Fear Not of Man

[Produced by Mos Def]

[Spoken]

Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen

And I'm very happy that you came here

Ooh-oooh, whee!

That was for Brooklyn

Ha ha, we get it every time

You got me on? Oh

Shout out to all of my crew, East-West, North-South

All the continent, Europe, all abroad international

Bring it in, bring it in, bring it in, bring it in

It's a lot of things goin' on y'all

21st century is comin'

20th century almost done

A lot of things have changed

A lot of things have not, mainly us

We gon' get it together right? I believe that

Listen—people be askin' me all the time

"Yo Mos, what's gettin' ready to happen with hip-hop?"

(Where do you think hip-hop is goin'?)

I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with hip-hop?

Whatever's happening with us"

If we smoked out, hip-hop is gonna be smoked out

If we doin' alright, hip-hop is gonna be doin' alright

People talk about hip-hop like it's some giant livin' in the hillside

Comin' down to visit the townspeople

We are hip-hop

Me, you, everybody, we are hip-hop

So hip-hop is going where we going

So the next time you ask yourself where hip-hop is going

Ask yourself: where am I going? How am I doing?

Till you get a clear idea

So if hip-hop is about the people

And the hip-hop won't get better until the people get better

Then how do people get better? (Hmm)

Well, from my understanding people get better

When they start to understand that they are valuable

And they not valuable because they got a whole lot of money

Or 'cause somebody, think they sexy

But they valuable 'cause they been created by God

And God makes you valuable

And whether or not you recognize that value is one thing

You got a lot of societies and governments

Tryin' to be God, wishing that they were God

They wanna create satellites and cameras everywhere

And make you think they got the all-seeing eye

Eh, I guess The Last Poets wasn't too far off

When they said that certain people got a god complex

I believe it's true

I don't get phased out by none of that, none of that

Helicopters, the TV screens, the newscasters, the satellite dishes

They just wishing

They can't really never do that

When they tell me to fear they law

When they tell me to try to have some fret in my heart behind the things that they do

This is what I think in my mind

And this is what I say to them

And this is what I'm saying to you check it

[Chorus]

All over the world hearts pound with the rhythm

Fear not of men because men must die

Mind over matter and soul before flesh

Angels hold a pen, keep a record in time

Which is passing and running like a caravan trader

The world is overrun with the wealthy and the wicked

But God is sufficient in disposing of affairs

Gunmen and stockholders try to merit my fear

But God is sufficient over plans they prepared

Mos Def in the flesh, where you at, right here

On this place called Earth, holding down my square

[Bridge]

'Bout to do it for y'all, and y'all at the fair

So just bounce, come on bounce

B-b-bounce b-bounce b-bounce-bounce

And just-

Just step, two, three

Just step, two, three, and

Step two

Two, three and

One two three and four

One two three and four

Once again

[Chorus]

All over the world hearts pound with the rhythm

Fear not of men because men must die

Mind over matter and soul before flesh

Angels hold a pen, keep a record in time

Which is passing and running like a caravan trader

The world is overrun with the wealthy and the wicked

But God is sufficient in disposing of affairs

Gunmen and stockholders try to merit your fear

But God is sufficient over plans they prepared

Mos Def in the flesh, where you at, right here

On this place called Earth, holding down my square

[Outro]

Bout to represent in your whole atmosphere

Bout to represent in your whole atmosphere

To your atmosphere, to your atmosphere

Oh-ooh!

That was for you—and Brooklyn, too!