Mos Def › Lyrics › Respiration

What'd you do last night? We, did umm, two whole cars
It was me, Dez and Main Three right?
And on the first car in small letters it said
All you see is and then you know

Big, big, you know, some block silver letters
That said 'Crime in the city', right?
It just took up the whole car?
Yeah, yeah, it was a whole car and s***

Escuchela, la ciudad respirando
Escuchela, la ciudad respirando
Escuchela, la ciudad respirando
Escuchela

The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis
Shinin', like who on top of this?
People was tusslin', arguin' and bustlin'
Gangstaz of gotham hardcore hustlin'

I'm wrestlin' with words and ideas
My ears is picky, seekin' what will transmit
The scribes can apply to transcript, yo
This ain't no time where the usual is suitable

Tonight alive, let's describe the inscrutable
The indisputable, we, New York, the narcotic
Strength in metal and fiber optics
Where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips

For profits, thirsty criminals take pockets
Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin' class watches
Skyscrapers is colossal, the cost of living
Is preposterous, stay alive, you play or die, no options

No Batman and Robin, can't tell between the cops and the robbers
They both partners, they all heartless
With no conscience, back streets stay darkened
Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened

My eagle talons stay sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin'
You either make a way or stay sobbin'
The shiny apple is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat
You could lose your teeth, many crews retreat

Nightly news repeat, who got shot down and locked down
Spotlight to savages, Nasdaq averages
My narrative, rose to explain this existence
Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance

So much on my mind that I can't recline
Blastin' holes in the night 'til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline

Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin'
Chest heavin', against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving

Breathin' in deep city breaths, sittin' on s***** steps
We stoop to new lows, Hell froze the night the city slept
The beast crept through concrete jungles
Communication with one another and ghetto birds where waters fall
From the hydrants to the gutters

The beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin'
You on the wrong side of the track, lookin' visibly shaken
Taken them plungers, plungin' to death that's painted by the numbers
With crime unapplied pressure, cats is playin' God

But havin' children by a lesser baby mother but f*** it
We played against each other like puppets, swearin' you got pull
When the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes
Gettin' knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise

Look in the skies for God, what you see besides the smog
Is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene
Thoughts that people put in the air
Places where you could get murdered over a glare
But everything is fair

It's a paradox we call reality
So, keepin' it real will make you a casualty of abnormal normality
Killers born naturally like Mickey and Mallory
Not knowing the ways'll get you capped like an NBA salary

Some cats be emceeing to illustrate what we be seeing
Hard to be a spiritual being when s*** is shakin' what you believe in
For trees to grow in Brooklyn, seeds need to be planted
I'm asking if y'all feel me and the crowd left me stranded

My blood pressure boiled and rose 'cause New York niggaz
Actin' spoiled at shows, to the winners the spoils go
I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates
New York life type trife the Roman Empire State

So much on my mind, I just can't recline
Blastin' holes in the night 'til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline

Yo, don't the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin'
Chest heavin', against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving

[Foreign content]

Yo, on the amen, corner I stood lookin' at my former hood
Felt the spirit in the wind, knew my friend was gone for good
Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, I couldn't mask it
Mixin' down emotions, struggle I hadn't mastered

I choreograph 'Seven Steps To Heaven'
And hell, waiting to exhale and make the bread leavened
Veteran of a cold war, it's Chicago for
What I know or, what's known

So, some days I take the bus home, just to touch home
From the crib I spend months gone
Sat by the window with a clutched dome listenin' to shorties cuss long
Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong

Tried to call, or at least beep the Lord but didn't have a touch-tone
It's a dog-eat-dog world, you gotta mush on
Some of this land I must own, outta the city, they want us gone
Tearin' down the 'jects creatin' plush homes

My circumstance's between Cabrini and love Jones
Surrounded by hate, yet I love home
Ask my God how he thought travellin' the world sound
Found it hard to imagine he hadn't been past downtown

It's deep, I heard the city breathe in it's sleep
Of reality I touch but for me it's hard to keep
Deep, I heard my man breathe in his sleep
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep

So much on my mind, I just can't recline
Blastin' holes in the night 'til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke, retrace the skyline

Yo, how the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathing
Chest heavin', against the flesh of the evening
Kiss the eyes goodbye, I'm on the last train leaving