Ballad of the Black Gold

[Hook: Talib Kweli]

This is the ballad of the black gold

They call it Texas tea

But it's bigger than a cowboy with a lasso

It's deeper than a black hole

Create monopolies

Except they collect your fee when you pass Go

Crisis international

The government de facto

We got no control of this fiasco

Darker than the back roads

Bubble hotter than Tabasco

More than what you bargained for or asked for

[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]

You never see happy, hungry people - that ain't rational

They blasting through the gates and they attack you at the capital

Run up in your palace, find the heads of the state and crack a few

Get a taste of power, then they become fascists too

The fiscal conservatives, don't know what they purpose is

Spend money on the war, then they cut your goods and services

Murderous, corporate monsters is breaking records

Exxon is at 40 billion a year, they raking in record profits. Stop it!

How they banking while the auto industry is tanking?

Leadership is sinking; oil pollution in the water stanking

Loyalty to petroleum royalties spoil the economy

We won't get it poppin' till we oil-free

If you're oil-rich then we invadin'

They call it "occupation," but we losing jobs across the nation

Drill, baby, drill, while they make our soldiers kill, baby still

The desert where the blood and oil spill

[Hook: Talib Kweli]

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]

Nigeria is celebrating 50 years of independence

They still feel the colonial effects of Great Britain's presence

Dictators quick to imitate the West

Got in bed with oil companies and now the place is a mess

Take a guess, which ones came and violated

They oiled up the soil, the Ogoni people was almost annihilated

But still they never stayed silent

They was activists and poets using non-violent tactics

That was catalyst for soldiers to break into they crib

Take 'em from the kids and try to break 'em like a twig

And make examples of the leaders; executed Saro-Wiwa

Threw Fela's mom out the window right after they beat her

In an effort to defeat hope. Now the people's feet soaked in oil

So the youth is doing drive-bys in speed boats

They kidnap the workers, they blowing up the pipelines

You see the fires glowing in the nighttime

[Hook: Talib Kweli]

[Verse 3: Talib Kweli]

History: a slippery creature

It's full of plot twists and surprise endings like a mystery feature

This oil shit is slicker than preachers

It make the problems in the region amplified like victory speeches

Poison the water, lead the boys to the slaughter

Go in somebody' country, rearrange the order and destroy the borders

You see 'em dancing through the fields of fire

World domination their real desire

The devil is still a liar

[Hook: Talib Kweli]

[Hook: Talib Kweli]