| Working Drafts and Notes For: [The New] Rolling Stone Album Guide |
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Blackalicious: Lyrics
These are the ones I've found trolling around. Sources include:
Melodica (1995)
Not sure of track order here.
Track ?: 40oz. for Breakfast
[Gift of Gab] A forty ounce for breakfast gets a brother through the day I guess I shoulda had a V8 instead; anyway let me contemplate my thought something back to a time when my fridge was full of booze but in my pocket not one dime I remember back on Willis Ave, with my ace-boom homey Mark Black I would start the day off hearin the sound of the fo'-oh crack I went to work blitzed, so eventually I got dissed and caught a shocker when my supervisor said "You're dismissed" Now as I stare at my last check now my mind is stressed and depressed I spell relief S-T-I-D-E-S yes with a little excess less the worry Why go job hunting today? When I can sit back and smoke this sack and drink and feel my problems shrink away And by now, the rent's due in two weeks But inside my mind that's just another problem brew can delete I got evicted, to the point where the court martial came to my door and said, "Get this kid: get your bags and split you don't live here no more" And now I'm ass out; I'm so damn hungry I feel like I'm gonna pass out I asked my brother for a handout and he hooked me though I knew he had doubts And rightfully so, cause I had new shit to deal with I'm so confused I have no control of my life I think I'll get lit So as my problems compile, I steady smile, oh yes Sippin on that forty ounce that's leadin me to a path of nowhere So as I think about tomorrow, I hesitate and say: a forty ounce for breakfast, will get me through the day.. A forty ounce for breakfast gets a brother through the day I guess I shoulda rolled a joint up instead; anyway seems like everytime I start I don't know when it's time to say when Now my mental gets all blurred and inside talk the ill-behavin Coolin with my boys, no names need to be mentioned At a party with some brothers I don't know I'm chillin in some E&J With a forty O-Z to wash the shit down and plus a lot of marijuana now I need to sit down I can't remember the last time I was this blew out of my cranium My ears and head begin to hum aloud as the room spun; anyway next thing I know I blacked out woke up with vomit all over my coat Start talkin out my ass I can't see straight but yet I quote and I don't know what came over me, I started dissin both my homies that I used to freestyle with and now I'm askin them to show me what they got not thinkin straight I don't know why I posed the challenge Now my ego is erupting as if I was Mt. Saint Helens Some shit was said I know I can't erase and now shit ain't the same I wish I had just one more chance to live that day again I strain; cause this bid was to find a true friend and loose them to booze in my system just ain't how I'm livin Nothin I could really say to mend up how someone else feels And so I guess I gotta wait and see if maybe the wounds will heal And I really didn't mean a word I said though I can't prove that Now the only thing that I can really say is I went out And out I went and now and then I get irate and say A forty ounce for.. nah A forty ounce for.. fuck!! Just one more forty just one more I'll make this last day A forty ounce for breakfast, can get me through the day
Track ?: Cheezit Terrorist
Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood of a rapper that's wack as a matter of fact, I smack a back of the style, jackets are now mellow minced, defeatin the mental And become Gentle as Ben, but then they stibble and dribble and bend like a pencil The only utensil I got, is brain power And you know it's essential I rock, I rain showers sleet snow and raise hella eyebrows with my styles You're wondering how wild When what where, made ladies so horny they can't even be showin they butt bare Look up there, beside the birds the planets the hawk the rappers who talk the mo' shit I'm makin em walk the plank they stank I'm takin they rank they tossed tiddlewinks I'm playin em like that game I'm gunnin and rackin and packin em up and I'm runnin this here rap thang Main, you wanna go to war, I'll take you I physically break you, when I break through I'm makin you fake crew, you made a mistake fool I hate you MC's, I'll grate you like cheese I may choose to squeeze, my pencil And write out a couple of rhymes Whooooaaaa, whooa my goodness!!! Are we slaughterin, is this just slaughter MC night? Or somethin man, what is this? Is this all the aggression you ever had? How many MC's must get ripped, before By says don't flip with the Gift You know? That's what I'm talkin bout How many MC's must get dismissed Before somebody says, don't trip with the Gift *laughter* You know, it's all good KP and SloganMasters in the house, the Cheezit Terrorist And we chillin at 90.3 we got thirteen minutes left And then we got Brenda Short, and her records
Track ?: Deep in the Jungle (w/Latyrx)
(Gift of Gab) And I come like this (scratched) I've got a few things I wanna say (Gift of Gab) I'm gunnin', ya runnin away, do not stay Cuz the wrath of the gift will be hittin' ya spliff And a lot of the crews got sprayed and yelled RAID Like a couple of roaches, as struggle approaches, a brother'll blow this Another ferocious jam, I smother the ?grossagran? I hover above the land of lame emcees that dont blow I'm poppin' the clip and then bo bo with the gun And a once in a munch chest, rest in peace And I ?bellow you to beast? I abolish emcees with sounds like these Run over enemies and I rest in the west Dark hemisphere, burn wit a fear is nothin but a mere setback Hear when I'm here, earn wit a clear conscience in the middle of the jet black I'm a dog, running through the jungle wit a hoodie and black hat choppin down ?noonsies? Not a frog, cunning yet I'm humble gotta do the jewels tack wack talkin clowns Tip me, I'ma knock 'em all around, bust a front With a fat blunt swinging on a vine in the homeland I'ma tack 'em in the sound little punks when the rap bump Springin on the rhyme I bowl man Gifted when I'm lifted off a spliff hit, reminisce shit, riff with dipshits This shit is the mischievous style of the gifted, I'm a whiz kid, get a whiff kid Swingin' down low, breakin' down flows with a new flow medley outgrow when you step back To the black with a fat rap with a fat sack with a little bit a funk in my napsack Take it back to the brother land and I was smotherin' stupid idiots like Tarzan Givin' back to the brother man and get another land, man gimme it, its Or-land-o How easy and tight wishin' into the depths up in the sound in the heart of the jungle Gettin' wild with the art of the rumble, never amount to be smarter than Dumbo Make 'em mumble, make 'em humble, Get me round from the start, you will crumble, and you tumble, and you stumble And I do it like that From the end to the other end never gonna end, set a trend with the maniac mic clutch Hey ?bob by the ba?, said you keep your day job my competitors never know the right touch Have to bail through the backstreets, raisin' hell to a black beat Rappers fail to attack me, like a sail with the slack g I attack 'em like acne, exactly UGH (spoken) Mindless cretins grow through idiosynchrosy Peels up, rising up, down (Lateef) Steppin' up through the deep, dank murkiness No telling what is lurking I hero it, but will I sense a jerkin I proceed to bust a buster cuz I trust the finer design in the mind of the rhyme Just about impossible to find What a disgrace to the race of wack mc's I am because I choose to stand my ground FIRM and blowin' the rhythm the vermin and learnin' All I know is we've earned every entry attained And strained the game, and what I'm tryin' to explain is that The deeper we're creepin' the more we find sleepin' And slippin' just shootin' dead lips on a mission Its missin' the reason the gift we've been given the rhythm Cuz that just the way we've been livin And thrive in the essence, survive and its easy To recognize when analyzing ?the bo? Surprises the lame in this line and tryin' To get you to buy into their fantasy world Can it be damaged the ?emina? bones of the fellas and men thats exploting my culture Can't understand every breast that you touch was as up ?paper scun? be one hung motherfucker Such as nowadays, its fallin' and splinterin', just timber, instead of Gettin out of my way, and what I'm -- meaning to say is that The canopy that covers me now is the blackest, attack this I thought we already established the wackness Presented in the cemented jungle by the bumblin' brothers stumblin' tumblin' down Surround me in a cannibalistic style, but I just smile and Silence 'em like the lambs, they all the whole flock We just one magic stock style I'm gettin' 'em off like crack viles, and wicked the whole fuckin while Not trippin over no vines, or over no swine, or over no mines Or over no line at the plot Thinkin' of whippin' 'em like a glock in the jungle (spoken) Now in the beginning of the journey Not in time, but in the mind Imagine the camels being loaded up The men, loading themselves up It's a long journey -- the oasis is all in the clamor As we start from the top we go to the very bottom Of a myserious place -- a very mysterious place What's that I see? Ahhhh (Lyrics Born) I can't even describe you, so I ain't even gon' try...hmmmm Making hell of mc Asia is now this I dont dispute but you knew You knew Lyrics Born was a ripped off note sheet of a hundred And you scrape the paint off your bumpers making sure you beat the buzzer Making sure Lyrics Born came out his mother's stomach covered with the lyrics that kill No bumper, right? Cuz mo'fucka I know you can make colors rhyme And have the whole goddamn planet yellin uncle at you and even Still take the time big up little ?egg?, can you imagine? Big up Asia Born, this little bottle Or that you would even be lightly concerned with little, little words That you would tug at the line, pullin' the kind Of lyrics out my mouth that make me big bad don, takin' kids' legs home You can't even back a sliver roach, you know That type shit, and then watch me wreck this stage Boy like I got your daddy's style hangin' around my waist And then watch me forget -- the way Good lyrics taste, thinkin' I just ain't little rabbit eyes in your heart Man, cuz if I thought it was just Lyrics Born that made lyrics born, lyrics born And then suddenly I can't do no more, I'd be like "Do you remember me?" No, Asia And you used to play my record on the way to the vapor
Track ?: Lyric Fathom
(Gift Of Gab): Rappers step to me like I'm a doormat Check the format, I pour raps Not your average everyday hardcore act actin' I'm like a mac 10, a uzi and a AK-47 Rollin' with crazy kids like Bebe Mayday mayday, I used to listen to KDAY in my heydays I ride the bus with a dream of one day lampin' inside of a Mercedes Benz with sheepskin interior And two fifteens, and to rip means to get creamed I'm large as a hippopotamus, trip, I gotta dis Sip a bottomless cup of brew and I'm getting raw to this If a rapper tries to step, I rip and slaughter his ass Some shit, he oughta just swallow his pride and get to following this I'm marvelous like Marvin Haggler in his prime I carve kids like a dagger with my mind I start shit with rappers who can't rhyme I spark spliffs cuz I don't stagger when I'm high But when I'm drunk I do, punk I do not acknowledge wackness I gotcha grandma doin' backflips and tumbles I rumble through the jungle with Ollie and Frasier Call me the savior of hip hop I rip shop and get my proppers Come get with this ak, my style is akwards I never mock words, I talk towards the inner city youth Revealing it, the truth I'm feeling that the proof is in the pudding I put men that would end hip hop in my shop and I torture Chorus: Check out my lyric fathom Check it brothers, really, check it out (Gift Of Gab): As I walk through the jungle with a knife on my ankle Taking lives, skip will shank you lyrically Apparently niggas wanna sleep still Keep still, I'm packin' the a heap of skills I'm rhyming to keep an ill mind, Saddam type shit Your arm might get snapped like a twig Rap like a nig-gero possessed thorough The astonishing mission, dishing pain Fishing in brains, plain lynching niggas bitchin' So take a ride, I'd abide by my rules Cuz fools I had duels with, I left them in the pool pit, I rule kids I'm a kamikaze bomb, drop a nigga with an arsenal of drama in my rhymes With the tracks and backs and heads is broken to pieces Rapture's phat, ya dead, ya croaked I wrote this piece as just a little dedication to the rappers on the other level Budded out and looking into space, a new frontier And I can probably bet cha that we got anything you want here Cuz punk, we're the crew that make you cheer The two that make you fear and send you back to the rear We're here CHORUS (Gift Of Gab): I flip and I rip shit I whip and I dip shit With the lyrical form, I did kick it slick I'm gifted, I'm ripping a nitwit to shreds Get the Feds to arrest me for slaughtering emcees That's right, on my testicles Come get a little array of the skill supreme Wanna defeat me? My nigga, you should kill the dream The noise, the boys, the count, everybody When I drop fat styles that ain't your simple blahzay blah Lodi Dodi average Joe Simpleton with a average flow Have to go after you jugular Then shit gets uglier Man I hope you take heed I'm making brain cells bleed in excess amount of hemoglobin I rap, yes I'm out to see you bobbin' ya noggin' I've been gobblin' niggas talkin' shit like Hagen-Daas Stompin' ?em, mobbin' with the ill ass skill as seen On individuals who fiend for the real shit
Track ?: Rhymes for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind
[Gift of Gab] I got rhymes for the deaf dumb and blind and a 20/20 eyesight; big mouth yappin crystal clear ear competition mere child's play when I'm formin up, can't be guarded now, sendin y'all to the drawing board, I floored niggaz with the skills I'm sick and bored, of all the triggers and the steel that you're cappin; why don't you give all that weak shit a rest and start rappin - I'm puffin the buddha bless yes I'm packin BOWLS, and spittin the rhymes on ?testabra? Be like D'Wayne from _What's Happening_ talking about "Uh-uhh!" Ya, can't defeat me, delete me, beat me, greet me with a grin or, get your chin jaw and your neck broke And then I'll rip off your arm and throw it in a stew -- boy I'll make mincemeat of you, ? speed a few, wimps eat a few shirmps need a new, temp-orary mind-boggler, follow me, G Niggerole, bigger flows, hover over small ones Others flows will fall, come and get some Runnin shit one rhyme AFTER the next Master the flexology, follow me, take all of me Fuck a beast, buck a beast, sucker please Don't you know _Miuziweighs-a-freakin-ton_ like Chuck D's? Psych! Thought I would contradict myself, didn't ya? I'm gettin ya I'm hittin ya ass with bass all in your face so taste the bit in ya, bowls of Soul, get on a Train but I'm not Don Cornelius Really it's not no gimmicky shit like chicken popcorn Now new and meatier, shootin like a meteor Beats fat and beatier, feed me your brain child the strange style contains foul language So tell you kids to go to sleep so the beat can enhance you ock If you a rapper grab your mic broke cancel the glock yo' ass is grass and I'm the lawnmower hey bonhead nigga put your rhyme in the towaway zone Red's all I see like if my name was El Toro On the land, smokin a reefer, underwater smokin a coral reef I squash beef like a meat grinder I'm the kind of chief rocker to seek and destroy boys oy, I'm all of that and a plate of chitlins So won't you sit and listen to the way I flip the script like, a beat to make a flip to beat to breakin shit delete you makin hits complete awaken kids I eat ya like a batch of bacon bits takin it to the next step LET'S GET ILL
Track ?: Swan Lake
Verse One: Gift of Gab Sittin on top of the bay, watchin the tide It's time to break the tension away, come take a ride As you enter the dimension of the crew SoleSides it ain't nuttin goin on but a party Now brothers wanna flex but I'm over they heads I got the funky type of style to rip your vocals to shreds I'm never runnin from the Feds wearin red Pro Keds Cause -- I ain't did nuttin to no-BODY! I dedicate that line to Shack from South Central Not sayin I'm the baddest but I know I got potential For every black man hung lyrically I lynch you Your style is kinda dry hope my melody can quench you My soul is one with all although my ego is against you See rap is a raw meat, so now I got to mince you I'm playin rappers out like an old pair of gym shoes I can do anything, I can do anything Crusin down the street in my six-four Impala Is what I'd like to be doin if only I had the dollars A baller ain't a baller if he ain't got balls A scholar ain't a scholar if he ain't got scho-lastic education, and if not that, then learn from life Beyond all of the material crap A human ain't a human if he doesn't make mistakes And the name of this song is Swan Lake Verse Two: A planet ain't a planet if it don't have wars A battle ain't a battle if you don't catch scars A mind that ain't inquisitive really doesn't got shit to live for if you can't explore the realms of thought you ought not test lest you be chomped up, like a pop rock, stopped for a bead from the weed lady, thought it was the bomb Really wasn't nuttin but a bag of strong palms Lost twenty dollars, didn't get high Maybe next time I use my finances right Live another day, learn another lesson Ain't no need to get my mental status cold stressin that it's so ill that it's fo'-real that it's no skill displayed, de shades gone now So it's time to build my own umbrella Tell it tell her hella mellow fellows loungin Better bread I never fled a header of the sounds and all I wanna do is run my own universe Grab the mic and let my spirit just FLOCK when I croon a verse Mind over matter, spirit over mind A doobie and a skin funky breakbeats and rhymes A true blue homey to the end reminiscin with your sister in the living room gin A life with a plan nine acres on a land Building self by yourself helpin out a fellow man Prepare for the essence when your inner soul's free Before the departure plantin of the right seed I think what everybody's strivin for is peace of mind I'm thinkin the world is full of inner places that are out there to find Manipulated minds need to make an escape And the name of this song is Swan Lake Manipulated minds need to make an escape And the name of this song is Swan Lake
A2G
Track 1: A to G
--We're going to learn to hear words with vowel "A" sound....Listen with care (Gift of Gab) I be the analog arsonist, aimin at your arteries All-seeing abstract, analyze everything Adding on, absolutely abolishing Average amateur's arsenal just astonishing --Next, we'll learn words that begin with letter "B" I be the big, bad body rockin Bombay to boulevard bully BACK Better bring a bomb to the battlefield Bloody black beats bringing bottoms that boom Basically build barriers bewilder buffoons --Listen now to words that begin with letter "C" Crazy character, constantly creating concontions Catalyst, a cannabalistic rhymes conqueror Correctly connecting, craniums crumble down Consistent capacity --Next we'll hear words that start with letter "D" Done did that done did this diddle don Domination don't dignify diction Doin' it deep down dialect daring Doomsday dut devastate during the duration --Listen to our song for vowel "E" Extraterrestrial electrical, effortless Eons of energy, everyone affected Efficiently epitomize excellent Extravagant elevate where the essence is --"F" is the letter with which these words begin Blackalicious got funk for the future filling up fiends finally Fabulous, furious, fatness, follow me Niggers fall frequently, fact Verbal felon fired up federally foundation fadin' all of this wack shit -- You will listen carefully again to words with sounds for letter "G" (scratched) -I be the Gift of Gab -The man with the given gift of gab man with the gift of gab -I possess the gift of gab -Gift of gab, gab -I use my gift of gab to boast and brag in every rhyme I -Got the gift of gab -When I shoot the gift, I shoot -I use the gift of gab like a harpoon -On the serious tip, I'm equipped with a gift -The gift of gab, it don't waiver -Yo man you gotta -- Grab the mic to show you got the gift of gab --These are the letters B, C, D, and F, and then comes the letter G.
Track 2: Clockwork
We getting' ready, to start the set It's clockwork, got work Put it in like doctors with awkwardness Mopped your whole flock up And walked toward ya Scattered all up on the chalkboard Socrates self is thoughtless From farmers to Metropolis I get these process all twisted Form mental visual optics My job description rock wiz Clock ticks I'm toxic giving oxygen to the thoughtless intoxicant knocking the planet off it's axis like oxes chappin(?) Boxing compin (?) it up out though Peepin it loose Seeped in to you Begin in to the outro MC is what I be about though The freshest widow without though I can outflow Any little doubt Your little mouth throw out so Take it out though So I'm a gardener I'm a chef eatin all you carnivores I'm an ancient Zen master philosophic thought comin like the Art of War Handyman with lyrical hardware And my house ain't made a ginger But its made of an array of pages that'll slay ya like a ninja Unemployed, no, I got work And my job description A rap technician From sun up to sun down And it's clockwork Can you understand? Every beat be made with sucker DJ's plus scissors and tape Can you understand? Lyrics that I write will put you in sound out of sight Can you understand? Master of scratching yes is he the one slippin or is he the real captain? Can you understand? The way we rock keep runnin for a record around the clock Grabbin the mic and unravelin with The force of a javelin hit Travelin Gift of Gab and I'm it MC's are havin a fit A man and a myth with a hat of magical tricks stored in my cabina-net, Jamming and rippin the average listener cramming in it like a sandwich A bit at a time This critical rhyming individual will shine your pitiful kind It's little so little that I will belittle your mind Nigero tearin yo ego and spiritual flows Divine imperial Signed and delivered So take time rewind and give it all Your undivided attention Divide is in division Subtraction in addition See I'm like a mathematician Egyptologist wisdom Hip-hop holy man submerging you all in my baptism Security guard of the rap prison Slap rhythms into newborns and birth rap ism into blunts from sacks hittin, get em off and make fat dividends Now that's livin See I got work And my job description A rap technician From sun up to sun down And it's clockwork Can you understand? Every beat be made with sucker DJ's plus scissors and tape Can you understand? Lyrics that I write will put you in sound out of sight Can you understand? Master of scratching yes is he the one slippin or is he the real captain? Can you understand? The way we rock keep runnin for a record around the clock One-two, one-two This is my mic, my rhyme, my beat and my crowd Do I have to give up my signature? To get ya to figure it out I'm walking the path that Allah had planted or Jah, whoever you give your shout to If your doubts Rip you out your physical watch your spiritual drift up out Floatin up on your way to infinity Kiss the clouds Just about When you get to the point where the alien ships are out Tell em I sent you to help ya and give ya directions wherever you're going so that you don't miss the route See, I send you traveling far Unadulterated cleverness And you'll never catch a flaw I'm a hip-hop astrologist And my raps a shooting star I'm a bartender all into your mental sittin at the bar ventures force injure more injure pretenders the inventor of plenty other dullage (?) your loving buzzin at your door like Jehovah witnesses is in the fall If I was your landlord you wouldn't need to pay the rent at all Just give me applause whenever I floss that'll be the only cost See my occupation A rap technician From sun up to sun down And it's clockwork and it don't stop Can you understand? Every beat be made with sucker DJ's plus scissors and tape Can you understand? Lyrics that I write will put you in sound out of sight Can you understand? Master of scratching yes is he the one slippin or is he the real captain? Can you understand? The way we rock keep runnin for a record around the block
Track 3: Rock the Spot
Track 4: Back to the Essence
[Lateef] When I'm on the mic I stand tall with gall style worth more than anything you goin find in mall the treasure of the mutiny is what keeps you all enthralled i lively up the people with the yes yes y'all create wait watch and let the fake fall employ my strategy like checkmate call your bluff in that destruction of all previous discussion when I hit like a concussion your heart rate stall recorders all stall you jaw'll go slack I deliver makin quivers and shivers all down your back like a river flow the beat bounces in cadillacs bumpin that vicious blackalicious kick drum that keeps punchin thru that speaker countinously meticoulously etchin out the spaces in time for miles affecting rhymes that changing minds permanently like mescaline giving your whole peception perspective a new design that wreck that misconception now we seeing eye to eye yet? can the mc speak? the suckas stay quiet the crowd can get rowdy like the party was a riot try it and the ladies will whoride your ass up out the spotlite "you crazy dont you know that fool lateef'll set it on you? He better than you" she telling you the truth due - I give you the proof due step you end up getting cut up by the cornerstone's edge down back by the end I say dont get contrary cause baby I'm very highly motivated I'm trying to do that play and ownership thing like Isiah did hope your vision ain't impaired but my prayers you can hear what I'm saying to you Now if you fakin it may sound strange to you like some way under my breath maybe I'm playing you but I only do that murder rap shit for those whose the cap fit as for the rest I'm trying to you all back to the essence Chorus: back to the essence when we in the house feel the almighty presence making mcs act humble like peasants smoking the mic and leaving nothing but resin making the spots pop like pots full of wesson making it hot cooking your goose and your pheasant taking your props leaving your ass butt naked soul exposed no material protection low and behold we going back to the essence [Gab] I be that G-I to the F when I get def up on that mic I swing that lefty no discrepency and effortlessly and in the right frame of mind electricity combined with mind soul and the way I flex the agility focus ability makes some heads quite restless in this vicinty Trying to fill me out but they just jesters in my vicinty stuck in my art Trying to feather my energy I bless plenty of enemies hittin me with expressions that would so would like to get rid of me in my quest to be the epitome it'll be cold in helll 'fore I feel stress from any of these illiterate insecure about they little insignicant contributions Infinitely I'm mocking yes and don't whenever the Gift put out a fly quote Yes I'm doing my thing and leaving a cloud of cess smoke Wherever I go whether i'm balling whether I'm flat dead broke I'm heeding my call and leaving a ball of rappers with heads roast and bringing that universal dopeness to the east and west coast and really no one the best though is god allowing you to harness the energy within whoever feels the most at the moment takes it the farthest So thank him cause it's through you that he manifest artistry like a painting with an infinte beyond lifetime warranty and satan is a wack diseased that needs to be quarantined and caged in, I'm riding a boat of dopeness come on aboard with me and engage in a tale of musical invention, an mc lynchin convention GA lyrical fifth dimension miracles all up in your system chorus
Track 5: Deception
[Gift of Gab]
Don't let money change ya!
