shee been gAY
Spanish girls tell ya 'No hable ingle'
And everbody wanna run to me for they singlAY (single)
It's funny how these wack niggas need my help
Wasn't around when I couldn't feed myself
Dawg, if I was you I wouldn't feel myself
Dawg, if I was you I'd kill myself
(Wack nigga) Wake up in the morning dawg, and you a
(Wack nigga) I'd kill myself if I was that
(Wack nigga) Everything you wear and rock, is just
(Wack nigga) Even if you flossin' rocks you still
(Wack nigga) You can't do it dawg you's a
(Wack nigga) Bitin' ass, bitch ass, trick ass
(Wack nigga) Even your daughter says 'My daddy's a - '
(Wack nigga - You wack nigga!)
You know you wack when ya dawgs tell you
That's how you know ya flow is weak
'cause you only got them there to 'Say Yes' like Floetry
The clique that I oversee ain't impressed by ya poetry
You're the place you're supposed to be
You ain't ain't comin' close to me
It ain't that you underrated
It's more thatn you're under dated
And mediocre at best is all the hoes you've ever dated
For all your guest appearances
You couldn't get the clearances
For them it's just a check they don't respect you as a lyricist
Look at what ya lyrics is, Murder, Death, Kill
But you never shot nothin', never have, never will
Better add on to ya skills before you join this round robin
Of super emcees that'll add to ya problems
In the beginnin', God created man in his own image
I'm 'bout to tell you how the story gon' finish
Kweli handle his business niggas don't forget it
'cause a wiseman can shoose to get ignorant with it
Na'mean - you all can get it I'm conisdered the nicest
The way I spit it give these niggas all identity crisis
All day talkin' that shit like you hold a gat, right？
The trip you on must be short 'cause you pack light - act right
You got it twisted tellin' niggas that you pack heat
You ain't gunning now you runnin' like an athlete
You ballas need to quit rhymin' like Allen Ive
Start speakin' New ？Wopian？ and followin' Malachi
Oh, anything would rhyme, you need to sell drugs for real
Instead of on the radio, you'd be dead or in jail
All these thug niggas wanna rap
And all these rap niggas wanna thug
And all ya'll fuckin' the game up
It's time to change up, my lyrics rip ya frame up
Askin' if I'm nice like fuckin' with a chick
Who don't give head - that's a no-brainer
Niggas back bangers you don't even know the names of
I'ma bout to meet my quota you about to meet ya Saviour
You wack nigga, you about to get shot
Fuck with Talib Kweli, that's how you get got
Not that I'm wylin' or even promote violence
It's just you're fuckin' up my high, can a nigga smoke in
silence？!
13.On Mission
Songwriters：Mojica, Vinia; Greene, Talib Kweli; Isaacs, E;
Cottrell, Tony
＊chanting in background＊
Blaze one for the Brooklyn crew what
Blaze one for the Cincinnati crew, yes
And for the whole world, and for the whole world
Chorus
Yo Hi-Tek they still sleepin
As a right we still peakin
They still weakin, we adventurous thrill-seekin
We will begin, new ways of freakin it
It's the dawn of the MC who think before he spit
On Mission, we intercept your transmission
Bringin exactly what the fans missin
You, bare witness to, the transition like
GIVE ME THAT MICROPHONE, man listen
Yo, I literally
Obliterate MC's who rhymin pitifully
Let's get it straight like degrees of longitude and latitude
Adjust your position like your attitude
Even cats frontin had to move
Now let's begin, while you testin these better men
You get fucked up like it's your first Friday as freshman
Letter man on the varsity team, I pipe dream
Make they cream freeze like reindeer caught up in high beams
Yo it seems that they sedative like open wounds and I'm
lyrically salty
All your shit is faulty, watch me turn jams into revolutionary
parties
Stoppin your heart piece, while we write soliloquies wit
Sharpies
We stay in the air like aerosol to carry y'all
Old decrepit MC's like Geritol
We men in the mirror y'all, your career is like a metaphor for
suffering
When we rush in, beat these niggas like percussion
You ain't touchin nuttin
I give instructions and move on your weak production
Drop that African king shit and the royal flushing
Respect the queen, from straight from BK
Stick like girls' legs when they run the Penn Relay
Chorus
'Talib Kweli it's the Reflection' 'Hi-Tek'
'When we livin this shit' 'Out of the 7-18 we meet the 51-3'
I blast through your illsuions
Shatterin your shadow as I snatch the light from you
When I want to, confusion is the conclusion you come to
That's the best you could come up wit
When your brain pattern is scattered and that's why you dropped
that dumb shit
Click first when we hit next when I'm dispersing
Cursing me like ham cuz I'm original when you're like the King
James version
You need a surgeon to put you back together
When your parts is missin like aquarian gospels
We can get more hostile without PEACE
Believe we balance positivity wit negative
Legal and illegal cuz it's relative
If the law prevent me from being a man, then what's the deal？
In the Hour of Chaos, my microphone's my Black Steel
I grip it wit that sure shot feel
Drivin through your mind, Hi-Tek be on the wheels
We ride up on your heels, talkin back now
You pop more junk than a ？thane or bird？
Fallin flat on your face, you got caught trippin off your words
Explain that ？simunicy？
You oxy-moron, pimpled faced dummy goin through puberty
Flippin late night through cable channels lookin for nudity
You're junior-high, what could you do to me
Nuttin is new to me but I'm still learnin, what
Hip-hop is in our hearts and we On Mission from the start
To leave our mark up on this rock
Too many people is just livin ＊repeat＊
Chorus
Listen listen, huh man listen
We intercept the transmission
Bringin exactly what you fans missin
Hi-Tek ＊echoes＊
Uh uh, Talib Kweli yo
Exactly what it's supposed to be yo
None of y'all niggas is close to me, yo
Step back before you get your head cracked
Yo steppin in through set back, I never sweat that
Aiyyo my man C Smith is jet-black
That's okay though, aiyyo
I build these niggas up and then I smash em to the ground like
Play-Dough
And then I lay low
14.Chaos
We your rhyme sayers we lead you like a beacon
Of light out of the chaos cuttin down overzealous
Players who stare we're the winners of the game
Walk in we'l prepared climbin the stairways
To heaven while you scared of the people livin under
Ground heard the sound of the clap made you wonder
If it was a gun the crowd or some thunder
All of that was out my window when I was younger
Now I'm much older, lyrical clap MC's
If you don't know by now, let me aquaint you with my steez
(C'mon) I don't get on stage and waste your time
Niggaz got a lot to say but they just can't rhyme
They just babies, I snatch em out they incubators
Attach them to respirators, they breathin hard like Darth Vader
Hard as candy and suck like Now or Laters
After a while your style's tasteless and it GOT NO FLAVOR
Projects my eyesights to the heavens like dead or wise sages
Release what I hold save it through my book of rhyme pages
Scripts be ageless, like scrolls from dead sea
The cadence off and on like the motion of Tai Chi
Ba-ha-ma-D, wor-dy, to Reflect, Eternally
Science to a remedy to help and get my people free, but
Little support, got my thesis on freeze
My only option's doin bootlegs for the Japanese
Get about eight G's, a heavy buzz overseas
Sacrifice a pill to mainstream and do what I believe, cause
Down to the chromosomes I'm a purist to this artform
Enlighten who I touch and let the world catch on
Yeah, we your rhyme sayers, who lead you like a beacon
Of light, out of the chaos, cuttin down overzealous
Players who stare, we're the winners of the game
Walk in well prepared, climbin the stairways
To heaven while you scared of the people livin under-
-ground heard the sound of the clap, made you wonder
If it was a gun, the crowd, or some thunder
All of that was out my window when I was younger
Oppose for the nine, how no content sections of the earth
Walkin vexed, out of my sticks, laced on every verse
My cells begin to peak at least a hundred thousand hertz
Meanin my joint's prevalent in Fat Beats and Footworks
I cater to these markets first, cause they gravitate to me
And appreciate the vision of what I do musically
Mmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmm!!
I walked in and they stared, see how they screwin me
Break you down, til you ain't the man you used to be
Domination of my jurisdiction, people's addiction to lies
It blurs the lines between the fact and fiction
Now we back omission, I fix your face for you, keep yappin
You start to hate the man in the mirror like Michael Jackson
Majors they try to hold me captive but mine are figure factions
But the foundation of hip-hop hold my braincells for ransom
I chance none, fuck them spots on charts and number one
If it's meant, then I'll accept it gracious when the time comes
This grassrooted curriculum, got me sprung like twisted ankles
Experience is missable, so I approach it from all angles and
Inject some substance deep inside of rap's core
Take an MC and back to where it was before
Call us Liberty like the Bell of Philadelphia scenery
Me and Bahama-D, style free like Mumia need to be
Seein me, feelin me, we right here on the level
Turnin hardrocks to pebbles, exposin the devil
Lyrical olympian like John Carlos winnin gold medal
Take that bass out yyour voice you talk to me in treble
I'm _Serious_ as Steady B so you know I ain't playin
I'm stimulatin, makin crowds MOVE like organizations in Philly
Keep it positive, my prerogative is exercise
See through the chaos with my third eye
Word I exhibit the exquitiness, since a child I was vivid
Throw your hands in the air if you with it, dig it
Yeah, we your rhyme sayers, who lead you like a beacon
Of light, out of the chaos, cuttin down overzealous
Players who stare, we're the winners of the game
Walk in well prepared, climbin the stairways
To heaven while you scared of the people livin under-
-ground heard the sound of the clap, made you wonder
If it was a gun, the crowd, or some thunder
All of that was out my window when I was younger
Seven-eighteen, to five-one-three
We meet at two-one-five
Reflection Eternal, Bahamadia, yes yes
Yo listen the fuck up y'all
It's Mr. X to the Z Xzibit
Broadcastin with the home grown
That's right, they straight out of my backyard
The Beat Junkies, on Rawkus Records understand me？
It's Soundbombing 2!
15.Keynote Speaker
Lyricist：D Chapelle, T.k. Greene, E Krasno
A keynote speaker's about to come on now
I just wanted to say a few words about him
And you all know who he is, Talib Kweli
Please, hold your applause 'til the end
We are glad to come and hear you speak
We love it, Kweli doesn't like me to talk about this
But one time we were drivin'
Through the Mississippi Delta
And there was a brotha runnin' up the side of the road
And he didn't have any shoes on, he didn't have a shirt on
And I started to drive right by this man
Kweli said,'Stop the car, because that brotha might be in
trouble'
And I stopped the car, Kweli said to the man
He said, 'Brotha, are you okay？
Do you need a ride somewhere？'
And the man looked at Kweli and said,'Shh, I'm escapin''
And Kweli took him by the hand and said,'My brotha
You didn't get the memo, we have been free, for some time now'
Well, I'm windin' it up, please welcome a good friend, scholar
Ghetto philosopher, three time Nobel Peace Prize winner
First black man to pilot an air craft
The nigga that made up the Nike Swoosh
The man that made Kool Aid say,'Ohh Yea'
Brooklyn's own, Talib Kweli
16.The Proud
Lyricist：L Dorrell, Talib Kweli Greene
The proud
Stand tall or don't stand at all, c'mon
Uhh, yeah
Break it down
What we do？
We survive, it's more than pride
We stay alive, ready to ride
One two, one two yo
Aight put it down yo
June 21, 2001
Timothy McVeigh is executed
And the country breathe a sigh of relief
Goodness prevails over evil, it seems
Somehow when he's gone, we feel safer
Little do we know
Today the paper say Timothy McVeigh's in hell
So everything's okay and all must be well
I remember Oklahoma when they put out the blaze
And put Islamic terrorist bombing, on the front page
It's like saying only gays get AIDS, propaganda
Like saying the problem's over when they locked that man up
Wrong! It's just the beginning, the first inning
Battle for America's soul, the devil's winning
The President is Bush, the Vice President's a Dick
So a whole lot of fuckin is what we gon' get
They don't wanna raise the babies so the election is fixed
That's why we don't be fuckin with politics
They bet on that, parents fought and got wet for that
Hosed down, bit by dogs, and got blacks into house arrest for
that
It's all good except for that - we still poor
Money, power and respect is what we kill for, for real
We survive, it's more than pride
We stay alive, ready to ride
August 4, 2001
A drunken police officer mows down an entire family in Brooklyn
The judge lets him go with no bail
It reminds us, of just how worthless our lives are to the
justice system
I struggle, to explain the situation to my son, it's hard
Niggaz with knowledge is more dangerous than than niggaz with
guns
They make the guns easy to get and try to keep niggaz dumb
Target the gangs and graffiti with the Prop 21
I already know the deal but what the fuck do I tell my son？
I want him livin right, livin good, respect the rules
He's five years old and he still thinkin cops is cool
How do I break the news that when he gets some size
He'll be percieved as a threat or see the fear in they eyes
It's in they job description to terminate the threat
So 41 shots to the body is what he can expect
The precedent is set, don't matter if he follow the law
I know I'll give my son pride and make him swallow it all
(damn!)
Fuck the pigs! I think the pigs killed Big and 'Pac too
If they didn't they know who did, they got to
Who they serve and protect, nigga not you
Cops shot off of ten G's but they got glocks too
Let you protect yourself, or better yet respect yourself
Straight into the hospital is where you gotta check yourself
They be gettin tips from snitches and rival crews
Doin them favors so they workin for the drug dealers too
Just business enforcers with hate in they holsters
Shoot you in the back, won't face you like a soldier
Kurt Loder asked me what I say to a dead cop's wife
Cops kill my people everyday, that's life
We survive, it's more than pride
We stay alive, ready to ride
September 11, 2001
Terrorists attack the Pentagon and the World Trade Center
Kills thousand and permanently scars America's false sense of
security
We see the best examples of humanity in the face of the worst
As fire fighters, police officers, rescue workers
And volunteers of all sorts, fight to save lives
The world will never be the same again
My heart go out to everybody at Ground Zero
Red, black, yellow, white and brown heroes
It's more complicated than black and white
To give your own life is the greatest sacrifice
But it's hard for me to walk down the block
Seeing rats and roaches, crack viles and 40 ounce posters
People broken down from years of oppression
Become patriots when they way of life is threatened
It's a hard conversation to have
We lost kids, moms and dads, people ready to fight for the flag
Damn, when did shit get this bad？
America kill the innocent too, the cycle of violence is sad
Damn! Welcome to the world, we here
We've been at, war for years but it's much more clear (yeah)
We got to face what lies ahead
Fight for our truth and freedom and, ride for the dead
We survive, it's more than pride
We stay alive, ready to ride
17.Where Do We Go
Lyricist：S Ballard, Tk Greene, J Yancey
Where do we go？ What do we say？ What do we do？
Nowhere to turn, nowhere to run and there's nothin' new
Where do we go for inspiration？
It's like pain is our only inspiration
Where do we go？ What do we say？ What do we do？
Nowhere to turn, nowhere to run and there's nothin' new
Where do we go for inspiration？
It's like pain is our only inspiration
Yeah, I see a place where little boys and girls
Are shells in the oceans not knowin' they a pearl
No one to hold 'em while they growin'
They livin' moment to moment without a care in the whole world
Now, if I could help it I tell it just like it is
And I may say some things that you don't like to hear
I know this, that people lie, people kneel
People die, people heal, people steal and people shed tears
What's real？ Blood spills, gun kill, the sun still rise
Above me, trust me, it must be, morning time
Wake up, the stake's up
Everybody want the cake up, to break up with the crew
But when the Karma comes back for what you do
It's too late to make up some excuse
Where do we go？ What do we say？ What do we do？
Nowhere to turn, nowhere to run and there's nothin' new
Where do we go for inspiration？
It's like pain is our only inspiration
Where do we go？ What do we say？ What do we do？
Nowhere to turn, nowhere to run and there's nothin' new
Where do we go for inspiration？
It's like pain is our only inspiration
I come from people who stand stronger than time and space
Wherever there's competition you gonna find the race
I find a place in my heart for this hip-hop
And pump blood through my vein, my skin get hot
I take you very serious and make you write more
If I don't celebrate, I got nothing to fight for
I'm tight raw, excite y'all like nightfall
I'm tight y'all, I walk the street like y'all
About action, talk is cheap, right y'all？
You start yappin' think about the beef you might cause
The trouble you could get into
You don't study, you not prepared and cats is testin, you
What you gonna do when you gotta face？
The manifestation of the words that you put in space
They already there, you cant take 'em out
The studio gangsta inside you tryin' to break out
Where do we go？ What do we say？ What do we do？
Nowhere to turn, nowhere to run and there's nothin' new
Where do we go for inspiration？
It's like pain is our only inspiration
Where do we go？ What do we say？ What do we do？
Nowhere to turn, nowhere to run and there's nothin' new
Where do we go for inspiration？
It's like pain is our only inspiration
Yeah, I see a place where little boys and girls
Are shells in the oceans not knowin' they a pearl
No one to hold 'em while they growin'
They livin' moment to moment without a care in the whole world
Now, if I could help it I tell it just like it is
And I may say some things that you don't like to hear
I know this, that people lie, people kneel
People die, people heal, people steal and people shed tears
What's real？ blood spills, gun kill, the sun still rise
Above me, trust me, it must be, morning time
Wake up, the stake's up
Everybody want the cake up, to break up with the crew
But when the karma come back for what you do
It's too late to make up some excuse
18.Put It In The Air
Lyricist：David Blake, Talib Kweli Greene
We be blazin' (uh)
So amazin' (yeh)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (uh, yeh)
We be blazin' (uh)
So amazin' (c'mon, uh)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down
Yeh
New year, new record, time to do bigger shit
Caught a plane to Cali linked with my nigga Quik
I figure with the combination we bomb the nation but stay calm
and patient
As the world get hyped from hearin our musical conversation
This a beautiful situation right here
Given birth on the track 'cause the cypher stay pregnant with
ideas
And we rockin it - rock, rock, rockin it
Tell the hater players put a sock in it
Proper shit, that you got to get, cause we properly document
How cats look more like dicks than the Washington monument
Validly try to challenge me, but who you racin wit'
It's amazing the lyrical lyngerie I be lacin shit, we be blazin
it
Put it in the air with the chronic
My lyrics like drugs got you hooked on my phonics
From Brooklyn to Compton the lounge of Soundbombing
Still rockin' over 'Balance and Options,' now
If you got a spliff then put it in the air
If you want a rift then put it in the air
If you shakin yo' ass, put it in the air
If you makin it last, put it in the air
If you leave the crib strapped then put it in the air
Take ya hand of your gat and put it in the air
Snook your bud in the club, put it in the air
Got nuttin but love, put it in the air
They say my rhymes is too heavy, I come thicker than the fog
You get it when I retire and battle my catalogue
Writin rhymes in my captain's log, BlackStar date
MC's fake like Egyptian Gods in +Stargate+
Lovin the hate, bubble all types of weight in they rap
I draw blood like mosquitos y'all annoy like gnats
Pop that around the wrong cat get laid flat
Concrete adjust to the contours in your back
Quik where you at？
Yo I'm in the back room makin a run
Ain't even touched her n makin her cum
N you can catch me out in Portland we startin mine
Everybody doin shows but I'm the hottest flyin'
Bitches say honest, I swear to God
So how come then believin them is so damn hard
Could you really blame a nigga if you fucked a skate
You ain't even pay that's why you flunked today
All you heard was he sellin talk shit about niggas and drink
wine
And your answer kept changin cos bitch you keep lyin'
Talkin bout 'he make me sick
All he do is disrespect me keep callin me bitch
And he only wanna fuck me when he all for that dough'
What the fuck you think I'm here for not to love you I hope
All I'm bout to do is listen for a minute
While I get my drink in n' introduce you to my dog Kweli n go up
in it
If you got a spliff then put it in the air
If you want a rift then put it in the air
If you shakin yo' ass, put it in the air
If you makin it last, put it in the air
If you leave the crib strapped then put it in the air
Take ya hand of your gat and put it in the air
Snook your bud in the club, put it in the air
Got nuttin but love, put it in the air
C'mon
We be blazin' (c'mon)
So amazin' (yeh)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yeh, c'mon, yeh)
We be blazin' (uh)
So amazin' (c'mon, yeh, c'mon, c'mon)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down
Now let me tell you how I am
I'm mild-mannered at day but superhero at night
I got the special invite to make your spot look right
No ice, no rain, not bottles of champagne n'
HALF these motherfuckers can't pronounce my name
I'm so cool while you hyper in the coffee shop
Hype niggas make girls be like 'get off me stop'
Real niggas like thirst so of course we rock
Cos the game unauthordox, off top
You got cold feet like I pulled off your socks
Always goin down town pullin all the stops
Your breath smellin like fish from straight off the docks
Dats how you lost your spot
You too hype
If you got a spliff then put it in the air
If you want a rift then put it in the air
If you shakin yo' ass, put it in the air
If you makin it last, put it in the air
If you leave the crib strapped then put it in the air
Take ya hand of your gat and put it in the air
Snook your bud in the club, put it in the air
Got nuttin but love, put it in the air
Yeh
We be blazin' (c'mon, uh)
So amazin' (yeh, everybody c'mon)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yo, all the people in the house)
We be blazin' (c'mon yeh)
So amazin' (yeah, c'mon)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down
Yo, 1, 2, (c'mon) 1, 2
We be blazin' (c'mon, yo)
So amazin' (c'mon get dowwwn)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yeh, everybody yo)
We be blazin' (light it up, light it up)
So amazin' (yeah, I'm feelin that, c'mon)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yeh)
Yo do that shit
We be blazin' (yeah)
So amazin' (c'mon get dowwwn, uh)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down (yo, yo do that shit)
We be blazin' (c'mon, yo)
So amazin' (yeh)
Everybody get down
Everybody get down
19.Move Somethin'
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene, Jerry Williams
C'mon c'mon ya ya ya ya ya
Get 'em up, get 'em up what
Get 'em up, get 'em up what
Get 'em up, get 'em up what
Yo, yo, yo
What's with the melodrama？
Fella's wanna hover in my cypher like a helicopter
Like it's a special honor
The stealth bomba, gem droppa
Make the ghetto holla, intercontinental
Takin you high like sky divers
When we spark with live wires
Original, cavemen quest for my fire
Express my desire to drop this new shit
These record executives keep tellin me y'all stupid
Now if they right, Shut The Fuck Up
Revolutionaries throw your guns up
Whether you a bourgeois broad who actin stuck up
Or some ignorant thug motherfucker shootin the club up
We gonna make y'all feel this, break y'all spirit
If y'all fake that realness, word we bringin it
Ringin it in from the new millenuim to way after that
I call these cats Reynolds 'cause they plastic wrap
Kill all the yappin lets make it happen
You cats ain't real, you just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin
I start breakin
The whole joint start shakin
This ain't the time or place for you to prove something
Cut the stargazin' yo, move somethin'
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Word alright bring it back to the top
To be continued
Lets see what's next up on the menu run up in you
Lyrics that be fuckin with you
In the mental, pick any mental - instru, funda, detri
Extra Extra large like the borough of brooklyn the residential
Exi-stential-ist specialist
Like Sly Stone wit my poem and fly song
Ride along with cats who live great and die strong, word
We gonna rock till nothin else matters
Y'all catch bodies, we catch excellent cadavers
Your next of kin an' shatter stories splattered in the tabloids
Erase your trace like your cotton mouth and we pepperment
altoids
Step in the high reppin the spot called flatbush
Whether rappers or actors you still feel the gat bust
The abstract then becomes the reality
Alcoholics like to call it the moment of clarity
Kill all the yappin lets make it happen
You cats ain't real, you just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin
I start breakin
The whole joint start shakin
This ain't the time or place for you to prove something
Cut the stargazin' yo, move somethin'
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
20.Some Kind Of Wonderful
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene
What's next？
These chicken neck MCs get me vexed
My rhymes be blowin' up chat rooms all over the internet
And causin' collisions on the highway of information
And then I head back to my prior engagement
In the nation of Brooklyn
Land of Trinis, Haitians, Jamaicans and Bejans
It's amazin' how lickin' shots is the proper representation
Soon they gonna need wack MC reservations
