1. |
We Alive
04:59
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Every MC with a mic spitting the truth it’s like / when they write so we don’t need no troops to fight / the verse hits and the hearse gets delegated / to nothing more than storage space your mind get’s elevated / albums dedicated to the ones hella jaded / verses written to listen for when you waited / for words of wisdom to lift ‘3em out the bed they laid in / the blueprint and guide to stay alive in these ages / every page is like Malcolm never met assassins / we get the massacre moving like it’s molasses / after you have it you laugh at elephants and asses / see what’s write in front of you with or without glasses
Why ...
We alive what more could you ask for / a dream, being the things we imagine / life worth itself, start with myself / a mic fiend and I know what this mic mean / you might listen yeah you might like it / so while I’m at it I write my wish of life
Music for the masses made for the people / the bullshit see through me and you equals / for the homo, sapien sexual phobic / black and white rich and poor music for the hopeless / for the black-balled short and tall shakers and the movers / all of ya’ll big and small winners and the losers / sinners and the god- fearing blue collar no collar / leaders of the flock haves have less and have nots / twenty-room mansion cardboard box / rocking weaves or the locks / thieves and the cops the diseased and the not / B and Cs we be the degrees of inclusion
Why ...
We alive what more could you ask for / a dream, being the things we imagine / life worth itself, start with myself / a mic fiend and I know what this mic mean / you might listen yeah you might like it / so while I’m at it I write my wish of life
Music for the movement so stop sitting / get in the kitchen put the pot on the range and watch it bubble / we bring that heat to sleep truth to the lost / something to eat for the weak proof of the false off with the roof / precision to mission we brew this beat to the tooth / decision to listen it rests in peace with the youth / your voice ain’t in the booth / the lesser of two strangers look into the mirror vote for him or her to change us / god looking back got the power to rearrange us / leap into the danger / fear breeds anger and anger breeds ignorance / which gives birth to brothers only using they fists it gets worse / believe it ain’t a curse, we’re deceived to see our only value in our purse / but a dollars just a dollar with thieves faces on it / strange fruit hanging from trees traces on it / the race is on and, we busting out our shoes left our laces on the corner / backed by the jazz and blues Coltrane on the horn and / born in this love supreme making dreams come true peace to Hughes / it’s not deferred but preferred to not let it dry shrivel up and die this dream is alive
We alive what more could you ask for / a dream, being the things we imagine / life worth itself, start with myself / a mic fiend and I know what this mic mean / you might listen yeah you might like it / so while I’m at it I write my wish of life
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2. |
Waiting For A King
03:35
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I was just a little boy when I summoned / something like I seen in a dream I knew it was coming the old wise men / told me that I was wanted to show the cowards in / and when the doubt is confronted just know the power’s in / strong words from a struggle that paid for it / so I doubled up my hustle cus I’m made for it / I took the scroll from him / he told me don’t read a word on that roll ‘til I’m thirty years old on em / what do I do ‘til then, he said I knew already / I threw up two and then, I hit the door with heavy / stress on my brain a pain in my chest test of my range remain on the quest / testament came, addressed to my name arresting my breath, hold up / let me catch and rest until I woke up / I saw the scroll in the window wondered if the wind blowed / would it tow my woe away and send for / a yellow brick road scarecrow or Toto / someone to say hello to so I know I’m never solo / I’m so low, feeling like there’s nowhere else to go so / I rose slow, felt it from my big toe to forehead / knew that there was more here / hit the floor in fourth gear / so many doors to explore here / searching from the sky while I soar here / creep into the core where / raw there, the people, they hungry, waiting for a king
To stand where they broke down hope down / what they know is on the ropes now / waiting on a king, love in a dark cloud, it’s getting dark out / he be that spark now, waiting on a king
They waiting on a king so I’m waiting on my damn self / ain’t looking for a hand or another man’s help / I’m cooking up a plan with the cards I was dealt / dealing with the complex of the god in my self / and everyone else, if everyone helps, everyone’s wealth / will be the measure of our love and everyone’s health / the message, I carry it stealth like Harriet helped / to bury just a little seed where it’s scary as hell / area well known where they bury they selves / or where we in cells, locked down killing our selves / it’s like we willing to fail, to prove we’ll do something cool / but we still in our shells / still in our hell, waiting to grow up / waiting for a chance to make it out and blow up / but slow up man, know its burning holes in your soul but hold up man / keep your eye on the goal / keep your eye on the road, it gets deep / so we fly or we fold, the higher we go / the fire will grow, aspire to know / a lie when its told, from liars that know / you could explode, knowing the whole / truth of the code tucked in my coat / I unrolled the scroll, the paper nearly broke / I was thirty years-old, so I read what they wrote / said quote, the time is now to be a leader ya’ll/ open up your heart see the people, they waiting on a king
To stand where they broke down hope down / what they know is on the ropes now / waiting on a king, love in a dark cloud, it’s getting dark out / he be that spark now, waiting on a king
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3. |
Gold
04:52
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Underground and ubiquitous / lift with it limitless spirit gift / if it could be an image than it’d be a kiss of a rose to a cheek with a glow that’s unique to the truth / saw you coming through to the heart of my plan pardon my plan / was waiting ‘til you showed me the way but understand / I could only wait with little of faith so much at hand / so much at stake if I break and never land / I’m Peter Pan seeing my fait and seeing sand / slipping to the lower part of the glass it never lasts / like the moment that I saw where you stay the moment passed / before I knew it only knew you from the past / went as high as high could take me away and saw your face / thinking death is waiting for me to play, saving my place / but little did I know it was you leaving me clues how to leave the blues how to make moves and never lose / never let me catch a sight of your smile / keep your eyes closed, they could take the life in me now / you are too bright for my low light so I look to the stars wonder what you like and maybe what you are is something out of sight but maybe what you are is something in my life like
