Mos Def › Lyrics › Hip Hop

You say one for the treble, two for the time
Come on, y'all let's rock this
You say one for the treble, two for the time
Come on

Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape
Now let it fall
My restlessness is my nemesis
It's hard to really chill and sit still
Committed to page, I write rhymes
Sometimes won't finish for days

Scrutinize my literature, from the large to the miniature
I mathematically add minister, subtract the wack selector
Wheel it back, I'm feelin' that
Ha, ha, ha, from the core to the perimeter black
You know the motto, stay fluid even in staccato

Mos Def, full blooded, full throttle
Breathe deep inside the trunk hollow
There's the hum, young man where you from
Brooklyn number one
Native son, speakin' in the native tongue

I got my eyes on tomorrow, there it is
While you still try to follow where it is
I'm on the Ave where it lives and dies
Violently, silently, shine so vibrantly
That eyes squint to catch a glimpse
Embrace the bass with my dark ink fingertips

Used to speak the king's English
But caught a rash on my lips
So now my chat just like dis
Long range from the base line, switch
Move like an apparition
Float to the ground with ammunition
Chi, chi, chi, pow

Move from the gate, voice cued on your tape
Puttin' food on your plate, many crews can relate
Who choosin' your fate, yo, we went from pickin' cotton
To chain gang line choppin', to Be Boppin', to Hip Hoppin'
Blues people got the blue chip stock option
Invisible man, got the whole world watchin'

Where ya at? I'm high, low, east, west, all over your map
I'm gettin' big props, with this thing called hip hop
Where you can either get paid or get shot
When your product in stock the fair weather friends flock
When your chart position drop then the phone calls

Chill for a minute, let's see who else tops
Snatch your shelf spot, don't gas yourself ock
The industry just a better built cell block
A long way from the shell tops
And the bells that L rocked, rock, rock
Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock
Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock

Hip Hop is prosecution evidence
The out of court settlement, ad space for liquor
Sick without benefits
Luxury tenements chokin' the skyline
It's low life gettin' tree top high

Here there's a back water remedy
Bitter and tender memory, A class E felony
Facin' the death penalty, hungh
Stimulant and sedative, original repetitive
Violently competitive, a school unaccredited

The break beats you get broken with
On time and inappropriate
Hip Hop went from sellin' crack to smokin' it
Medicine for loneliness
Remind me of Thelonius and Dizzy
Propers to B Boys gettin' busy

The war time snap shot
The workin' man's jack pot
A two dollar snack box
Sold beneath the crack spot
Olympic sponsor of the black glock

Gold medalist in the back shot
From the sovereign state of the have nots
Where farmers have trouble with cash crops, woo
It's all city like phase two, Hip Hop will simply amaze you
Craze you, pay you, do whatever you say do
But black, it can't save you