Cause I endanger the motherfuckers, they needin' preservation
Carry 'em home on the top of a truck like a trophy
Niggas still sleepin' like I'm Jay Z in the video for Hawaiian
Sophie
It's cool I stay low key, keep a low pro
Come out crushin' shit just for fun like Co Flow
Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo here we go
Ridin' on the sound waves out your stereo
In the procession to your burial
Callin' Hi Tek little Leon the professional
I got the special flow listenin' to estero
Puffin' vegetables and now I'm red to go
The illest rhyme animal like Chuck
Burn leech niggas like salt when I lay in the cut
Think you about to blow when you continue to suck
The shit I've been through
Make me run up in your venue like What
I snatch the mic and ask the crowd what are y'all waitin' for？
They say nothin' but that fat shit
I got you, say no more I laid the law and all them
Crab rappers played the floor I called them out
A couple of them steeped up and I ate 'em raw
Some more wack niggas tried to spray the door but had no aim
Later for them corn balls
On the way out smacked them in they face with a methaphor
For better or for worse you better call the nurse
Before I send a cleaner and he get to your hospital room first
What you wanna do？ I'm runnin' through your front line
Your whole plan is catcha tan in my sunshine
One time 'cause it's some kinda wonderful
Don't stand there lookin' stupid, what you wanna do？
What you wanna do？ I'm runnin' through your front line
Your whole plan is catcha tan in my sunshine
One time 'cause it's some kinda wonderful
Don't stand there lookin' stupid, what you wanna do？
I'll take your style and embarrass it with
Words beautifully written like Arabic
Got niggas on the run 'cause the fire like chariot
Introduce pen skills to ill deliveries and married it
Put it in your face like big gats and carried it like Harriet
Various crews tried to bury us
But we shut 'em down like Sagiterious with
That wack shit money you can't be serious
You niggas is hilarious actresses
Runnin around the club pissy like ghetto matresses
That's why I smack these kids back to reality
And how it be in actuality
With ready to battle MCs who skip the fuckin' formailties
We spark it in any club or meat market
Sweet artists don't come on the block they become street targets
If you want it I got it, come get it I'm with it
Your career will be shorter than a midget
And the world will know who did it
I smack up these ho ass MCs like a gorilla pimp
You comin' out the box like a gimp, money you still a wimp
My shit blow out filaments and light fixtures
With the right mixture of words used as colors
To paint the right picture
Graphic masterpieces your whole shit is smashed to pieces
Make you look at your man who rhyme and be like, 'you not nasty
like he is'
Believe this when you see this, and don't fuck with
Me either, 'cause you'll be down where my feet is
Curled up in the fetus
Cryin' from the kicks, watch when I flip
People gonna be buyin' my shit like fiends dyin' for a hit, so
What you wanna do？ I'm runnin' through your front line
Your whole plan is catcha tan in my sunshine
One time 'cause it's some kinda wonderful
Don't stand there lookin' stupid, what you wanna do？
21.This Means You
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene, Dante Smith
Sometimes, you gotta be direct with the people, y'know like
Give it to 'em (c'mon)
Yo
Give it to 'em
GET, UP, NOW
Yo, we keep it type raw, and know exactly what we fight for
When the nightfall come, we in the right war
Cats who spill blood for a cause, not just because
Defy the authority and follow God's law
Revolutionary entrepeneurswho make the fans
Clap they hands and stompin the floor not start the applause
(Ahhh ssssh! Yeah!) Thank you very much, without further adieu
Let me introduce the rest of my crew, Mos Def
Yo, I am the world renowned, verb adjective adverb
Pronoun preposition suffix prefix
Original or remix, sunburst and eclipse
Me and Kwe' combine like strands on a double-helix
My speech seasoned, with dialect of my region
Booga-nam Brooklyn Bed-Stuy Eastern
Where youth and policemen, they nah reach agreement
Pressure in the mornin, pressure in the evenin
You, need, to, get, up, right, now
And, move, with, this, yes, this, means, you
You, you
Yeahh, alright yeah, alright yeah, alright yeah
Alright yeah, alright yeah, alright yeah, yeah-ehhhh
Uh, uh, uh, uh, yo, yo, yo
Things changed since we came out, been some shit in New York
Niggaz stopped gettin jig in New York, bloods and crips in New
York
The Y-2-K celebration wasn't big in New York
Babylon live in New York, should I keep a crib in New York
Or just V.I., to handle my B.I
When with my A-Alikes we see with three eyes
Yo Kweli I agree I, was thinkin the same thing myself
Smog in the city ain't no good for your health
Things changed in New York, type strange in New York
Forty-Deuce don't look the same in New York
Just politics, tricks and big games in New York
Switched trains a writer can't get fame in New York
Internet and Wall Street got paid in New York
Poor folks and workin class got slayed in New York
Even still, everyday they make weight in New York
Flashlights lookin for a brighter day in New York
In New York they say it's - red hot
Will the temperature ease up？ Black I guess not
It's multi-lane traffic, no sign for rest stops
No corner breaks, put on your gloves and just box
No dance school to teach you to wop and bus stop
Better get up in the booth, hop up and just rock
If you think it's like that, it's not so just stop
All mankind time runnin down on one watch, just watch
If, you, are, just, coming, in, I, will
Say it, once, more, so, you, can, hear, cause
You, need, to, get, up, right, now
And, move, with, this, yes, this, means, you
You, you
Yo, Mos Def and Talib Kweli bring disaster to the industry
We best-sellin authors writin great chapters in history
These cats undercover like gay rappers dealin with mystery
My platinum grey matter spray batter that's specifically
Designed to make rappers break faster than eggshells in the
mornin
Inhaled the divine in that's laid dormant
Water from the well stay pourin'
I answer back when I hear fate callin'
Freedom fighter ready to attack at the crack of a new day
dawnin'
Way more than necessary skills for the application
My flow is Great like the Lakes and it rocks like Applachains
My facts more than make up for what you lack in imagination
You more confused than Tiger Woods when he made up Cabalaysian
I'm sayin
Break bounds like the jet Concorde
Win awards before I leave for my world award tour
When they scream encore, that's when they want more
Flow steadily, whether I'm on or off shore
High potent, zone coastin, no jokin
Safecracker sniff gon' keep the joint open
Peep the focus, high resolution, high reception
My 'Train of Thought' connectin with my bredren from Reflection
like
You, need, to, get, up, right, now
And, move, with, this, yes, this, means, you, again
You, need, to, get, up, right, now
And, move, with, this, yes, this, means, you, we goin
New York, Philly
Chicago, Detroit
Miami,D.C
L.A. The world
London, Amsterdam
Paris, Japan
Any place that a human being might stand, we goin'
22.Down For The Count
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Rashia Fisher, Talib Kweli Greene, Alvin
Joiner
Yeah, check it out now (uhh uhh uhh)
Rah Digga y'all, Dirty Harriet (uhh!)
Kweli, Xzibit, new millenium! (C'mon, check it)
One, two, three, four
Grimy bitch stomp the bogey outside your front door (yeah)
Puffin on Goodie, eatin tuna and rye
Blow the spot with some old school shit from junior high
(HEYYY!)
One, two, three, four
Jersey's finest in the house, punchlines and metaphors
Make your foul ice grill, thug grimy on the real
Puttin heads to bed like Hennessey and NyQuil
Convertible style, still had the heat knockin
Bumpin shit from way back with my man beatboxin
Shootin the breeze, see I'm nice with these
You'll be suckin it down like fast food high C's
Type of rap bitch that love underground classics
Gettin more green than that nigga St. Patrick
Makin wack rappers go and merc the set
Better off behind a desk tryin to surf the net
Cause I be adamant, kill 'em when my joints get added in
Worse than boric acid in your project cabinet
Dirty Harriet, increase the fanbases
Leavin non writin cats stuck on the plantations
Mini-skirts with tights, eatin lunch with whites
Leave the party over here like they Israelites
Got Cali Brooks critics, Ta' Kweli, Xzibit
Gonna rock shit down like he can't get no visits
One, two, three, four
Rock the whole world like the Rolling Stone tour (AH-AHHH!)
Raw your wack set is faker than a bomb threat
By a nervous terrorist who's so scared that his palms wet
One, two, three, four
The stuff legends are made of, urban folklore
Like Jim Morrison we break on through
Before I care about your take on me, we take on you
Yo, yo, yo
We bring it straight to your face from the start, yo
Rage Against the Machine, break it apart
Might be over your head, but it's straight from the heart
I show my love in the light while y'all hate in the dark
Straight to apocalypse is where I'm takin the art
Givin niggaz battle scars, always makin' my mark
You fakin the part of gangster, til niggaz break in your spot
You straight bitch whether I say it or not
Shit is hot, spittin flames on the track
Put our town's names on the map
From now until we fadin to black
Where we at？ Thug rebels love metal clubs ghetto
When the slugs let go like Frankie Beverly
Forever we stack notes like the treasury, flow heavenly
Get you high on speech laced with obscenity
Niggaz be gassed like Cipher Sounds, and need rescue remedy
Then fall the fuck off like limbs affected with leprosy
One, two, three, four
Why the fuck can't MC's MC no more？
Hardcore til somebody put me under the ground
With a dick in your ear, still couldn't fuck with my sound
AllOne, two, three, four
Takin me straight to the weed spot, then to the liquor sto'
'Gimme Some Mo'' like Busta Bus', who do you trust？
Swingin through, your favorite neighborhood lush
I'm irrate, usin your body for live bait
Xzibit rockin them heavy gems you can't take
Dilate, cock back the weight, spread hate
Heavy metal we settle and set shit straight
Hit gates in my younger days, from the policeman
Me and my clan used to dance thicker than quicksand
Supply and demand the hand is quicker than the eye
Find some chickens to fry, while you find it hard to stick to
your lie
I see through the tricks, destroy the facade
Your little lungs is too weak to hotbox with God
Rah Digga, First Lady of the Flipmode Squad
Gotta be hard like a young nigga walkin the yard
For the first time, we ain't the niggaz you let shine
Expect mines to blow lines like coke everytime
I'm an Alkaholik nigga so I finish the fifth
You at the front door bitchin because you ain't on the list
It's like One, two, three, four
Yeah (ohhhhhhh) hehehe (aight y'all, aight y'all )
Yeah (here we go)
One, two, three, four
23.Ghetto Afterlife
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Eugene Dixon, Talib Kweli Greene, L Thompson,
Nathaniel Wilson
These niggaz ain't thugs, the real thugs is the government
Don't matter if you independent, democrat or republican
Niggaz politickin the street, get into beef
Start blastin, now a new cat is executive chief
With a, passion for heat you get, blast in yo' seat
Die before you crash in yo' Jeep, never passin in your sleep
Like an old man, you ain't a fool you got a whole plan
To conquer territories like Europeans who stole land
The future of your whole fam' hang in the balance
You the king, and your block is the palace
Y'all niggaz is the parliament, untouchable, spot unrushable
Keep your weight wet, call in collect to save a buck or two
Get mad, who the fuck are you？ What you gonna do？
Exactly what I thought, nothin, in the sport of frontin
You the undisputed champion, I'm in a class you can't be in
My words is flesh like Jesus, the aquarian
It's just a chapter of the night, in the ghetto afterlife
Where you just seen or heard about or gonna have to fight
Where they sacrifice the life and niggaz see flashes of light
When you trapped up in the heights but clappers aimin at the
wife
Yeah, dudes gettin money is still thuggin
Chicks gettin money is still ghetto
Still livin the whole thuggish stilleto
Your team let the metal burst before you take an L
You raised in hell, let the dust settle first
Then you ask the question, snatchin the life of the innocent
Shit happens huh, a man's respected by his actions
It's the karma of the street, you try to meet the karma
While the karma sleep, yo it's deep, but the karma can't be beat
You don't know your enemy, so you fightin with yourself
Relate to rap niggaz cause they writin what you felt
You got top shelf connects you gettin seasoned like a veteran
We suck the venom out the snake bite, without the medicine
We benefit from niggaz in tenements, dyin for benjamins
So bad that they know they own coffin measurements
Ghetto eloquence, in the moment of truth, don't be hesistant
Or fall victim to the element, word is bond
It's just a chapter of the night, in the ghetto afterlife
Where you just seen or heard about or gonna have to fight
Where they sacrifice the life and niggaz see flashes of light
When you trapped up in the heights but clappers aimin at the
wife
Niggaz get caught up in the struggle
End up in court in trouble, sportin a bubble
Ford azure bubble, importer smuggle, forcin a rumble
Hit the blocks with a portion to double
Flip and get tossed in the huddle
Police with one piece short of the puzzle
It's a hustle, peep the street life, they movin muscle
And the G's'll make your knees buckle
Tussle with heat until your feet stand in a pee puddle
Cheese double but all the speedy niggaz bleed puddles
Make the headlinessome try to escape the fed time
Phone taps on direct lines, tec-9's with the red shine
Jake climbin through the bedroom blinds
Tryin to bring you to your deadline, it's slippery when wet
signs
Red time, wipe the sweat around your neck time
One shot spill out your red wine, rock shots to deafen your
prime
Pieces of hot lead left in your mind
One slug to the left of your spine
Forever late to rest on the shrine
24.Soul Rebels
Lyricist：Strong Barrett, Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene, D
Jolicuer, V Mason, K Mercer, Norman Whitfield
We do not (under no circumstances) live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop)
It lives for us
We don't live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop), it lives for us
We do not (under no circumstances) live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop)
It lives for us
We don't live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop), it lives for us
We do not (under no circumstances) live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop)
It lives for us
We don't live for Hip-Hop (Hip-Hop), it lives for us
It's the eternalist, y'all burn to this, blaze da dro'
Soul rebels trap up, we got a long way to go
Before this here blow like a volcano
We get eternal, this is what you waitin' for
You try to front and play the role
When you more like a pimp who pay the ho
With my name up in your mouth like fellatio
I lace the flow on purpose even up the ratio
Of Hip-Hop to that shit they drop on the radio
Underground classics is what they used to say before
Now we break the surface quiet like an alligator nose
They hate it, 'cause they know if they don't get it, then they
may be slow
We still gonna blow like the horn played by Horatio
The stakes is three feet high and risin' like De La Soul
So I got Wonder Why, my man Dave and Maseo
We all got babies so we embrace the taste of dough
But y'all already know so I ain't gotta say no mo'
De La is whatcha need, Reflection is whatcha need
We got the masters of the ceremonies
Blessin' emcees lip professin' emcees
From LI to Brooklyn to Cinncinnati, Hi-Tek and Kweli got this on
lock D
Let me hear you scream out loud if you're somebody
Party to party, body to body
When we come into the jam we do it wildstyle
Yo! I'm homegrown for the bain, once I rock the mic plain
It's the extravaganza we glad you came
Made only for them heads, it's infra-red Aim
For such a world figure, we got figures to gain
(Don't sleep on a nigga)
I ain't Icabod Crane get that ass cooked hard 'cause we raw like
Kane
Been known to mic spit, infinite per frame
While these girls throw me plenty like jenny to jane
Ain't some old school G poppin' memory lane, been on it future
robotic
Since the day I came
If you don't know Plug Wonder Why is my name
Most recognized leo with my size in mane
Matter a fact track is simple and Plain
'Cause the complexities I freeze is too deep to detain
Reflect, Kwa-Tone Tek eternally in the game (and De La) oh fo'
sho'
We be shinin' the same
De La is whatcha need, Reflection is whatcha need
We got the masters of the ceremonies
Blessin' emcees lip professin' emcees
From LI to Brooklyn to Cinncinnati, Hi-Tek and Kweli got this on
lock D
Let me hear you scream out loud if you're somebody
Party to party, body to body
When we come into the jam we do it wildstyle
Y'all think these challengers is here to make a man fold
Shoot I've been holdin' these joints since I was yea old
Came to confirm the fact that I've been on the payroll
Stay cold til one day make it hot and fade old
Continue til I'm dyin, rottin' out gray and old
I told them fool before they pass they have to pay toll
While I've been sittin' at the table eatin' steak whole, side of
greens
Baby yams you know it stay soul, pre-natal
But they want to come spit your way so
So was I supposed to go and say no
Right emcees some walking straight, some take the gay stroll
I get my man to clamp they asses like they staples
I'm from LI we take it far as out as naples
And scrape hoes who'll be willing to take clothes off (off)
See once you bet it all against reflects eternal
You lose every rapper on a dept
Y'all need to pay ya dues
De La is whatcha need, Reflection is whatcha need
We got the masters of the ceremonies
Blessin' emcees lip professin' emcees
From LI to Brooklyn to Cinncinnati, Hi-Tek and Kweli got this on
lock D
Let me hear you scream out loud if you're somebody
Party to party, body to body
When we come into the jam we do it wildstyle
25.Eternalists
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene
Yeah, now here we go
Here we go, come on come on, now here we go
Here we go, come on come on, yeah
Stay strong this ain't for the faint hearted
My name's honored 'cause my style is insane retarded
Remain hottest from St. Marks to St. Thomas
Take game farther than the put-put planes charted
The same artist who smoke rain forest and bang hardest
My brain smartest break a nigga like a lame promise
All city like train bombers
Check out the pictures we painted, yeah
More colorful than Kelis naked
Your skills is least debated and your album least awaited
Even Big Tigger wouldn't let you in 'The Basement'
Face it y'all niggas face down with your legs kicking
They call your momma Roy Jones 'cause she raise chicken
You're 'Down for the Count' like Rah Digga I'm straight spittin'
Make pigeons say, 'Uh uh', no they didn't
Yes, we did so God bless the kid yo
I got my own so I never stress his no
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist？
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist？
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to thi
Here we go
Yo we send this bullet straight towards your brain
We taking over like Moors in Spain there's more to gain
Runaways get aboard the train come on
You can't ignore the pain no
When it come down like the pouring rain
Caught the train of thought it clanked across the raw terrain
The cold weather break your spirit like a water main
I looked in your eyes and I saw the shame
Y'all don't know that our greatness came before the chains
No you can't imagine a future where this all can change
If one of us ain't free then we all to blame
So we attack each other fighting project wars and thang
It's all the same across the board we fall for game
You wanna see through that shit then you can call my name
Kweli I chop it up like raw cocaine
I drop gems at top ten, I'm not for the fame
You wanna test and I bet you get wrecked like lost planes yo
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist？
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist？
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
And there it is
Say what？ Say what, say what, say what
I rock for the purists and I rock for the players
I rock for the fellas and I rock for the ladies, come on
I rock for the elders and I rock for the babies, yeah
I rhyme to the sirens that cry in the night, yeah
Live on the mic even though I've been dying to write, yeah
Since the days of flying a kite and ridin' my bike, come on
Open my eyes and keep the prize within my line of sight, yeah
Now cat's drop out of school to get fiends high on a pipe, word
Seem like that's the ghetto way of tryin' to fight
The system that's based on trying to stop you from shinning your
light
We dying in spite of getting rich
That's why I rhyme like a battle emcee
Battling the tragedies and fallacies
That be killing niggas quicker than infant mortality
They acting like what's going on now is distant reality
Behaving so casually that they become a casualty
Plus they don't wanna battle me anyway
They try to walk away but they stumble like Macy Gray
Cats hit the tunnel to rumble and say, 'Hey DJ'
Make me wonder why they call Sunday the lazy day
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist？
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I eternal or an eternalist？
Soon as we showed up, I sensed nervousness
As soon as we rolled up, y'all niggas burn to this
Check me out
26.Good Mourning
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene
'Good morning, Brook-nam'
Another stop on the train
(Wake up wake up wake up )
We come to a stop that everybody got to make
Whether you local or express
What's the meanin of ghettofabulous
Not ridin the back of the bus
I'm a revolutionary antagonist
Some playas is mad at us for just doin our music out of love
Some underground heads is hatin cause we have fun at clubs
I'm probably on some government list for my rhymin
You a fool if you don't think they already tapped your line
Medicine is big business so my remedies is herbal
It's music is for the people so we Reflection Eternal
Listen, you hear the difference between science and science
fiction
We blow it out like if you leave on every appliance in the
kitchen
At oncestill rolling kind bud in Cuban blunts
On the corner watchin how kids comin to Brooklyn for they fronts
Niggas run past what they need chasing after what they want
Fuckin chumps, you walk down the street and get jumped
Brooklyn cats like to bubble out of town no lookin back
When you a ghetto chef you mastered the art of cookin crack
Some get caught sleepin on the Mother City so when they go
They come back as tales of niggas we used to know
Never looked up to see the stars in all they heavenly glory
Just straight ahead cause the peripheral is buildings with mad
stories
Not floors but dramas is played out, shorties get laid out
Like respect and fade out like TV sets
Into the banks of our memories (let it be) we'll never forget
you
Lyin on your deathbed askin for God to bless you
Good mourning, good afternoon, good night
What have you done with your life？
Everybody time comes to be embraced by the light
You only scared to die when you ain't livin right, man
I'm puttin up a hellafied fight
I need you all to be clear on exactly what I'm sayin
With your attention span I understand that I ain't playin
You mistaken if you somehow think it's just me you facin
Starin me down while your enemy is standin adjacent
My heart is racin but I know just what I stand for
We chasin death carelessly like Jessica, I Care Moore
Who said, 'Just because no one can understand how you speak
Don't necessarily mean that what you be sayin is deep'
In case you die in your sleep you ask the Lord for a blessin
Sometimes they sneak up so quiet that the silence is deafenin
You'll never know who the assassin is until it's your time to go
Your life is flashin, askin for forgiveness but you move too
slow
Now the people that you love bear the pain that you once
harbored
You was livin for yourself so you could never be a martyr
Life is hard, death is harderyou somebody baby father
Someone's lover, son of your mother, somebody brother
Somebody nigga, now your spirit in the air like a whisper
Hearin your name mentioned when we pourin out some liquor
The days go by quicker and the nights don't seem to differ
It's gettin cold, so I shivered and asked my soul to be
delivered
Good mourning, good afternoon, good night
What have you done with your life？
Everybody time comes to be embraced by the light
You only scared to die when you ain't livin right, man
I'm puttin up a hellafied fight
Yo, the time come for everybody
It ain't somethin you can really prepare for
Yo, yo, Mad Duke, rock rock on and
Curtis Mayfield, rock rock on and
Grover Washington, rock rock on and
My Aunt Hazel, rock rock on and
Big L, rock rock on and
Freaky Tah rock rock on and
Jerome Green, rock rock on and
Slang Ton, rock rock on and
We celebrate life
27.Good To You
Lyricist：Al Green, Talib Kweli, Kanye Omari West
Yeah
(Yeah)
Come on
Uhh
Yeah
Kweli
Yo, yo, ayo my silent moments, loud as the crack of thunder
My hunger is like the crocodile that attacks the hunter
It ain't commercial or underground, it's true 'cause I
(Wanna be good to you)
Call it skill, call it game, call it glow, call my name
Like the Lord, all in vein, screaming like you all in pain
Treat it like a drug, all up in ya vain 'cause
(Wanna be good to you)
We make the squares dance, and get the do like do, si
Y'all niggas roll with pussy-cats like Josie
All spoiled rotten like ghetto groceries yo
I clutch the mic like ya grandma clutch her rosary yo
Swooping the industry, like a bird of prey
My stanzas got stamina, ya verses lack vertebrae
I heard them say I was a conscious rapper
But I'm a monster when I hafta smack the shit out of a novice
actor
Using my 'hands solo' and I don't need chewy
Over your head like Yamakas and Koofies yo
I write screen gems ya'll niggas act in B-movies
Type of niggas proud to be groupies
Followers in the herd running over the cliff, I'm the
Buffalo soldier, smoke ya like a Dred Loc Rasta
Blowing the spliff, loading a clip to spit high
Like you holding blow in a stolen whip, rolling the strip
