[Intro: Q-Tip]
Yo... we all got different things that we gotta deal with
You nam'sayin? Sometimes...
I think people always want to put the blame on something else
Rather than sometimes looking at ourselves
Recognizing that a lot of the stuff that happens...
Sometimes has to do with other things
But if we look within ourselves...
We could prevent a lot of this nonsense sometimes, you know?
It's about relating back to the essence, you nam'sayin'?
Where it all stems from
So I'ma do my thing over the drum
Like a Native Tongue, you know?
Yeah, buss it
[Verse 1: Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, "female voice"]
Do what you will, if you feel that your steeze is real
Complicated with the skills over reel-to-reel
Brown skin is what I feel, my mind and body's appeal
Is to the no-frill mills, who hear the beast and chill
Constantly, I'm hearing Black Americans just sneering
Looking for a leader who can fill us up with ether (True that)
Heating us up with great emotional chat
About the fact that the Blacks' constantly held back
Like 50 tracks back in a relay race
And the white team's ahead, so let's keep up the pace
And I be needing something that could feed my logical taste
At the end of the race – is there a paradise place?
Yo, we can't get involved in what the next man is doing (True that)
Material gains, we put too much in pursuing
Yo duke, I need this dough so we can step to this party, man... word...
But we can all Mardi Gras-di minus that shit in our body
Yo, what that got to do with that, man?!
'Cause, kid, that's the essence
Your physical presence embodies every lesson
You can't run a Rolls Royce if the engine is busted
Can't even lift the knife to cut the mustard
What we need to do first – now listen to this verse:
Let's concentrate on our spiritual plate
Recognize your existence in this vast blue space
From a tiny cloud of blood to the human beings with taste, (Right, right...)
Sight, touch, smell, and sound
Let's deem it profound
And prioritize this 'cause it was Allah's wish
(Allah? Yo, I'm God)
("I don't believe that. That's a mystery")
(If God is so good, yo, why this shit be happening to me?")
There's divinity within, because we come from the divine (Right)
A force that's not seen but, yo, we feel it every time
When the wind blows, and the Earth turns
And the rain drops, and the babies cry
And the birds fly, and the grounds quake
And the stars gleam
Yo – so many things are evidence of this existence (Ah, ah... true that)
What we need to do is link it with persistence
Hear me out
Yo, once we recognize, then we can move ahead
Native Tongues, Common Sense, yo, he's Hip-Hop bred...
[Verse 2: Common, (Q-Tip & Ali Shaheed Muhammad adlibs)]
From the spiritual world, my film of life has developed (Right...)
First person I lost close to me was Stella
Some of my mellows lost their mothers and their brothers
For them, I feel empathy
But I ain't pouring out no fuckin' Hennessy
I pour my heart out when I see Dot out on the deck (Right...)
Knowing two weeks ago he slap-boxed with death
I hear of niggas dying in the wind and on the news
When it's somebody you know, it hits you
And emotions get bruised
I ain't been in your shoes (Right, right, right, right)
I won't judge or knock you
The spirit of the ghetto say you got to (Ah)
That scratch you gettin' from rock flippin'
It back into the neighborhood, you better start kickin'
Stickin' stores on the strip
I'm tired of Arabs giving me my change back
Devil borrowed my yesterday, my tomorrow he never gave back
I lay back, looking at the ceiling, wondering, what could I do
So my homies won't have to be dealing
Not 'cause you serving and I'm rapping, I'm better
Just different pieces to the puzzle of Black life
That we got to put together to better ourselves
'Cause families, we gotta raise
No matter how long the money, shorter become the days
Men become like wind, ain't no difference in the seasons
If you got popped five times, you breathing for a reason (For a reason...)
Let's put this five-, ten-year come-up plan in progression
Before we count our papers, count our blessings
[Outro: Q-Tip]
And there you have it
You know you got to grab it
It's all good, nah'mean?
Let's make it clear – the Native Tongues is in here
The JB's
De La Soul
A Tribe Called Quest
Common Sense
Busta Rhymes
Flipmode – nah'mean?
You got The Ummah
You got Beatnuts
Rah Digga
Consequence
Mos Def, nah'mean?
Black Sheep
Beatnuts
Queen La'
Mo' Love, nah'mean?
Native Tongues up in here – don't forget it
Raphael Saadiq!
Yo, we out – peace
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