Laaaaah, di-dah, da-da-dee-dah
Lah-di-dah, da-da-dee-dah (4X)
[Gift of Gab]
This is a story of a kid his name is Cisko (Cisko)
Who made more money than the Count of Monte Crisco (Crisco)
He lived a lavish style of life, fast money women cars
and he liked to frequent bars pubs and discos (discos)
Made his living as a world famous rap star (rap star)
When he first started mic respect's what he was af-ter (AF-ter)
And so he got inside his mind, day and night, and he'd write
constantly his art and craft he'd try to mas-ter (MAS-ter)
Started winnin local battles and his rep grew (rep grew)
Gave his crew a reputation as the best crew (best crew)
And what life would do to him, all the cards that was hard
pen and ped, stress relief would be his refuge (RE-fuge)
Paid his dues, doing shows, now he's on track (ON track)
In the lab, pumping demos, makin songs fat (SONGS fat)
Then he quit his nine to five, finally his time arrived
when he signed a major label record contract
Don't let money change ya!
Laaaaah, di-dah, da-da-dee-dah
Lah-di-dah, da-da-dee-dah (4X)
[Gift of Gab]
His first single was a overnight success hit (success hit)
And now he went from wearing rags to the best fits (best fits)
All his new acquitances, gassed his head, takin it
to the point where he lost proper perspective ('spective)
Started cuttin off the people he came up wit (up wit)
Ego blown like his soul had been ab-ducted (ab-ducted)
Though his heart was once real, now material has filled
up his world, and he couldn't get enough of it (get ENOUGH of it)
Used to wanna be the best of the rap dons (rap dons)
Now his only one concern is goin plati-NUM (plati-NUM)
And his skills has since decreased, and the inner hunger ceased
Now content, just as long as fame and cash come (CASH come)
He's a Big Willie now, rappin bout cars (bout cars)
Thousand dollar shoppin sprees, hangin out with stars (out with stars)
I mean just a year ago, he was broke, bummin money
Drinkin out the 40 bottle, livin outdoors
Don't let money change ya!
Laaaaah, di-dah, da-da-dee-dah
Lah-di-dah, da-da-dee-dah (4X)
[Gift of Gab]
Second LP, my rap changes fast (changes fast)
Here today, gone tomorrow, now his label passed (label passed)
Now the new poster boy, with the hip now sound
second time around everything isn't stable as (stable as)
It once was, now he's lookin for the same hit (SAME hit)
But his sound is played, he forget to change wit (CHANGE wit)
Them old hit rhymes, no one feelin him, his rhymes ain't appealin
anymore, and his records ain't sellin shit (ain't sellin SHIT)
Now he's dropped from his label, and he's goin broke (goin broke)
Tried the underground return, ghetto pass revoked (pass reVOKED)
And the same faces that he dissed, on his way, to the top
laughed as they watched him do the downstroke (DOWNstroke)
Now the moral of the story is that some go (some go)
Why would money make the inner vision crumble? (crumble)
So if you're blessed with the talent, utilize it to the fullest
be true to yourself and stay humble
Don't let money change ya!
Laaaaah, di-dah, da-da-dee-dah
Lah-di-dah, da-da-dee-dah (4X)
Don't let money change ya!
Laaaaah, di-dah, da-da-dee-dah
Lah-di-dah, da-da-dee-dah (2X)
Don't let money change ya!
Laaaaah, di-dah, da-da-dee-dah
Lah-di-dah, da-da-dee-dah (2X)
Don't let money change ya!
Laaaaah, di-dah, da-da-dee-dah
Lah-di-dah, da-da-dee-dah (2X to fade)
Track 6: Making Progress
Chorus: Gift of Gab We keep embellishin upon a new uncharted path Expressin what we see and how we comprehend the math So there's enough for everyone we gotta make it last We gotta make it last.. [Gift of Gab] As I embark on life's journey from the point where I'm at Peace to everyone I know or who I go way back wit Every pimp every mack, every gangsta to jack Every hustler feedin babies, anybody pro-black Every sister raisin kids without the help of a dad Wantin for they children all the things that they never had All the brothers handlin business even though shit's hard Wakin up at five A.M., holdin down three jobs All my rasta brethern gettin insight from trees To my brothers up in college gettin Ph.D's or any other degree, even if you just read for mental health, see you're concious that your mind is free All my people locked down, for your past mistakes Mentally and spiritually, dwellin past the gates You could change your ways, elevate today To all recovered alcoholics chillin up in AA Every black-owned business, keep doin for self Helpin out the community and spreadin the wealth Understand that help ain't gonna come from nowhere else Revolutionaries makin the unjust get dealth wit head on black people got to meet the task Educate, keep learnin, gotta question, ask! And let your light keep shinin and remember the past By any means necessary, we'll be free at last Chorus [Gift of Gab] As I embark on life's journey from the point where I'm at Peace to everybody strivin to live right and exact Even though anxieties try to pull you down See your troubles as a blessin and you're homeward bound Everybody gotta struggle, that's the way of the world Can't develop biceps if you don't do curls Can't achieve a a garden if you never water your crops If you never paid your dues, then you don't get props Couldn't eat a proper meal without cookin it first Can't receive a paycheck if you don't do work If it wasn't for the rain, then the trees won't grow When the spring came around, what a sight to bestow When you face adversities, dark clouds won't last If you never study, how do you expect to pass? The grasshoppers laid around while the ants did chores When the winter came around, he was left outdoors See the cycle keeps moving like a big machine Evolution of the mind, soul body and being God'll never put upon you more than you can take Sometimes you even gotta learn from OTHER people's mistakes So head on black people got to meet the task Educate, keep learnin, gotta question, ask! And let your light keep shinin and remember the past By any means necessary, we'll be free at last Chorus
Track 7: Alphabet Aerobics (w/Cut Chemist)
(Now it's time for our wrap up Let's give it everything we've got Ready? Begin) Artificial amateurs, aren't at all amazing Analytically, I assault, animate things Broken barriers bounded by the bomb beat Buildings are broken, basically I'm bombarding Casually create catastrophes, casualties Cancelling cats got their canopies collapsing Detonate a dime of dank daily doin dough Demonstrations, Don Dada on the down low Eatin other editors with each and every energetic Epileptic episode, elevated etiquette Furious fat fabulous fantastic Flurries of funk felt feeding the fanatics Gift got great global goods gone glorious Gettin godly in his game with the goriest Hit em high, hella height, historical Hey holocaust hints hear 'em holler at your homeboy Imitators idolize, I intimidate In a instant, I'll rise in a irate state Juiced on my jams like jheri curls jockin joints Justly, it's just me, writin my journals Kindly I'm kindling all kinds of ink on Karate kick type brits in my kingdom Let me live a long life, lyrically lessons is Learned lame louses just lose to my livery My mind makes marvelous moves, masses Marvel and move, many mock what I've mastered Niggas nap knowin I'm nice naturally Knack, never lack, make noise nationally Operation, opposition, off, not optional Out of sight, out of mind, wide beaming opticals Perfected poem, powerful punchlines Pummelling petty powder puffs in my prime Quite quaint quotes keep quiet it's Quannum Quarrelers ain't got a quarter of what we got uh Really raw raps, risin up rapidly Riding the rushing radioactivity Super scientifical sound search sought Silencing super fire saps that are soft Tales ten times talented, too tough Take that, challengers, get a tune up Universal, unique untouched Unadulterated, the raw uncut Verb vice lord victorious valid Violate vibes that are vain make em vanished ? well would a wise wordsmith just Weaving up words weeded up, I'm a workshift Xerox, my X-ray-diation holes extra large X-height letters, and xylophone tones Yellow back, yak mouth, young ones yaws Yesterday's lawn yards sell our (yawn?) Zig zag zombies, zoomin to the zenith Zero in zen thoughts, overzealous rhyme ZEA-LOTS!.... (good....can you say it faster?)
Nia
Track 1: Searching
Track 2: The Fabulous Ones
Super fabulous the patterns have been uplifted smoke a chalice with the maddest and the most spliffted turn the alphabet to calculus and flow swiftly see the matter of the fact is that I'm so gifted due payer you do say-a behead a terra formin in a toupee a true player who moves layers of earth showin you are officially ridin with the crusaders check it i go hawaiian on an island in a phat tepee then down in colin for some dining in a black three piece im intertwining and aliging with a mack thesis the tongue of iron rule the lion of the rap species i go abominable all up in you snow igloo clockin the dollas goin all across the globe tourin all over the followers of doubters I'll be cold doin the diabolical infallible that's most cruel and in come the fabulous ones make way for the fabulous ones x2 super fabulous the patterns have been updated wanna battle youll be baffled at the stuff stated drowning in the shallow waters of the rough raging verbal canoe with no paddle heading up state i got a home made of chrome got an iron maiden etchin poems in the stone with a wire cable im the lone wolf who dont condone violatin and when its on im leavin domes steady vibrating in come the fabulos ones make way for the fabulous ones x2 i love waitin for rappers to arrive baked is my nature so smile now and die later cause yall fakers is nothing but some cry babies that's why im writing out your citations check it im riding shottie doing gotti dirty work spiffy in an impaly with a dolly and her skirts skimpy the verbal scholly make you holla you get hurt simply cause the holocaust end all across the earths empty in come the fabulous ones make way for the fabulous ones x2 super fabulous the patterns have been upgraded triple stamina commando get your hut raided couldnt handle it you panicked and your luck faded keep on yappin out your trap and ima duck tape it see we been doing this since you was in a wet diaper confusing as a rubix cube to the dense cipher intuitive just like confusious in your next life or a new addition of a ludricriuosly vexed sniper pursuin moving units influence the next writers student you ruin because you're truant before your test biter bloomin and movin on in unison consuming the consumer and you and your crew'll be implented as 'west siders' in come the fabulous ones make way for the fabulous ones x4 sample: welcome to a new kind of listening experience (scratch out)
Track 3: Do This My Way
I be the first ever Asian astronaut Blastin' off, castin' off The ties that bind like a smashed guitar Rode a mastodon out Jurassic Park Chased by a fan in a Tyrannosaur mask Travel the traffic cop Past the spot Where the ostrich got across for the ocelot What I couldn't of bought Cos they wouldn't a popped y'all Just for me to cop it one So I had to be up I'm going gradually up Into the galaxy bus Until I can't feel my lungs I pass the family up I see an enemy's bus Saw the anatomy up I catch the ballerinas Now I was walkin' down this one block Didn't hear a gun shot Smellin' hell or nature Pickin' fruit off of a kumquat Tree another day up in this life under the sunspot Light upon my innervision searchin' for an answer Heredetory, man-in-glory, days of the missle fury inventory took And while I raise Rain began to fall from the verbal dance I did amaze all the natives And the ladies said "You're crazy - would you love to have my baby?" And I plays with the chief of the Mohicans and the Sheikh And travelled everywhere from Delaware way up to Mozambique Was givin' praise with the Deacon at the steeple Spirit-seekin'on the weekend with a tea can and a pair of old shades It's such a beautiful thing This musical thing When I can do it my way And shootin' no blanks I just refute what you think A quite unusual thing Yes it's a mutual thing Cos it's the root of all things, and we aims to be The venomist, instrumentalist, syllabal-mystic man traveller Skippin' through the brakes on a Wednesday into a city plaza Tryin' to make it 20 out of 15 pennies on the after The cold-hearted world creepin' on my destiny like salamanders Enchanters, cos I run their goose and I be the gander Cleanin' out the digestive tract of hip-hop like cranberries Shinin' like amber All of the children told me "Damn you're an Answer to our ears and deadly threat that's posed by cancer" On Prancer, on Comet, on Cupid, I'm Santa Got more flow than Flo Jo, while I laugh Ho Ho Ho, got jo jo dancer Punchlines, I'm a Crunchtime Casper, and a one-time champion for it A hundred lifetimes in the hereafter, and for the reincarnation tranform What the heck I'll come back for it Gotta handle chores now, and discuss all of that with God afterwards We goin' bobsled off the Himalayas With the bottle of bobs ? In a big ol' box full of the latest compilations And then we won't stop til we hit the Appalachians To the Bulletts Bargain Basement Then 'cross the Baltic ocean basin The ride 'cross that Oakland night bridge A drop deposit in the drop embankment Makin' cakes that taste like Tecrine Bakin' ex-potatoes, raisins, plaintains, M&M's, peanuts, grape juice I'm savin' my pay checks to get my plane fixed why's that We goin' fly all night - stop the propellors and Jump out of the side with umberellas and Let's make them all night the caterpillars that Take us to the top the Himalayas It's such a beautiful thing This musical thing When I can do it my way And shootin' no blanks I just refute what you think A quite unusual thing Yes it's a mutual thing Cos it's the root of all things, and we aims A lot of people follow ? and tolerate indeed About to lead 'em all to battle upon the bottom of the beat And plant a seed of thought that sproutin' Like a balance like a teeter-totter Seen a lot of freedom ? the feat amount to beat the drama He began to dis Until the nurse, the passengers had grabbed his shirts And nothin' happened assured the captain and the person But the pressure had expanded, and inertia burst, the cabin burst And all 'em burgers, blankets, rations, animals and drinks They flew out Fleeds a lots of man ? Climb upon the wall like Peter Parker Meeter of the creed of darker regions Darker seasons These are not the reasons for the grief And now proceed to outer-reaches How to keep styles from seepin' outta me They flew out The fusilage Had blew in time It stupid to have The attitude When you would dive Into the ground (Now) if you'd have thought Of suicide If you would try But you would tie A parachute Onto a slide And took a dive Now who's alive? It's such a beautiful thing This musical thing When I can do it my way And shootin' no blanks I just refute what you think A quite unusual thing Yes it's a mutual thing Cos it's the root of all things, and we end
