Ghetto Show

[Intro: Talib Kweli]

Ghetto to ghetto, backyard to yard

We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods

Precious metals round our necks and arms

We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods

Ghetto to ghetto, backyard to yard

We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods

Precious metals round our necks and arms

We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods

[Refrain: Anthony Hamilton]

Whatever's in your heart is where you want to be

My hood is the ghetto

Even when you look it's never what you see

My hood is the ghetto

I've been down before up is just a reach

Cause my hood is the ghetto

Catch a second wind then begin again

My hood is the ghetto

[Verse 1: Common]

Black magic in the hood, it's tragic but understood

Crack addicts, crack windows, crack wood

Even what's bad becomes good, status becomes stood

Upon the pedestal welcome to the ghetto show

Federal buildings, pissy hallways filled with children pushing children

Fiends lips peeling, shit seems real and

What's real is the estate of mind that we're in

The situation feels great

My man peels weight, so he can fill plates

You might get love but you still feel hate

With gang shakes and chain clinks, we communicate

Chicago to Brooklyn nigga real ones do relate

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]

If lyrics sold, then truth be told

I'd probably be just as rich and famous as JAY-Z

Truthfully I wanna rhyme like common sense

Next best thing I do a record with Common Sense

Cause it's the music, the blues, it's the jazz, it's acoustics

Soul, Rock and Roll, the hip-hop that we producin', yea

It's the gear, it's the flare, it's the stare

Nowadays they'll shoot you where they used to shoot the fair

Remember lost soldiers, pour a beer, shoot the air

We got our own elected officials, no matter who the mayor

I know you know what I'm talking about

From New York to the South, take off your shoes when you walk in the house

[Refrain: Anthony Hamilton]

Whatever's in your heart is where you want to be

My hood is the ghetto

Even when you look it's never what you see

My hood is the ghetto

I've been down before up is just a reach

Cause my hood is the ghetto

Catch a second wind then begin again

My hood is the ghetto

[Verse 3: Talib Kweli]

Yo, I grew up where they're playin' skelly in the parking lot

And sell paintings of Aaliyah, B.I.G. and Pac up in the barbershop

Buildings too big so you don't really see the stars a lot

But rappin', drinkin', and goin' to prison you see them bars a lot

I feel the spirit in the dark and hear it in my heart

And always keep my ears to the block till I dearly depart

Hip-hop is really the art

We have to express the part of ourselves that make us want to martyr ourselves

It ain't harder to tell when somebody stick you up and put the hammer to you

They want them dead presidents like stic.man and Mutulu

With a gun to your jaw, these kids don't run anymore

Kicks is a hundred or more

[Verse 4: Common]

A man in front of the store, beggin' for money and mercy

I told him say a prayer under his breath, he cursed me

Niggas is thirsty I heard it's a drought

Up early, servin' from their grandmother's house

Sometimes the ghetto feels desolate, the eyes of the hood yo is desperate

Affected by the deficit, times and lessons get hard

Either get by or get God, but you try to get by

It's like the block keep blockin'

You try to make moves, its like the car keep stoppin'

These shorties in the court, need Cochran yea

I tell them while the weed seeds poppin', in the game you need options

No time for feet watchin', me and Kwe keep rockin' for the ghetto

[Refrain: Anthony Hamilton]

Whatever's in your heart is where you want to be

My hood is the ghetto

Even when you look it's never what you see

My hood is the ghetto

I've been down before up is just a reach

Cause my hood is the ghetto

Catch a second wind then begin again

My hood is the ghetto

Whatever's in your heart is where you want to be

My hood is the ghetto

Even when you look it's never what you see

My hood is the ghetto

I've been down before up is just a reach

Cause my hood is the ghetto

Catch a second wind then begin again

My hood is the ghetto