Looking to hit cops, now that's a 4 alarm
Black queen falling on my arms, you could call it charm
Mater fact call it what you want, its up to you bro
(Wanna be good to you)
Yeah
Yeah
Yeah
Call it skill, call it game, call it glow, call my name
Like the Lord, all in vein, screaming like you all in pain
Treat it like a drug, all up in ya vain 'cause
(Wanna be good to you)
How many niggas ever been in love？
How many niggas really think they thugs
And can't think without the drink and drugs
How many niggas can't get in with hats and sneakers on？
Say, â½Fuck securityâ and get inside and keep them on
How many niggas think that gats make the weaker strong？
Can't do for self and wanna snatch the plate you eating on
That don't take heart, slave, nigga play ya part
I'd rather jump over board nigga, face the sharks
We stay doing it, later for the conversation
Hammers is cocked and waiting, niggas is not debating
We ain't got the patience You found popping shit
Come in to town just to run you down like poppa ditch
And dig a proper ditch, you lying like a politician
Your proposition meets opposition like contradictions
Get out my house, you ain't no real representative
I make it happen, you ain't official, you tentative
Niggas is sensitive, see how they catching feelings
It's so hot, the sweat rise and it wet the ceiling
Barracuda, Spit kicker nigga that's the crew
(Wanna be good to you)
Whoo
(Yeah)
Come on
Yeah
Low ride
Yo, yo, yo
Niggas be claiming shit, find a gangsta movie, put
They name in it, biting like there ain't no shame in it
You the hardest on the beat, I'm the fire that you playing with
You a artist from the street, I'll give you the blood to paint
it with
So yeah I'm positive, I'm positive I'm the best
Spit bullets to split ya vest and deposit them in ya chest
Dark is the flesh on my bones, calling Brooklyn home
Hang up on niggas like, â½I want you to meet my nigga tone,
wordâ
Leave me alone like Michael Jackson
Or there will be more than butterflies in your stomach
waiting to see what happens
You see me out, know that my crew is flawless
So called gangstas need more security than the Rawkus office
Yo, I thought you bust ya gun
You just a big joke, thinking you a Big Pun
Yo, Kanye this is the big one
(Wanna be good to you)
Me and my niggas having big fun
Yo, yo, ayo my silent moments, loud as the crack of thunder
My hunger is like the crocodile that attacks the hunter
It ain't commercial or underground, it's true 'cause I
(Wanna be good to you)
Call it skill, call it game, call it glow, call my name
Like the Lord, all in vein, screaming like you all in pain
Treat it like a drug, all up in ya vain 'cause
(Wanna be good to you)
Come on
BK and, BX and
Q Boro and Manhattan and
Harlem niggas and long Island
Wanna be good to you you, you come on
(Wanna be good to you)
The whole world rocking
Yo the whole world rocking
Ayo uhh
28.I Try (Featuring Mary J Blige)
Lyricist：Mary J Blige, Talib Kweli, John Stephens, Kanye Omari West
Yeah, yeah, new Talib Kweli
You know what it is
Come on, hey yo
I try, I try
That's all we can do
I try, you know I try
I try, I try, yeah
I try, you know I try
name
Disturbed by the fame just like Kurt Cobain
Breath of life, kiss of death, my lips pursed the same
You flirt 'til she came, nothin' hurt like the pain and torture
Daughters of the dust lookin' for a vein
Something to take in vain like the Lord's name
Put your hands together, got 'em all sayin'
I try, I try
I try, you know I try
I try, I try
I try, you know I try
Yo, it's all ghetto in gear higher, the floor settle
More metal for beef that we don't let the law settle
I try to navigate the treacherous waters of
America's ghettos that set up the slaughterers
But there's more of us
Although we speak in different languages
We all pretty familiar with what anger is
Get up on some gangsta shit, guns to bang ya wit'
And we put it on records to entertain ya wit'
I'm grown with pains way deeper than my receivers
Our uniforms is white sneakers and white T-shirts
On top of wife beaters we like to light reefers
The 'hood need us for rappers, just ain't the right leaders
I put a lot into it
This is my product and I gotta move it
Stop the industry but you can't stop the music
An upside down kingdom where life is just not fair
(Upside down kingdom)
Some many sufferin' 'cuz deep inside they're scared
(So scared)
Fear pumped into their veins to keep them from their destiny
Where would they be if you and I don't care？
I try, I try, you know I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
Yo, the things I'm seein' on the news is insane
A stock broker shoot his kid and throw himself in front of a
train
A mother leave her baby home for two weeks all by himself
Three years old, eatin' ketchup and mustard, cryin' for help
Tryin' to bring your struggle to life
The label want a song about a bubbly life
I have trouble tryin' to write some shit
To bang in the club through the night
When people suffer tonight, Lord knows I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
Life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin' the noodle, some people usin' the muscle
Some people put it all together, make it fit like a puzzle
Come on, say it now, life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin' the noodle, some people usin' the muscle
Some people put it all together, yeah
I try, I try, you know I try
I try, oh Lord I try, everyday I
Upside down kingdom, oh, they're so, so scared
Everyday on the news we can't look around with
Something somewhere
I try, I try, you know I try
I try, I try, I try, you know I try
Lord knows, Lord knows we try, yeah
29.Guerrilla Monsoon Rap - Featuring Black Thought ＆ Pharoahe Monch
Lyricist：Tk Greene, T Jamerson, Talib Kweli, S Mckenny, E Record, T
Trotter, K West
Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about, let's do it
Kanye West, c'mon turn me up
And Black Thought, c'mon turn me up
And Pharoahe Monch, c'mon turn me up
And Talib Kweli in the house with
Guerrilla monsoon rap, all the shorties like â½Who dat？â
Got the whole crowd like â½How ya do dat？â
Nigga you get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew give me dap like true dat
We come through and all the shorties like â½Who dat？â
Got the whole crowd like â½How ya do dat？â
Nigga you get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew give me dap like true dat
Yo, I hit these emcees with the grip of death like I was a
Vulcan
Ain't a lot of 'ifs' and 'ands', it's just straight talkin'
It's hard to swallow at times so take portions
Bitin' off more than you can chew, create offense
Emcee species endangered like dolphins
Rappers is spittin' nails into they own coffins
(C'mon)
Here come the Dundee moves rocket-launchin'
(Yeah)
Black Thought, quit playin' him close and back up off him
Kweli, spruce to the tree, Bruce to the Lee, the real emcee
That your favorite rapper used to be
One by one I knock 'em out like Schoolly D, my rhymes is eulogy
A flea could move a tree, before ya think ya movin' me
I black and blue emcees actin' new to me, get smacked stupidly
That lack skills like the black community lack unity
Still my rhymes heard like Ali De Phrase
Step off the stage to shouts of 'Kweli boomayyay'
See these four emcees came to get down
Rearrange the rap game, change ya whole sound
Nigga you, got ta understand the plot ta
Movin' and groovin' and always improvin' a lotta
I'll outfox the, average Porsche ya Boxster talk
Break the bank on some old Frank Sinatra
(New York)
Slash Chi-Town, slash Philly
Check the blast from Genevo, you can get slapped silly
Guerrilla monsoon rap, all the shorties like â½Who dat？â
Got the whole crowd like â½How ya do dat？â
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew give me dap like true dat
We come through and all the shorties like â½Who dat？â
Got the whole crowd like â½How ya do dat？â
Nigga you get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew give me dap like true dat
Okay, my sound drenches each of the five senses
And hold the shock value of electrified fences
It's truth or consequences, ride with us or against us
Is you a dedicated soldier or you a princess, dog？
I'm in it to win it and not for the wealth
Got a crib with a Grammy and a gat on the shelf
Nan nigga competition, gotta battle myself
And me and Kweli on a mission, gettin' Pharaohe for help
From natives walkin' in trailor tears to players sippin'
Belvedere
We always comin' well prepared and all my dogs smellin' fear
Plus, even my niggaz from the Bede say you hella-scared
Truth or consequences and all senses be well aware
Your style, underdeveloped there, hell if I care
What hardship you claim to see, but I can tell by your stare
Nigga you fugazi, sayin' ya crew blazin'
Like sayin' Miss Cleo is a true Jamaican, we makin'
Guerrilla monsoon rap, smell the fumes, get in tune with it
When I attack your city, y'all gon' think Dr. Doom did it
Spit it like white trash in seed-spittin' contests
With a vendetta that sent a betta letter bomb to Congress
I'm pissed, cumulus clouds of ominous
Words of the Thor, the rawness that'll restore ya calmness
Unless, you wanna leave leg and armless
That's paraplegic for those who believe in bomb threats
Guerrilla monsoon rap, all the shorties like â½Who dat？â
Got the whole crowd like â½How ya do dat？â
Nigga you get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew give me dap like true dat
We come through and all the shorties like â½Who dat？â
Got the whole crowd like â½How ya do dat？â
Nigga you get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew give me dap like true dat, nigga
That's what I'm talking about
That's what I'm talking about
That's what I'm talking about
That's what I'm talking about
That's what I'm talking about
That's what I'm talking about
Mighty Pharaohe
30.The Manifesto
Lyricist：T Cottrell, T Greene
Manifesto, this is what we want to see happen
For my peoples still breakin' graf writin' and rappin'
I rock the mic right and exact, my life's my sacrifice
Take my mic and I'm like a Chinese man with no rice
Oh yeah, we flippin' through the pages of time to find design
Like Vaseline on the faces of Black Georgia
We shinin' deeper than petroleum jelly
We in the air like conversations on celly
And just appear like stretch marks on bellies
After givin' birth you had to let go, you playin' for life
The Manifesto, here comes the beat
Because I said so keep pushin'
I got the cushion for the seat of your soul
Back in the day they stole our smile
So we clothe our teeth in gold
And we frontin', from nigga to kid, to Son of God
It's wild dependin' on labels for man, woman and child
My style just is all that's seen and all that's heard
God gave us music so we play with our words
So when Tek be in constant meditation like a monk
While Kweli speaks in tongues to get your intellect drunk
Yo, we bound to take over the 90% of your brain that you ain't
usin'
To us it's life or death, we keep you chosin'
Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone
Ain't no rest for the weary yo, forever it's on
The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order
Movin' upon the face of the water like reflections
Aiyo all the real MC's can meet me outside
So we can decide how we gonna change the tide
Like the moon we on the earth takin' a ride around the sun
Now son, we only just begun and the journey's far from done
We all miss you, what your brain gone fishin' like Walter
Mosley？
There's an MC that can hold me, supposedly？
No one could come close to me, only the family really know me
Hip-hop's last hope like Obi Wan Kenobi
Through your television I'm shinin' light like a train
Comin out like earthworms when it rains
Bringin' it like the C.I.A. be bringin' in crack
Cocaine bailin' out of planes
With the George Bush connections, I push reflection
Like I'm sellin' izm like a dealer buildin' the system
Supply and the demand it's all capitalism
Niggaz don't sell crack 'cause they like to see blacks smoke
Niggaz sell crack 'cause they broke
My battle lyrics get conscious minds provoked
And ghetto passes revoked
'Cause we surrounded by the evil
You know that the people's minds is feeble
They believe in it
Even if it don't make sense, this makin' dollars shit,
Don't take a scholar to see what's goin' on around you
Either you widdit or you ain't is what it comes down to
Have you forgotten we pickin' 100% designer name brand Cotton
They still plottin', my third eye is steady watchin'
Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone
Ain't no rest for the weary yo forever it's on
The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order
Movin' upon the face of the water like reflections
Yeah, see that's what I'm talkin' about, it be the slaughter,
man
We need to break it down because these heads
They don't know what they talkin' about
Frontin' all this nonsense, yo, break it down
From open mics to solutions, I got a collage of answers
And a ten point program just like the Black Panthers
One, first respect yourself as an artist
If you don't respect yourself then your rhymes is garbage
Two, make sure your crew is as tight as you
'Cause when them niggaz fallin' off, they gonna bring you down
too
Three, understand the meanin' of MC
The power to Move the crowd like Moses split the seas
Four, know your shit and don't ever be blunted
If you don't know what your words mean then your rhymes mean
nothin'
Five, kick facts in the raps and curse with clarity
What's a curse when language is immersed in vulgarity
Six, we gonna fix industrial politricks
Shit, they made an art form out of ridin' dicks
Seven, we soldiers for God needin' new recruits
So if you rhymin' for the loot then you's a prostitute
But eight, acknowledge that you need food on your plate
In order to say your grace make sure your business is straight
Nine, we buildin' black minds with intelligence
And when you freestyle, keep the subject matter relevant
Ten, every MC grab a pen
And write some conscious lyrics to tell the children
I'll say it again, every MC find you a pen
And drop some conscious shit for our children
The Manifesto
31.Stand to the Side
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Vinia Mojica, Alonzo Stevenson, James
Detrick Yancey
Go right to left, left to right
Middle passage connection
Yeah, about to build
Tell you which way to go
We go right to left, left to right
If you fight to the death, what's left to fight
We go right to left, left to right
If you fight to the death, what's left to fight
We go right to left, left to right
If you fight to the death, what's left to fight
We go right to left, left to right
If you fight to the death, yo, here we go
I wanna write away, I wanna write here
I wanna write brave words to fight fear, write dreams and
nightmares
Might scare the folks stuck in the day with nothin' to say
While I'm way ahead by light years so beware and keep the lights
on
I wanna write the songs that right the wrong, right on
Ridin' the light so you see in the dark
So deep you gotta be still like your beatin' heart
My words apply the pressure to make the bleedin' stop
I see the art of livin' right, eatin' smart
I wanna right to life, a right to death
Police read your rights from right to left
But I never write to remain silent, I fight through police line
Cops walk the beat that I write to, I teach minds
Write rhymes with the right sound
Right now, journalists write up, I write down
Party people put a hand in the sky
Grab a cloud and squeeze 'til no man is dry
Wet it up, go ask the people if they plannin' to die
Can't stay to live, consumers is plannin' to buy
Slow death operators is standin' by
They take you order for the slaughter of the family, why？
Do they make it so hard for a man to provide
You better get wit it, or stand to the side
Stand to the side, stand to the side
You better get wit it, or stand to the side
Stand to the side, stand to the side
You better get wit it, or stand to the side
And the story line goes on, right to left, who's right who's
wrong
Fuck the politics and pride, I just to try to stay alive
To witness where the battle lines are drawn
Speak my mind and I sing my song
I'm passin' on the moral y'all, this is ain't play
True, you got to know the way, it's hard now
Open eyes, see for hopeful lives, sing it now
Makin' my way through life, talkin' to elders and takin' advice
Ignorin' their words and payin' the price
Livin' in the world where false preachers got us prayin' to
Christ
Get with the young girls in the choir and layin' the pipe
No control of our soul we all wait at the light
So comfortable they we hatin' to fight to make it right
Late at night I'm controlled by the DJ on the mic
I love hiphop and every joint he playin' is tight
A day in the life is a brick in the foundation, I'm like
A mason in Egypt, amazin' when I'm creatin' a site
For the world to behold and the story to last
So one day ghetto children can visit their glorious past
After Pac and Notorious passed, what do we have？
Niggas worth more when they dead, it's so sad
Started with the slavery we finish the plan
But I broke the cycle and became a man
Party people put a hand in the sky
Grab a cloud and squeeze 'till no man is dry
Wet it up, go ask the people if they plannin' to die
Can't stay to live, consumers is plannin' to buy
Slow death operators is standin' by
They take you order for the slaughter of the family, why？
Do they make it so hard for a man to provide
You better get wit it, or stand to the side
Stand to the side, stand to the side
You better get wit it, or stand to the side
Stand to the side, stand to the side
You better get wit it, or stand to the side
Come on
I got my man Savion in the house
We about to put it down
Here we go, come on
Stand to the side
Stand to the side
Stand to the side
Stand to the side
Stand to the side
Stand to the side
Stand to the side
Stand to the side
32.We Got The Beat (Planet Rock)
Lyricist：T.k. Greene, Waynne Nugent, Kevin Risto
Yeah, come on, what it is
It's the P-l-A-N-E-T R-O-C-K
Kweli, BK, Selavis
You could tell I be hell-a-free like college radio
W-Q-H-T gonna play me though
This hot shit is to fly like the cockpit
Got spit like a French kiss chicks lock lips
Coming from the deep black like the Loch Ness
Now bring apocalypse like the heart of darkness
It's like the heart of the artist become a target
Pop music is the black market
Recently we witness bizarre shit
The war hit the same time as sars hit
Terrorists send bombs at the concert
The show must go on yo regardless
I'm just some hip-hop kid to pop shit
And get on some rock shit and start a mosh pit
Yeah, we got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah
We got the beat to make the planet rock, let's rock
We got the planet to rock, Kweli's standing on top
I'm like a panther when I answer to cops
And bust back before the man get a shot
And the blood on their veins run cold like the cannibal lox
And bring heat like the blood of the mammal that's hot
And keep fighting like the boy with the mechanical heart
And watch time count down on the hands of the clock
Till the hour when the pinnacle start
Wow, and go fast like the bullet that ran through the dark
The hollow tip ripped a man apart, blaow
Yo these soldiers die in petroleum wars
Think they fighting for the holliest 'cause
It don't matter if you Muslim, Hebrew, or you a Christian
Information is the newest religion, is a true way of living
Ain't no rule to a superstition
Stop me with going through with my mission come on man
We got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah
We got the beat to make the planet rock, let's rock
We got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah
We got the beat to make the planet rock, let's rock
Come on get down, get down, get down, get down
Go ladies, go, go, go ladies, go, go
Come on all my ghetto people stand strong
We rocking on and on
One for me, now rocking with the best and is Kweli
You ain't no MC like me, you just a clone like KFC
Come on, B-Boys, B-Girls, we rocking the world
We got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah
We got the beat to make the planet rock, let's rock
We got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah
We got the beat to make the planet rock, let's rock
We got the beat
We got the beat
We got the beat
...
33.We Know (Featuring Faith Evans)
Lyricist：T.kweli Greene, K. Ross, Dave Nathaniel West
Hey, y'all, I feel good right？ Yeah, okay
Now what that make me talk about？ Love
Yeah, that's what the world need
Yo, that's what your girl need
All right, you can put it down like this
Tell you about myself
My name is Kweli an' I love to spit it, homie
I rap about love an' life, ladies get to know me
If you feelin' lonely, I could be your one an' only
I put it out in the world, so people show me love
Yeah, I always get it back
This ain't no pimp game here, that's a different track
We talkin' this an' that, we need to get with this
I keep it realer than most, this is our business
What we gotta do to make them see
We got a good thing goin' on？
Wanna tell the world if they don't know
That what we have is real
Wanna shout it from the mountains, baby
That I love you but if they don't hear me
I know, you know, we know
Yo, hey, baby, look like you need a break tonight
Let me make it right, baby, won't you stay the night？
I got a lot of love as you know you're my favorite, right？
Hey, my lady, what we gon' make tonight
That's the dream but I never sleep
Across the crowded room, our eyes forever meet
But without doubt an' gloom 'coz we can never be
That's why I got to go, you're my impossible love
You're the horizon I can see but never ride off into
I write my lyrics to you, you the perfect instrumental
I sound better than the cat who rappin' to you now
That's between me an' you, what happened to us now？
Got you hopin' for the glorious
Waitin' for that victorious feelin' wanted by all of us
Kneelin' an' prayin' that the Lord in us
Will help us love ourselves
So much that the confidence attract to someone else
What we gotta do to make them see
We got a good thing goin' on？
Wanna tell the world if they don't know
That what we have is real
Wanna shout it from the mountains, baby
That I love you but if they don't hear me
I know, you know, we know
Yo, rockin' Los Angeles, House of Blues in Sunset
Performin' like an orgasm, my girl ain't even cum yet
Seen her by the side of the stage givin' me energy
Potentially wife material connectin' mentally
I felt like Heaven sent for me, you're meant for me
The doubters an' the haters had to acknowledge eventually
You was a non-believer too, if memory serves
An' a heart that gives shit, tryin' to play your boy for her
The harder that I run to you, the farther you become
It's like my heart was part of some movie that hadn't yet begun
This woman moves me an' I'm a mountain of a man
You pull me in like the waves to the grain of sand
Yeah, I love the way you bring it to me
I wrote a song for you, I love to hear you to sing it for me
An' let the melody carry me through the jealousy
An' we can Cruise like Tom an' Penelope
What we gotta do to make them see
We got a good thing goin' on？
Wanna tell the world if they don't know
That what we have is real
Wanna shout it from the mountains, baby
That I love you but if they don't hear me
I know, you know, we know
What we gotta do to make them see
We got a good thing goin' on？
Wanna tell the world if they don't know
That what we have is real
Wanna shout it from the mountains, baby
That I love you but if they don't hear me
I know, you know, we know
34.We Got The Beat (Featuring Res)
Lyricist：T.k. Greene, Waynne Nugent, Kevin Risto
Yeah! Come on! What it is
It's the P L A N E T R O C K, Kweli, BK, Selavis
You could tell I be hell-a-free like college radio
W Q H T gonna play me though
This hot shit is to fly like the cockpit
Got spit like a French kiss chicks lock lips
Coming from the deep black like the Loch Ness
Now bring apocalypse like the heart of darkness
It's like the heart of the artist become a target
Pop music is the black market
Recently we witness bizarre shit
The war hit the same time as SARS hit
Terrorists send bombs at the concert
The show must go on yo regardless
I'm just some hip hop kid to pop shit
And get on some rock shit and start a mosh pit
Yeah, we got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah
(Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on)
We got the beat to make the planet rock
(Come on, come on, come on, come on)
Let's rock
We got the planet to rock, Kweli's standing on top
I'm like a panther when I answer to cops
And bust back before the man get a shot
And the blood in their veins run cold like the cannibal lox
And bring heat like the blood of the mammal that's hot
And keep fighting like the boy with the mechanical heart
And watch time count down on the hands of the clock
'Til the hour when the pinnacle start
Wow, and go fast like the bullet that ran through the dark
The hollow tip ripped a man apart, blaow
Yo, these soldiers die in petroleum wars
Think they fighting for the holiest cause
It don't matter if you Muslim, Hebrew or you a Christian
Information is the newest religion, it's a true way of living
Ain't no rule to a superstition stop me
With going through with my mission, come on, man
We got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah
(Come on, come on, come on, come on, yeah, come on, come on)
We got the beat to make the planet rock
(Come on, come on)
Let's rock
We got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah
(Come on, come on)
We got the beat to make the planet rock
Let's rock
Come on, get down, get down, get down, get down
Go ladies, go, go, go ladies, go, go
Come on, all my ghetto people, stand strong
We rocking on and on
One for me, now rocking with the best and is Kweli
You ain't no MC like me, you just a clone like KFC
Come on, B-Boys, B-Girls, we rocking the world, world, world,
world
We got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah
(Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on)
We got the beat to make the planet rock
Let's rock
Don't believe niggaz running the place
(We got the beat to make the planet rock, yeah)
Man everything is dangerous nothing is safe, nigga
Think you a man with a gun in your waist
Let the cops disrespect you right in front of your face
Take it out on your girl, punch her in the face
(We got the beat to make the planet rock)
You ain't a thug you a waste of space
Nigga, get out the way, B-boys gonna rock till the break
How much can a planet take
(Let's rock)
We got the beat
We got the beat
We got the beat
...