Track 4: Deception
Track 5: A to G
Track 6: Cliff Hanger
"Whole house freeze!" It was a Thursday I stepped to the club, there she was Draped in a burgundy dress, silhouetted superbly Curved indeed, she started staring in my direction Luring and urging seductively, body language instructing me I offered her a drink instead she took a cup of tea And then I lied about my luxury lifestyle I said "So who you be? You looking kind of tight, gal I would love to see you in a nightgown" She said "They call me the Dragon Queen and I come from Tibet I'm calm in the face of pressure and you'll never see me sweat I've come to your country in search of a lost Scroll That contains directions to a hidden village comprised of gold" I looked at her confused and said "But why have you told me this?" She said the description that I fit Was that of the Chosen One who'd go beyond Then slipped a concoction in my drink Immediately set my consciousness adrift? Now I'm in that zone dwelling, I woke in a warehouse tied to a chair With an abundance of flair surrounding me in a circular angle Glared up at the Dragon Queen's lair, wasn't imagining a thing Her steps on the stairs had a magic Gleam, glowed brightly To prepare me for my journey a Sword was hovering towards me Plus garlic from the Keepers of the Gate who bore all the secrets and take Care of trespassers, but at last it's prophesied that I would gain Access to a cultural dynasty buried and seize and capture the Scroll Massive helicopters patrolled the rooftops, strapped in Began travelling into the darkness, knew not of what awaited Thought of a way to get out of it, just then the bottom gave way I began falling and gave it ten seconds, pulled the cord on my parachute Landed surrounded by a herd of wild barracudas, lions The sounds of the wild kingdom piercing like a siren Was I entering near the mere mortal life span's end? Defiantly I stood boldly as they began closing in And time seemed to be moving rapidly just then? "Whole house freeze!" Just then I pulled the Sword and somehow It affected all the creatures as they stepped back and bowed And the same Glow that I seen in the Sword I seen in the eyes of the Lion Who began leading me in a specific direction as if trying to tell me something Just over the horizon, the same creatures who had been described Appeared in statue form but their eyes scoped And as I approached the gate they began to break open and cried "AFTER YEARS WE HAVE FINALLY BEEN AWAKENED!" The assault was on, I got knocked to the ground by one Shocked in an unorthodox form boxing Throwing an abnormal proportion of body blows, karate chops And drop kicks, plunged struggling deeper into the swamp Then I grabbed my Sword, the garlic put it around my neck Saw that it was draining all of their energy and then with a swing Off with their heads! The gates slowly and mysteriously opened So curiously I moseyed in with intensity focusing on my objective Spider webs the size of king-size beds Fell into a secret passage not knowing to where it lead Just then the same Light beamed brightly and in the distance At that instance, lo and behold, the hidden Scroll! And just as I thought my mission was over I could feel the Dragon Queen breathing heavily over my shoulder As she began to transform and metamorphosise She took on an assortment of legs, arms, heads and eyes And sprouted two horns and began to breathe fire So once again I grabbed my trusty Sword but to my astonishment She burned it to a crisp turned and grasped the Scroll And exited much faster than secreted gas, I'm gasping Clasp full of flames cast in my direction I saw my whole life flash and the possibility of death And a casket passed into the ground, pound for pound, astounding How could I survive and last another round inside this madness? "Whole house freeze!"
Track 7: Shallow Days
I just keep moving on... (moving on...) I just keep moving on... (moving on...) time and time, a brother asks why the rhyme is not laced with a gangsta touch I said "Simply because I don't live that way still kickin' them rhymes rugged and rough" "But that won't sell, cause you gotta keep it real so that we can feel where you're coming from Because these streets is ill so if you ain't killing niggas in rhymes your whole sound's just bubble gum" I said "I won't contribute to genocide; I'd rather try to cultivate the inner side and try to evolve the frustrated ghetto mind The devil and his army never been a friend of mine" "But niggas don't wanna hear that shit" said the brother who was obviously totally misled and yelled out "murder murder, kill, murder" instilled in the influential (walks ?) of our kids' heads shallow days, you never wanna let a brother be a brother fully inner to the outer caught up in all them hollow nights can't escape cause everywhere that I look people front, and it just ain't right (repeat) I said "Don't you know the powers that be are using people as pawns, devouring we until they see us all gone and outta the scene" and as I passed the chronic, he said "look at where I be, I tried to get a job for real, but all the homies (hit licks?) and rob and steal and keep fat pockets caught in a rut to catch ground this way's in, plus who could you trust?" I said "I'm all about protecting mine, but neglecting minds for getting left behind. Why don't you change your environment?" He said "This is all I know, plus my fam's all that I got, I can't go" I said "You gotta make it for the fams" "Damn," he said "I didn't make the ghetto, The ghetto made the man" I said "You're more than just that," shook his hand, said "Damn, you gotta find a way to break the devil's master plan, peace" shallow days, you never wanna let a brother be a brother fully inner to the outer caught up in all them hollow nights can't escape cause everywhere that I look people front, and it just ain't right (repeat) The word "peace" is just an expression used to say bye when it's time to jet and them red black and green medallions was all just part of the trend, I guess Hardly ever them around brothers' necks no more Instead of that gold (gats ?) inspiring gangstas and macks who at the young age of four be seeing more drama than war veterans instead of learning God's laws and hip-hop is ((all the ways ?) till we enlist that ??) to express how we be feeling about this and that but music does reflect life and kids look up to what you're portraying and mimic what you act like It's time for a new day an era in rap, conscious styles, makin' them aware of the happenings but their ears seem more steered towards self-annihilation so then they might laugh and write this off, like I'm out here just blowing wind, maybe label us soft or unreal, something they just can't feel, while they yell "murder murder murder, kill kill kill" I just keep movin' on (moving on ...) I just keep movin' on (moving on ...) shallow days / hollow nights (repeat)
Track 8: Ego Trip by Nikki Giovanni
[poem by Nikki Giovanni, recited by Erinn Anova]
I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad
I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman
I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat's meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can't catch me
For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on
My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save
I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents
I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission
I mean...I...can fly
like a bird in the sky...
Track 9: You Didn't Know That Though
Track 10: If I May
[Erinn Anova] (Chorus) Come along and reap I need my song We're climbin' over Beneath the sea March on Time is almost gone It's all in me No maybe [Gift Of Gab] Here we go again Slip into my conscience, come along an take in A story bout a battle, in this corner, Satan Cunning, baffling, and jumping into half the drink And suddenly disasters and catastrophe And acting unrationally Reacting savagely To passionately Bask in everlasting like escapes from just what its creating Jeopardizin' love Look at all the people that you took advantage of See your hypnotized Rom be gone, take another cup In consequences lurk While the reaper got your shirt size Nigga wack up Times overdue for the birth of a power that the universe grew from (Chorus 2X) [Gift Of Gab] You search for the answers outside Refocus causin' time and time again, backslide You've noticed times before the presence of that "I" But never did submit to it and let it apply Whatever be his will in this present life time Or essence like mine Know the blessings you might find If you let your higher power inside Emerge and apply to every single thing in your balance You will truly find Who you really are Die and become reborn When God is present in your life than you can come reap on And ain't a storm that you can't weather You got a purpose you was born to create Destiny is waitin' for you Arms open, take with ya Knowledge bestowed by the great giver Lakes, rivers Mountains and steams Now reality's the dream wraitha No more searchin' for truth that was always wit' cha It had to hit ya through the struggle and the turmoil Ya soul was planted and it sprouted out above soil And let the sun shine freely down At times it looked like it wouldn't But the plant came to flourish Now it's standin' on solid ground (Chorus 2X) [Lateef] Sun rises like water up in my eyes I'm watchin' changing times but like a changing tide Tryna to keep my head above the ed if I could be [Lateef & Erinn Anova] The sun rises like water up in my eyes I'm watchin' changing times but like a changing tide Tryna to keep my head up Above the ed if I could be Least If I may (Chorus 4X)
Track 11: Dream Seasons
Track 12: Trouble (Eve of Destruction)
{mc's are in..} x2
ripping you to shitzo
get you on your tiptoes
I'm a drama dropper stomping all up in your zipcode
schizophrenic your panniced running from my epilogue
rap is like an insect crushed that I be steppin on
lethal weapon armed deafen all yall heads
up to the point of where your nervous smoking pall mall grits
I'm coming at ya busting at ya like a sawed off bit
you feel the horror of the slaughter
then your halued off wrecked
I'm breaking all yall necks in half flex
know the mathmatic formulas of fury
hey lets go the path of the terror dome zone dwellar
never goin gold
nigga better phone home
tell them mail a chrome tombstone
head up on a pedastal
a medical attention couldnt ever make it better from the metaphor of lynching
now get up out the kitchen before you burn from the diction
with your head up in this bitch until you learn with conviction
I'm addicted to inflicting you with your self-doubt
sticking the key to the ignition and I blow men down
facillities belittle mc's
we killen 'em
squeeze the mental trigger when i enter
spittin venom with ease
bring it
{mc's are in..} x2
faster than a speeding bullet power of a BART train
naturally the coolest when I'm rolling with my thought train
fill me up with octane
mentally are my brains coming down the chimeny slipping gifts up in your stocking
I came to win not just to play because I got game
niggas playing hard and cant identify with my pain
clean the hemoglobin off your sweater after I stain
fit condition lyracisim like jack lalanne
my main point is to show you i'm the jizoint
rappers never captitvate i d rather hear a pig oink
pin point precision impairin yalls vision
a lyrical wizzical microphone magician
pull a rabit out a hat and send him back to his habitat
your buried in the pages of my rhyme flow avalanche
put your smak down on your candy ass critics
the extravagant battle cat totallin your cadillac
matter factly blackalicious in your factory
fatter raps be bustin puss out your acne
planned a wack scheme to attack me
shattered that dream at a rapid ass speed black
bring it back trouble
{mc's are in trouble} x3
Track 13: Smithzonian Institute of Rhyme
