[Intro: Talib Kweli]
Yeah, (Kweli) get by, I get back
Classic Brooklyn
Yeah, let's go, Kanye West
[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]
We sell crack to our own nigga
I'm back in the zone
My passionate poems got the feds tappin' my phone
It's like Timothy McVeigh, they say I acted alone
I got a whole team that'll put a gat to your dome
(To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by)
Yo, this remix is hot, we only dealin' with the live hip-hop
Yo, get by, get back nigga (Roc)
[Verse 2: Jay-Z]
Just to get by, nigga, I sold coke, nigga, I pushed lah
Carried a four-five, claimed I was ready to die
Promised never to cry, held it all inside
Reality was too much to take, so I
Kept my mind fried, slept for most of mine
Soon as I closed my eyes, then I woke up behind
Thinking either I load up these nines, or blow up with rhymes
‘Cause this flow of mine is like blow up, but lines of coca
And your folks think Hov' just wrote stuff to rhyme
Nah, I'm a poster from what happens seeing your moms
Doing five dollars worth of work just to get a dime
So pardon my disposition
Why should I listen to a system that never listened to me?
Picture me working McDonald's (Yeah, yeah)
I'd rather pull a MAC on you (Ugh, yeah)
Sorry, Ms. Jackson, but I'm packin', bye!
[Chorus: background singers & Talib Kweli]
This morning I woke up
Feelin brand new, I jumped up
Feelin my highs and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smokin' and stop drinkin'
But I been thinkin' I got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by, just to get by
Everybody, throw your hands in the sky, it go
(C'mon, yeah, c'mon, get by, just to get by, just to get by, hands in the sky it go)
Ladies and gentlemen
You now rocking with the best (Big Snoop Dogg)
(Just to get by, just to get by, just to get by)
Talib Kweli (by-by)
[Verse 3: Snoop Dogg]
(Fo' 'sho!)
My nigga Big D from the Westside 6-0's
Said he need to holla 'cause he had some info
Well bring it to me, swing it to me, with a quickness
You know how we get down on the east side of town
It seems like a mighty long, a brotha' gotta' keep it strong
Fighting through the system that's designed to kill me
'Cuz, will you? 'Cause you know that we will be
Making folky shit until it's time to dip
Eastside, Rollin 20 Crip, that's the set that I bang with
It's 2003 and I still go through the same shit
I went through a decade ago, I made it so
It should be different, but it ain't
So let's just kick it and twisted, c'mon
[Chorus: Talib Kweli & Snoop Dogg]
Just to get by (Yeah, don't stop)
(I can go on and on)
(Ha-ha-ha)
[Verse 3: Talib Kweli]
We keep it gangsta, say 'fo shizzle', 'fo sheezy'
Desensitized to the violence on the TV during the war
Killin' each other is easy, its pourin' liquor for fallen niggas
Believe me, it's ghetto libation, seen it all before
Just to get by, my people, we get fly
My people, we get high, fillin' cigars with the lah
Nigga, come on! Even Jesus was stoned
Before receivin' the throne
I send a rest in peace to Nina Simone
[Verse 4: Busta Rhymes]
Guess I was used to just standin' on corners
Waitin' for paper bags with bundles of crack
Hopin' the week was good, so I could get money back
When I was stressed I possessed a side of my strength
That made me angry and bleed
With the frustration havin' me smokin' Newports and weed
'Cause when I would rely on my niggas and street mothafuckas
And reach out to wifey, and then I place a call on my mother
(To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by)
*Ayo, Mom, pick up the phone, I gotta to talk to you, Ma*
If you was five percent instead of actin' stupid and guessin'
You had to go and study your lessons
And know your math in the building in session
(To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by)
Fuck around, you get your ass beat for not studying, nigga
Before grabbin' the mic before, we used to scream through a speaker
Before hustling crack, we quickly got with hustling reefer
Take a look at niggas seeing shit, I don't understand
And it's funny the way you compromise yourself as a man to get by
[Chorus: background singers & Busta Rhymes]
This morning I woke up (Damn)
(Talib, these niggas is crazy) Feelin brand new, I jumped up
Feelin my highs and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smokin' and stop drinkin'
But I been thinkin' I got my reasons
Just to get (get), just to get (get)
Just to get (get) Just to get (get)
[Verse 5: Talib Kweli]
Some people try to be fly
They faking, they lie
They snakes'll see the hate in they eyes
Look at the sky to survive
People try to get by
Fighting for a slice of the pie
Trying to eat and be high
How you know you really alive if you don't reach for the sky?
Your eyes, you keep on the prize
What you seek, you will find
Who the realest niggas? That, we let people decide
Who keeping it live, Brooklyn got the key to the ride, c'mon
[Outro: Talib Kweli]
Some people try to be fly
They faking, they lie
They snakes'll see the hate in they eyes
Look at the sky to survive
People try to get by
Fighting for a slice of the pie
Trying to eat and be high
How you know you really alive if you don't reach for the sky?
Your eyes, you keep on the prize
What you seek, you will find
Who the realest niggas? That, we let people decide
Who keeping it live, Brooklyn got the key to the ride, c'mon
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