35.Won't You Stay
Lyricist：Sigidi Bashir Abdullah, T Avery, Wilbur Bascomb, Harold
Clayton, Waung L Hankerson, Talib Kweli, William R Mclean,
Maxwell Romer, Kendra Janelle Ross, Andres Titus, Michael C
Young, William G Young
Yeah, this is the best part of the trip
Hold on to something, hold on to something
We about to take the road less traveled
You ain't gotta go home, but you can't stay here
Let's go
I get lonelier each time
You go away I lose my mind
I lay awake 'til you come and make things right
(Yeah, yeah)
I get lonelier each time you go away
(C'mon)
So baby won't you stay with me tonight？
(Yeah)
Check it out
There's this lady I'm in love with
(Yes, there is)
Living inside this woman unknown
But she's scared to let it show
I know it sound like some bug shit
(Yeah, it do)
It's just she come with
Hang ups and insecurities they gotta go
She always nervous around me but see this lady inside
She's ready to be my baby tonight and ever since this lady found
me
This woman think I'm dangerous
And ain't ready to put her safety aside
I try to tell her that I got her back
And no matter where we at, in our lives
I'll treat her like she my girl
I asked her 'What's wrong with dat？'
(What's wrong with dat？)
She like 'It just ain't right
There's so many more women and men in the world'
I have to admit the girl got a point
(True)
Maybe my ambition's made to make me want something
I just can't have, so now it's time for me to blow this joint
I still know I'm in love, I just stay focused
And true to my path, word
I get lonelier each time
You go away I lose my mind
I lay awake 'til you come and make things right
(Yeah, yeah)
I get lonelier each time you go away
(Uh)
So baby won't you stay with me tonight？
(Yeah, yeah)
I got to get away
Ladies you ever felt growing away
By your man, asking 'Baby, won't you stay？'
He chilling with his crew, he should be building with you
He got you feeling the blues, 'cause the children to glue
He willing to do whatever it takes, to save 'em
From a fate he can't see when he misbehaving
Brave men don't let they ladies raise they children theyself
You're so busy trying to save 'em, that you you're killing
yourself
With the stress and strife and the fights and the advice
From the ladies of the night, who can't run they own life
Up in your air, nothing is fair
Why do you care？ Why do you always take it there？
The crying, the tears, you ain't prepared for the jewels
That I'm trying to share, flying there
Dying inside, hot in the fear, the writing is clear on the wall
For you to read the sign, ayo, the fine is the way we design
To be fine but still
I get lonelier each time
(I get so lonely)
You go away I lose my mind
I lay awake 'til you come and make things right
(Mm, make it right, make it right, make it right)
I get lonelier each time you go away
(la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
So baby won't you stay with me tonight？
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
(Baby don't go)
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
(Baby don't go)
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
(Baby don't go)
Gotta, Gotta
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
(Baby don't go)
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
(Baby don't go)
Gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go
(Baby don't go)
Gotta, Gotta
Yo, you can tell when people wanna spend they life together
Despite the weather
They treat each other like a treasure
Can't fight forever, you got to give it up
I ain't got a lot of time, we got to live it up
I make my music like I make my love
People use it like they take they drugs
In the morning when they wakin' up
This music got me out late but
I holla at you when I'm done, don't stay up
Will love play with us？ It sting like paper cuts
Doused in alcohol, but if it's real
They ain't no greater rush, I got faith in us
It's only you who really know me
I be surrounded by people and still feel lonely
So baby won't you stay
(Why won't you stay？)
Baby won't you stay？
(Why won't you stay？)
Baby won't you stay with me tonight？
(Oh)
Stay with me tonight
Stay with me tonight
Oh, c'mon
36.Touch You
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene, David Sanford, Dave
Nathaniel West
Oh what's up everybody this is Rick James
Talib Kweli, DJ Hi Tek, reflection eternal
We make the music that change your life
'Bout to touch you just right
All night we gonna shine the light
'Bout to touch you just right
We make the music that change your life
'Bout to touch you just right
All night we gonna shine the light
'Bout to touch you just right
Pia Khan floating on the mighty clouds of joy
Building a future yo for my daughter and baby boy
I moved form the hood yet the shit is still in me
And your opinion is nothing to me
I have plenty like bein' out of prison with a roof over my dome
And possessing the gift such as sparking the microphone
Accumulate the provolone makin' it happen with Talib
A Nattian cat we got 'em snappin' Roberta Flackin' the track and
Killin' em softly with out flossin' but yet the shine is glossy
And where the lyrical train through your brain shit
Strategy pain, I'm on some Clubber Lang shit
With the iron, ain't no use in you trying, I ain't lyin'
Through your ears mesmerize 'em
It's about time the genuine has started risin'
Once again replace bullets with words
Try to make it fun again
We make the music that change your life
'Bout to touch you just right
All night we gonna shine the light
'Bout to touch you just right
We make the music that change your life
'Bout to touch you just right
All night we gonna shine the light
'Bout to touch you just right
If they put my life on the screen then it's got to be the I-Max
I live large stroke your mind, till you reach climax
Terrorist hijack on Hi Tek fly tracks front don't try that
My niggas got my back, you gotta relax, ease back
What's that all about with the feedback？
All up in my mouth we don't need that enjoy life open up a tree
sac
Where the people fire burn so bright, you can see that believe
that
It ain't light music, no, we make the right music, true
Keep it tight music, yes, affirmin' life music, come on
We make the music that change your life
'Bout to touch you just right
All night we gonna shine the light
'Bout to touch you just right
We make the music that change your life
'Bout to touch you just right
All night we gonna shine the light
'Bout to touch you just right
It's like girls got the bass all up in they hips
My favorite part on the face is the shape of the lips
Yeah I wanna touch you there
Your mind is my concubine, when I deliver shivers up your spine
Like the bread and wine, my brains has embedded with rhymes
That's ahead of they time, I rock with the better design
You cats ain't got the touch you all suck, like getting head
from a dime
I run up in 'em and, touch him with the rhythm and
Clutch 'em if they tremblin', it's a rush like adrenaline
At a point break the joint shake when you play this shit
Your crew is haters when we come through with the newest, latest
Reflection eternal
Shine light bright like the day till the sky turn purple
And the moon arrive, reflectin' light through the night
That touch you just right
With the rhythm, the rhythm, God bless the rhythm
It's the rhythm, the rhythm, yes y'all the rhythm
Shorty on the dance floor giving me rhythm
Hi Tek make y'all nod y'all neck to the rhythm and
We make the music that change your life
'Bout to touch you just right
All night we gonna shine the light
'Bout to touch you just right
We make the music that change your life
'Bout to touch you just right
All night we gonna shine the light
'Bout to touch you just right
Clap your hands everybody
Clap your hands everybody
Clap your hands everybody
Come on, clap your hands everybody
37.Hell
Lyricist：Kevin Gilliam, Al Green, Talib Kweli Greene, Chester
Jennings, Terrace Martin, Coi Mattison
We know that what we reap we sow
But we forget how low we can go
You think it's bad here on Earth
But if we don't get to Heaven, it's Hell
It's all goin' to hell
It's all goin' to hell
Yup, we livin' in hell
Yup, they givin' us hell
It's all goin' to hell
It's all goin' to hell
Yup, we livin' in hell
Every Sunday dressin' up, catchin' gossip at its worst
Couldn't see the difference in the Baptist and the Catholic
Church
Caught up in the rapture of the First Chapter and Second Verse
If we all God's children then what's the word of the reverend
worth
Taught early that faith is blind like justice when you facin'
time
If we all made in God's image then that means his face is mine
Wait or it's that blasphemy, it's logical it has to be
If I don't look like my father then the way I live is bastardly
Naturally that's confusion to a young'n tryin' to follow Christ
Taught that if you don't know Jesus then you lead a hollow life
Never question the fact that Jesus was Jewish not a Christian
Or that Christianity was law accordin' to politicians
Who was King James, and why did he think it was so vital
To remove chapters and make his own version of the Bible？
They say Hell is underground and Heaven is in the sky
And they say that's where you go when you die
But how they know？
We know that what we reap we sow
But we forget how low we can go
You think it's bad here on Earth
But if we don't get to Heaven, it's Hell
It's all goin' to hell
It's all goin' to hell
Yup, we livin' in hell
Yup, they givin' us hell
It's all goin' to hell
It's all goin' to hell
Yup, we livin' in hell
Yup, they givin' us
I've been to many churches, I've quoted many verses
I've dealt with my base self, I controlled my many urges
I used to study my lessons, it was a blessin' not a curse
I learned that heaven and hell exist right here on Earth, word
Studied with Rastafarians and learned from the dreads
That Hell is called Babylon
And that's where them crazy boarheads dwell
They got us thinkin' that Muslims like to make bombs
But real Muslims believe in paradise and the resist the Shaitan
So it all sound the same to me, that's why when they say
One is right and the other is wrong, it just sound like game to
me
It's like God skipped past the church and came to me
No, that ain't vain to me
It's just a particular way that I came to see
The difference between those who claim to be
Religious and those that say they spiritual and recognize
That life is full of miracles, you could see my glow in a rhyme
The poem divine 'cause it coincide with a grow in the time
That those who lookin' for God knowin' to go inside
We know that what we reap we sow
But we forget how low we can go
You think it's bad here on Earth
But if we don't get to Heaven, it's Hell
It's all goin' to hell
It's all goin' to hell
Yup, we livin' in hell
Yup, they givin' us hell
Yup, we livin' in hell
Yup, they givin' us hell
Yup, we livin' in hell
Yup
Livin' in mass confusion, lookin' for absolution
The gas induces psychopath, produce the last solution
Based on his interpretation of what the words were sayin'
Tryin' to get to God but ended up doin' the work of Satan
Religion create division, make the Muslim hate the Christian
Make the Christian hate the Jew
Make the rules of faith that you condition to
And gotta to follow and God forbid you go to Hell
But if you ever walked through any ghetto
Then you know it well
Preacher says, he's blasphemy
I say there's gotta be a better explanation
I pray that God hears you
Take one look at your rear view
And if you see what I see
We know that what we reap we sow
But we forget how low we can go
You think it's bad here on Earth
But if we don't get to Heaven, it's Hell
It's all goin' to hell
It's all goin' to hell
Yup, we livin' in hell
Yup, they givin' us hell
It's all goin' to hell
It's all goin' to hell
Yup, we livin' in hell
Yup, they givin' us hell
We know that what we reap we sow
But we forget how low we can go
You think it's bad here on Earth
But if we don't get to Heaven, it's Hell
Hell, hell, hell, hell
Hell, hell, hell
We know that what we reap we sow
38.On My Way
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene, E Isaacs, Vinia Mojica
I'm on my way
Whether sunny or rain
I'm on my way
Destiny is preordained
I'm on my way
Whether ecstasy or pain
I'm on my way
I'm black and free from your chains
I'm on my way
Whether sunny or rain
I'm on my way
Destiny is preordained
I'm on my way
Whether ecstasy or pain
I'm on my way
I'm black and free from your chains
I'm on my way
39.Name Of The Game
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene
The name of the game is
Persistence, dedication
Consistent, motivation, resistance to stagnation to information
Distribute it free to the entire population
No hesitation, makin' it public, no privatization from
corporations
Today, in order to be sane
You gotta go crazy so remain on top of the game
And master your universe like you was He-Man
See me and Hi Tek knock you out de frame while I'm stimulatin'
de brain
In de 'Train Of Thought', that's the name of the Reflection
Eternal LP man
Ain't nuttin' new except organic produce, that means that's free
range
You might see me on MTV, BET or still up on the D-train
It's just everybody else be seemin' strange in they approach
I see these guys and read they eyes, need to disguise and so I
cloak
Into a cloud of smoke
I brown a roach to keep myself from soundin' loc'
Destroy they hopes of hatin', don't move aboard
Before they rock the boat
Yo, it's not the dope
These snakes will come in peace to slit your throat
Give you compliments, with a promise yet
To get me heated and provoke me
To be rockin' shit, shove apocalypse down your esophagus
So, swallow that
Guess what you could be coppin' that N'kiru Books
For fifteen dollars, flat
Cats who spit knowledge on tracks
And get bumped out the back of Impalas
And Cadillacs all my live Cincinatti Bearcats, holla back
Tomorrow they gonna wanna borrow raps like
'C'mon black, I'll pay you back'
I ain't no lyrical ATM even though I'm nice and I'm a mack
Better believe that, leave that crack alone
And you see that there microphone
Ain't no place to work your self-esteem issues
Do that shit when you alone
Nigga, you is grown, why is you still suckin' on that pacifier？
Quickly call that ass a liar, exposin' you's my last desire
Olympic skills so pass the fire, I roll with niggaz that match
attire
Black aware, that's filled with gas but rollin' on flat ass
tires
Yo, with that, yo, yo, you know what？ Yo, yo
Yo, I got a special guest, lil' Baby Tone, Tone, tell 'em what's
up
True
Yo, we 'bout to be out, tell 'em peace out, Tone
Peace out, yeah, what, what, Baby Tone, what？
What？
40.Guerrilla Monsoon Rap
Lyricist：Tk Greene, T Jamerson, Talib Kweli, S Mckenny, E Record, T
Trotter, K West
Yeah
Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about
Let's do it
Kanye West, c'mon turn me up
And Black Thought, c'mon turn me up
And Pharoahe Monch, c'mon turn me up
And Talib Kweli in the house with
Guerrilla monsoon rap all the shorties like, who dat？
Got the whole crowd like, how ya do dat？
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat
We come through and all the shorties like, who dat？
Got the whole crowd like, how ya do dat？
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat
Yo, I hit these Rmcees with the grip of death like I was a
Vulcan
Ain't a lot of ifs and ands, it's just straight talkin'
It's hard to swallow at times, so take portions
Bitin' off more than you can chew, create offense
Emcee species endangered like dolphins
Rappers is spittin' nails into they own coffins
Hear come the Dundee moves rocket launchin'
Black Thought, quit playin' him close and back up off him
Kweli, spruce to the tree, Bruce to the Lee
The real Emcee, that your favorite rapper used to be
One by one I knock 'em out like Schoolly D, my rhymes is eulogy
A flea could move a tree, before ya think ya movin' me
A black and blue emcees, actin' new to me, get smacked stupidly
That lack skills, like the black community lack unity
Still my rhymes heard like Ali De Phrase
Step off the stage to shouts of Kweli boomayyay
See these four Emcees came to get down
Rearrange the rap game, change ya whole sound
Nigga you , gotta, understand the plot ta
Movin' and groovin' and always improvin' alot ta
I'll outfox the, average Porsche ya Boxster talk
Break the bank on some old Frank Sinatra
Slash Chi Town, slash Philly
Check the blast from Geneva, you can get slapped silly
Guerrilla monsoon rap all the shorties like, who dat？
Got the whole crowd like, how ya do dat？
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat
We come through and all the shorties like, who dat？
Got the whole crowd like, how ya do dat？
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat
Okay, my sound drenches, each of the five senses
And hold the shock value of electrified fences
It's truth or consequences, ride wit us or against us
Is you a dedicated soldier, or you a princess, dog？
I'm in it to win it and not for the wealth
Got a crib with a Grammy and a gat on the shelf
Nan nigga competition, gotta battle myself
And me and Kweli on a mission, gettin' Pharoahe for help
From natives walkin' in trailor tears to players sippin'
Belvedere
We always comin' well prepared, and all my dogs' smellin' fear
Plus, even my niggaz from the Bede say you hella scared
Truth or consequences, and all senses be well aware
Your style under developed there, hell if I care
What hardship you claim to see, but I can tell by your stare
Nigga you fugazi, sayin' ya crew blazin'
Like sayin' Miss Cleo is a true Jamaican, we makin'
Guerrilla monsoon rap, smell the fumes, get in tune wit it
When I attack your city, y'all gon' think Dr. Doom did it
Spit it like white trash in seed spittin' contests
With a vendetta that sent a betta letter bomb to Congress
I'm pissed, cumulus clouds of ominous
Words of the Thor, the rawness that'll restore ya calmness
Unless, you wanna be leg and armless
That's parapaleg' for those who believe in bomb threats
Guerrilla monsoon rap all the shorties like, who dat？
Got the whole crowd like, how ya do dat？
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat
We come through and all the shorties like, who dat？
Got the whole crowd like, how ya do dat？
Nigga you, get smacked 'til ya blue black
And ya crew, give me dap like true dat, nigga
That's what I'm talkin' about, that's what I'm talkin' about
C'mon, that's what I'm talkin' about, yeah, that's what I'm
talkin' about
C'mon, that's what I'm talkin' about, yeah, that's what I'm
talkin' about
Black Thought, Monch Pharoahe
41.Get By
Yeah, my Lord, yeah
We sell, crack to our own out, the back of our homes
We smell the musk at the dusk in the crack of the dawn
We go through, 'Epidodes II' like 'Attack of the clones'
Work 'til we break our back and you hear the crack of the bone
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
We commute to computers
Spirits stay mute while you eagles spread rumors
We survivalists, turned to consumers
Just to get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Ask him why some people got to live in a trailer, cuss like a
sailor
I paint a picture with the pen like Norman Mailer
Me and Willa raised three daughters all by herself, with no help
I think about a struggle and I find the strength in myself
These words, melt in my mouth
They hot, like the jail cell in the South
Before my nigga Core bailed me out
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
We do or die like Bed-Stuy through the red sky
With the window of the red eye
Let the lead fly, some G. Rap shit, 'Livin' to let die'
This morning, I woke up, feeling brand new and I jumped up
Feeling my highs and my lows in my soul and my goals
Just to stop smokin' and stop drinkin'
And I've been thinkin', I've got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, by, by
We keeping it gangster say fo shizzle, fo sheezy and stayin'
crunk
It's easy to pull a breezy, smoke trees and we stay drunk
Yo, I activism attackin' the system, the Blacks and Latins in
prison
Numbers of prison they victim black in the vision
Shit and all they got is rappin' to listen to
I let them know we missin' you, the love is unconditional
Even when the condition is critical, when the livin' is
miserable
Your position is pivotal, I ain't bullshittin' you
Now, why would I lie？ Just to get by？ Just to get by, we get fly
The TV got us reachin' for stars
Not the ones between Venus and Mars, the ones that be readin'
for parts
Some people get breast enhancements and penis enlargers
Saturday sinners Sunday morning at the feet of the Father
They need somethin' to rely on, we get high on all types of drug
When, all you really need is love
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Our parents sing like John Lennon, 'Imagine all the people
watch'
We rock like Paul McCartney, 'From now until the last beatle
drop'
This morning, I woke up, feeling brand new and I jumped up
Feeling my highs and my lows, in my soul and my goals
Just to stop smoking and stop drinking
And I've been thinking, I've got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Yo, yo, yo, yo
Some people cry and some people try
Just to get by, for a piece of the pie
You love to eat and get high
We deceive when we lie and we keepin' it fly
Yo, yo, yo, yo
When people decide, to keep a disguise
Can't see they eyes, see the evil inside
But there's people you find
Strong or feeble in mind, I stay readin' the signs
Yo, yo, yo, yo
Some people cry and some people try
Just to get by, for a piece of the pie
You love to eat and get high
We deceive when we lie and we keepin' it fly
Yo, yo, yo, yo
When people decide, to keep a disguise
Can't see they eyes, see the evil inside
But there's people you find
Strong or feeble in mind, I stay readin' the signs
Yo, yo, yo, yo
42.I Tried (Ft. Mary J Blige)
Lyricist：Mary J Blige, Talib Kweli, John Stephens, Kanye Omari West
Yeah, yeah
New Talib Kweli
You know what it is
Come on
Hey yo
Hey yo
Hey yo
I try, I try, I try
You know I try
I try, I try, I try
You know I try
K. West, Kweli
Got searched on the plane, Arabic first name
Disturbed by the fame, just like Kurt Cobain
Breath of life, kiss of death, my lips pursed the same
You flirt 'til she came
Nothin' hurt like the pain and torture
Daughters of the dust lookin' for a vein
Something to take in vain like the Lord's name
Put your hands together, got 'em all sayin'
I try, I try, I try
You know I try
I try, I try, I try
You know I try
Yo, it's all ghetto in gear higher, the floor settle
More metal for beef that we don't let the law settle
I try to navigate the treacherous waters of
America's ghettos that set up the slaughterers
But there's more of us
Although we speak in different languages
We all pretty familiar with what anger is
Get up on some gangsta shit
Guns to bang ya wit'
And we put it on records to entertain ya wit'
I'm grown with pains way deeper than my receivers
Our uniforms is white sneakers and white T-shirts
On top of wife beaters, we like to light reefers
The 'hood need us for rappers, just ain't the right leaders
I put a lot into it, this is my product and I gotta move it
Stop the industry but you can't stop the music
An upside down kingdom where life is just not fair, upside down
kingdom
Some many sufferin' 'cuz deep inside they're scared, so scared
Fear pumped into their veins to keep them from their destiny
Where would they be if you and I don't care？
I try, I try
You know I try
I try, I try, I try
You know I try
Yo, the things I'm seein' on the news is insane
A stock broker shoot his kid and throw himself in front of a
train
A mother leave her baby home for two weeks, all by himself
Two years old, eatin' ketchup and mustard, cryin' for help
Tryin' to bring your struggle to life
The label want a song about a bubbly life
I have trouble tryin' to write some shit
To bang in the club through the night
When people suffer tonight, Lord knows I try
I try, I try, I try
You know I try
I try, I try, I try
You know I try
Life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin' the noodle, some people usin' the muscle
Some people put it all together, make it fit like a puzzle
Come on, say it now, life is a beautiful struggle
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle
Some people usin' the noodle, some people usin' the muscle
Some people put it all together, yeah
I try, I try
You know I try
I try, oh, Lord I try
Everyday I
Upside down kingdom
Oh, they're so scared
Everyday on the news
We can't look around without
Something somewhere
I try, I try
You know I try
I try, I try, I try
You know I try
Lord knows
Lord knows we try
Yeah
43.Big Del From The Natti
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, D Geralds
Let 'em know how we do it down in the C.O.