gab: yeah yeah (2x) lateef: blackalicious lateef the truth speaker gab: a little somethin Together: now if you want some you best come with a gun you cant fuck with the tongue or the way the song is sung by lateef and blackalicious we keep it fat, delicious complete and grant your wishes so peep the rap and listen you cant be idle you best come trifle but even with a rifle your style'll get stifled lateef: quick gab: lateef and blackalicious we coming for that dough to get the lyrics that we wrote again are sounding rather vicous beyond scientific I'll snap like a doberman I'm unable to hold it in I really hope you feel it, check it out droppin the topic and me apocaplypse hip hop metroplis we stalkin mcs dont stop this marvelous three partners this bottomless beat has opened wideness invitin us inside of its deep rhythmic enviroment a labryinth its violent beings just won't be silent and higher, and higher means to a world (?) where all I need is prez and that is my rent just by fatting the rest who wont admire it wont rule as a tyrant dont condone viloence till the next man trys it dont tax no pirate just watch as I begin to shape your world all mcs in the land spanked and baked and broiled charred and seasoned in a pan - damn awakened world stagnant even though they always been there laggin about exposing it to the hearing impaired establishment raw energy they cant be compared tag em then we drag them then we finshed - yeah together: Now if you want some you best come with a gun you cant fuck with the tongue or the way the song is sung by lateef and blackalicious we keep it fat; delicious complete and grant your wishes so peep the rap and listen you cant be idle you best come trifle but even with a rilfe your style'll get stifled lateef: quick let it hit them the suffocation begins your soul it gets engulfed in the sound like its emotion it works just like a potion it hurts just like thats only motion gotta think about some rules see it cant just all be coastin get to get the spectrum of the wave whenever you know its flowin got a notion and its deep keep it growing like the ocean dont get salty its just me get a dose thats instantaneous essential constantly fits like a constellation glowing natrually in facts you see the past the future marches on triumphantly defiantly relentlessly if it aint one thing its somethin something else the instrumental that contributes to your mental health as for most mcs we moving like a ninja that is killin ya stealthily handle your bizness candidly fool we gigantic globally locally and organically aint nothing you gonna do thats gonna damage me in this currency its tragedy we value beyond champion originality is this shit thats happen we trigger an emotional response causes you to react violently yeah we trigger an emotional response causes you to react violently together: Now if you want some you best come with a gun you cant fuck with the tongue or the way the song is sung by lateef and blackalicious we keep it fat; delicious complete and grant your wishes so peep the rap and listen you cant be idle you best come trifle but even with a rifle your style'll get stifled lateef: quick together: lateef and blackalicious is coming for that dough to get the lyrics that we wrote again are sounding rather vicious Now if you want some you better come with a gun you cant fuck with the tongue or your ass'll get stung by lateef and blackalicious we keep it fat, delicious complete and grant your wishes we move just like eclipses you cant be idle cause even with a title and even with a rifle your styell get stifled - yeah sample: The king is going home to get his throne from the root to the flute that's where everything started at... ...(echo)
Track 14: As the World Turns
"Now, I thought I would talk about today For your consideration, as the world turns As the world turns, you read in all these scriptures About the world, find out that the world does turn!" As the world keeps spinning, we live these days Dollar bill done drove the whole world crazy While sitting on the porch letting ganja blaze Never hesitate a moment to enhance my phrase Since I needed that escape I take my pull Seen the thugs on the corner trying to act all cool Pretty much out of character I look right through, their transparent exterior You in my book getting written and I'm the derriere Thought you was peeping me but I was aware of ya You peep my ill expressions, how I just glare about Trying to trace my inner world and my whereabouts Well try on, try on I'm watching everything that's going down And it ain't nothing that I ain't been around The same ghetto but a different town Weeell, I remember growing up in the P-a-c It was a whole lot of love in my family I had clothes on my back and shoes on my feet Times we didn't have a lot but that was fine with me In good times and even bad times Whether rainy, grey sky or the sunshine Life was so much simpler, I didn't realise it then But time has definitely made me a wiser man [Chorus 2x: Erinn Anova] The world keeps turning round And time just keeps on moving Sunday morning in the church just singing a song Mama gave much praise cause her soul was strong When I was young I used to do lots of thangs was wrong I never thought about till one day she was gone Now my daddy passed on about a year before Reminiscing as I glance at the fishing pole But these things gotta happen so we all can grow And now they spirits much freer than they was befo' So fly on, fly on, fly on, fly on, fly on, fly on, fly on Cause there's angels in the midst And they're guiding and watching me every day And even though at times I let it get to me Just a little and I go astray We keep marching on and on Young militants will watch and now we're growing With kids of their own, as it all unfolds As the world keeps turning on, the world keeps turning on [Chorus 4x] This one goes out to family, y'all come first G-A-B, Chief Xcel, Blackalicious, out
Track 15: Reanimation
Track 16: Beyonder
Track 17: Making Progress
Chorus: We keep embellishing upon the new unchartered path Expressing what we see and how we comprehend the math So there's enough for everyone we gotta make it last We gotta make it last As I embark on life's journey from the point where im at Piece to everyone I know and who I go way back with Every pimp, every mack Every gangstar, the Jack Every hustler feeding babies Anybody pro-black Every sister raising kids without the help of a dad Wanting for they're children all the things that they never had All the brothers handling businesses, I know shit's hard Wakin up at 5 a.m. holding down 3 jobs All my Rasta bretheren getting insight from trees To my brothers up in college getting PHD's Or any other degree Even if you just reading for mental health Feed your conscious so that your mind is free All my people locked down for your past mistakes Mentally and spiritually dwelling past the gates You can change your ways Elevate today To all recovered alcoholics chillin up in AA Every black-owned business keep doin for self Helpin out the community and spreadin the wealth Understanding help aint gonna come from nowhere else Revolutionary's fakin me and just get dealt With head on black people got to lead the task Educate keep learnin', got to question, ask And let your light keep shinin and remember the past By any means necessary you'll be free at least Chorus As I embark on life's journey from the point where I'm at Peace to everybody strivin to live right and exact Even though anxieties try to pull you down See your troubles as a blessing and you're homeward bound Everybody gotta struggle, that's the way of the world Can't develop biceps if you don't do curls Can't achieve a garden if you never water your crops If you never pay your dues then you don't get props Can't eat a proper meal without cooking it first Can't receive a paycheck if you don't do work If it wasn't for the rain then the trees won't grow When the spring came 'round what a site to bestow When you face adversities, dark cloud won't last If you never study how do you expect to pass? The grasshoppers laid around while the ants did chores When the winter came around he was left outdoors See the cycle keeps moving like a big machine Evolution of the mind, soul, body and being God'll never put up on you more than you can take Sometimes you even gotta learn from other people's mistakes With head on black people got to lead the task Educate keep learnin', got to question, ask And let your light keep shinin and remember the past By any meeans necessary you'll be free at least Chorus
Track 18: Sleep
(Sleep) (chorus) The hazy days go to nights returning on and on The eye in the sky that don't lie be watching all y'all The troublesome time filled anxieties just keep crawling on And a dream world line up in your mind just keep on calling y'all The shining lights of stages after the show are faded The crowd is gone away, and now the dawning day Gives way to creatures lurking, can hear the crickets chirping Only the owls can see for this is when they start their prey The homeless ask for quarters for shelter and some water Say "sorry not today" and turn and walk away The busy street is empty whistling winds are blowing gently Listening intently to all of the things they have to say A day of work completed a night of rest is needed Almost done read a book but eyelids to heavy to read it The fireplace is kindling, snug with your queen and building About the victories tomorrow's gonna bring your way (chorus) (I hope that what I have written will be of some assistance) Gazing outside the window the sunny skies dwindle And now it's full of stars a hurling comet soars While during the body slumber the soul begins to wander To dream dimensions see the inner conscious doesn't pause Keeps moving where it's bound to say now I lay me down to After that stretch and yawn energy left and gone The sandman's on your shoulder whispering in your ear he told you Let all your problems go tonight I'm rapping hear my song A day of work completed a night of rest is needed Almost done read a book but eyelids to heavy to read it The fireplace is kindling snug with your queen and building About the victories tomorrow's gonna bring your way (chorus x2) (Sleep)
Track 19: Finding
Lyrics by Lateef, sung by Erinn Anova and Gift of Gab; transcribed TH.
(this is god's act, we're just actors in it) [???] it's working, gotta keep on pushing gotta keep on scratching and hustling struttin' it on doing it now, 'cause it ain't that long until it's gone ain't no time like the present to avoid remember it's not a sprint it's a marathon on ancestors shoulders we stand upon that's how you know, in your soul it's self control you going strong use like a [???] this is the dawn of a new era, come, we can chant down babylon, one more time but it's gonna take some time and a revolutionary adjustment of the mind, body, soul, spirit, in kind indeed, children of god see, life is a continuous process of living and learning and longing and losing and loving and laughing and filling in the gaps in between it sure is something, isn't it?
Blazing Arrow
Track 1: Introduction: Bow and Fire
Track 2: Blazing Arrow
Amazin phase your days your hazy ways my Blazing Arrow The rays that range from Asia way to Rio De Janeiro A craze you crave? but work today's the day that in a major way I'll make you say oh look he saved the day and also paved the way (hooray) Rockin? my crew like razor blades today and days away from now okay, okay I'm like a laser ray keepin the stains? away and dangerous ways rappin the phrase that pays all things just ain't a phase but ageless ways a cagey great displays yo hey, this ain't a game, so stays awake cause if you came to play you'll all behave insane After we change the game it won't reamin the same (I'll fade away!!!) So make your disc and play this tape in your Camaro Amazin phase your days your hazy ways my Blazing Arrow The verbal God, I throw a murder all my foe and kill 'em But learnin all and so I'm gorowing while I'm learnin wit em Infernal I'll explode returnin out the globe about to blow Now get up out here yo, see head on out the zones that I patrol Rock and roll might tear you out the soul like blunts and alcohol I knock your whole toboggan for a loop and now the doubt will flow I'm not the pro you wanna knock cause on the real I got the glow Cosmic flows as I suppose thats how its supposed to be and got to go!!! How'd ya know? Intuition I was on the old safe surface figure out your purpose that's impossible But logic will disturb the thought or focus what its not is all about the grow about the kind of onus only god can know I rock it for the chocolate, for the awkward for the thoughtless in your home or at your office I'm your early morning coffee so who got the ball? We roll with Navajos with double barrels Amazin phase your days your hazy ways my Blazing Arrow
Track 3: Sky Is Falling
Rain and thunder and lightning Crumbling buildings Falling hurricanes Earth shattering mid-rains Scattering insane Happening Souls keeps burning And the sky keeps plummeting Now--- The sky is falling, life is appalling And death is lurking, niggaz killing each other Leaving bodies nobodies searching for And youth announced ..., catching a bit of murder one And mothers is drinking and drugging, hoe-in; searching for their son And liquor stores upon every corner And younger people done accepted defeating The melting pot of lavas seeping And the hood is all the mic can conceive when your foes bleeding to their death And you picking their pocket Wanna just get even Niggers is banging and coppers is banging punk snuggin Highly intelligent Africans lowered to punk smuggin And capitals of the planet, planets run by the government And genocide 's overwhelming, devil is loving it And children in highschool go 'n smokin their classes up And people thats rich don't be checking for what is happening Degrading all women, knock em up, leave em, now smack em up And ain't no way to reach us we're sleeping like hells castle Sky is falling Rain and thunder and lightning Crumbling buildings Falling hurricanes Earth shattering mid-rains Scattering insane Happening Souls keeps burning And the sky keeps plummeting Now--- Rain and thunder and lightning Crumbling buildings Falling hurricanes Earth shattering mid-rains Scattering insane Happening Souls keeps burning And the sky keeps plummeting Now --- Rain and thunder and lightning Crumbling buildings Falling hurricanes Earth shattering mid-rains Scattering insane Happening Souls keeps burning And the sky keeps plummeting Now--- The sky is falling, no one is watching Tornadoes twisting wheres nobody is listening And fires no one pays attention Energies are erupting Blurring the intentional vision Doctors and lawyers and scientists all are locked in the prison of the mind And all the youth are unreachable but they teachable But emcees don't be teaching them too Down deep down in their soul Amongst the prostitution and pimping, robbing and stealing We give a name sab- a truth This is nigger-land Glad to knew ya But give a damn For the future Religions is institutionalized Hittin truths, even youths...alized You got two pistols at the head of your own people Its lethal but its living proof Instead of leaving smiles leaven death inside of our living room And instead of college they got us slangin after highschool For the love of the money and everything that it will buy you Everybody out for that And they kill you if you a rival 20 lines and 1 stake on the table Its about survival The sky is falling Rain and thunder and lightning Crumbling buildings Falling hurricanes Earth shattering mid-rains Scattering insane Happening Souls keeps burning And the sky keeps plummeting Now--- Revelation From the Now ... To the Temptation Calm ... the Fury All .... ..... Drown the confusion Through the devastation Live in the trees of elimination Truth is absolute Prophets Cant wait long ...... .... Cant take long Revelation Devastation Better stay strong
