Front Line

[ VERSE 1: DCQ ]

On urbain terrain I strive to maintain

Stress is strain with a whole heap of pain

A lotta fuckin games that I can't seem to win

I'm livin in the land of sin

I close my eyes and I count to 10'000

Shit is still fucked up down in public housing

Turn on the TV just to see my man on the news

No job, but he had a pair of $100 shoes

So I get my head ready cause I know where I'm at

I got good sense and now I need a 1'000 gats

Cause times in America is all out of order

You gotta pay just to get good drinkin water

They goin bucknuts and I ain't tryina hear it

The end ain't near, it's here

I stay cool in the Babylon swelter

Bout to build a house with a fuckin bomb shelter

Cause it's a lotta smilin faces out here and I don't trust em

Muthafuckas make a wrong move and I'ma bust em

I'm sleepin on the floor with my nines by the door

War ain't fair, it's war

Front line, muthafucka

[ Mos Def ]

You can never underestimate your enemy

You gotta realize there's people who wake up 6 AM in the morning to jog

Running for their life cause they underestimate...

[ VERSE 2: Ces ]

Shit in here is gettin kinda warm

Muthafuckas didn't know that I had this for em

I'm spittin buckshots and you could all get dropped

Muthafuck a vest, I'm takin all headshots

It's the great beat breaker, Brakalak jacker

Dominant genes, son, it gets no blacker

You're scared, bitch, as is with the style you lack

I'm havin reoccurin dreams of blowin out your back

So take that ( *gunshot* ) and that ( *gunshot* )

And that ( *gunshot* ) and that ( *gunshot* )

I'm as hard as it gets, you can't sit where I sat

Roll with a ill crew, pack a big god jewel

I ain't the bitch steady tryina get a new hairdo

(Ooh) Look, you ain't gotta like it, cause shit is real

I'ma say how I feel, the truth must be revealed

Your eyes wide open and you still can't see

Steady smokin blunts talkin bout I'm free

Spend all of your time sleepin with the enemy

Doin dumb shit that you seen on TV

Can't get caught up in the hocus pocus

Times is so hopeless, I gotta keep focus

And I'ma do whatever it takes

Cause shit ain't easy, but that's the breaks

Times is too wild to smile

I'm ready, get it on, son, you know my style

Can't clown cause I'm down for mine

From now to '99, frontline, muthafucka

[ Mos Def ]

It's no room for fear

We givin these heads the respect and the credit that they don't deserve

Youknowmsayin?

That's why they don't respect us

When we start to realize who we are

Then we can clearly see who they are

[ VERSE 2: Mos Def ]

Originality is now a yummy soundbite

Everything sounds aight but trite, but it don't sound right

Treadin over urban terrain is a great source of pain

But it's the path that I chose, so I can't complain

If I get honory, pardon me, gems and gents

I'm on a mission in the very literal fuckin sense

If heads don't understand it's of no consequence

Cause not everyone is worthy to hold my confidence

In a world so clandestine I stand frontline

( ? ) motion and mad explosion

The vision descension and massive tension

Stiflin congestion and no progression

I try to keep on lookin at the prize

But I'm steady wipin blood out my eyes

Mr. Charlie kill your pops and rape your mother

Now we fuckin turn around and shoot each other?

Run for cover, well that ain't a fuckin option

I'm comin through head first, I ain't stoppin

Suckers want beef cause I speak on these topics

But don't sleep, I'm keepin heat like the tropics

A full clip and my hand on my dick

I'm like a muthafuckin elephant, I don't forget shit

From Medgar Evers down to Emmet Till

Black bodies swingin from trees outlining American hills

Talk all that racism shit if you want to

But white man, I don't trust you, and I will bust you

Even if you try to act trife

It's the M-o-s loced out for life

100 years ago you brought the rah-rah

Now it's recycled in Kumbaya

And I ain't goin out like a punk

You say holier than thou, well you can call it what you want

No slippin, I gotta stay aware

I'm too prepared to be steppin out scared

Brothers' eyes are watchin, can't go out like a sucker

Mos Def is in another frontline muthafuckas

[ Mos Def ]

Victory is the only choice

There's no other alternative but victory

And the only way to be victorious is to understand your enemy

You have to understand that they're fighting to survive

But we are fighting to live

They're fighting for something totally different

The differences are great

And we have to realize that their time is up

And if they're desperate...

A desperate enemy should not be hard-pressed because he has nothing to lose

And he will take you to hell with him

So you either to win or you fight to die

Fight to win or you fight to die