We 'bout to get the thang started
Know what I'm sayin'？ The year 2000
I'm 'bout to let these muthafuckas know, Big D representin'
All the way from the C.O., Cincinnati, Ohio, that's what it is
Ay yo I'm givin' some shout-outs to my kids
I'm just a realass nigga from the Natti I used to drive caddies
And used to be a Pimp daddy
And now I chill in the studio, roll wit' my niggas
And we sippin' on Henny though, yeah, I like to smoke on the
hydro
Go to the club, might pick up a freaky ho
Yeah, what's up my niggas？ We doin' it like that
While we in the bank countin' figures
You know how we gettin' things started down here in the Natti
You know, come down here you kick it with me, Big D
You know, ride out, get cloud out, smoked out, know what I'm
sayin'
Get things poppin'
You know how we do it, got the forty fluid
Know what I'm sayin', yeah, yeah
44.Waitin' For The DJ (Clean, Radio Edit)
Lyricist：Dahoud Darien, Talib Kweli Greene, Bilal S. Oliver
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
(It's your boy Kweli, BK MC)
So I can show you just what I got
(Memph Blow in the house)
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Music is the air I breathe, the prayer I leave
Rippin' in the atmosphere up there in the breeze
Stronger then the revolution that you wear on your sleeve
It's all I know not an idea you believe
I spit bars you can't touch like tips in strip bars
Get charged, man I drop hits that hit hard
Hit bars with my brown shook 'cuz this starred
The night just start, I'm waitin' for the DJ to, let your body
rock
We all hop in the car deep
We bring Brooklyn to the city
My fellas lookin' sharp my ladies lookin' pretty
When the DJ let the needle drop
The beat'll rock, the beat'll start
Boppin' and my people got it poppin' like needle marks
3 o'clock and it's mass hysteria
I'm about to hit the cafeteria
I'm Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
(Put it down for y'all)
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
(Put it down for y'all)
So I can show you just what I got
I read the lines and all the between
In my mind I'm rewindin' the scene
The club ain't the place to be findin' a queen
You all in my dream girl
Though I can't sleep on you no, you was a star tonight
It like shown through vampires takin' a bite
I'm in the zone too
I always end up takin' the flight
Makin' a right for the fam
So tight in the jam a fight began
Always heard bad niggas tryin' to act like a man
(Waitin' for the DJ to)
The DJ had the mic in his hand like calm down
(Let your body rock)
Yeah, it was like I was the audience at the concert
You at the converse with the Luis Vuitton purse
Tiger's eye around the wrist with the fly and the prints
Lookin' up your arm a blender with a tattooed gift
I had to catch a plane
But you make me warm as day
I had to catch your name
And I'm waitin'
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
(Put it down for y'all)
So I can show you just what I got
'Cuz they let me chasing (incomprehensible)
Through the same old song
So just clap your hands together
'Til they make that sound
(Incomprehensible)
Yeah, hot runnin' the summertime it's why I said it
Guys see the flesh catch a dyed fetish
Hunnies smellin' to sweet it's like I'm diabetic
On stars and the sky in seminal, diabetic
Drop the top beat up the block
On plow, now when they smoke a tree up
As shots reach the new tunes
Dogs who lose Hollerin' at the new move
Ours, I'm like the sun, the flower in full bloom
When I come out the house we complete like the number 9
Gimme some of yours, I'm a give you some of mine
Your off the sucka rhyme a song will sound like one of mine
I know you love it when I shine
I'm waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
Waitin' for the DJ to, let your body rock
So I can show you just what I got
45.Over The Counter
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Jr., Otis Jackson
Hahaha
Uh, uh, yeah, feel that for a second
I ain't even gon' say shit for a couple of seconds
Gonna let you feel that for a second
It's Madlib like
Yeah, what you know about that？
The era of the bullshit is over
It's the year of the Blacksmith
Kweli, aiyyo, aiyyo
Aiyyo, we need some new leaders
Politicians is lying, now artists is true divas
They meant to deceive us, they were sent to defeat us
Everybody in here shot his peers through the speakers
Guerrilla tactics, I'm a find a weapon
Drop a rhyme or find a session
Give you a final lesson in your final seconds
Liberation, ain't the illest vinyl pressing？
Yeah right, and the government ain't lying about 911
Find me repping Brooklyn on the daily, what the dealy？
Questioning my teachers like, 'Oh, really？', so they feel me
Based on fraudulent facts as they practice like O'Reilly
Making me a hero for the class to come behind me
It's collusive like your newest sneakers, ain't you glad you
waited？
This year I graduated, y'all niggas is super seniors
Stay getting left behind, this the year of the Blacksmith
Liberation clearly a classic
People want to live it up, what, what's your drug of choice？
What, what？ Give it up, what？ Let me hook it up
Over the counter intelligence got ya hooked
You's a gonna when I'm on the corner selling it
Cats after the pot of gold like the luck of the Irish
I don't fuck with silly broads, I only fuck with the flyest
What they saying, stop playing, they delaying the plane
Usually I'm late and they saying my name over the loud speaker
(Talib Kweli)
The turbulence will make you find Jesus
I took a train from Brussels to Antwerp, the cops find pieces
Don't get it twisted, London got dime pieces
We stopping in Amsterdam for top of the line reefers
Trying to get to Egypt for the pyramids in Giza
Got me tripping like Cameron Diaz in Tanzania
A family guy on a grind, still we up heed her
I'm using poetic license like onomatopoeia
Headed to Philadelphia, I'm yelling out 'Free Mumia'
CDs selling like nuclear weapons in North Korea
Madlib, Talib Kweli, we off the meter
To start a fight, I'm coursing your life, the talk is cheaper
Yeah, yeah, this the liberation, rhyming is my occupation
Occupation of a nation, drop the population
From creating self-esteem, plus the stream of consciousness
When I got it into being I helped to free the populace
Bred to black, green to black is wrapped around a magazine
Under pressure said the freshman at Cheshire Academy
Kicked out of Brooklyn Tech, focusing on looking fresh
Bright kid accepted to the schools that only took the best
Bounce like a check, yes, without no hesitation
I went to college, then I left, that's when I got my education
Still live my regrets, now how I'll would I be with a degree？
Use would just a piece of paper to me, a receipt
One day I might go back, shit, who am I kidding？
How can I live a stupid decision？
Get used to the prison that I built for myself
It's all real, true in lividness so I rap to put food in the
kitchen
C'mon, feel the man, the liberation
46.Funny Money
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Jr., Otis Jackson
Yeah
Ladies, make it hot, girls, make it hot
Ladies, make it hot, girls, make it hot
Ladies, make it hot, girls, make it hot
Mr. International, passport pimpin'
City street dweller every asphalt different
Hittin' with Jean and The Roots
My man Black Thought rippin'
Now a glass goes whistlin', my rap flow's switchin' up
Wait, the promoter bitchin', is this asshole trippin'？
Why my cash flow missin'？
Don't fuck around this is how I make a livin'
Stop, listen, get the guap'
My kids can't eat my love for hip-hop
This ain't the circus, I don't see no big top
So - who ya tryin' to clown your money like Chris Rock
Don't make me laugh wit'cha funny money
Yeah, uh, yeah, he, he, he, he, he, eh, yeah, yo
These promoters shady
And they good for broken promises
Some of them scared of the hood
So they only promote the colleges
I'm havin' problems with excuses
Especially when it comes to my money
And the contract is exclusive
They sell the tickets wit'cha name up in lights an' shit
But when it's time to pay they came up with all type of shit
Or tried to pay me in marijuana
The crowd was so thin he blamed Osama
And the Twin Tower bombers
In my pocket like a thief and there ain't no honor
Livin' all reckless like there ain't no karma
You ain't on punishment, I ain't your momma
I just had to expose the truth like Leonardo DaVinci
When he paint Madonna
Hey, hey hey, c'mon, uh, whoa
Illegal business control America
Illegal immigration, gun control hysteria
The war on terror, war on drug, now everybody have vices
So we still gettin' higher than gas prices
Yeah we have righteous MC's, ready to infiltrate
The system like a disease and bring it right to its knees
Who ain't fuckin' with the pay for play, that shit is gay
Get down with Blacksmith or get the fuck out the way
E'rything's straight! Just get out from under the table
I'm not a pimp runnin' a stable
I'm a kid with a vision runnin' a label
With the freshest MC's with somethin' to say too
We cuttin' the umbilical cord from the navel
Willin' and able to change the game for the better
A lot of crews claim they together
Then they fall apart and blame it on cheddar
Please, I stay professional in all my endeavor
So we about to blow like Parliament in V for Vendetta
They try to get you with the funny money
47.The Function
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Jr., Otis Jackson
One, two, three and the place to be
You got the almighty Talib Kweli, BK emcee
It's the international rockin' with Madlib
We got the Strong Arm Steady gang and the place to be
We got Chace Infinite, Self Scientific and the place to be, word
Blacksmith is running through your function
No need for interruptions or discussions, no
Welcome to a Madlib production
We listenin' but y'all really sayin' nothin', no
I try to say the most just to say the least
I try to stay the coast while I slay the beast
I'm bout to say my piece, you listenin' to Rita's voice
Speakin' is the people's choice, Blacksmith is
The return of the black fist, that's quiet
That's it, it's the black star shout out to black
Bonte give me a call the next time you watch the VMA's
I'll be right there with the whole rock steady gang
Or making a fucking logistical nightmare
My nigga's is right here at the speed of light yea
Soon as I send the signal out after the night air
The sound that we makin' got them quakin' in they Nik' Airs
We don't fight fair I'll make your shit crash
Quit yellin' whiplash you bitch ass nigga
Mad 'cause I'm faster and I hit the gas quicker
My squad cut like a glass of liquor, pass that
No matter the cost, we back at it, gat at your boss
Shoot to kill, splatter with force
Air force bubblin' blitz this shit
Fire like two sticks rubbing like this
No tricks nothing is fake I'ma ride
What you want thin ice where you skate？ When them niggas hate
I'ma say beat break shake it off
Focus on what's important, but take a loss
Force the hand, this is strong arm feeding you
We're beating you, cut a nigga short like an interlude
Bars anonymous, I promise you this
One line will make you famous like Travis and shit
It's the S.A.S, you are now rocking with the best
All them other rappers lied to you nigga
Yes, yes, it's still west, west
With my east coast, polly, Kweli, you got a problem with me
Steady Gang running the game, it won't change
Back to the days with Jordan's and gold chains
Fistful of dollars, fucking future top models
Through the knowledge but we still poppin' bottles
Pushing like full throttle on the Interstate trunk full
Of product just to make a nigga's dinner plate
Gotta get this money for my daughter's sake, and I
Smoke a lot of weed and plus a nigga gotta say, 'What？'
Fresher than a motherfuckin' mannequin, you get
The point like we was playing pickle with a couple javelins
Gimme a reason to stop speaking and
Start niggas bleedin' in the mid Los Angeles region
We the niggas that believe in lacerations and lesions
Niggas wanna dick and get it this evenin'
Earn a song James Lionel grain greedy geniuses
Y'all niggas is mysteries nothin' but phantom menaces
And we the niggas y'all love to hate
But see the homies from the east just raise the stakes
And we gonna get it in a major way
Blacksmith is the label strong arm is the game
Weeping in the bank watching Robin Hood withdraw
Young orangutan gettin' niggas knocked off
You hall ass and get a trip to see Lou Rawls
I pour Henny from jewelery in my jacket like linen
You don't think I got the hustle in me
Roll with the real resist you retarded
And winky is not the shit he just farted
One trip you motionless you understand the kid got close
And we can get rich, the rice stay broke
King Tut chrome in the cut like macuricone
Take off your head like the N.O. Superdome
The blacker the better, the greener the cheddar
We the new Dream Team smoking more green nigga
Jihad jinkins liberating like Abe Lincoln
Dizzling dumbing out minkin'
Blacksmith is running through your function
No need for interruptions or discussions, no
Welcome to a Madlib production
We listenin' but y'all really sayin' nothin', no
Blacksmith is running through your function
No need for interruptions or discussions, no
Welcome to a Madlib production
We listenin' but y'all really sayin' nothin', no
48.Soul Music
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Jr., Otis Jackson
Ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma
Madlib invasion, music please
Music, it makes me feel so good
Early in the morning it makes me
Feel like I'm open and I'm strollin'
There are times that the music
It just, it just lets me unwind
I said, 'Music makes you love, it make you feel
It make it true, it makes it real, it can make you move'
It can make you mewl or pray or stare into yourself
Until you hear the voice and I hear the voice inside'
It's a celebration, yeah
It's a celebration, I hear music
There are times I wanna give up
Then I remember this gift that God has given to me
He's living through me, you see the vision through me
Music make you love, it make you feel, it make it true
It make it real, it can make you move
It can make you mewl or pray or stare into yourself
Until you hear the voice and I hear the voice inside
It's a celebration, yeah, yeah
It's a celebration, that never let me down
It makes me feel so good early in the morning
It makes me feel so like I'm just floatin' and strollin'
There are times that the music just lets me unwind
Music
49.What Can I Do
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Jr., Otis Jackson
Swim in the ocean and thoughts remain to sail on the sea, yeah
What can I do but what can I do
Yo, I try to get it here, get it there, everywhere
(What can I do, but what can I do)
So I spit it clear, persevere, interfere
With the status quo the baddest flow throughout the hemisphere
There ain't no pretenders here, only real men is here
If you see a chick, she down to ride like she wanna veer
Better yet the Queen of Sheba, Aretha, Queen Latifah
I'm the boss like Aneisha Reefa
Boss？ You ain't my boss？ Baby
You don't run shit up in here
I don't know who the hell you think talkin' to
I'm gonna take that shit and bounce
I don't know who the hell you think you are
I ain't got no boss
See I call her, baby, like she 3 years old
When she fully grown so these dudes is pullin' on
She in the club like a stone cover, fully blown
Speaking in the girly tone even though you got a attitude
I can't stay mad at you
We'll have our quarrels word and you will upset me
Tell me what can I do, but what can I do
Nothin', cause if I said that I don't need you I was frontin' so
(What can I do, but what can I do)
Nothing, every time you said you leavin' you was bluffin'
Back in the days I had dreads like Lil Jon
And got numbers armed with nothin' but a pen and a little charm
Everything I'm saying be littered with observation
So I stand up for the dudes with limited conversation
You looking at a star, it's all in the constellation
Ha, ha, you ain't no star
Ha, ha, you losing your mind
I don't know who told you that shit
She tried to tie me up but she can't tie me down
She ain't never cried a tear but she cryin' now
She tried to leave me, coming back 'cause she can't forget me
I gotta be strong so she can't disrespect me
We'll have our quarrels word and you will upset me
Tell me what can I do, but what can I do
Uh, uh, uh, uh, yeah
(What can I do but what can I do)
Uh, uh, uh, yeah
Let's, let's go, uh
Let's, let's go, uh
50.Engine Running
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Jr., Otis Jackson
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
And don't make a move unless the wartime's comin'
And just wait outside and keep the engine running, man
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
And don't make a move unless the wartime's comin'
And just wait outside and keep the engine running, running
Man, my pops won't let me drive until the law says that I'm able
But since he fell asleep and left his keys up on the table
I figured I'd be able to snatch 'em without permission
And he be out cold and never find out they was missin'
So I did just that and got the car up out the driveway
Then hit up Pat and he was headed toward highway
But made one stop to get some Newports and Coroners
Before we checked these chicks that we had new out and Coroner
But at the turn of corner in this bad part of town
We see this nigga Rell and he's flaggin' us down
Then he walked up on the car, asked me and Pat, 'What's
poppin'？'
Then jumped in the backseat before I got the chance to lock it
Asked me if could we drop him even though we going elsewhere
But what poked from his shirt gave me concerns for my welfare
'Cause even though his belt's there, the Tech's on his waist
And he made us stop the car at the check-cashing place
Then threw a mask on his face like MF Doom
'Cause there's enough cash in the safe to buy a new Lex soon
And his tone was rather smooth when he said
'Don't make a muscle move
'Cause 'til I get inside the only thing I wanting y'all to do
isâ
â½Just wait outside and keep the engine running
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
And don't make a move unless the wartime's comin'
And just wait outside and keep the engine running, manâ
â½Just wait outside and keep the engine running
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
And don't make a move unless the wartime's comin'
And just wait outside and keep the engine running, runningâ
Top shotters got the block hotter than Jamaican sun
You taste it on your tongue, the shots is stronger than Jamaican
rum
Rain and a few the apple tongue, the big ratchets, they packin'
'em
They argue when they leavin' they over 'cause they'll be back
again
Trapped with the clackers, tonight is blacker than the pistol
grip
They let off over little shit and chill for a little bit
Hop in my hoopty, gotta stop for a Lucy
Butter crunch and the dutch, grab the clutch, bump a juicy
The nigga Big can move me 'cause the shit be like a movie
Plus I live in Brooklyn like the old Donees and Roodie
Plus Sandra Evanesce left my cash on the dresser
'Cause the ATM machine at the check casher next to da bodega
I pulled up in the back, a Acura runnin'
The cats in the car looked like disaster was comin'
Niggas buggin', thinkin' somethin' was wrong, I played the
corner
I always keep the gat like DMX in Arizona
In the corner of my cornea, I see the one time California
Slang for cops and they comin' by cruisin'
The niggas in the ledger pealed out
The people in the check-casher spot spilled out
On the street, their faces looking like a child has been abused
Here come this nigga with a gun lookin' wild and confused
Put it together, I'm like, â½These niggasâ
The cop shot me in the back and then I heard him say, 'Freeze,
nigga'
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
And don't make a move unless the wartime's comin'
And just wait outside and keep the engine running, man
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
Just wait outside and keep the engine running
And don't make a move unless the wartime's comin'
And just wait outside and keep the engine running, running
51.The Blast
Lyricist：Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Greene, Vinia Mojica
Let me, let me practice he he he, eh eh
Talib T'Kwi, Kweli, I can't say it
That's wack
Yeah, you pronounce my name (Kweli), any questions？
I bring many blessings with my man HiTek and he from the Natti
(Natti)
We make the sky crack, feel the fly track
Get your hands up like a hijack
Fist in the air for (Kweli), keep 'em there like
Natural mystic or smoke when they spliffs lit
It's a revolutionary (party), they ask me what I'm writin' for
I'm writin to show you what we fightin' for
Say Taleeb or Talib (Kweli), if it's hard try spellin' it
phonetically
If not then just let it be like Nina Simone
You probably (ably) don't listen B
Even when we suffer loses I account the victory
Sometimes it's far and between I'm sad to say
It got my brain crowded like sunset on a Saturday
I know my son wept 'cause his dad's away
Stop cryin' be strong for your momma is what I had to say
To my little man named Amani (mani)
Start the party, my crew hot feel these two shots
Like the blast from a double barrel shottie (shottie)
It's got to be, your man HiTek and Kweli
Who make you rock your body (body)
Start the party, my crew hot feel these two shots
Like the blast from a double barrel shottie (shottie)
It's got to be, your man HiTek and Kweli
I remember when it all started
Back in the day when me and moms first parted
HiTek from the beginnin' I stayed advanced
A young chameleon, adapt to any circumstance
Peep game nigga never been a lazy nigga
Stayed on my hustle concentrate to get the paper bigger
Stay focused, while other cats stay hopeless
While niggas stay high I stay lower
Stacking my chips to get a foreclosure
This shit ain't over
Going for the gusto, keep getting that provo
It's HiTek (and Kweli) on the track like Flo Jo
Bet you ain't even know I had flow though
Yo, make you rock your body (body)
Start the party, my crew hot feel these two shots
Like the blast from a double barrel shottie (shottie)
It's got to be, your man HiTek and Kweli
Keep on dancing, ya gotta keep on dancing
Keep on dancing, ya gotta keep on dancing
Keep on dancing, ya gotta keep on dancing
Keep on dancing, ya gotta keep on dancing
52.Raise The Bar
Lyricist：Kweli Talib, Mc Clendon Penelope, Oroc C
(Woman, just give me a try)
(What we gon' do？ Yeah)
We gon' work, we gon' play
We gon' lead the way
We gon' say everything that we need to say
Then get ghost in the breeze to blow the leaves away
MCs today, it's like they throwin' our seeds away
But that ain't for me to say, right？ It ain't got to be this way
We gon' take charge, make gods out of men
We gon' raise bars, show y'all how to win
Hit the rally, hit the riot, get the party started
Respect the words you herbs, it's the Kwelity artist
I solemnly promised the knowledge will demolish your college
Admonishes scholars, you acknowledge the dollars
(Yeah)
Want me to payola？ Man I don't even know
That boy, I'm takin' over
Keepin' it fresh like bakin' soda in your fridge
That's how it is, say, â½La, wi, oh, la, la, wi wi'
Please, excuse my French, nigga ridin' the bench
Sayin', 'Coach, let me in, yo I know we can win'
(Woman, just give me a try)
Yeah, I see y'all flossin' like you got shit on your teeth
'Til I get up on the mix tape and I shit on your beat
Well ever since I came back niggas ain't gettin' no sleep
Why beef？ Nay, nay shit on the street
Come on, my words man hit like pure 'caine, ask Abel'
I got more lines than coke heads on a glass table
Roll with a thorough crew, everybody follow through
Brooklyn where on the street we either swallow you or hollow you
You know how my borough do
Cats'll pull the ratchet out, start blackin' out off funny style
Cats nothin' to laugh about
(Ha)
It's hood politics, the hood economics
You get exploited, even your 'Daddy O' like Stetsasonic
Kweli the best alive, my words spray like pesticide
You niggas keep on buggin' me
When they gonna exercise their right to exit right now
And keep it movin'？
I'm the solution, niggas shootin' to salute
That's how it is, say, â½La, wi, oh, la, la, wi wi'
Please, excuse my French, nigga ridin' the bench
Sayin', 'Coach, let me in, yo I know we can win'
(Woman, just give me a try)
B.K. in the house, what you wan' do？
L.A. in the house, what you wan' do？
Baboo in the house, what you wan' do？
West coast throw your W
I'm comin' through like MCs are my students and I'm the sensei
You need to fuck with your boy, fuck what your friends say
It's like my shits are so tight, I need some Ben Gay
I like the energy right, they call me feng shui
Men pray to their false Gods and lost God a while ago
No smile, know their inner-child can grow
Go out strapped with the calico
At a party ready to set it, wetted his throat
Had him better to smoke
His eyes red and he ready to let go
Yo, oh, and then the DJ threw it on
A nigga like that's my shit, word is bond
That's how it is, say, â½La, wi, oh, la, la, wi wi'
Please, excuse my French, nigga ridin' the bench
Sayin', 'Coach, let me in, yo I know we can win'
(Woman, just give me a try)
Yeah, we gon' work, we gon' play
We gon' lead the way
We gon' say everything that we need to say
Then get ghost in the breeze to blow the leaves away
MCs today, it's like they throwin' our seeds away
But that ain't for me to say, right？
It ain't got to be this way
We gon' take charge, make gods out of men
We gon' raise bars, show y'all how to win
53.Around My Way (Featuring John Legend)
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Sting
Around my way, around my way
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with pain
Around my way
Around my way, around my way
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with pain
Around my way
People let me paint a picture, you know I ain't a Christian
I ain't a Muslim, ain't a Jew, I'm losing my religion
I speak to God directly, I know my God respect me
'Cause he let me breathe his air and he really blessed me
I ain't knocking you but I don't fuck with hospitals
Spit the gospel, truly knowing Jesus like apostles do
Return like the prodigal son to honor Mohammed too
Stay away from ham like Abraham, Lord'll follow you
Even when you took my man Chaka God and what I'm a do
You gave the hood a modern day martyr in Brother Amadou
I'm on the block, I'm tracing your footsteps, I keep the faith
in you
Your love, plus hard work and ambition, we gonna make it through
My songs is psalms I'm spiritual when I'm lyrical
This is for my soldier niggaz looking in the mirror who
Sitting home scratching off serials eating cereal
The way we find a way to survive, shit is a miracle
We got mice in the crib and roaches in the toasters
Rice in the fridge, bread in the oven by the roaster
We be takin' gypsy cabs and chasin' 50 bags
They be laced with shitty swag and it really get me mad
The way we saluting flags, wrapping them around our heads
When niggaz ain't become American till 9／11
Feeling like you gotta sneak into heaven
When the reverend looking like a pimp
And the pimp look like the reverend
Around my way, around my way
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with pain
Around my way
These conditions make us strong
And we create our own businesses so later on
Our children have things in their name that they can say they
own
A mix tape freestyle become your favorite song, no place like
home
When the cops ask you about your neighbors
Beat on you, threaten to incarcerate you
Till you spill your guys like you a Garcia Vega
We roll blunts not the papers
Cop the greatest take it coast to coast
L.A. to Chicago like Smooth Operators
Cop the Dro and cop the blacks, cop the four, cock it back
Drop the flow, rock a hat on top a stocking cap
Be a doctor or a lawyer or make your momma a promise that
You'll finish school but when you got a dream you gotta follow
that
And make sure when you make it out the hood
You always holler back, think about what you got from that
And always put your dollars back, on top of that
This is a legacy and we a part of that
The hood is where my heart is at, catch me around my way
Around my way, around my way
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with pain
Around my way
Around my way, around my way
All the corners filled with sorrow
All the streets are filled with pain
Around my way, oh around my way
54.The Show
Lyricist：Talib Kweli Greene, Jr., Otis Jackson
Okay, okay, I'm only gettin' it on one side of the headphone
Aight, yeah, bring it in like
Five somethin' in the mornin' goin' on six
It's daylight, sunrise time
Time to free yo'self, free yo' soul, free yo' mind
Ladies, free that ass, yeah
Coast to coast it's the most
We don't brag and boast
We just leave 'em comatose
It's your boy, Talib Kweli, yeah
Flow is tight, though I got a couple screws looses
It's cuckoo, my rep in this game is bigger than Bruce Bruce
Who you？ Your name smaller than fine grains in couscous
It's the highest caliber, your caliber is deuce deuce
Shoot, y'all niggaz can't hang like a loose noose
I get on stage, niggaz in my ear like a Bluetooth
And that's the triple truth, Ruth, they lips is loose like
They seen your love daddy in the bulletproof blue Coupe
My rhymes is full of truth, and the business full of lies
Try to look a Masai kid in his eyes for the flies
And tell him how he fucked up our environment daily
The only thing we know about Africa is from Nas or Belly
But go off like a Hutu or Tutsi, from Rwanda or Burundi
Over drums like Babatunde Olatunji
Sayin' nigga just to keep our teeth white like Paul Mooney
Fightin' spiritual wars like the Shiite or the Sunni
Yo, our music went from tap dance to the lap dance
Try to get me to sell out and that's a fat chance
You see black faces in my rap pages
Larry Davis, Angela Davis or Ossie Davis
Yeah, welcome to the show, it's Talib Kweli, so amazin'
Live from California it's the Madlib invasion, let's go
This exercise in freedom is called the Liberation
I keep it fly by a process of elimination
When it come to payin' the kid, sometimes it's hesitation
'Til I make 'em check it in like they got reservations
But there ain't no reservations about coppin' this
Even though it's free for the people there ain't no stoppin'
this
Poppin' fresh, cakin' up, I'm breakin' up the, monotonous flow
That can't write or plant life like a botanist grow
A new crop and just roll, it up, blow it out whoa
Excuse the cockiness though, I'm just showin' out
Know you can't go without this, now what'chu know about that？
Now what'chu know about, now what'chu know about？
Now what'chu know about, now what'chu know about？
Now what'chu know about, now what'chu know about？
Now what'chu know about, now what'chu know about？
...