Track 4: First in Flight (w/Gil Scott-Heron)
CHORUS: First in flight (repeated 4X) Gil Scott-Heron: (Cause all we got is rhythm and timin' We go beyond the edge of the sky) [Gift of Gab] FREE! Like a bird out in the wind in the night Like a 747 to LA that's in flight FREE! Like a garden flourishing in the wind Like a student bout to do it when he's graduatin FREE! From any of the energy perception Can never be defined create the definition within FREE! Just lovin life itself and never pretend to be Anything other than the man I was meant to be Travel through time and get a glimpse of the centuries To come a better day is promised remember FREE! Like my nephew in a few months about to be out the penitentiary Meditation(repeated 9X) Chorus [Gift of Gab] UH! I never hesitate about a reluctant mind Just put the peddle to the metal see what ya find You back there slouchin over won't you pick up your spine? Let's make it really really happen live up this time Cause you can choose to say "Good morning God" or "Good God, morning" With black clouds storming I walk without umbrellas into these woods Don't need em cause the mighty trees will shelter me good I'm eating berries from the bushes of the heavenly good From the ?stakes/steaks? the power came to us whenever we stood Reverberatin out we're reachin each and every hood Whenver we could the spiritual anatomy fool But never take the credit for it B cause that'd be rude It's just the way in life we searchin for that had to be new You gotta work it though cause everyday ain't Saturday fool Evolve into a better life and be happy with you and me Chorus [Gil Scott-Heron] The first to fly The first to strive The first to fight to stay alive The first to win The first to strike The first to live The first in flight [Gift of Gab] RISE! Like the sun up at the crack of the dawn Like a wakin child in the morning stretchin and yawnin RISE! Like an infant being held in the light Like the smoke from an incense when it's ignited RISE! If you're sleepin won't you open your eyes again The greatest high be that natural high within No need to force the progression just ride the wind You'll know the answer to the where and why and when If you keep workin for your search you will find the end Though at the end you find it only begins again See at the end you'll see it only begins again And everything you learn you're only rememberin Cause you're Chorus (repeat 4X) [Gift of Gab: repeat 2X] It's me Let your mind and your soul be free Work to shine meet your goal believe Spread that kind of L-O-V-E Take some time off the lonely [Gil Scott-Heron: repeat to end] Cause all we got is rhythm and timin' We go beyond the edge of the sky
Track 5: Green Light: Now Begin
Chorus: Green light, now begin Green light oh-way Ee-yah-oh-way (x3) Green light, now begin Green light oh way Ee-yah-oh-way (x3) Green light, now begin The verb annihilator pen, every animator blend Thought exaggerate a win, comin' at ya made ya thin Diabolically I grin as I'm frolicking within your anatomy again Makin' people higher into infinity from sin where your remedy For them who are feelin' where your friends don't intend to be A trend but a symphony of hymns lyrics sent to me From Him I extend to thee the tims of intensity Lend your attention see is whence your invisions Of a mental division full of internalisms and again and again I'm gonna win this division we a men on a mission, green light now begin (Chorus) No more of that sittin' in a slump and uh No more of that coulda-woulda-shoulda junk (nope) No more of that waiting for the inspiration, innovation Or a green light--now begin No more of that lettin' all your time pass (uh-uh) No more petty illusions of the mindless (nope) It's time to expand, power from within, you're takin' over this dominion Green light, now begin I be the heat of the night (don't fear the leader?) I'm hear to strike light reveal the meteorite Eating your readings and pens bleeding intense feeling Appealing sentence in dents in just reeling 'em in I'm merely a chameleon amid your elementary Elements of the century tell 'em that it was me that sent ya Tell 'em a-visually they'll be in to me until they sleep And hell I'm an entity bailin' well and a felon, I'm free Millin' and rousin' and I'm (rollin' and killin'?) from filtering Hell of intelligent diligent heaven-sent benevolent relevant medicine Poetry pedestrian peddelin' mad adrenaline to lyrical gentlemen Okay? Alright (Chorus)
Track 6: 4000 Miles
Yo We take a journey through music right now x2 Yo, when music temptations cant be resisted Fifths will be unconsistent make me a misfit Listed as a phenomenom I got an oncoming bomb Which is perfection and flexin like I spent time in Nam The beat is on and its nice an easy Instrumentals blendin like cinnamon rice and peas And lifes a breeze when you dont have to kick it to find Contemplate the creation with blackalicious and I Tuna fish is for a musical infant hes past gone Tryin to hold fast and grasp hits like last fall So last long flash on keepin the past strong we grab songs and rythm so people can catch on Yes My mic honor cause my momma I twiced promised her Love life if music is truly your wife honor her Burnin to your thermometer stretch a million kilomteres Connect a population at birth to one another for real [chorus] Music, deliver from within and it covers up everything Music, when the melody and rythm get the moving an unity Movin, one force one love one whole community Do it, keep travelin on keep travelin on Underground or overboard overload oh my lord More remore pure sonic over joy sworn for shorts Unseen aquatic bout to get explored Warriors breakin all the limits twistin the laws Now who said that underground is only just one more I'm sellin time and space and matter makin hula-hoops of saturns rings And bring my thing and sink to think That these was meant to be writ if these spits will ever be writ We on some destiny (shh shhh) we took a piece of this We often testement on every cultural element Ever sent to us by the ancestors as though we manifest it Some new world pedestrians just lounging with some fishin poles Up on the moons crescent Just tryin to make some history spittin on a few records I had a dream like martin luther king in adolescense And now im out in tokyo and europe havin sessions The final destination used to be my main question But then I looked and all that I was searchin for was present The final destination used to be my main question But then I looked and all that I was searchin for was present And now im out and out on and on the road we play Soundin off like army ho replay Talkin bout walkin miles of roads he paved Travel out droppin bombs with no delay [overlaps with chorus] And now im out and out on and on the road we play Soundin off like army ho replay Talkin bout walkin miles of roads he paved Travel out droppin bombs with no delay [chorus] Music, deliver from within and it covers up everything Music, when the melody and rythm get the moving an unity Movin, one god one love one whole community Do it, keep travelin on keep travelin on Now see we rock around the clock we dont stop for nothin Gonna take it to the top - non stop - no frontin People listen when it drops cause it speaks to something In they souls when they all alone spacing in the zone Or walking they block - talking to they homey at the shop See the point is this - Even if the homey got the shot Then there still be the bump knockin in your trunk Get ya out your slump rockin it straight off the top I'm cockin it like ingredients thrown hap-hazardly inside a crockpot With a magic sock schnapps a big ass book and some vodka And pass it my way cause im a real big talker And i love new experiences im the godfather of gettin into to trouble On the road undercover shit - take your whole crowd if you leave em uncovered And i believe even hammer would say my shits proper work Not to put a damper on the underground answer shit You dealin wit motherfuckas not underground anthem thugs Rock from the west coast damn near the athens and you still hate a whack song As much as the next man and still in love with the good one We interact with listners this is our contribution on the war against The whiteness is likeness a constitution of fatness Blackalicious jurassic more lytyrical madness Your mind is captured with tactics to get you back to the fatness And you still want to battle just how long does this last? We have the fashion to classic the pure love satisfaction Is when the magic is captured live-action aint tangible with [chorus] Music, deliver from within and it covers up everything Music, when the melody and rythm get the moving an unity Movin, one god one love one whole community Do it, keep travelin on keep travelin on We take a journey through music right now x3
Track 7: Nowhere Fast
Sample (Scratched by Chief Xcel): Now you, who ever you are, as you're listening to what I'm going to say, will probably not want to believe what I'm going to tell you. And there isn't any way in which I can make you believe; I can only state the facts as they are and hope that you will really believe me. [Gift of Gab] Hey yester-day you were supposed to meet me now I got to testify I waited hours for you guess that all was just a lie Figured you stepped inside soon enough you said good bye "Peace Out! I'm gone and won't be back!" I head your echo cry Oh how the seconds fly left without a second try I check and try to recollect how I just let you die And now I wallow in these severed ties Of Yesterday [woman's voice] [Gift of Gab] Of yester-day girl your really gone I guess that's how it just should be I had big plans for us today but now you're history Today's a mystery you took pieces I miss of me I keep on diggin deep tryin to find that kid in me We had some really good discussions back then didn't we? Befriended me but now we don't speak like we're enemies And all I got is memories Of yesterday [woman's voice] [Gift of Gab] But Yester-day memories are priceless and I'm really glad you left em There etched inside I take a ride when driftin through the spectrum It's just at times I dwell and dwell and then I have to catch up To now while back in time it ceased to march it just kept on I want you back I want you back when it was here I slept on What I appreciate a little more now as a blessing Now I'm complaining and regretting About yesterday [woman's voice] And I'm just goin nowhere fast CHORUS: woman's voice (repeat 2X) I don't try to stay here I just fly away here Out of my oasis I am not complacent [Gift of Gab] Your stuck in a flurry of illusions goin nowhere fast I am today I'm all that ever was and ever is and uh It is an honor, don't become a mental prisoner Just listen to the now and keep your mind from driftin off I am the mission, the position of this instance uh New opportunity to get the love your wishin for To kick the door in to look for your ambitions, what? You can move on out to elevate your existence up Today [woman's voice] I'm just today, I'm just the way I am I am ever single day I am I'm February, April, March and even May I am I'm only what you make me hope I'm what you pray I am Today I am, I'm never really far away I am You better scope me like the hunter does the prey I am You play "I am" out in the picture yes today I am I'm everything your memory say I am Today [woman's voice] [Gift of Gab] So seize me, I'm here to serve you if you serve me back It's easy, but difficult that's time alone squeeze me From beaming your feet when your all your actions turn to banking An inkling, a hint, I'm moving faster than your blinking So treat to just a slice of heaven why you cheat me? Deceive me and now I'm hell inside these thoughts that link me To flesh the soul it's bound to I was truly made to be free Today [woman's voice] Instead I'm going nowhere fast Chorus (repeat 2X) Sample (scratched by chief Xcel): I'm only saying this to show how all around man or beast sleep away there gift of time and never know the beauty of a good life below I'm bout to change the way I'm livin homey I'm eatin vegan, no ham or baloney I'm startin off my day with yoga stretches I'm bout to master self to study lessons I'm swearin off the weed and alcohol I won't be affected by doubts at all The sky's the limit, watch I'm bout to ball I'm spendin every single dollar wisely I'm writin songs that's bumpin like the Eisleys I'll have the answers you can all confide in me Nothin the day could bring that will surprise me I'm buildin to the fullest every minute I'm through talkin the talk, I'm bout to live it Ain't even started yet, I'm at the finish line Man I can't wait until it's here I'm sayin Oh what, you haitin? What, you think I'm playin? You think I ain't just go ahead and watch me I'll use the lessons yesterday has taught me I'm countin hours, minutes even seconds Man I can't even sleep, I'll build my Heaven Oh what, it here? Oh, oh what, it's what? Don't even trip, just give me one more day It's really gonna be on tomorrow Chorus (repeat to end) Your stuck in a flurry of illusions goin nowhere fast (repeat 3X) Sample: There we are. All finished. And you don't know how much I appreciate your pardon. Watch out blazing arrow Do it just how you talk it Nigga rolled in and walk it Stick a toe in the water Don't falter, go on and fall in Tell me, do you know your calling? Yo, what your mission is fella? I caught this vision when I met a fortune teller In New Orleans French Quarter on the bus bench an arbitrary corner Sorta scary looking elder woman showed up outta nowhere She stared into my eyes and said "Sure as eyes green You were conceived and walk the earth Spit that heat, purifying I believe. So are you ready for your cleansin? Cause this is only the beginning."
