Hip Hop

[Intro]

You say, "One for the treble, two for the time"

Come on, y'all, let's rock this!

You say, "One for the treble, two for the time"

Come on!

Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape

Now let it fall, huh!

[Verse 1: Mos Def]

My restlessness is my nemesis

It's hard to really chill and sit still, committed to page

I write a rhyme, sometimes won't finish for days

Scrutinize my literature, from the large to the miniature

I mathematically add-minister, subtract the wack

Selekta! Wheel it back, I'm feelin' that

(Ha-ha-ha) From the core to the perimeter, Black

You know the motto — stay fluid even in staccato

(Mos Def) Full-blooded, full throttle

Breathe deep inside the drum hollow... there's the hum

Young man, where you from? Brooklyn number one!

Native son speakin' in the native tongue

I got my eyes on tomorrow (There it is!)

While you still tryna find where it is

I'm on the Ave. where it lives and dies, violently but silently

Shine so vibrantly that eyes squint to catch a glimpse

Embrace the bass with my dark ink fingertips

Used to speak the King's English

But caught a rash on my lips, so now I chat just like this

Long range from the baseline (Swish!)

Move like a apparition, low to the ground with ammunition

(CH-CH-POW!) Move from the gate, voice cued on your tape

Puttin' food on your plate, many crews can relate

Who choosin' your fate?

Yo! We went from pickin' cotton to chain gang line choppin'

To Be-Boppin', to hip-hoppin'

Blues people got the blue chip stock option

Invisible man, got the whole world watchin'

(Where ya at?!) I'm high, low, East, West, all over your map

I'm gettin' big props with this thing called hip-hop

Where you can either get paid or get shot

When your product in stock, the fair-weather friends flock

When your chart position drop, then the phone calls..

Chill for a minute, let's see who else hot, snatch your shelf spot

Don't gas yourself, Akh'

The industry just a better built cell block

A long way from the shell tops

And the bells that L rocked (Rock, rock, rock, rock...)

[Scratching]

The more emotion I put into it, the harder I rock

[Verse 2: Mos Def]

Hip-hop is prosecution evidence

An out of court settlement, ad space for liquor

Sick without benefits (HUH?!)

Luxury tenements chokin' the skyline

It's low life gettin' tree-top high

It is a back water remedy, bitter and tender memory

A Class E felony, facin' the death penalty (HUH?!)

Stimulant and sedative, original repetitive

Violently competitive, a school unaccredited (There it is!)

The break beats you get broken with, on time and inappropriate

Hip-hop went from sellin' crack to smokin' it

Medicine for loneliness remind me of Thelonious and Dizzy

Propers to B-Boys gettin' busy

The war-time snap shot, the working man's jack-pot

A two dollar snack box sold beneath the crack spot

Olympic sponsor of the black Glock

Gold medalist in the back shot

From the sovereign state of the have-nots

Where farmers have trouble with cash crops (HUH?!)

It's all-city like Phase 2

Hip-hop will simply amaze you, praise you, pay you

Do whatever you say do, but, Black, it can't save you