Meta-Historical

[Intro: KRS-One]

Back to the class. Word up

Ya'll know you're going through chambers now. Haha

Check this out...

[Verse 1: KRS-One]

Did you know that Ronald Reagan was a deejay?

And Napoleon in Egypt wrote graffiti?

Did you know that history is just a replay

And you affect it by what you do and what we say?

Did you know that history is just a memory

And we are the present memories of future centuries?

You gotta know your history, the what and the how

And be aware, you're making history right now

So since history is a record of past events

Let's give the future something it can respect

(Uh, meta-historical

Listen, listen

Meta-historical)

[Verse 2: KRS-One]

History is a record of past events

That tries to make sense of the past with past evidence

The life of a free man makes history in many ways

But history makes the life of a slave

History is an art, not a fact

And the historian, no matter how scholarly, is never exact

We are living in an omni-event -

Keep in mind everybody's doing everything at the same time

The activity of the whole globe could never be recorded:

Our linear vision is too distorted

We think in terms of A, then B, then C, then D, then so on

We say "this began here, that ended there"

So our conversations can have something to grow on

But in reality the omni-event has no beginning or end that you can detect

We make beginnings and endings in mass confusion

So we can talk about the things we're doing

But this is all an illusion

We see reality according to the symbols we're using

Can words exist without letters?

Can birds fly without feathers?

Who changes? We or the weather?

These words are forever, so I'm calling these oratoricals

Meta-historical

(Uh..

Meta-historical

Beyond history

Look)

[Verse 3: KRS-One]

Meta-historical, I got so much more for you

Hip hop is a culture; rap's not all we do

When The Teacher's calling you to higher order, you

Try to slaughter your own foundation

What's wrong with you?

We got so much more to do

You order your history; history don't order you!

Here's what we ought to do - I'm talking to you:

Let's do this different from how these others do

History documents its society - the physical society - not what's inside of me

So my history will lie to me

Cause it's based on physical space, not my psychology

I got a new philosophy: it's called hip hop and it needs a new methodology

Now follow me...

History documents what's physically there

Or what's physically here

But hip hop is not here or there, it's not physical

Hip hop is a shared idea;

We all share it. From different dimensions, we all hear it

But hip hop is all spirit

So let's get down with what the truth is

They're not recording hip hop; they're recording what produces

Winners and losers, CDs and tours

That's not hip hop; that's rap music folklore

That's why these rappers are no more -

Cause they followed no principles, traditions, and no laws

That's why the future remembers me, KRS, rhyming for the century

(Uh...

Meta-historical

Meta-historical)