Track 8: Paragraph President (w/De La Soul)
Track 9: It's Going Down
feat. Lateef the Truthspeaker, Keke Wyatt [Chorus - Keke Wyatt] Sit back, close your eyes Peep back, got you open wide I'll let you get a taste of me It's going down in mystery Sit back, close your eyes Peep back, got you open wide I'll let you get a taste of me It's going down in mystery [Gift of Gab] Well it's the microphone ripper, party-rockin Gift of Gab I hit the scene, lift you on my beam And send you through my high plains Mind-train shiftin through your migraines Spit with that I hit with patterns get you twisted sideways [Lateef the Truth Speaker] And I'm the head honcho, sport golden tonsils Inventin new styles all the time like pronto! Four by four, runnin over suckers like a Bronco Haters say the lyrics ain't Gonzo but they wrong though [Gift of Gab] We walking up and locking up the game and sparking up the flame You're not gone' be the same when our flow reach your brain It's 'bout to bust [Lateef the Truth Speaker] Not your crush, show up at our show in a tacky dress Sparking us, talking 'bout your prowess but we're not impressed [Gift of Gab] Checkmate, populous crush, monstrous plush Rhymes that just thrust onto your buck buck Just rush [Lateef the Truth Speaker] Just rushin' like the Nile River, power we deliver See it's (going down in mystery) [Chorus x 2] [Keke Wyatt] You know, I know, you know, I know (It's going down in mystery) [Gift of Gab] (Lateef) (Gift of Gab won't you learn 'em and assure 'em) (That the fire that you spit'll burn 'em) Burning up the track and turning up the action (Murder one attack him) Serving what you're rapping Urban gutter anthems (Certain of the fact) Curtains for the wack Searching for the knack (You're pervin' off the fatness) Fury of the rather early mornings after (Worldly like disasters) Purely just the baddest, the chief clamp down on 'em (Like a vice on a melon squeezing tight on your temples) Feel the bass (as the wind blows) In your face (and your mental) hear the taste Instrumentals even break down on you like this (We surpass your previous standards) drastically (Mastering bass), setting nights so bright (Beneath the skylight) And days (and weeks) and months (go by) And years (and decades) and we still so fly (While the others are just fly by night) And not tight (we keep writing) Like scribes (but we tight) and so wise (c'mon) [Gab & Lateef Together] The rhyme historian exploring everything that we got And even more so we exploring everything that they not These are the glory days for lyricisits, forever we plot Wait wait wait wait hold on a second bring it back (we plot x 4, c'mon) The rhyme historian exploring everything that we got And even more so we exploring everything that they not These are the glory days of lyricisits, forever we plot (It's going down in mystery) [Chorus x 2]
Track 10: Make You Feel That Way
[Chorus x15] Make you feel that way [Verse One] Up an early for the hope of a brand new day See a homie you ain't seen since back in the day Fresh haircut fitted wit a fat ass fade End of work, we chilling on a Saturday How you felt when you first heard the data came Rakim KRS hey I had that tape Cooling out with ol girl on a fat ass date Find a hundred dollar bill wow man that's great Get promoted at your job up to management Plot a long time finally a plan has made it Time I feel I wanna shout, man its real that way Wanna think of things that make you feel that way [Chorus x15] [Verse Two] Christmas day when your mamma got your first bike Type of feeling when you went and when your first fight How your team felt winning championship games Celebrate in a huddle dancing in this rain Have a thought see a shooting star cross your screen Put in hard work finally your living your dream Deaf man get his hearing now in come vibes Blind man get sight see his first sunrise Dumb man speaking out, now he's load and clear Earth through your chout smile so proud ya wear Going in your third eye for the styles ya hear Making music that'll bump for a thousand years Eating right feeling conscience like health is first Said a prayer that's sincere and you felt it work Times I feel I wanna shout, man it's real that way When I'm thinking things that make you feel that way [Chorus x15] [Verse Three] All up in her vibe something coming over me Summer days more likely that you notice breezes Winter days more likely that you notice heat When I'm warm more likely that you notice me In the dark it's more likely that you notice light In the light more likely that you notice night Hungry more appreciation for that meal Dead broke more appreciation for that grill A bad day'll make you really notice ones that's good And that'll make things a little better understood Times I feel I wanna shout, man it's real that way When I think of things that make you feel that way Make you feel that way... [Ya know its like ahh like the most greatest feeling you could ever feel you like just total illation. Sunny day, just that day. You know its just like you know just the most joyous feeling you could ever comprehend. You know, chilling with your family. You know just you know just really really feeling, feeling the moment, with the folks. Ya know really really really just chilling. It's love. It's love. It's love]
Track 11: Brain Washers
Track 12: Chemical Calisthenics (w/Cut Chemist)
[Gift of Gab] I can do anything Neutron, proton, mass effect, lyrical oxidation, yo irrelevant Mass spectrograph, your electron volt, atomic energy erupting As I get all open on betacron, gamma rays thermo cracking Cyclotron and any and every mic You're on trans iridium, if you're always uranium Molecules, spontaneous combustion, pow Law of de-fi-nite pro-por-tion, gain-ing weight I'm every element of brown Lead, gold, tin, iron, platinum, zinc, when I rap you think Iodine nitrate activate Red geranium, the only difference is I transmit sound Balance was unbalanced then you have a little talent and Careful, careful with those ingredients They could explode and blow up if you drop then And they hit the ground Let it flow, yo, just let it go, get back C-O-H-O-2 wine water solution of calcium hydroxide Slobbin it, C-A-O lime will make bleach powder Galvanic metal beats stomp out louder Dried ice, C-0 squared refrigerant N-O-2 makes you laugh, it's laughing gas used by the gimmicks I nearly added acid glue, I'm like oil of a toil, the king of chemicals And the G heat gas waved all your mats Chemical change, ice point, melt all your raps Atomic weight, hold shocks, when you call Refillable gas keep going way beyond (?) ill with buzzin, feel the ambiance A diabetic process outta calm your ass After I warm your ass, I'll give sodium, silicate N-O-2-S-1-O-3, a water glass Borax flexure full of brimstone sulfur Boraxic acid, hip-hop preserver C-O-2 could never put away the fire Style aroma is scientific; the lyrical fuse would be connected To teach you chemical calisthenics The Theory is that all matter is composed of at least three fundamental particles Protons, electrons, neutrons, Protons charge is positive By now you've guessed electrons are probably negatively charged Neutrons don't follow either, neutral, in the middle, only no apologies Centered, unmoved by yin and yang ideology Neutron, bomb songs, electron fury Cosmic musical radio-activity Different points in joints within infinity Oxygen and hydrogen alive within all types of energy Within all types of energy Within all types of energy Within all types of energy Within all types of energy, inside a world, inside a world Inside a universe, inside of me existing although I can't see it Hydrocarbon, nitrogen cycle, ionization Heavier than electric motor metals the way (?) This has been a chemist, Blackalicious creation Clean out your desk, put your papers away cause class in almost done This is chemistry plus calisthenics I'm calcium plus potassium, magnesium, newspaper of sodium, sulfate Your solvent, chloroform, remedy from the norm glycerin, purest form Titanium. (?)
Track 13: Aural Pleasure (w/Jaguar Wright)
In amidst, of the deep blue abyss, without your love found chance Energy surround, enhance spirit now Aural Pleasure In amidst your souls across ropes checking where your mind sun shines Energy surround your head spinning now aural pleasure They call me Gab and I rap And I do my thing and swing it bring it In my hab-i-tat Where my vocals stinging even linger In the back of your neck Where you feel the tingle lingle ling You will adapt to your snapping your thumb and finger eagerly Now since we have to achieve We must believe believe believe Into a certain degree Just like the wheat you need to feed you Man this circus won't cease It just eats and eats and eats Until we serving these beats In addition to serving MCs 'Till they go berserk and then freeze Any day of the week I speak through speakers You can burn with this heat MCs you freeze to see (the reasons)? Take your circuits and free ya up From the he's and she's and needs Emotion surface to be Having your search through the abyss Aural Pleasure y'all In amidst, of the deep blue abyss, without your love found chance Energy surround, enhance spirit now Aural Pleasure In amidst your souls across ropes checking where your mind sun shines Energy surround your head spinning now aural pleasure Check it out On the corner of jail, but not a dealer of death Realer, iller, conceal a feeling, sealing there's nothing left On the top, on its penicillin, you got wish It's a oracle, then it seize ya, I'm sure you got lifted Oceans of rhythm inside a killer go ta death Coming divine as I reach and travel in the depths Moving your spirit just like you're walking through a 'X' Choice of the generation, that come and be the peps Bubbling all in your cups, don't even follow it up Nothing to wallow in but the sound that you're gobbling up Rocking in time until your popping your mommy up Calling your Aunt, and also your pa, and the swallow the funk It's just a little something that open your comatose Stay to living in Babylon, with the spiritually dead ghost This is recommended, I highly advise a toast Hopefully it inspires and maybe encourages growth Aural Pleasure y'all (x5) In amidst, of the deep blue abyss, without your love found chance Energy surround, enhance spirit now Aural Pleasure In amidst your souls across ropes checking where your mind sun shines Energy surround your head spinning now aural pleasure Watch out Blazing Arrow Test 'til it's scarred Press through the storm Find who we are, with true desire For no human being Quest for your dreams By any means, endure the fire PURE Test and trial An error destined to endure Infallible unyielding to the adversary's law 'Cause I graft for the after me Syntax in a masterpiece burner Unless your flame's life surpasses eternal You couldn't swing it if you had a pendulum strapped to your sternum I am the sun One with the son of man righteousness Won't be defeated by the underhand faceless Hands in the presence of greatness I'll teach you how to backstroke With cinder block bracelets Dark paddling kicking in the quick sand no aces Constance under pressure Test how true your faith is FAITH You wanna see my face, connect the stars Passion birth right RAW Hide electric Gibson guitars Spark cohibra cigars African Tsars From the call Think fast like Ramadan I'm beyond the book of Ramah ad Nigeria Phenomenon A bbo Dot to dot I am the might of common law Kum Bay ya Chronicle Got the run of flow Jungles beside a hole Songs that a side atold Geronimo platoon Undergrounds a phat I tousle now swallow slow Let my fire killer higher Hell a soul Floss you with barbwire coils Anoints with Allah bills Cause royal karma's close And can't wait (And can't wait) God's be ghost Waving a burning spear I am Faith I am Faith I am Faith
Track 14: Passion (w/Rakaa Iriscience/DJ Babu)
{Cuts by Chief Xcel and DJ Babu}
An open microphone can be dangerous
Let's tune in on two of the greatest MCs out there
(Chorus)
[Rakaa, Gift of Gab]
Passion
The will to win, the spark within
Passion
The strength within the hearts of men
Passion
The drive to press, to strive for best, to rise
You've just arrived the quest is driven through
Passion
To play through pain and love the game
Passion
To break the chain and blaze the flame
Passion
The fight for rights to love your life, to rise
You've just arrived the quest is driven through
Passion
[Rakaa]
Propaganda, positive propositions
Politician, musician and a triple optician
Still part of my missions to slaughter the opposition
Critics that don't get it, I tell 'em to stop bitchin'
I do without blacks, I've done it without cash
Strictly for the love of the art - that's passion
Flashin', rappin' or jammin' or soundblastin'
When Quannum meets Expansion, this is what happens
[Gift of Gab]
Runnin' through the jungle with a flare gun
Arrow-arms, zoning out my mind
Like I was hooked on hero-ine
Take the fire, turn it up and blaze whole forest down
Pullin from within' the inner insane warrior
California to the District of Columbia
Hella high octane, lookin' through a lazy eye
All ablaze, fire, flames, lightin' up the sky
Runnin' through the burnin' sun, yellin'
Ride, nigga ride, nigga ride..
(Chorus)
[Rakaa, Gift of Gab]
Passion
The will to win, the spark within
Passion
The strength within the hearts of men
Passion
The drive to press, to strive for best, to rise
You've just arrived the quest is driven through
Passion
To play through pain and love the game
Passion
To break the chain and blaze the flame
Passion
The fight for rights to love your life, to rise
You've just arrived the quest is driven through
Passion
[Rakaa]
Desire, the fire that inspires
I don't state facts, I state buildings, like empires
Passion
The journey, the learnin', the time-turnin'
The searchin', the mind yearnin' to wake and find morning
Passion
The ladies they love the long-lasting
Asking for action, braced for satisfaction
[Gift of Gab]
Passion
The black-skinned African jazz-men of the half in Aspen
Relaxed, gettin' my back rubbed
[Rakaa]
I'm still here, I've seen cats get killed here
I've seen cats make a mil but millionaires still fear
You can buy airplanes but you can't buy cheers
Blackalicious, Dilated, vibratin' your ears
[Gift of Gab]
Sent vibrations for years, I've been waiting for years
I've been patient for years, we ain't playin' this year
We hold stake in this here, it ain't safe for this year
We in the zone watch next level, takin' it there, this is
(Chorus)
[Rakaa, Gift of Gab]
Passion
The will to win, the spark within
Passion
The strength within the hearts of men
Passion
The drive to press, to strive for best, to rise
You've just arrived the quest is driven through
Passion
To play through pain and love the game
Passion
To break the chain and blaze the flame
Passion
The fight for rights to love your life, to rise
You've just arrived the quest is driven through
Passion
Babu!