55.Let Me See (Remix)
Ay yo the prophet is without honor＊
In your own country,
people swear that you ain't shit because they know your mama
So much drama at the crib it ain't fit to live
And that survival of the fittest shit will split your wig
Cats master doin' bits of illegitimate kids is splitin' dutches
Dealin' with the physical and caught up in his clutches
My way of life bum-rushes pullin' no punches
Silence is golden and all I'm hearin' is hushes, when I'm
shinin'
MC's pay attention
I rise like a ascension see more than three dimension
to the situation we facin' receivin' energy
So you see who your friend and who your enemy
Crashin' back down to earth I've found
We can love
Oh let me see
All of the places I can be
Oh let me know
All of the places where we can go
Yo we rock on shed like light the break of dawn
Stand strong like the words in God's song
B-Boys, make some noise and B-Girls, rock the world and
Falling apart right from the start
Crawling round
Oh let me see all of the place that I can be
Oh let me know all of the places where we can go
A blind man feels the wickedest taste is exquisite
He can hear me loud and clear and smell fear in the air
Without sight he gains in-sight and lets me see his true self
not what he wants me to percive him to be
Perception is deception
Without the facts you keep guessin'
That's the image in the mirror so we Eternal Reflection
Forever manifestin' the cleverness in the lesson
Dropin' with authority with no doubt, no question
Yo my man's blazin' more cheeba
Blowin' out like speakers
Keepin' y'all open wide like receivers
We rock on shed like light the break of dawn..
And we stand strong like the words in God's song c'mon
Show us how to stand up strong
Waitin' for you takes so long
Shadows leave us standing naked
We can't fake it
Oh let me see all of the places that I can be
Oh let me know all of the places where we can go
Oh let me see all of the places that I can be
Oh let me know all of the places where we can go
B-Boys, make some noise and B-Girls, rock the world and
B-Girls, rock the world and c'mon and
Pick it up yes
and we put it down, yes we put it down
Another Hi-Tek production
Talib Kweli, MCs ain't got nothin'
Blaze up... more cheeba, more cheeba
Cheeba, everybody say cheeba, everybody cheeba
56.Get By - Talib Kweli
Lyricist：Tk Greene, Nina Simone, Kanye West
Yeah, my Lord, yeah
We sell, crack to our own out, the back of our homes
We smell the musk at the dusk in the crack of the dawn
We go through, 'Epidodes II' like 'Attack of the clones'
Work 'til we break our back and you hear the crack of the bone
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
We commute to computers
Spirits stay mute while you eagles spread rumors
We survivalists, turned to consumers
Just to get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Ask him why some people got to live in a trailer, cuss like a
sailor
I paint a picture with the pen like Norman Mailer
Me and Willa raised three daughters all by herself, with no help
I think about a struggle and I find the strength in myself
These words, melt in my mouth
They hot, like the jail cell in the South
Before my nigga Core bailed me out
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
We do or die like Bed-Stuy through the red sky
With the window of the red eye
Let the lead fly, some G. Rap shit, 'Livin' to let die'
This morning, I woke up, feeling brand new and I jumped up
Feeling my highs and my lows in my soul and my goals
Just to stop smokin' and stop drinkin'
And I've been thinkin', I've got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, by, by
We keeping it gangster say fo shizzle, fo sheezy and stayin'
crunk
It's easy to pull a breezy, smoke trees and we stay drunk
Yo, I activism attackin' the system, the Blacks and Latins in
prison
Numbers of prison they victim black in the vision
Shit and all they got is rappin' to listen to
I let them know we missin' you, the love is unconditional
Even when the condition is critical, when the livin' is
miserable
Your position is pivotal, I ain't bullshittin' you
Now, why would I lie？ Just to get by？ Just to get by, we get fly
The TV got us reachin' for stars
Not the ones between Venus and Mars, the ones that be readin'
for parts
Some people get breast enhancements and penis enlargers
Saturday sinners Sunday morning at the feet of the Father
They need somethin' to rely on, we get high on all types of drug
When, all you really need is love
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Our parents sing like John Lennon, 'Imagine all the people
watch'
We rock like Paul McCartney, 'From now until the last beatle
drop'
This morning, I woke up, feeling brand new and I jumped up
Feeling my highs and my lows, in my soul and my goals
Just to stop smoking and stop drinking
And I've been thinking, I've got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Yo, yo, yo, yo
Some people cry and some people try
Just to get by, for a piece of the pie
You love to eat and get high
We deceive when we lie and we keepin' it fly
Yo, yo, yo, yo
When people decide, to keep a disguise
Can't see they eyes, see the evil inside
But there's people you find
Strong or feeble in mind, I stay readin' the signs
Yo, yo, yo, yo
Some people cry and some people try
Just to get by, for a piece of the pie
You love to eat and get high
We deceive when we lie and we keepin' it fly
Yo, yo, yo, yo
When people decide, to keep a disguise
Can't see they eyes, see the evil inside
But there's people you find
Strong or feeble in mind, I stay readin' the signs
Yo, yo, yo, yo
57.Supreme
Whoo, we on fire tonight
Whoo, yeah, we on fire tonight
Whoo, Black Star in the house fo' sho'
Yo, now everybody go
Ghet-to, P-pole it's time to ride
Supreme, supreme
Bay-b get involved go side to side
Supreme, supreme, yeah, yeah
Side to side
'Bout to slap box with the beat
The shit I spit is a snapshot of the street
You can see the crack spot in the backdrop
The heat in the stash box of the black drop
You wonder why there's more crime
Free food, or a check the only time niggaz on line
Getting information from the nigga-net
The trickle-down theory guess it ain't reached niggaz yet
I make a bigger bet, Kweli 'bout to be a bigger threat
'Cuz there's hardly any real niggaz left
What the fuck these niggaz talking 'bout
Living a movie but the audience is walking out
I fight the temptation to rip the heart from your chest
'Til there's only five hard beats left
It's like a dead man walking
I turn on the radio and I hear dead men talking
Ghet-to, p-pole it's time to ride
Supreme, supreme
Bay-b get involved go side to side
Supreme, supreme
Yo', I got my headphones up like I'm listening close
Face blank with expression it isn't a joke
Start fire, sit back and spit its smoke
To get it provoked, blow it back to get in your throat
Mad problems, take all the niggaz you know
Add that number up with every nigga you don't
Final number, some total of the niggaz that won't
Break me down, shake me of my fame, my style
What time it is？ Crew you can hate me now
And ten minutes from then you gon' love me again
Buck town republic again
Writing on the wall trouble again
Intensify struggle and such killers, Sade lovers deluxe
Sound garnered, for the wild hearted, downtrodden, up-starters
Young violent, uprising, cocaine, and gunpowder
Up north, or bus crowded, daily vibes to thug mountain
Cold caves or peaks of high
Think you present but unclear, and know how to hide
If you wonder why you got so much on your mind
'Cuz your living in a troubling time, this is a puzzling time
Fall back without recovering time, and time's up
Brooklyn, put your dimes up
Ghet-to, p-pole it's time to ride
Supreme, supreme
Bay-b get involved go side to side
Supreme, supreme
Ghet-to, p-pole it's time to ride
Supreme, supreme
Bay-b get involved go side to side
Supreme, supreme
I put feeling inside of my rap
Hold it down for my side of the map
No matter what north, south east or west side of the mat
Bend a needle on the mind and it's back
Got a problem with that？ The holler back and the stars is black
We the New Era you just a Starter cap
Find out what happens when the artist in tact
Be sharp as a tack, fall back you smarter than that
Or perhaps you just ain't as smart as you think
Figure 8'n on the thin ice part of the rink
You a vessel that's promised to sink
Terra Firma ain't as hard as you think
Stare down, and you starting to blink
Like 182 this for fellas and the ladies who
Don't need to be spoon fed like baby food
I take a bite out the track like a sabretooth
And spit out the truth 'til the cops come and spray the booth
Ghet-to, p-pole it's time to ride
Supreme, supreme
Bay-b get involved go side to side
Supreme, supreme
Ghet-to, p-pole it's time to ride
Supreme, supreme
Bay-b get involved go side to side
Supreme, supreme
Ghet-to, p-pole it's time to ride
Supreme, supreme
Bay-b get involved go side to side
Supreme, supreme
It's all right with you its all right with me
Do the damn thing what you wanna be
Supreme, supreme
That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right
That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right
Supreme, supreme
It's all right with you its all right with me
Do the damn thing what you wanna be
Supreme, supreme
That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right
That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right
Supreme, supreme
It's all right with you its all right with me
Do the damn thing what you wanna be
Supreme, supreme
That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right
That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right
Supreme, supreme
58.Cold Rain (Single)
Lets try something new＊
It's been a long time coming!
Let me try something brand new
Hey yo Ski!
What you ever do, man？
Come on!
Yo, what we doing it for？
This is for all the day-trippers and the hipsters
Whores and the fashionistas
Spiritual leaders practicing all the laws of attraction
The teachers who read the passages
From the back of a G？
That be bustin off Dalai Lama's or flashing heaters
The last of the boosters
With the shooting, the thugging and all the booning and spooning
and all the crooning, and cooning and auto-tuning, alive
You be tellin, peddlin' to consumers I'm helping them to see
through it
Get with this new movement,
Let's move it!
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 where he rocking a feds like J Electronica
Drop and make this a lock
If he promises where the heart is
Whether Jesus or Mohammad
Regardless of where the Mosque is (word)
They hope for the Apocalypse like a self-fulfilling prophecy
Tell me when do we stop it？
Do they ask you your religion before you rent an apartment？
Is the answer burning Korans
So that we can defend Islamics？
The end upon us with a hash tag, a trending topic
You take away the freedoms that we invite in the game
Then you disrespect the soldiers; you ask them to die in vein
In a desert praying for rain
The music's like a drug, and they tend to take it to vein
It ain't for the well-behaved
The soundtrack for when you're great but its more for when
you've felt afraid
More than your average rapper
So you sort of felt the way
The brain is like a cage, you a slave, that's why they lovin'
you
This is the book that Eli that start with a K-W.
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 ？
For my block, my borough, my hood, my city, my state, yeah
My obligation is to my community is so clear!
yeah, we gotta save them, this opportunity so rare!
We do it so big over here that it's no bare
To the punks, bitches, the chumps, the snitches, the sneak in
the game
We let them live with all they're weak and they're lame
The bozo's and joker's, promoting when they're speaking my name
59.Cold Rain (Single)
Lets try something new＊
It's been a long time coming!
Let me try something brand new
Hey yo Ski!
What you ever do, man？
Come on!
Yo, what we doing it for？
This is for all the day-trippers and the hipsters
Whores and the fashionistas
Spiritual leaders practicing all the laws of attraction
The teachers who read the passages
From the back of a G？
That be bustin off Dalai Lama's or flashing heaters
The last of the boosters
With the shooting, the thugging and all the booning and spooning
and all the crooning, and cooning and auto-tuning, alive
You be tellin, peddlin' to consumers I'm helping them to see
through it
Get with this new movement,
Let's move it!
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 where he rocking a feds like J Electronica
Drop and make this a lock
If he promises where the heart is
Whether Jesus or Mohammad
Regardless of where the Mosque is (word)
They hope for the Apocalypse like a self-fulfilling prophecy
Tell me when do we stop it？
Do they ask you your religion before you rent an apartment？
Is the answer burning Korans
So that we can defend Islamics？
The end upon us with a hash tag, a trending topic
You take away the freedoms that we invite in the game
Then you disrespect the soldiers; you ask them to die in vein
In a desert praying for rain
The music's like a drug, and they tend to take it to vein
It ain't for the well-behaved
The soundtrack for when you're great but its more for when
you've felt afraid
More than your average rapper
So you sort of felt the way
The brain is like a cage, you a slave, that's why they lovin'
you
This is the book that Eli that start with a K-W.
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 ？
For my block, my borough, my hood, my city, my state, yeah
My obligation is to my community is so clear!
yeah, we gotta save them, this opportunity so rare!
We do it so big over here that it's no bare
To the punks, bitches, the chumps, the snitches, the sneak in
the game
We let them live with all they're weak and they're lame
The bozo's and joker's, promoting when they're speaking my name
60.Sharp Shooters
Talib Kweli ＆ Dead Prez
Everything is politics, I Chin, Kweli, People Army, you know it
The white man came to Africa with rifles and Bibles
Heard the name, started changin' the titles
Now instead of Chaka call me Nat Turner with the burner
Freedom fighter for this revolution, fuck a wage earner
See I be what John Wilkes Booth was to Lincoln, blam
Sirhan Sirhan, peepin' through the curtains with my eyes on a
Kennedy
Dead prez, politic, know your enemy, keep your toast close
Because political power come from the barrel of it
We in a war, nigga leave it or love it
Since they got us in a scope like a P.E. logo
I watch for the po-po, woop, woop and train at the dojo
Not a gun Deniro but a working class hero
Takin' a stand, like a panther with an M-1 Garrand
Screamin' know your gun laws, self defense is a must
When we set it off I'm a be the first to bust
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
What do you do when the police kick in your door？
Like 'get on the floor shoot you in the back
'Cause who you are and where you at's against the law
You try to protect your home with the illest arsenal possible
Learn how to heal yourself and stop fuckin' with them hospitals
Get with brothas down for the cause givin' it all they got
But every brother ain't a brother word, fuck around and get shot
By these black kings that pack gatlings
To make a rat sing like Nat King
Before they start blasting blow
With no accuracy, handling they beef in the public
Now an innocent child got a bag for a stomach
Property value plumit every time a shot is fired c'mon
People feelin' betrayed so they take the street to riot
Cops fire shots and try to stop the spirit takin' over the
entire block
Politicians say it's time to march
But people is past that, ready to blast at whatever comin'
From the master or from the office, niggas is sick of runnin'
Yeah, all my soldier, raise it up, c'mon, now
Bust ya guns yeah, Kweli with dead prez, c'mon blow blow
I'm deep in the runs where all that niggas give a fuck
About is stackin' funds
The black and young type that's packin' automatic guns
If any static comes sparatic shots'll ring out
You get caught up, you get your fuckin' brains blown clean out
The killers reign supreme, survival of the illest brain and
scheme
For cream you know the game in my vein
I feel the pain for all the niggas that passed away
Tryin' to get cash the fastest way we know how, the old fashion
way
Blastin', we actin' like cock tecs and liniments
My squad flex if any shit pop, and put an end to it
It's like hell, this planet I'm from consist of dilligent crack
sale
Assisting off the backs of young black males
It's innocent, suspending in packed jails that benefit
White well being, while niggas catch hell just for being
You might as well have a life of crime, ain't nothin' free in
this life
I stick a nine in ya spine for mine
No time for talk, 'cause I walk when I talk
Stalkin' sidewalks of course with the eyes of a hawk
Crack a quart to get away from this trife world and thought
Puffin' Newports 'cause life's a bitch and it's too short
My crew sport leather, gold, camouflage's, rugged denim
Deadly in venom, totin' buckets with nothin' in 'em
But Rawkus, some ill mothafuckas for real
Straight hustlas with nothin' but a taste for kill
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
Yo, I'm one with my gun, I love it like my first son
It protects me and makes sure the jakes respect me
Yeah, c'mon, all my soldiers
Brooklyn where you at
Florida, Cincinnati where you at
Africa where you at, yo
61.For Women
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek
Yeah, so we got this tune called 'For women' right
Originally, it was by Nina Simone
She said, it was inspired by, you know down south
In the south, they used to call her Mother Antie
She said, 'No Mrs. just Antie'
She said, 'If anybody ever called her Antie
She'd burn the whole goddamn place down', I'm over past that
Coming into the new millennium, we can't forget our elders
I got off the 2 train in Brooklyn on my way to a session
Said let me help this woman up the stairs before I get to
steppin'
We got in a conversation, she said, she a 107
Just her presence was a blessing and her essence was a lesson
She had her head wrapped
And long dreads that peeked out the back
Like antenna to help her get a sense of where she was at,
imagine that
Livin' a century, the strength of her memories
Felt like an angel had been sent to me
She lived from nigger to colored to Negro to black
To afro then African-American and right back to nigger
You figure she'd be bitter in the twilight
But she alright, 'cuz she done seen the circle of life yo
Her skin was black like it was packed with melanin
Back in the days of slaves she packin' like Harriet Tubman
Her arms are long and she moves like song
Feet with corns, hand with callouses
But her heart is warm and her hair is wooly
And it attract a lot of energy even negative
She gotta dead that the head wrap is her remedy
Her back is strong and she far from a vagabond
This is the back of the masters' whip used to crack upon
Strong enough to take all the pain, that's been
Inflicted again and again and again and again and flipped
It to the love for her children nothing else matters
What do they call her？ They call her aunt Sara
I know a girl with a name as beautiful as the rain
Her face is the same but she suffers an unusual pain
Seems she only deals with losers who be usin' them games
Chasin' the real brothers away like she confused in the brain
She tried to get it where she fit in
On that American Dream mission paid tuition
For the receipt to find out her history was missing and started
flippin'
Seeing the world through very different eyes
People askin' her what she'll do when it comes time to chose
sides
Yo, her skin is yellow, it's like her face is blond word is bond
And her hair is long and straight just like sleeping beauty
See, she truly feels like she belong in 2 worlds
And that she can't relate to other girls
Her father was rich and white still livin' with his wife
But he forced himself on her mother late one night
They call it rape that's right and now she take flight
Through life with hate and spite inside her mind
That keep her up to the break of light a lot of times
(I gotta find myself)
(I gotta find myself)
(I gotta find myself)
She had to remind herself
They called her Safronia the unwanted seed
Blood still blue in her vein
And still red when she bleeds
Don't, don't, don't hurt me again
Don't, don't, don't hurt me again
Don't, don't, don't hurt me again
Don't, don't, don't hurt me again
Don't, don't, don't hurt me again
Don't, don't, don't hurt me again
Don't, don't, don't hurt me again
Don't, don't, don't hurt me again
Teenage lovers sit on the stoops up in Harlem
Holdin' hands under the Apollo marquis dreamin' of stardom
Since they was born the streets is watchin' and schemin'
And now it got them generations facin' diseases
That don't kill you they just got problems
And complications that get you first
Yo, it's getting worse, when children hide the fact that they
pregnant
'Cuz they scared of giving birth
How will I feed this baby？
How will I survive, how will this baby shine？
Daddy dead from crack in '85, mommy dead from AIDS in '89
At 14 the baby hit the same streets they became her master
The children of the enslaved, they grow a little faster
They bodies become adult
While they keepin' the thoughts of a child her arrival
Into womanhood was heemed up by her survival
Now she 25, barely grown out her own
Doin' whatever it takes strippin', workin' out on the block
Up on the phone, talkin' about
(My skin is tan like the front of your hand)
And my hair
Well my hair's alright whatever way I want to fix it
It's alright it's fine
But my hips, these sweet hips of mine invite you daddy
And when I fix my lips my mouth is like wine
Take a sip don't be shy, tonight I wanna be your lady
I ain't too good for your Mercedes, but first you got to pay me
You better quit with all the question, sugar who's little girl
am I
Why I'm yours if you got enough money to buy
You better stop with the compliments we running out of time
You wanna talk whatever we could do that it's your dime
From Harlem's from where I came, don't worry about my name
Up on one-two-five they call me sweet thang
A daughter come up in Georgia, ripe and ready to plant seeds
Left the plantation when she saw a sign even thought she can't
read
It came from God and when life get hard she always speak to him
She'd rather kill her babies than let the master get to 'em
She on the run up north to get across that Mason-Dixon
In church she learned how to be patient and keep wishin'
The promise of eternal life after death for those that God bless
She swears the next baby she'll have will breathe a free breath
And get milk from a free breast, and love beeing alive
Otherwise they'll have to give up being themselves to survive
Being maids, cleaning ladies, maybe teachers
Or college graduates, nurses, housewives, prostitutes, and drug
addicts
Some will grow to be old women, some will die before they born
They'll be mothers, and lovers who inspire and make songs
(But me, my skin is brown and my manner is tough)
(Like the love I give my babies when the rainbow's enuff)
I'll kill the first muthafucka that mess with me, I never bluff
I ain't got time to lie, my life has been much too rough
Still running with bare feet, I ain't got nothin' but my soul
Freedom is the ultimate goal
Life and death is small on the whole, in many ways
I'm awfully bitter these days
'Cuz the only parents God gave me, they were slaves
And it crippled me, I got the destiny of a casualty
But I live through my babies and I change my reality
Maybe one day I'll ride back to Georgia on a train
Folks 'round there call me Peaches, I guess that's my name
62.Memories Live
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek
Yo, you know what we got to do, man, we need to get a whole CD
Get a collection of all the music and everything we've ever done
(Bringing back sweet memories)
(Bringing back sweet memories)
(Bringing back sweet memories)
(Sweet memories)
Life, living in Flat bush and going to house parties
Red lights, bumping, life is what you make it, then sorry
In my lifetime, ain't done too many things
Better than watching your first son put his sentences together
Yo, it kinda make me think of way back when
I was the portrait of the artist as a young man
All them teenage dreams of rapping, writing rhymes on napkins
Was really visualization, making this shit actually happen
It's like something come through me that truly just consume me
Speaking through the voices of the spirits speaking to me
I think back in the day, I absorbed everything like a sponge
Took a plunge into my past to share with my son
(Sweet memories)
(Bringing back sweet memories)
(Bringing back sweet memories)
(Sweet memories)
Like thoughts out the back of my mind going back in some time
Like when you used to cut and had to go to the back of the line
Look back and you find tracks that make you relax and recline
Now cats rap about packing a nine when they lacking divine
Inspiration, running out of topics of conversation
Well I drop it in the pocket because rock is my occupation
I do it remarkably, spark up a leaf and possibly you could
follow me
Tap into your chi
Utilize your spiritual faculty, accurately, use your memory
To help you see clearly, then get back to me
Actually, nothing's new under the sun
So when life be stressing me, my remedy is
(Bringing back sweet memories)
Like the faces that are woven in the fabric of my consciousness
From cities where making 21's a big accomplishment
Like when my people understood their prominence
And my past life visions of the continent
Like the first time I saw KRS live, rockin' it
I heard Resurrection by Common Sense, dominant in my psyche
I chose my direction like Spike Lee
To speak my life through mics, and I never take it lightly
It might be something you did to bring you down when you were
high
But that karma's a bitch, you steady asking God, why
Like when my parents first split up, yo, I was illin'
Seems like some years they was together for the sake of the
children
And I love them for that, I don't know if they saw that
So, I'ma say it, and convey it when the world play it
I'ma say it, and convey it when the world play it
I'ma say it, and convey it when the world play it
(Bringing back sweet memories, sweet memories)
(Bringing back sweet memories)
(Bringing back)
Like black is beautiful, names from the seventies
Let me tap into your energy, fields of dreams become my property
When I reach my destiny like a prophecy, especially when I 'm
(Bringing back sweet memories)
I got deep into my mind, see I got a treasury
That float through my head like a sweet melody
What you telling me, reflection is a collection of memories
Definitely this is how hip hop was meant to be
Eventually, I knew I'd run into Hi-Teknology
It was only a matter of time like centuries
Check the recipe or technique to how it sound so sweet
I freak with word power, my man speak with beats
If I could make it in New York, I figured anywhere I'd make it
Came to Cincinnati linked with Mood, and we did Sacred
Hi-Tek beats became my favorite
Hussle on the Side was the cut
We started to put songs together like, what？
Traveled the world, came back to the crib and hit the motherland
Yeah, this year we put in work and got some other plans
In fact, that's where I'll take the fam
When the Reflection joint is done
By the time you hear this, I'll be basking in African sun, like
wow
Yes, we made it, we here
63.Move Something
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek
Kill all the yappin lets make it happen
You cats ain't real, you just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin
I start breakin
The whole joint start shakin
This ain't the time or place for you to prove something
Cut the stargazin' yo, move somethin'!
