Fortified Live

[Verse 1: Kweli] The highest caliber make it a night to remember like Shalamar Then escape to Havana with Assata I do what I gotta Planes get shot down in Cuban air space over the water I got insight it's a clear case of reading your aura Man what you got for us as my Black men stand in line like a chorus Makin' these MC's our sons like Horus I'm always taking shots like a Japanese tourist, get the picture? Flyer than Keyser Soze and no exposure [Verse 2: Mos Def] I'm sippin wishing well water imported from Pluto That's why my eyes is glassy, so ain't got to ask me The interplanetary Illuminati move your body I trekked the stars first, so fuck Kirk and Scotty I threw basement parties on the Mothership Now I'm on planet Earth on some other shit Many 'habitants of this world be strivin and struggling Tryin to eat food and keep the rights to they publishing, huh Ghetto red hot, man that shit is like bubbling Can't get no peace cause the Beast keep troubling Youth, they oppose and the blows they be doubling Nike heads is trife and the shots, they be thundering Ways and customs don't make any sense They be givin me stress and they test my maintenance Use the sand and the Ummah as my sustenance No, this style will never lack, melanin's my evidence [Verse 3: Mr. Man] In order to effective, with your words you must be selective Cause showin and provin is the Prime Directive Movin those who are outdated with vernaculated thought, so Every time I take a turn MC's take a loss My point across, I gotta get to where I want to be As the wickedest public speaker since '73 Or '74, which was the year I first touched ground As the physical manifestation of sight and sound So gather 'round, to hear the profound brown vomiter Absorb the sonic energy manifestin through your monitor The livin proof, I make the truth sound clear Mr. Man, in nine ether represent right here, check it out Chorus (2X): [Kweli:] This once in a lifetime like a Halley's comet Yo, we bring it to Medina like the prophet Mohammed [Mos Def and Mr Man:] Peace be upon he, and, we MC's Speak the fortified live exhibit level degree [Verse 4: Kweli] Yo, what's wrong with this picture? Don't it seem bugged MC's is high on they supply, sounds like they takin drugs Y'all trippin like mescaline and killin the feeling like penicillin Switchin' to Lionel Rich' and dancin on the ceilin Go ahead and be a heroin, your own mind Fuck your internet, coke is it when you on line Smokin dirty weed, ignorin the medicinal herbals So we in your ass like you was Richard Gere and we was gerbils You get stepped on like crack vials by ghetto children, plus Swept under the rug, we turnin niggas into dust You done came out of the earth, what your life worth? When you get left with what you had on the day of your birth [Verse 5: Mr. Man] Ha...Yo, it's the super scientifical, high-powered prolifical Lyrically a miracle, mentally I'm physical Massively I'm critical, verbally invincible These kids wanna battle but the material's pitiful The only original, wicked individual Whenever I rhyme, I break it down into syllables Simply because it's coming straight out of Brooklyn It sounds so out of sight I got the blind people lookin It's Mr. Man the act, boy what? You get stolen I'll cut your ass in half and leave you with a semicolon [Kweli:] We cold-crushin MCs that's gold-rushin for the cheese They see a flash in the pan waitin for royalties [Verse 6: Mos Def] But kings and queens get overthrown when they grab the microphone Shootin videos in homes that they know they'll never own I guess they cannot work alone, they forever with crew L sparking, steady barking bout the wildness they do Posin in photographs shot at complimentary angles Be playin Mr. Tuffy when they feminine like bangles Practices is fraudulent, fallacies record to tape Step in my zone, your spot'll get blown like Watergate [Verse 7: Mr. Man] Wait, my blastin rate is past a state of rappers who procrastinate Mr. Man is great, so every time I rhyme, I fascinate Masses hate to have to wait for me to unload So I flip into my mode and rhyme long like a road See, I drop the greats like clumsy waiters drop plates I got rhymes by the crates to erase the duplicates Cause, I blow wack rappers out like afros My shit is so phat it be stretchin my asshole But huh, that's not the point because I'm better than most I make MCs Wonder like bread but then, bread gets toast It's like that, Mr. Man, Mos Def, and Kweli Represent for every single real MC, you don't stop (Yo, yo, yo, this is the mighty Mos Def) Chorus (2X)