Let's listen to this recipe for-
Chief Xcel-
The most astonishing-
Soul-
New seeds of wisdom, craft, and skill
(Check it out, y'all)
Listen now, to this classic moment from-
DJ's, around the world, DJ's around the world
[Gift of Gab]
Had a rough week, it got beat by passion
Saddled up, tweaked off a beat, started mashin'
Matador Rica, the heat from the heater
In her world, dwellin', hear the world
Yellin' for a leader
[Rakaa]
I don't bother with the dealers, I take it to the lab
It's Rakaa chillin' with Babs, Xcel, Gift of Gab
I grab mics and fans gravitate, I can't waste it
My whole life, I wanted it so bad, I could taste it
(Chorus)
[Rakaa, Gift of Gab]
Passion
The will to win, the spark within
Passion
The strength within the hearts of men
Passion
The drive to press, to strive for best, to rise
You've just arrived the quest is driven through
Passion
To play through pain and love the game
Passion
To break the chain and blaze the flame
Passion
The fight for rights to love your life, to rise
You've just arrived the quest is driven through
Passion
Track 15: Purest Love
Track 16: Release Pt. 1, 2 and 3 (w/Saul Williams/Lyrics Born)
(Release) (Release) (Gift of Gab) (Release) Creve lint melon and elephant billing And carrying sedatives that'll give average lettermen calices Wrecking with savageness Catalyst battling rappers'll stagger right after the dagger is left in it Cherish ? (Release) Attica Shatter your algebra with calculus (give it up) Damage your pattern I'm pounding you so fabulous (give it up) Enough is enough is enough and I'm busting up outta this shell In eruption and rupture your structure the fuck with you (Release) Up in you and cut you a costumer Huffing and puffing, discussing absolutely nothing, disgusting Plus I'm feeling me rushing up in your country percussion No woman gets struck in the boundaries Wake up if your lunging, I'm something, you're nothing (Release) Now come see grunting, I'm hunting For one emcees running I'm stomping my foot through your army They couldn't have stopped me with shoties Oddity ?wadidy watity? entire societies inside of societies And surviving still remain alive (Release) emcees Thriving to flow, opting to go five hundred and fifty-five syllables to go Split em' with subliminal intentional dentinal pro Unlimited flow unriveted, inhibited, vindited Now you can't get rid of it like (Release) business Magnificent, intimate, in it with, in a minute, gonna be in a nicks In it with a gig, big fat heads like eggs Benedict Pigs lick shit, rip with words in a bismol energy It's time I ?(society beats release)? (Saul Williams) In a breathlessness Out of restlessness By the time I caught up to freedom I was out of breath Grandma asked me what I'm running for I guess I'm out for the same thing the sun is sunning for What mothers birth their youngens for And some say Jesus coming for For all I know the earth is spinning slow Suns at half mass cause masses ain't a glow On bended knee, Prostrate before an altered tree I've made the forest suit me Tables and chairs Papers and prayers Matter versus spirit A metal ladder A wooden cross A plastic bottle of water A Mandela encased in glass A spirit encased in flesh Sound from shaped hollows The thickest of mucus released from heightened passion A man that cries in his sleep A truth that has gone out of fashion A mode of expression A paint splattered wall A carton of cigarettes A bouquet of corpses A dying forest A nurtured garden A privatized prison A candle with a broken wick A puddle that reflects the sun A piece of paper with my name on it I'm surrounded I surrender All All that I am I have been All I have been has been a long time coming I am becoming all that I am The spittle that surrounds the mouth-piece of the flute Unheard, yet felt A gathered wetness A quiet moisture Sound trapped in a bubble Released into wind Wind fellows and land merchants We are history's detergent Water soluble, light particles, articles of cleansing breath Articles amending death These words are not tools of communication They are shards of metal Dropped from eight story windows They are waterfalls and gas leaks Aged thoughts rolled in tobacco leaf The tools of a trade Barbers barred, barred of barters Catch phrases and misunderstandings But they are not what I feel when I am alone Surrounded by everything and nothing And there isn't a word or phrase to be caught A verse to be recited A man to de-fill my being in those moments I am blankness that contains center of an "O" The paramedic containment of an "A" I stand in the middle of all that I have learned All that I have memorized All that I've known by heart Unable to reach any of it There is no sadness There is no bliss It is a forgotten memory A memorable escape route that only is found by not looking There, in the spine of the dictionary the words are worthless They are a mere weight pressing against my thoughtlessness But then, who else can speak of thoughtlessness with such confidence Who else has learned to sling these ancient ideas like dead rats held by their tails So as not to infect this newly oiled skin I can think of nothing heavier than an airplane I can think of no greater conglomerate of steel and metal I can think of nothing less likely to fly There are no wings more weighted I too have felt a heaviness The stare of man guessing at my being Yes I am homeless A homeless man making offerings to the after-future Sculpting rubber tree forests out of worn tires and shoe soles A nation unified in exhale A cloud of smoke A native pipe ceremony All the gathered cigarette butts piled in heaps Snow covered mountains Lipsticks smeared and shriveled Offerings to an afterworld Tattoo guns and plastic wrappers Broken zippers and dead eyed dolls It's all overwhelming me ?Okinelming? me I have seeded a forest of myself Little books from tall trees It matters not what this paper be made of Give me notebooks made of human flesh Dried on steel hooks and nooses Make uses of use, uses of us It's all overwhelming me ?Okinelming? me I have seeded a forest of myself Little books from tall trees On bended knee Prostrate before an altered tree I've made the forest suit me Tables and chairs Papers and prayers Matter versus spirit Through meditation I program my heart to be break-beats and hum baselines in ?excellation? (Release)x3 (Lyrics Born) The heavens have benevolent medicine mad reverent Pedaling deliverance that resemble ?impediments too? The residents in the meadow of pestilence Who developed a chemical dependence on pessimism, now Is he is, or is he ain't The most distinctive speaker seeping through your sleep ?speaker? Yes he is, oh, yes indeed So distinguished, so close some people think half (?) Ain't no secret, people, trust me It's mostly hustling Moves me up strait But just focus on the gun scene Boasting and fussing They both so unproductive Suppose it go in my blood stream Let me post this question Ask anybody, just anybody They'll tell you that the antibody to the petty Potty mouth gots to go
Track 17: Day One
Just What Can Happen (where does this come from?)
Just What Can Happen x 5 Verb and add a metere Prime time for your mind staff Lyrically I be the illest monster Stomp ya One for the treble touching on board, Concorde Stopping the Flight 11 soaring way beyond ya Comprhension, watch the engine Toppling and mock the opposition Not to knock my vision Slaughtering and not to mention Hostages and morph inside the fortune off And while im scoping Popping open bottles Dropping tokens-where i'll get off And stopping aint an option Dropping solar cosmic rhymes And toxic poems, Quannum sock ya Who can rock and Im a mess Test a G I rap and see You're back You're knowing me A half a thousand penance back I leave your Adam's apple swelling Felons laughing like I'm Adam Sandler Smack an average amateur Towards your slacking, savage, radical, oral path Im motal rapping Black immortal tan and tab And over Spanish black You know the man is Cracking open planets, graphics ultra maim And that shows there has been infactual in Gab and black you know it's mass impact You roll and pass and flinch I make it happen Just what can happen x 4 To crush a brain You never bust in vain And must you train Amongst insane The youngters craving Aiming for the jugular vein Complain above your range I strain to shove you out your lane It's pain I came to snub your aim And duck your lame And uplift Ancient culture angles Tangle up Your mangled structure I done just broke your brain It's over - novacaine ain't up ta My Alien Invasion y'all A crazy in erasion all Occasionally making y'all Amaze, ventilate, win all My (???) is gone My nature is to take your break your arm and leg and make it call me Make it, take it, come away and hurt ya ALL NIGHT - Crying in your dreams And Rhyming when I scheme, I'm silent let you beam And set your screen Ablaze with FIRE It's the pride, humble, markster Posted like a lion Sitting in the cut Know when you sleeping on me Bout to rudely wake you up And who, be take the cup to profit And shake you up Captain rapping Rock the boat I shock You know I'm not a soldier, kid I make it happen
Miscellaneous
One of a Kind (Quannum Spectrum)
[Gift of Gab] One of a kind, verbal the mind wreck shop Permanent kind, urgent to climb, pressed up Insertin the rhyme, it's workin on time, yessir One of a kind... One of a kind, verbal the mind wreck shop Permanent kind, urgent to climb, pressed up Insertin the rhyme, workin on time, yessir One of a kind... Freeform fetish medicine for your headaches We bomb fellas, better send for the medics Napalm telepath tightrope walker Stay on mellow as quite dope author Night stalker, Charlie Mann's my man Avid attic mic smoker out in Amsterdam Black Barishnykov with the gift to floss In fact you pissed me off and you gets the jaw smashed This here's the rawness that ripped em off And wack shit gets dissolved as the gift revolves around earth space agent that'll rock ya pah Have you runnin for your Gramps for a lil baklava Let me, talk to y'all bout some off the wall rapper wannabe in front of me that got the balls to not know who the G.A.B. be me The nocturnal, elite MC, they flee from Ease on down the rhyme train trap design aimed at your mind, came back to shine, play it back The time and days of the last breaths of life leave your spine ablaze when my ass bless the mic, c'mon One of a kind, verbal the mind wreck shop Permanent kind, urgent to climb, pressed up Insertin the rhyme, it's workin on time, yessir One of a kind... One of a kind, verbal the mind wreck shop Permanent kind, urgent to climb, pressed up Insertin the rhyme, it's workin on time, yessir One of a kind... One! *echoes* One of a kind.. Let me, steadily, wreck the, melody Check the, Cherokee, techniques, varying every week, next week, instead of these head'll be like - let's see, exiting the next brain Let's speak, hypothetically you are extremely extinct I phonetically the hip-hop, be the best thing By the power vested in me, I keep flexing Now it's G-I-F to the T, come now, test me Gets things, done when I think and my thoughts distinct I'm the link in the lock that's missing Find a pea in the pod that's glistening, shining, it's me History, in the making awakening this industry to this beat I'm christening it's sizzling In this thing, intuitive thoughts just like gypsies It's risky, when you want a bout with mic's Big Chief I rip these, and do it out loud while y'all lip sync You pygmy, you'll never get rid of me, renege this against me inevitably y'all gon' dig me Essentially, incredible feat, of raw energy Immensely, embedded inside y'all intensely One! *echoes*
Reanimation (If I May 12")
[Chorus] It's the Gift, uh-huh Here to give your mortal mind a lift, uh-huh Mack rap verbally pimp, uh-huh Lace another rhythm with my sig-na-ture (the Gift, uh-huh) It's the Chief, uh-huh Tearing up the drum and bringing heat, uh-huh Block shock, thunderous beats, uh-huh Blazing on your local ghetto street corner (the Chief, uh-huh) Eyes in my mind, pulse signs in my rhymes Lines are inclined shine, dine in my shrine Warring time, mortifying, sauna flying lines Borderline Einstein, horrifying times Ordered like slaughter fights for the fight-type Sure to strike, pouring like water might, I Smoke like a sack of that northern lights hype Swerving off a nitro ice-cold quarter pint Saw the bright light, rappers caught a night-night Bona fide nice ice, Dolemite type Sorta like Border Heights, what a sight, yipes Showing motherfuckers how to hold a mic right Photo light images Yoda might bite Soldier-like stripes, word to Spike, build a vice is Photo volt bright light, hold the funk inside Glowing like solar kites, sho ya right quite [Chorus] Beats to the rhythm, rock raps in the day Feast on adrenaline, master the way I'm the verbal hunter going after my prey, they Running for the highest mountain yelling out "mayday!" G-A-B, the great annihilator of the way they Be all on sacred sceptre jocking, like a Pele Soccer ball, kick em all, drop em in the Bay say Fatter than your nigga Albert yelling "Hey, hey, hey!" Putting on apprentices like Brandy did Ray J Shutting down your business like 15-80K day If you ain't efficient you'll be all up in a melee Gab'll bring the [??]-ness of the sun into your grey day Take your AK, put it in a little tray Lay it underneath the surface of the earth and let it stay way Out of sight and mind so you can focus on your time in climbing Rhyming, hey that beat like grime and shining be my pay day [Chorus] Slick-slippery, quick ripping these, shift physically Drift with a kick kicking me Hickory dickory, emcees are sick of me Zen trickery, get the gist, sent wizardry Split-lickety, spit it could be lit Like this, into me, it is a secret Emcees pretend to be kin to the Gift I'm mentally shitting the wisdom of centuries Wit, go on like a centipede's length Rappers want flames, man, I injure these shrimps Skew em on the barb' with some hickory chips I'm a level higher than the intermediate Rappers, I don't care about your gender, descent Background, police records, history, rent Unpaid evictions, charge penalties sent Merciless in battle leaving enemies bent, it's the Gift! [Chorus]