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
(Alright bring it back to the top)
To be continued...
Lets see what's next up on the menu run up in you
Lyrics that be fuckin with you
In the mental
Pick any mental
Instra, funda, dentra
Extra Extra large like the borough of brooklyn the residential
？extra-stencial？ this specialist
Like sly stone wit my poem and fly song
Ride along capture live and die strong word
We gonna rock till nothing else matters
You catch bodies, we catch exelent cadavers
Your next of kin an' shatter stories splattered in the tabloids
Erase your trace like your cotton mouth and we pepperment
altoids
Step in the high reppin the spot called flatbush
Whether rappers or actors you still feel the gat bust
The abstract then becomes the reality
Alcoholics like to call it the moment of clearity
Kill all the yappin lets make it happen
You cats ain't real, you just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin
I start breakin
The whole joint start shakin
This ain't the time or place for you to prove something
Cut the stargazin' yo, move somethin'!
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
Move Somethin' (move somthin)
64.RE：DEFinition
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek
RE：DEFinition, turning your play into a tragedy
Exhibit level degree on the mic, passionately
Niggaz is sweet so I bet if I bit I'd get a cavity
Livin to get high, you ain't flyer than gravity
We Die Hard like the battery done in the back of me by the mad
MC
who think imitation is the highest form of flattery, actually
Don't be mad at me, I had to be the one to break it to you
You get kicked into obscurity like judo, no Menudo
cause you pseudo, tryin to compete with reality like Xerox
Towards destruction you spiraling like hairlocks, wipe them
teardrops
Chasing stars in your eyes, playing games with your lives
Now the wives is widows soakin up pillows, weepin like willows
Still mo' blacks is dyin, kids ain't livin they tryin
_How to Make a Slave_ by Willie Lynch is still applyin
Regardless, the Mos is one of my closest partners
Rockin ever since before Prince was called The Artist
Rocker before Funkmaster Flex was rockin Starter
When 'Pac and Biggie was still cool before they was martyrs
Life or death, if I'm choosin with every breath I'm enhancin
Stop, there comes a time when you can't run
What, lyrically handsome, call collect a king's ransom
Jams I write soon become the ghetto anthem
Way out like Bruce Wayne's mansion, move like a phantom
You'll talk about me to your grandsons
Cats who claimin they hard be mad fag
so I run through em like, flood water through sandbags
Competition is mad, what I got, they can't have
Sinkin they ship, like Moby Dick, did Ahab
Son I'm way past the minimum, it's a verb millenium
My rap's the holy gas in your bag, like Palestinians
Ancient Abyssinia, sure to hold the Gideon
Official b-boy gentlemen, long term, never the interim
Born inside the winter wind, day after December 10
These simpletons they mentionin the synonym for feminine
Sweeter than some cinnamon from Danish rings by Entenmann's
Rush up on adrenaline, they get they asses sent to them
(Gentlemen) you got a tenement, well then assemble it!
Leave your unit tremblin like herds of movin elephant
Intelligent embellishment, follow for your element
from Flatbush settlement, kid posseses melanin
Hotter than tales of crack peddlin, makin em WOOP
like blue gelatin, swing like Duke Ellington
Broader than Barrington Levy, believe me
The hot oppresion rent who burn down your chief teepee
You see me？
One two three, Mos Def and Talib Kweli
We came to rock it on to the tip-top
Best alliance in hip-hop, wayohh
I said, one two tree, Black Star shine eternally
We came to rock it on to the tip-top
Because we rulin hip-hop, yes we is rulin hip-hop
Talib Kweli is rulin hip-hop
Say we Black Star we rule hip-hop-ah-ahh-ah-ahh-ahh
Whoahhhh!
65.K.O.S. (Determination)
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek
We in the house like Japanese in Japan, or Koreans in Korea
Head to Philly and free Mumia with the Kujichagulia TRUE
Singin is swingin and writin is fightin, but what
they writin got us clashin like titans it's not excitin
No question, bein a black man is demandin
The fire's in my eyes and the flames need fannin (3X)
With that what？ (Knowledge Of Self) Determination
＊repeat 4X＊
Things I say and do, may not come quite through
My words may not convey just what I'm feelin
Yes yes come on, yes yes
Knowledge Of Self is like life after death
With that you never worry about your last breath
Death comes, that's how I'm livin, it's the next days
The flesh goes underground, the book of life, flip the page
Yo they askin me how old, we livin the same age
I feel the rage of a million niggaz locked inside a cage
At exactly which point do you start to realize
That life without knowledge is, death in disguise？
That's why, Knowledge Of Self is like life after death
Apply it, to your life, let destiny manifest
Different day, same confusion, we're gonna take this
hip-hop shit and keep it movin, shed a little light
Now y'all bloomin like a flower with the power of the evident
Voices and drums original instruments
In the flesh presently presentin my representation
With that what？ (Knowledge Of Self) Determination
＊repeat 6X＊
- - - - these two parts overlap - - - -
Things I say and do, may not come quite through
My words may not convey just what I'm feelin
＊repeat 2X＊
The most important time in history is, NOW, the present
So count your blessings cause time can't define the essence
But you stressin over time and you follow the Roman calendar
These people enter Cona like Gattaca, you can bet
they tryin to lock you down like Attica, the African diaspora
represents strength in numbers, a giant can't slumber forever
I know you gotta get that cheddar whatever
Aiyyo I heard you twice the first time money, get it together
You must be History, you repeatin yourself out of the pages
You keepin yourself depleatin your spiritual wealth
That quick cash'll get your ass quick fast in houses of
detention
Inner-city concentration camps where no one pays attention
or mentions the ascension of death, til nothing's left
The young, gifted and Black are sprung addicted to crack
All my people where y'all at cause, y'all ain't here
And your hero's using your mind as a canvas to paint fear
With, broad brush strokes and tales of incarceration
You get out of jail with that Knowledge of Self determination
Stand in ovation, cause you put the Hue in Human
Cause and effect, effect everything you do
and that's why I got love in the face of hate
Hands steady so the lines in the mental illustration is straight
The thought you had don't even contemplate
Infinite like figure eight there's no escape..
From that what？ (Knowledge Of Self) Determination
＊repeat 4X＊
Things I say and do, may not come quite through
My words may not convey just what I'm feelin
＊repeat 2X＊
..
Things I say and do, may not come quite through
My words may not convey just what I'm feelin
＊repeat 2X＊
What I'm feelin, what I'm feelin, ooooh, what I'm feelin...
66.Love Language
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek
Yo, we're going to have the word love
In many different languages
Translated all through the track
So, whenever you hear the word love
Know that, it's going to be in a different language
The language of love cannot be translated, yo
Love is blind, you just see bright light
You up in the club feeling' the night life
Looking' for the right type
Blood rushing to your heart making it beat
When she swept you off your feet and made it complete
You know the plan you had to conquer the world
Thinking you Scarface, looking for that perfect girl
And now you found her
Started with romantic, then got to frantic
Then things that's normally small become gigantic
Now y'all sinking like the Titanic, here come the panic
When I'm with you like a habit, without you I can't stand it
It's tragic when you wonder when you lost that magic
Without understanding that you never had it try to grab it
In the bed can't get a nut off, communication cut off
Getting mad, 'cause you turned or wondering where she shut off
Constantly comparing you to someone in my past
We don't smile anymore, and we argue over cash
Advance to that physical shit
See what happens if you keep talking
See what happens if you lay a finger on me motherfucker
Yo, see what I'm saying'
It's like one big mind game that everybody playing' and
Niggas say bitches is trife, bitches say niggas is
We just don't understand our fundamental differences
I'm still learning though, actually
I just do what come naturally naturally, naturally
L'amour n'a pas de, frontiere
Restes car je t'aime comme tu es
J'ai traverse l'ocean du verbe
Et je t'ai trouve
Women thrive on emotions, men refuse to acknowledge
So when we arguing' nobody win
Words get in the way time and again
Sticks and stones break your bones words break your heart
Whether you in touch with that part or not say word
Words are weapons for the revolutionary
Used for evil make the situation very scary
Word up, but love is brave, it flies in the face of fear
Yo, wherever you want to go love'll take you there
Let's go, you know a flower that grow in the ghetto
Know more about survival than the one from fresh meadows
It got love for the sun, that's where I'm coming from
Spit and it's smashing, 'cause the love rocking' over drums
Word, I put my love into my music
If you with me then you love how I do it
If my heart you're living' in your ocean I'm swimming' in
Never drowning got me floating' watching you in slow motion
Love potion overdosing' approaching'
The explosion of my senses
Everyday without your heart
Is like a sentence in jail
Trust I'll always be mentally free
You got the key to let it out I'll show you how it could be
Love, it ain't nothing' but a word
A chicken ain't nothing' but a bird, yo, yo, yo
L'amour n'a pas de, frontiere
Restes car je t'aime comme tu es
J'ai traverse l'ocean du verbe
Et je t'ai trouve
Some of you love that material bug
Love enter my life like a miracle
And it reciprocal that's why I'm feeling you love
We exhibit our natural behavior
Like making love under the moon in Jamaica
Get you so hot you call the name of the creata
The morning we hop back into action again
Up on a wall love how the sun liking your skin
Remember when we explored the beach
Swam in the ocean and saw beneath
How the colors of the coral reef
Looked like the idlest floral piece
That's what your beauty remind me of
It's hard to find a love like ours, taking it high above
Them other duns try to spit game but, I don't sweat it though
Know in my heart that we connected so I let it go
Now if they call you out your name and that's a different thing
Anything but Queen I'll go to war like a King
Your friends sweat you, 'cause you ain't got a band
But they don't understand
Some things is meant to stay between a woman and man
And they hate Griffy too so they try to get into it
Both you and me see through it so the way we flow is fluid
We speak the love language, they speak from pain and anguish
Some don't love themselves so they perception is tainted
Out the joint like 'shit he paying for you and missing the point
When you rubbed me into your skin just like an ointment
Is more than pillow talk, it can't be translated
But how to speak it, and become emancipated, it's a language
Universal love
L'amour n'a pas de, frontiere
Restes car je t'aime comme tu es
J'ai traverse l'ocean du verbe
Et je t'ai trouve
Oh, love, love love love love, love, love
Love love love love, love, love
Love love love love, love, love
Love love love love, love, love
...
67.B Boys Will B Boys
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek
Yo yo, yo, whassup, yo yo
Yo yo, we gonna, we gonna slow it down
so we can speed it up y'all
Right now I want everybody come to the front
That's right, move forward
I want all the poppers and the breakers, to form this circle
I want all the poppers and the breakers
The writers and the exciters, to get in this circle
and make it real live yo
Cause I'm seein too many stars up in here tonight yo
I'm seein the Rock Steady Crew
I'm seein Ken Swift, I'm seein Mr. Wiggles
I'm seein Modesho, I'm seein Crazy Legs
Man I'm seein the Zulu Nation up in here
I'm seein the Rawkus family, Shabaam Shadeeq, Company Flow
Menelik, I'm seein G-ology, Shawn J. Period
Man this the Black Star movement
Mos Def, Talib Kweli we gon' keep it live
for the b boys and b girls universally
Rock Steady Japan, Rock Steady Europe
Rock Steady New York, yo we just gonna keep it live
all over the world -- get live
Party people, in the place to be
My name is Talib Kweli
Yo, I got my man on the side of me
Mos Def-initely, and we, are
(Fresh) Black Star
(Fresh) G Young
(Fresh) Hi-Tek
(Fresh) Native Tongue
(Fresh) Shawn J.
(Fresh) Eighty-eight
(Fresh) Ninety-eight
we bout to motivate, come on y'all
Here's a little story that must be told
About two young brothers who was put on hold
They tried to stop the goal
We on a spiritual plane
Tried to kill the pride
And destroy the name
We just two bad brothers
Who will never quit
I'm Mos Def
Kweli (WE THE ULTIMATE)
Make sure that you tell
Everybody you know
To get on line
Take a ride
To the Black Star show!
Black Star
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house y'all
Black Star
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house y'all
Black Star
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house y'all
Black Star
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house
Shinin
Shinin, we in the house y'all
68.Big Nel from Da Natti
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek
Let 'em know how we do it down in the C.O.
We 'bout to get thang started
Know what I'm sayin'？ The year 2000
I'm 'bout to let these muthafuckas know
Big D representin' all the way from the C.O.
Cincinnati, Ohio that's what it is
Ayyo I'm givin' some shout outs to my kids
I'm just a real ass nigga from the Natti
I used to drive caddies and used to be a Pimp daddy
And now, I chill in the studio, roll wit' my niggas
And we sippin' on Henny though
Yeah, I like to smoke on the hydro
Go to the club, might pick up a freaky hoe
Yeah, what's up my niggas？ We doin' it like that
While we in the bank countin' figures
You know how we gettin' things started down here in the Natti
You know, come down here you kick it with me, Big D
Y'know, ride out, get cloud out, smoked out
Know what I'm sayin'？ Get things poppin'
You know how we do it, got the forty fluid
Know what I'm sayin'？ Yeah, yeah
69.Astronomy (8th Light)
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek F／ Mos Def
Black people unite and let's all get down
We got to have what？ We got to have that love
What is the Black Star？
Is it the cat with the black shades, the black car？
Is it shinin from very far, to where you are？
It is commonplace and different
Intimate and distant
Fresher than an infant
Black, my family thick, like they're striped molasses
Star, on the rise, in the eyes of the masses
Black is the color of my true love's hair
Star's are bright, shining, hot balls of air
Black like my baby girl's stare
Black like the veil that the muslimina wear
Black like the planet that they fear, why they scared？
Black like the slave ship that later brought us here
Black like the cheeks that are roadways for tears
that leave black faces well traveled with years
Black like assassin crosshairs
Blacker than my granddaddy armchair
He never really got no time to chill there
Cause this life is warfare, warfare
Deep on the front lines, and blacks is all there
Black like the perception of who, on welfare
Black like faces at the bottom of the well
I've been there before
To bring the light and heat it up like 'la cocina'
Make without imagine happen but maybe I'm just a dreamer
I love rockin tracks like John Coltrane love Naema
Who acknowledge truth and peace seekers
We on point like heat seekers
Targettin the black marketing strategists
Run up on em with the heaters
Everybody followin with no leaders
Feelin like we killin ourselves
because I know they can't defeat us
It don't stop til we complete this, keep this fly
There's so much to life when you just stay Black and God
Blacker than the nighttime sky of Bed-Stuy in July
Blacker than the seed in the blackberry pie
Blacker than the middle of my eye
Black like feh-lah man cry
Some man wan ask 'Who am I？'
I simply reply, 'The U.N.I., V.E.R.S.A.L. Magnetic'
Work to respect the angelic, climb the mountaintop
and tell it til the valley's enveloped
You're full of big chat but you nah know me
I'm dark like the side of the moon you don't see
when the moon shine newly
We be shinin and shinin, when we rhymin and rhymin
Now everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
The 8th Light, is gonna shine bright tonight
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
Now black people unite, and let's ALL GET DOWN
Now everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
The 8th Light, is gonna shine bright tonight
Everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
The 8th Light, is gonna shine bright tonight
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
Equalin up to eight, light shine bright
70.Definition
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek F／ Mos Def
Yo, from the first to the last of it, delivery is passionate
The whole and not the half of it, vocab and not the math of it
Projectile that them blasted with, accurate assassin shit
Me and Kweli close like, Bethlehem and Nazareth
After this you be pressing rewind on top your master disk
Shining like an asterisk for all those that be gatherin
Connectin like a roundhouse from the townhouse to the tenaments
Cause all my Brooklyn residents, ？ heavy regiments
Don't believe, here the evidence, where Brooklyn WHAAAAAAAoohhhh
See that？ Bound to take it all kid, believe that
From where they sellin tree at, to where the police be at
Talib Kweli e-Kweli-ty yo tell them where we be at
Brooklyn New York City where they paint murals of Biggie
In cash we trust cause it's ghetto fabulous, life look pretty
what a pity -- blunts is still fifty cents, it's intense
Tree scents is dominant can't be covered with incense
My presence felt my name is Kweli from the Eternal Reflection
People thinkin MC is short hand for Mis Conception
Let me meditate, set it straight, came to the conclusion
that most of these cats is featherweight, let me demonstrate
Walkin the streets is like battlin, be careful with your body
You must know karate or think your soul is bulletproof like Sade
Stop actin like a bitch already, be a visionary
And maybe you can see your name in the column of obituary
Third rate teacher readin and talkin about,
'I knew he'd amount to nothin'
Neighbors like, 'He was the quiet type,
who'd have thought they was frontin？'
Talkin +Loud+ like you in RCA, get carted away
with body parts and treys, what a way to start your day
Yo it's like
Chorus： Mos Def and Talib Kweli
One two three
Mos Def and Talib Kweli
We came to rock it on to the tip-top
Best alliance in hip-hop, wyahhhhh
I said one two three
It's kind of dangerous to be a emcee
They shot Tupac and Biggie
Too much violence in hip-hop, wyahhhhh
I said Manhattan keep on makin it (Bo!), Brooklyn keep on takin
it (Bo!)
