Fear Not of Man

[Produced by Mos Def] [Spoken] Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem Good evening, ladies and gentlemen And I'm very happy that you came here Ooh-oooh, whee! That was for Brooklyn Ha ha, we get it every time You got me on? Oh Shout out to all of my crew, East-West, North-South All the continent, Europe, all abroad international Bring it in, bring it in, bring it in, bring it in It's a lot of things goin' on y'all 21st century is comin' 20th century almost done A lot of things have changed A lot of things have not, mainly us We gon' get it together right? I believe that Listen—people be askin' me all the time "Yo Mos, what's gettin' ready to happen with hip-hop?" (Where do you think hip-hop is goin'?) I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with hip-hop? Whatever's happening with us" If we smoked out, hip-hop is gonna be smoked out If we doin' alright, hip-hop is gonna be doin' alright People talk about hip-hop like it's some giant livin' in the hillside Comin' down to visit the townspeople We are hip-hop Me, you, everybody, we are hip-hop So hip-hop is going where we going So the next time you ask yourself where hip-hop is going Ask yourself: where am I going? How am I doing? Till you get a clear idea So if hip-hop is about the people And the hip-hop won't get better until the people get better Then how do people get better? (Hmm) Well, from my understanding people get better When they start to understand that they are valuable And they not valuable because they got a whole lot of money Or 'cause somebody, think they sexy But they valuable 'cause they been created by God And God makes you valuable And whether or not you recognize that value is one thing You got a lot of societies and governments Tryin' to be God, wishing that they were God They wanna create satellites and cameras everywhere And make you think they got the all-seeing eye Eh, I guess The Last Poets wasn't too far off When they said that certain people got a god complex I believe it's true I don't get phased out by none of that, none of that Helicopters, the TV screens, the newscasters, the satellite dishes They just wishing They can't really never do that When they tell me to fear they law When they tell me to try to have some fret in my heart behind the things that they do This is what I think in my mind And this is what I say to them And this is what I'm saying to you check it [Chorus] All over the world hearts pound with the rhythm Fear not of men because men must die Mind over matter and soul before flesh Angels hold a pen, keep a record in time Which is passing and running like a caravan trader The world is overrun with the wealthy and the wicked But God is sufficient in disposing of affairs Gunmen and stockholders try to merit my fear But God is sufficient over plans they prepared Mos Def in the flesh, where you at, right here On this place called Earth, holding down my square [Bridge] 'Bout to do it for y'all, and y'all at the fair So just bounce, come on bounce B-b-bounce b-bounce b-bounce-bounce And just- Just step, two, three Just step, two, three, and Step two Two, three and One two three and four One two three and four Once again [Chorus] All over the world hearts pound with the rhythm Fear not of men because men must die Mind over matter and soul before flesh Angels hold a pen, keep a record in time Which is passing and running like a caravan trader The world is overrun with the wealthy and the wicked But God is sufficient in disposing of affairs Gunmen and stockholders try to merit your fear But God is sufficient over plans they prepared Mos Def in the flesh, where you at, right here On this place called Earth, holding down my square [Outro] Bout to represent in your whole atmosphere Bout to represent in your whole atmosphere To your atmosphere, to your atmosphere Oh-ooh! That was for you—and Brooklyn, too!