[Intro: Mos Def & Talib Kweli]
I'm flyin' high, in the friendly sky
Without ever leavin' the ground, yeah, yeah
Rest of the folks are tired and weary
And have laid their bodies down
[Pete Rock]
Black Star in the house
Black Thought
Mos Def
Kweli
No doubt
'99, nigga
[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]
We lyrically rich, livin', spiritually fit, eatin' healthy
Comin' clean, never filthy, in God's eyes I'm wealthy
Felt the power as I entered the palace of seven lights
Time travel, participatin' on battles my brethrens fight
For birth rights that they already got, and shouldn't have to get
Break down the steady plot that's accurate
Bustin' shots that's immaculate
Take it to your nugget 'cause my beloved covet they freedom, believe it!
Put nothin' above it, love it or leave it!
We blessed with free will, so we choose to be ill
Like sharks, keepin' it movin', we could never be still
Swimmin' the channels of life, the orators of rhyme handlin' mics
Tiptoein' through the corridors of your mind with candle lights
Everlastin', in your hood like liquor stores and check cashin'
Niggas flashin', passin' blunts in classes, sippin' Thug Passion, blastin'
Makaveli 4, I bet on brothers with nothin' to live for
To give more to the struggle (Why?), they already at war
[Chorus: Mos Def]
So much on my mind, I just can't recline
Blastin' holes 'til the night bled sunshine
Breathe in, breathe out
Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh!
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient...
I can't take it! I can feel the city breathin'
Breathe in, breathe ou-out
[Verse 2: Mos Def]
Yo! I pushed my pen and wrote this scribe
Like the morning wouldn't find me alive
I'm surrounded on all sides
By the kind and the cruel, wise man and the fool
Young guns attendin' school
Ghetto classes include: Get yours, get it right
Get down, get paid, get ass, get around
Get on, get fly, get jig and get high
Live to get, and you'll only end up gettin' by
When the nighttime covers the city like a cloak
I approach and assemble my hopes into notes
Hard to sleep in the city that don't, 'cause it won't let you rest
Noises on your doorstep, 'nuff distress
Police department raid the park bench on nonsense
'Cause they fear to see the brothers conference
Regardless, we bond tight and we rumble all day to break night
Daylight, wifey riffin' to death, "You ain't right"
The same fight about my late night habits is mad static
But the city's so alive that I just got to have it!
The planet of Brook-NAM is what I look on
Ghetto chef — rock ya vest when you gettin' yo' cook on
Dedicatin' this song to Scott LaRock, Big and 'Pac
Kwame Ture, Betty Carter and John Henrik Clark
Ron Brown, and freedom fighters goin' down
You set the pace, now we finish the race, it's on now!
[Chorus: Mos Def]
So much on my mind, I just can't recline
Blastin' holes 'til the night bled sunshine
Breathe in... breathe ou-out
Oh, oh-oh-oh!
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient...
Can't take it! I can feel the city breathin'
[Verse 3: Black Thought]
Yo, yo, I'm from the year-'round shootouts, the summertime's cookout
The wintertime grind with the shorties on the lookout
A chosen few know the rule, the rest threw the book out
The law stay on crews, thirsty with they hook out
That old-school bang out, money that pulled the thang out
They bit him and hit him with a few, he just came out
With the sharks that travel all parts within the same route
Narrow walls closin' in, cutthroats to exit at the openin'
Wrong place — you wasn't where you were supposed to been
You back around the end, heavy waste-line again
With them same suspect cats that waste time again
Y'all need to wake the fuck up and peep the monument
In your face, 'cause ain't no time to waste, not a minute
I seen my cousin Mez, said, "Peace! Yo, where you been at?"
He said, "The final frontier, 'Riq, I'm up in it!"
And it's the time to watch the place your foe and where your friend at
'Cause where I rotate ain't nothin' to grin at
I been at the fork in the crossroads, the outer limit
See, you can stand tall, or crawl and act timid
The Black Thought with the Black Star — infinite
[Chorus: Mos Def]
So much on my mind, I just can't recline
Blastin' holes 'til the night bled sunshine
Breathe in... breathe out!
Oh, oh-oh-oh!
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient...
I can't take it! I can feel the city breathin'
[Adlibs & Outro: Talib Kweli]
I got so much trouble on my mind
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