So relax we're takin it back, Redhook where we're livin at
Plenty cats be strugglin not hustlin and bubblin
It ain't about production and -- what else we discussin？
When the cock crows, my crop grows, enable me to rock flows
Strivin for perfection ever since I was a snot-nosed
COLOSSAL, true original b-boy apostle
Standin on the rooftop with the, Zulu gestapo
You think you the shit
somebody in the wings'll force you to quit
It could be your crew or click
or some random kid you smoked buddha with
Consider me the entity within the industry without a history
of spittin the epitome, of stupidity -- livin my life
expressin my liberty, it gotta be done properly
My name is in the middle of e-Kweli-ty
People follow me and other cats they hear him flow
And assume I'm the real one with lyrics like I'm Cyrano
Still sippin wishin well water, imported, from Pluto
Three hundred and sixty milliliters for all our believers
In miles or kilometers, most cats, cannot proceed us
in the jungle with the leaders we the lions you the +cheaters+
A cypher, will complete us if we come through your receivers
You can play us and repeat us and then take us home and read us
(line for line) Good Jesus, Mos Def and Kweli just
make a pussy freeze up, thinkin we will ease up
Chorus
71.Children's Story
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek F／ Mos Def
it's time to go to bed y'all
Time to go to bed -- I don't wanna hear that
You know what time it is, you know what time it is
Once upon a time not long ago
When people wore Adidas and lived life slow
When laws were stern and justice stood
And people was behavin' like hip-hop was good
There lived a little boy who was misled
By a little Sha-tan and this is what he said
'Me and you kid we gonna make some cash,
Jackin' old beats and makin' the dash...'
They jacked the beats, money came wit' ease
But son, he couldn't stop, it's like he had a disease
He jacked another and another, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder
Set some R ＆ B over the track for 'Deep Cover' (187!)
The kid got wild startin' actin' erratic
He said 'Yo, that presidential I got ta have it...'
With liquor in his belly son, he made up the track
But little did he know that his joints was wack
The shiny A ＆ R said 'Great new hit G!'
'Whenever you need a loop, yo come get me...'
The kid got amped and he starts to figure
'I'm-a get dough like all-a these otha niggaz!'
So, he's in the studio workin' 'round the clock
For pop radio, jacked the beat to 'Planet Rock'
Was out in the street when he met this sister
Who couldn't sing for shhhh but the mix wit' her sister
Hooked up the track and in excitation
He decided he'd head for the radio station
But (But!) he was runnin' and he made a left
Was skeezin' at top speed and ran into Mos Def
I slowed the young man down and I started： 'Yo money,
Yo, why you sellin' lies to our wives and children？'
He ran upstairs up to the top floor
Opened up the door then guess what he saw？ (Who？)
JANE the chickenhead radio host
Who be yappin' 'bout beef between east and west coast
He said 'This one's a bullet, you got ta give it run!'
The chicken said 'Thanks.' and spanked it #1
He went outside, was gettin' props all over
Then he dipped into his ride, the 4-point Rover
Raced up the block doin' 83
Some cats with Hennessey saw him at a R-E-D
He winked his eye like his star status mattered
They rat-a-tat-tatted to make his blood splatter
'You rockin' crazy ice and all you do is cling static
And rollin' down to Brooklyn late night is problematic...'
His eyes was bloody red, he hung on every word they said
They told the kid 'Back down, that playa shit is dead.'
Deep in his heart, he knew he was gone
But he grabbed his 45 and decide to blaze on
Wit' shades on founded had him astounded an'
Before long, the young man got surrounded
Those grabbed the guns, so goes the glory
And that is the way I got ta end this story
He was out chasin' cream and the American dream
Tryin' to pretend the ends justify the means
This ain't funny so don't you dare laugh
It's just what comes to pass when you sell your ass
Life is more than what your hands can grasp
Good Night!
(kids talking)
Knock 'em out the box Mos, knock 'em out Mos
Knock 'em out the box Mos, knock 'em out Mos (3x)
Knock 'em out...
A-nother...Mos Def...Black Star MOVEMENT...
presentation... CRUUUMBS!
72.Brown Skin Lady
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek F／ Mos Def
＊Mos Def singing＊
I like the, I like the, I like the, I like the
way you walk, yes, I live the way you move
I like the way you move, I like the WAY you move
way you walk, please, won't you do that dance
I like the way you move, I like you baby
And everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing
Everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing, there
she is
Fresher than Tony Rebel's vestibules at African street festivals
My incredible women is, plentiful
Over the years I met a few, none of them compare to you
Preparin you to make food bearable, somethin terrible, let's
see：
you fruitful, beautiful, smart, lovable, huggable
Doable like art, suitable to be part
of my life, Coppertone, oh you copyright infringement
Pay you bidness ten cents, way back in the day
It's like I'm standin there you know appreciatin God's design
and then you showed up, it's like you read my mind
DAMN SHE'S FINE, I think I add the R-E, in front of that
and see if she D, to get, with a cat like me
way you walk, yes, I live the way you move
I like the way you move, I like the WAY you move
way you walk, please, won't you do that dance
I like the way you move, I like you baby
And everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing
Everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing, there
she is
Ooooh! Daring me girl, look at you!
Comin on the block lookin fresh and brand new
Ooooh! Headwrap cover your hairdo
Pretty feet peekin through open-toed shoe
Ooooh! No limit to what I would do
Make love to you like long interview
Whooh! Is she for real, me like you
Good look champion, win the title
True, many man try invite you
Shot down lyric each time they cyph you
Jewel, what man you get all insides you
Feet they walk way and just that sheik posture
Ooooh! Can't be a next one like you
Famous like tapes made by DJ Clue
I tighten up my game as I approach you
Yo check her she the nectar the bee get close to
...
I don't get many compliments, but I am confident
Used to have a complex about, gettin too complex
You got me, willin to try, looked me in the eye
My head is still in the sky, since you walked on by
I'm feelin high, got my imagination flickerin like hot flames
it's how it seems, you make me wanna ride the Coltrane to A Love
Supreme
My brown lady, creates environments, for
happy brown babies, I know it sounds crazy
but your skin's the inspiration for cocoa butter
You provoke a brother we should get to know one another
I discover when I bring you through my people say TRUE, all I
can say
is all praise due I thank you God for a beauty like you
＊Mos Def singing＊
way you walk, yes, I live the way you move
I like the way you move, I like the WAY you move
way you walk, yes, please do that dance
I like the way you move, I like you baby
And everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing
Everybody on the avenue, I know, when they see us sing, there
she is
Such a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
She's a brown skinned lady
You know what some people put themselves through
to look just like you？
Dark stocking, high heels, lipstick, alla that
You know what？
Without makeup you're beautiful
Whatcha you need to paint the next face for
We're not dealin with the European standard of beauty tonight
Turn off the TV and put the magazine away
In the mirror tell me what you see
See the evidence of divine presence
Women of the, Carribean, they got the, golden sun
I know women on the continent got it
Nigeria, and Ghana, you know they got it
Tanzania, Namibia and Mozambique
and Bothswana, to let it speak
about latinas, columbianas
...
Tallenas, of course the Brooklyn women walk that walk
And the Bronx women walk that walk
Honies from Queens walk that walk, NYC, ATL, LA
Cincinatti, the Bay Area...
73.Hater Players
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek F／ Mos Def
To me, it's a Small Wonder, like Vicki, why I'm picky
These niggas suck like hickies
and still get the shit they slip in like Mickies
I'm sick of the hater-players, bring on the regulators
With the flavors like a farm team fucking with the majors
Like a river how I run through it, I do it so cold
Freezin up your bodily fluids, your style is old
You runnin your mouth, but don't really know what you be talkin
about
You should retire, get that complimentary watch, be out!
Yo, with the quickness, so swift you miss this lyrical fitness
Now get this, these emcees wanna test me like litmus, bear
witness
I'm like shot clocks, interstate cops, and blood clots
My point is, your flow can stop!
By all means, you need more practice, take that ass home
Everybody lookin at you, fish tanks and drome
In full effect, I stay catchin lyrical rep
And keep it blacker than the back of your neck
What you expect, that shit's hollerin
Cause we developin the followin
gettin played like ？stones？ off tapes and ？dollar vans？
I'll reverse you, universal, your demise is first
Before your rise gets worse
You need a night nurse like Gregory, beggin me
Stop it hurts, what you say to me？
Like thats supposed to mean something
You don't wanna scene, frontin in the club
Your actin, I don't buy it, I got the Dub
Come on everybody, come on and show your love
＊repeat 4X＊
Chorus： ＊chanted in background＊
Wo-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-uh-oh ＊repeated 4X＊
Visions occupy my synaptic's space
Command and shake, to illustrate my mind's landscape
The tall grass, the low plains, the mountanous ridges
Thickets among the forests, rivers beneath the bridges
Presence of hilltops, lit up with tree tops
Eavesdrop; and hear the incline of sunshine, nine
Stones in orbit, refuse to forfeit
They all form a cipher, and they came to observe it
I follow suit, and face it, embrace it
Shinin bright, but still I'm careful not to waste it
Destined to rise, because I'm basement adjacent
Spirit is still so just chill and be patient
Some heads approach like I'm the one to base with
Clowns about, screamin but don't say shit
I ain't your student so I ain't to be tested
I'm majestic, I represent my strength without ？Epitmass？
Method is unorthodox, but of course it rocks
My serious synopsis will drop kick, my topics
Run the gauntlets and galvanize the audience
I must represent, I don't come off with no corniness
I'm all luminary, despite commentary
Some people say, Mos how you get so？
My sign will make you jump around like calypso
And murmur to yourself like a schizo
There ain't no bottom on the ？？？
Chorus
Come on, come on, come on, come on. Here we go. Blackstar, hop
on the
Blackstar line. We bout to take y'all home. Ya know what I mean？
Here we
go...
We got all markets on lock
From meat to stock
Blackstar, what？ throwin like head rock in bars
Men flock to where we are, cause its the place to be
Grab my paint, jump on stage and deface emcees
We sell our souls like Spawn and come for the drone I sit upon
Freestyle or written songs so we can get it on!
Going back and forth, fallin back, all across the track
Passin the mic's like quarterbacks
of course its phat, get off of that!
Reverse psychology got em scared to say when shit is whack
Got fear of being called a hater, imagine that! We ain't havin
that
We just passed the star status that your grabbin at
My battle raps blast your ass back to your natural habitat
So floss, cause what it costs ain't worth it to me
Cause I'm the one these Spice Girl emcees Wanna Be
But they can't, ain't no points forever, so why bother？
Cause your girl calls my name out like Claerance Carter,
Claerance
Carter, Clarence Carter!？! (I be strokin, thats what I be doin)
Aiyyo, as we rock harder
And always drop the bonified head nodders
Aiyyo, later for the hater-players
Yo-yo, yo-yo, later for these hater-players
Chorus
Blackstar keeps shining
Chorus
Blackstar keeps shining
74.Theives In The Night
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek F／ Mos Def
'Give me the fortune, keep the fame,' said my man Louis
I agreed, know what he mean because we live the truest lie
I asked him why we follow the law of the bluest eye
He looked at me, he thought about it
Was like, 'I'm clueless, why？'
The question was rhetorical, the answer is horrible
Our morals are out of place and got our lives full of sorrow
And so tomorrow comin later than usual
Waitin' on someone to pity us
While we findin beauty in the hideous
They say money's the root of all evil but I can't tell
YouknowhatImean, pesos, francs, yens, cowrie shells, dollar
bills
Or is it the mindstate that's ill？
Creating crime rates to fill the new prisons they build
Over money and religion there's more blood to spill
The wounds of slaves in cotton fields that never heal
What's the deal？
A lot of cats who buy records are straight broke
But my language universal they be recitin my quotes
While R＆B singers hit bad notes, we rock the boat
of thought, that my man Louis' statements just provoked
Caught up, in conversations of our personal worth
Brought up, through endangered species status on the planet
Earth
Survival tactics means, bustin gats to prove you hard
Your firearms are too short to box with God
Without faith, all of that is illusionary
Raise my son, no vindication of manhood necessary
so we can call ourselves brave？
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
Yo, I'm sure that everbody out listenin agree
That everything you see ain't really how it be
A lot of jokers out runnin in place, chasin the style
Be a lot goin on beneath the empty smile
Most cats in my area be lovin the hysteria
Synthesized surface conceals the interior
America, land of opportunity, mirages and camoflauges
More than usually -- speakin loudly, sayin nothin
You confusin me, you losin me
Your game is twisted, want me enlisted -- in your usary
Foolishly, most men join the ranks cluelessly
Buffoonishly accept the deception, believe the perception
Reflection rarely seen across the surface of the lookin glass
Walkin the street, wonderin who they be lookin past
Lookin gassed with them imported designer shades on
Stars shine bright, but the light -- rarely stays on
Same song, just remixed, different arrangement
Put you on a yacht but they won't call it a slaveship
Strangeness, you don't control this, you barely hold this
Screamin brand new, when they just sanitized the old shit
Suppose it's, just another clever Jedi mind trick
That they been runnin across stars through all the time with
I find it's distressin, there's never no in-between
We either niggaz or Kings
We either bitches or Queens
The deadly ritual seems immersed, in the perverse
Full of short attention spans, short tempers, and short skirts
Long barrel automatics released in short bursts
The length of black life is treated with short worth
Get yours first, them other niggaz secondary
That type of illin that be fillin up the cemetary
This life is temporary but the soul is eternal
Separate the real from the lie, let me learn you
Not strong, only aggressive, cause the power ain't directed
That's why, we are subjected to the will of the oppressive
Not free, we only licensed
Not live, we just excitin
Cause the captors.. own the masters.. to what we writin
Not compassionate, only polite, we well trained
Our sincerity's rehearsed in stage, it's just a game
Not good, but well behaved cause the ca-me-ra survey
most of the things that we think, do, or say
We chasin after death just to call ourselves brave
But everyday, next man meet with the grave
I give a damn if any fam' recall my legacy
I'm tryin to live life in the sight of God's memory
Like that y'all
A lot of people don't understand the true criteria of things
Can't just accept the appearance
Have to get the true essence
They ain't lookin around
so we can call ourselves brave？
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
Stop hidin, stop hidin, stop hidin your face
Stop hidin, stop hidin, cause ain't no hiding place
＊ repeat 2X＊
(Ad libs to fade)
75.Respiration
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek F／ Mos Def, Common
(translation of spanish：Listen to it.. the city breathing)
＊ woman repeats 3X ＊
The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis
Shinin, like who on top of this？
People was tusslin, arguin and bustlin
Gangstaz of Gotham hardcore hustlin
I'm wrestlin with words and ideas
My ears is picky, seekin what will transmit
the scribes can apply to transcript, yo
This ain't no time where the usual is suitable
Tonight alive, let's describe the inscrutable
The indisputable, we New York the narcotic
Strength in metal and fiber optics
where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips
for profits, thirsty criminals take pockets
Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin class watches
Skyscrapers is collosus, the cost of living
is preposterous, stay alive, you play or die, no options
No Batman and Robin, can't tell between
the cops and the robbers, they both partners, they all heartless
With no conscience, back streets stay darkened
Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened
My eagle talons STAY sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin
You either make a way or stay sobbin, the Shiny Apple
is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat
You could lose your teeth, many crews retreat
Nightly news repeat, who got shot down and locked down
Spotlight to savages, NASDAQ averages
My narrative, rose to explain this existance
Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance
So much on my mind that I can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving
Breathin in deep city breaths, sittin on shitty steps
we stoop to new lows, hell froze the night the city slept
The beast crept through concrete jungles
communicatin with one another
And ghetto birds where waters fall
from the hydrants to the gutters
The beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin
You on the wrong side of the track, lookin visibly shaken
Taken them plungers, plungin to death that's painted by the
numbers
with crime unapplied pressure, cats is playin God
but havin children by a lesser baby mother but fuck it
we played against each other like puppets, swearin you got pull
when the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes
Gettin knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise
Look in the skies for God, what you see besides the smog
is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene
Thoughts that people put in the air
Places where you could get murdered over a glare
But everything is fair
It's a paradox we call reality
So keepin it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality
Killers Born Naturally like, Mickey and Mallory
Not knowing the ways'll get you capped like an NBA salary
Some cats be emceeing to illustrate what we be seeing
Hard to be a spiritual being when shit is shakin what you
believe in
For trees to grow in Brooklyn, seeds need to be planted
I'm asking if y'all feel me AND THE CROWD LEFT ME STRANDED
My blood pressure boiled and rose, cause New York niggaz
actin spoiled at shows, to the winners the spoils go
I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates
New York life type trife the Roman Empire state
So much on my mind I just can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Yo don't the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving
Yo...on The Amen, Corner I stood lookin at my former hood
Felt the spirit in the wind, knew my friend was gone for good
Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, I couldn't mask it
Mixin down emotions, struggle I hadn't mastered
I coreograph seven steps to heaven
And hell, waiting to exhale and make the bread leavened
Veteran of a cold war It's Chica-I-go for
What I know or, what's known
So some days I take the bus home, just to touch home
From the crib I spend months gone
Sat by the window with a clutched dome listenin to shorties cuss
long
Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong
Tried to call, or at least beep the Lord, but didn't have a
touch-tone
It's a dog-eat-dog world, you gotta mush on
Some of this land I must own
Outta the city, they want us gone
Tearin down the 'jects creatin plush homes
My circumstance is between Cabrini and Love Jones
Surrounded by hate, yet I love home
Ask my God how he thought travellin the world sound
Found it hard to imagine he hadn't been past downtown
It's deep, I heard the city breathe in its sleep
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep
Deep, I heard my man breathe in his sleep
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep
So much on my mind I just can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Yo how the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathing
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Kiss the Ide's goodbye, I'm on the last train leaving
76.Twice Inna Lifetime
Talib Kweli ＆ Hi Tek F／ Mos Def, Jane Doe, Punch, Words
Hail Mary, 'matta fact hail Jane
Niggaz take my name in vain／vein like I was cocaine
My affirmations kill emcees like assasination
Bringin' you pain until you wish you had a vaccination
Or vaccine, I shine like Vaseline
Gas plays like petroleum, walk over them like linoleum
My vocab expand like a rubber band
Walkin' nekkid through the motherland, give the finger to my
brotherman
Niggaz just don't understand my reasons, I transcend like season
And scar these rappers like legion
It's treason, my suspension attract attention
I'm ventin', givin' these chickenheads detention
Did I mention my name, yo, go by the Jane Doe
Drenched in Polo, chill downtown in Soho
You don't know, this is just half my potential
Check my credentials, come harder than sequential
It's essential, you listen, I drive, you a pedestrian
They bless me on the track cuz I attack wit' the estrogen
Rhyme against the best a men, Jane burn it up
When you hear it in the whip, tell your man to turn it up!
Yo...get it...yo
Yo, we fortified live, supportin' allies
The wack is tryin' to shorten our lives, it sorta waters my eyes
But here is some'n the cryin' talk about
The verse on that cassette you and cousin fought about
That led to God and Satan's fallin' out
Encourage the liquor for those who ain't here that you pourin'
out
On 3-way, your parents, preacher and spouse called my house
Revive or ruin, my theories of mics
Sony or Aiwa, black or white, I fit in all stereotypes
Search for a cast to plot, I make you a laughin' stock
So shook, I could walk a half a block and feel the aftershocks
Rain of acid drops, seek some help
Now don't rewind, get it the first time,
Shouldn't have to repeat myself
Eternally verbally, I have numbers, succumb to time outs
In rhyme bouts you'll dial 9, just to get a line out
Known fact or factors and non-rappers fractured
Results in more cast appearances than a hundred actors
Emcees I'm testin' like diseases injected in gerbils
Wordsworth, Kweli, Hi-Tek, Reflection Eternal..what...
My style high life like Fonz when I burn heads like a conk
Cuz niggaz front, when their chances get slim like Pharoahe
Monch
Thinkin' they shits is heavy when they light like ilumination
Intellectual masturbation with premature ejaculation
I'm comin' cleaner than vaccinations
My fascination with character assassination,
Got these niggaz burnin' like sensation
We keep it hot like matches and on lock like latches
Wack emcees get they microphones snatched like Lee patches
So YOU GO! To every wack muthafucka that you know (Scram...)
My lyrics they get up in your genes／jeans like Parasucos
So there's no mystery about the father, niggaz is hot and
bothered
Like the bitches that they are, takin' pictures with stars
And got 'em open, but after they little hopes and dreams get
broken
Me and Hi-Tek, we live long and prosper like Vulcans
Think I'm jokin'？ We both got sons, we make cream and break
dreams
See through the fake schemes, wipin' your slate clean
Like a squeegee, we be lightin' shit up like phosphorus
Turnin' flamboyant niggaz anonymous, depressin' to optimus
You stoppin' us is preposterous, like an androgenous masohganist
You pickin' the wrong time, steppin' to me when I'm in my prime
like Optimus
Transformin', from rookie of the year to veteran
Hip-hop is big business like Con Edison or medicine
But fuck it, they gonna let us in, or else we rush the door
I got to many reasons, save your 'whys' and 'what fors'
CHORUS：
'em know,
yo!)
Blackstar, Wordsorth, Punchline and Jane Doe (yo!)
We got the fortified five, exhibit level degree
Check it...
I keep dough in my pocket while you follow the false prophet
Get deep like Islamics wrapped in a white garment
I touch topics that try to open up your optics
Vacate in the Tropics, you dodgin' bullets in the projects
Cut the nonsense, I'm hotter than alot a men
Start honorin', got more wifeys than Solomon
Fuck the squad you in, a-yo we be the biddomb
Regardless what I spit on, you worse with the tracks I shit on
Once you get on, it's fair you can't trust (Yes!)
Words ＆ Punch, make rappers march like the third month
I build with friends, lyrically spit gems
Call me diamond, cuz I'm your girl's best friend
Emcees are born losers, alcoholic abusers
I'll go on the radio and start a gay rumor
And then I'll talk about how the crowd tried to boo ya
Label shoot ya, stressed out with brain tumors
My gat claps, 50% of the wack
Take it back to real rap, Krylons wit' the fat cap
Get robbed for your ASCAP, leave you inside
Fortified live, reppin' NY 'til I die!
Black body radiation situation that we workin' wit'
My verb exists enlisted by the bogeys campin' services
The purpose is, make you go and purchase this, no nervousness
We are, hot like black tar, Black Star with emergerence
Superlative, you fabricated like the word absurditive
I'm rockin this from here to where the purges live
To Brooklyn where the merchants live
Next door to the murderers
And bourbon is a elder man's medicinal alternative
My memory is furnished with, back streets to back seats to fat
Jeeps
Legendary athletes who play by the trash heap
My crew wasn't that deep, but beef we didn't act sweet
Treadin' on these stompin grounds you better catch some black
feet
Flashy, it was between DeKalb and Pulasky
Off the meter like an out of borough taxi
They run your pockets fastly, black and nasty, nappy and crafty
And SWAT are either sittin' in Clinton or Kaksaki
Man Rudolph can screw off! You too soft to stop us
You and your coppers should see some foot doctors
Got your burnt chest popped up, but keep your guns cocked up
Cuz all them cats that you knocked up and always gon' be locked
up
Hide yaself like Donna Summer, another number one
And comin' from the underground, this is how it's comin' down
Baby let me run it down,
Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Jane Doe, Punch, Wor.. umm..E!
Excuse me! Just ate another emcee!
Sometimes that's just how it be
Partner wash you down with green tea and some lime
We like the five on the fist, fortified organized like DIS!
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