Excursions

[Verse 1: Q-Tip] Back in the days when I was a teenager Before I had status and before I had a pager You could find the Abstract listenin' to hip-hop My pops used to say, it reminded him of Bebop I said, "Well, Daddy, don't you know that things go in cycles? Way that Bobby Brown is just amping like Michael" It's all expected, things are for the lookin' If you got the money, Quest is for the bookin' Come on everybody, let's get with the fly mode Still got room on the truckload of black boom Listen to the rhymes, then get a mental picture Of this black man, and black woman fixture Why do I say that? 'Cause I gotta speak the truth, man Doin' what we feel for the music is the proof, and Planted on the ground, the act is so together Bona fide strong, you need leverage to sever The unit, yes, the unit, yes, the unit called the jazz is Delivering each year an LP filled with street goods You can find it on your rack in your record store If you get the record, say your thoughts are adored And appreciated, 'cause we're ever so glad we made it We work hard, so we gotta thank God Dishin' out the plastic, do the dance 'til you're spastic If you diss—it gets drastic Listen to the rhyme, 'cause it's time to make gravy If it moves your booty, then shake, shake it, baby All the way to Africa, A.K.A. the Motherland (Uh) Stick out the left, then I'll ask for the other hand That's the right hand, Black man Only if you are noted as my man If I get the credit, then I think I deserve it If you fake moves, don't fix your mouth to word it Get in the zone of positivity, not negativity 'Cause we gotta strive for longevity If you botch up, what's in that [ass] (What?) A pair of Nikes, size ten-and-a-half (Uh, uh, come on!) [Chorus] We gotta make moves (Words) Never, ever, ever could we fake moves (come on, come on) We gotta make moves (Words) Never, ever, ever could we fake moves (Come on, come on) We gotta make moves Never, ever, ever could we fake moves (Come on, come on) We gotta make moves Never, ever, ever could we fake moves (Oooh) [Interlude: Sample] "Time, time is a ship on a merciless sea drifting toward an abyss of nothingness until it can be recharted for its own destiny Time is an inanimate object paying and paying and paying for no justification for belief Time is dancing, boogalooing-away all memories of past—" [Verse 2: Q-Tip] We gotta be a winner all the time Can't fall prey to a hip-hop crime With the dope raps and dope tracks we move blocks From the fly girlies to the hardest of the rocks Musically the Quest, is on the rise We on these excursions so you must realize That continually, I pop my Zulu [shit] If you don't like it, get off the Zulu tip So what can you do in the times which exist You can't fake moves on your brother or your sis But if your sis is a [bitch], brother is a jerk Leave 'em both alone and continue with your work Whatever it may be in today's society Everything is fair, least that's how it seems to me You must be honest and true to the next Don't be phony and expect one not to flex Especially if you rhyme, you have to live by the pen Your man is your man, then treat him like your friend All it is, is the code of the streets So listen to the knowledge being dropped over beats Beats that are hard, beats that are funky They could get you hooked like a crackhead junkie What you gotta do is know the Tribe is in the sphere The Abstract Poet, prominent like Shakespeare (Or Edgar Allan Poe, or Langston Hughes, or...) [Chorus] We gotta make moves Never, ever, ever could we fake moves (Come on, come on) We gotta make moves Never, ever, ever could we fake moves (Come on, come on) We gotta make moves Never, ever, ever could we fake moves (Come on, come on) We gotta make moves Never, ever, ever could we fake moves (Oooh) [Outro: Sample + Q-Tip] "—time is running out on black power advocates in the day and white thighed supporters at night Every time you see them, they're chasin' some white woman with their tongue hangin' out Time is running and passing, passing and running, running and passing, passing and running—" Excursions