The Thrill Is Gone

[Produced by: Statik Selektah]

[Verse 1: Styles P]

I mean you get ya check, I can't knock that

But it's a culture, you can't forget about that

Too many vultures in it (too many)

I think Nas said Hip Hop Is Dead cause he couldn't see the culture in it

Too many funny clothes (too much), too many Auto-Tunes (haha)

Too many gangsters, when they made the Auto Goon (when they made those)

Listen boy you should play your role

Like rap don't need a brand new De La Soul

Pay homage to any MC who paved our road

Or the big Mercedes Benz boy won't get drove

I say that cause, I be where the monsters at

I'm like God damn, they even screwed up conscious rap (God dammit)

I think rap need a new P.E. to +Fight The Power+ and be free (Fight The Power)

And try to bring the light like GE (GE)

I think we deaf, dumb and we blind and for the ten hundredth time

Who give a damn about our swag and our grind? (who give a damn?)

Why don't you rhyme about a thought that you had on your mind

You an MC, let me see, how you really design, ya know?

[Hook:]

"The thrill is gone"

"The shit is pathetic"

"Please forget it"

"Your style is played out"

"The thrill is gone"

"Prepare for this rap killin"

"Ri-Ri-Right?"

"The thrill is gone"

("Let it, let it go")

"Your style is played out"

"The thrill is gone"

"Right?"

"Right?"

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]

Oh yeah, the thrill is gone

It's been long gone

At once, I'm positive and negative

I'm hyper and I'm calm as a sedative (ah)

The artist, the executive

At once, the son and the father, the comedy and the drama

The fun and the karma, the shame and the honor

The skin under the armor, the bullet that pierce the flesh

The love of life, the fear of death

How it flash before your eyes, when a knife is near your chest

We the best, we the worst, the club or the church

The soap or the dirt, the murder, the birth

At once (yeah), the idol worship sittin in the seaport (uh)

Waitin for a war that ain't ever gon' be fought (no)

The correspondents coverin' this attack on free thought (oh)

Kwe and Styles P we got it covered like three fourths

Time to wake up, Teddy P. said it best when he was in the Blue Notes

I'm the extension of my memories

Hip-hop is in my heart, I keep it closer than my enemies

I bet you they remember me, word

[Hook 2:]

"Right?"

"The thrill is gone"

"The shit is pathetic"

"Please forget it"

"Your style is played out"

"The thrill is gone"

"Prepare for this rap killin"

"Ri-Ri-Right?"

"The thrill is gone"

("Let it go, go, let it go")

"Your style is played out"

"The thrill is gone"

"Ri-Ri-Right?"

"Prepare for this rap killin"

"Right?"

[Verse 3: Styles P]

I think all you need's a beat and a hook (that all)

I need entertainment now, light a blunt and go and read me a book

Why don't you make a dance song? That'll get you a look

BET, MTV, that'll get ya some push

Give it a month or two homie, you'll be hittin the roof

The hip hop heads mad but I'm spittin the truth (it's the truth)

It's the computer age now, better get with the youth (gotta get with 'em)

Don't nobody give a damn of what you spit in the booth

Better make your ringtone, keep your bling on

Sing anything and try to get your sing on

Me I'm just laughin, rollin, rollin

While I'm rollin in a Caddy that's golden

No I ain't a pimp or guerrilla pimp (uh uh)

I'm just a poet that all the killers with

For spittin that realer shit (realer shit)

If we were y'all MC's, most of y'all illegit

("Right?"), Statik Selektah

[Hook 3:]

"The thrill is gone"

"The shit is pathetic"

"Please forget it"

"Your style is played out"

"The thrill is gone"

"Prepare for this rap killin"

"Ri-Ri-Right?"

"The thrill is gone"

("Let it go")

"Your style is played out"

"The thrill is gone"

"Ri-Ri-Right?"

"Prepare for this rap killin"

"Right?"

"Right" (scratched until the end)