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  1. Tracks
  2. Common
  3. Be
  4. Be (Intro)

TRACK

Common

Be (Intro)

Release date: 24th May 2005

From Be
Hip-Hop/RapMusicUnderground Rap
Spotify More on Common

About This Track

Common opens his album with an invocation of freedom, naming Malcolm X, John Coltrane and Yusef Lateef as spiritual anchors. The song moves between aspiration and reckoning: he wants to live without constraint, yet acknowledges the weight of contradiction, the gap between what a person does and what they claim to believe. Chicago stays present in his mind; so do the lives he writes into being across these lines. The track builds toward a personal reckoning. He watches his daughter and sees possibility, the chance that change might move through her. Around him sit competing pressures: material hunger, old demons, the pull of the past. Against this, he settles on a quieter stance: to walk like a warrior without running, to hold the present as a gift. The song's title becomes its thesis. He just wants to be.

"Be (Intro)" is a track by Common, from the album Be, released 24th May 2005. Full lyrics are available below.

About the Artist

Common

Common

Lyrics

Be (Intro)

[Intro]

Yeah

Yes

[Verse]

I wanna be as free as the spirits of those who left

I'm talking Malcolm, Coltrane, my man Yusef

Through death grew conception, new breath and resurrection

For Moms, new steps in a direction

In the right way, told her, "Inside is where the fight lay

And everything a nigga do may not be what he might say"

Chicago nights, they stay on the mind

But I write many lives, they lay on these lines

Wavin' signs of the times, many say the grind's on the mind

Shorties blunted-eyed and everyone wanna rhyme

Bush pushing lies, killers immortalized

We got arms but won't reach for the skies

Waiting for the Lord to rise, I look into my daughter's eyes

And realize I'ma learn through her

The Messiah might even return through her

If I'ma do it, I gotta change the world through her

Furs and a Benz, Gramps wantin' 'em

Demons and old friends, Pops, they hauntin' him

The chosen one from the land of the frozen sun

Where drunk nights get remembered more than sober ones

Walk like warriors, we were never told to run

Explored the world to return to where my soul begun

Never looking back or too far in front of me

The present is a gift, and I just wanna be

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From Be

2005
Listen
Album
Be
Be
Common
23rd May 2005
Release year
2005
  1. —

More from Common

Albums & EPs

The Corner
2005
All Elements (Vol 12)
All Elements (Vol 12)
Acknowledge the Takeover, Pt. 2
Acknowledge the Takeover, Pt. 2
Like Water For Chocolate (Instrumental)
Like Water For Chocolate (Instrumental)

Explore

More tracks by Common

  1. A Caretaker's Paws
  2. Be (Intro) (Instrumental)
  3. Chi-City (Instrumental)
  4. Drown
  5. Espresso
  6. Faithful (Instrumental)
  7. GO! (Instrumental)
  8. Holding Cage
  9. In the Name
  10. It's Your World (Part 1 & 2 / Instrumental)

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Be (Intro)
  • —So Cool
  • —The Food (Live)
  • —Real People
  • —Love is…
  • —It's Your World, Pt. 1 & 2
  • —They Say
  • —Chi-City
    • Soul by the Pound (12" Single)
    Soul by the Pound (12" Single)
    Let Love
    Let Love
    Love is... (Instrumental)
  • Be (Intro) (Instrumental)
  • Chi-City (Instrumental)
  • Testify (Instrumental)Be (20th Anniversary)
  • The Food (Instrumental)Be (20th Anniversary)
  • Real People (Instrumental)Be (20th Anniversary)
  • GO! (Instrumental)
  • They Say (Instrumental)Be (20th Anniversary)
  • Faithful (Instrumental)
  • Espresso
  • In the Name
  • Holding Cage

    • View all tracks by Common →

    Credits

    Production & Engineering

    Writer
    Choker Campbell, Common, Kanye West
    Producer
    Kanye West
    Keyboards
    James Poyser
    Acoustic Bass
    Derrick Hodge
    Assistant Recording Engineer
    Francis Forde, Taylor Dow
    Mastering Engineer
    Tom Coyne
    Mixing Engineer
    Andrew Dawson
    Recording Engineer
    Andrew Dawson
    READ MORE ABOUT COMMONREAD MORE ABOUT COMMONREAD MORE ABOUT COMMONREAD MORE ABOUT COMMON
    READ MORE ABOUT COMMONREAD MORE ABOUT COMMONREAD MORE ABOUT COMMONREAD MORE ABOUT COMMON
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