I’m on a mission to build a bridge an unknown distance / like something inside of my soul is out of prison / trying to find a way on the road without a vision / collision turned learning turned my ear to listen / and what I heard my words couldn’t describe / still I scribe hoping these words ‘ll come alive / look oyu in your eye show you what’s in mine / show you the thin line between me and you and within time / If I make it through you can make it too / and vice versa twice over to the final hour / to all the people in the world power / we connect with it we perfect with it that good it’s / built in from before we were built / scientists say it’s the God particle the part of you that started you / artists drew it all throughout the centuries / the centerpiece of mysteries and magic / histories so- called secrets static / bad habits have me going in that rabbit hole / trying to break another code in the cabbage so / If I’mma go where I need to grab it gotta look into my pockets / empty out the baggage and grow / forever steady reaching ‘til I have it, gold
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4. |
Road to Grow
03:44
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Who said they ready for me swinging machetes at me they everywhere / but I’m never there living in the weather where / looking down on the ground I see the clouds / man I’m very near, to where we carried Ms. Harriet here / an eagle’s eye on haters, an evil guy to fakers / we need a ride to save us we’ll be your guide to takes us / hop on our shoulders move over and let more in / we making love to this music until the war ends / collateral damage people in battle who manage / to making music the apple that Adam was handed / so I’m using this shot from this point of my vantage / to my advantage where we shot like a clot or a bandage / plane landed, open the door I’m bout to step off / coming in from under the floor, where I left off / I pick up no skips or no hiccups / a stick up with a mic in my grip, put your fist up / I’ll give up, everything to see my people carry dreams / into the sky with legendary wings lift up / to the occasion fly into amazing lives made for paving the way to the wisdom
Like that born on the road to gold, it’s like that born on the road to grow...
At battle with my bad habits in bed napping waiting for magic / grabbing at flashes ‘head traffic so now I’m acting / like go ahead at it they said that it spread havoc / so when I’m at it and time set it I shed fat / and make a run for it Forrest Gump for it / one pouring forward for the score I’m done snoring / more important that I soon explore the core storage / motherboard coming running toward it sun soaring / something to absorb the allure, troubadour / trooping through the movement making music, true adore / new accord to record the truth nothing but it proof unrestored / underscored with youth commonly ignored so they sore / all they wanted was school we gave ‘em war / they picking up the tool and you said it’s ‘cus they poor / or, maybe we could reimagine a pattern to happen to tap in to having more
Like that born on the road to gold, it’s like that born on the road to grow...
The trouble is, living on the bubble with / PTSD while it’s still bubbling / the block is hot, more than cops and government / pockets get got, people out here struggling / to keep the gas going, looking for they last knowing / if they pay the bill no more to cash flowing / looking for a meal ain’t nothing so a fast going / no breaks it don’t matter if the sun showing / son blow the competition away position he play / slanging that yay the Noriega way / to keep a roof on his Momma, use llamas / spread drama, the truth is confused with who honors / broken G-codes dropping the load old bombers / oh karma a lot to behold like Obama / singing old sweet home with no bother bout the real going on in the field and so we build!
Like that born on the road to gold, it’s like that born on the road to grow...
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5. |
Paint a Picture
02:54
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Black ink sprayin’ the canvas / stop guessing, you wonder who invisible man is / source of this verbal discourse my hand is / cries of the hungry, who my band is / radio just might band this / in any event put up the tent this is what the plan is / stand but we won’t just stand for this / woman and man in hand with no manners / black to the pitch you ain’t got to tan this / fire in this bitch and you got to fan this / ain’t no tag on this shit you don’t know what the brand is / made in the heart before the bullshit ran this / slave to the art is just what I am is / fly with the pen pad is where my land is / gone with the movement like that black van is / riding shotgun next to who my friend is
Over a yellow afternoon / blue and white lights surround the outline of doom / the latest installment / chalk over pavement / part two in the series of imitations of slaveships / hard to describe / the scene was tied off / like a Kieth Haring painting came alive and laid on the sidewalk / ground was so soft, blood was so soft / splattered on the bricks like a bomb had gone off, yo / you swear to god that Osama showing off but it’s just the cops and the calm they towing off / they say we used to it / but the truth is we still feel life-long abuse through it / and that’s my perspective from this moment captured in time / elapsed in a rhyme, perhaps in a rhyme / hear the words spoken but the vision is refined / a collision with wisdom we paint a picture in your mind / where
They say the last days are coming / a storm leaving nothing / if you look around the world, travel through the slums then / think it already happened, civil war, poor water it’s like a human disaster / now action, back to the big screen / back to the story, boy having big dreams / coming up on big scenes, star of the slum dog / hundred million in billing still live in the slum dog / that’s how it go they make a killing then run off / they take everything except for the sun off / that’s how we dress now / let ‘em know you free walk with your chest out / ‘cus we kings and queens, winter summer fall and the spring / we gotta stand up ‘cus some are gonna fall into things / and lend a hand, then mankind will find / what is written in your heart will paint a picture in your mind
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6. |
Soul Traveling
03:43
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Every now and then I have to take a / break away from the day to day grind / the weight of my mind waiting to find / the right time to turn in my two weeks / might find a flight flying south to a blue beach / or maybe at the Red Sea we in Egypt / Mohammed El Bedoui ready cheefin’ with the sheesha / or better I head into Paris see the Mona Lisa / there with her character and my very own piece of / fresh air next fare / jetting down to Greece and then to Pisa, leaning / about to catch a red-eye this evening / wake up in Ipanema see that chick yeah she fiendin’ / favelas over look the serene hookers and teens / I wonder what’s the meaning while I cook in the beams of sweet sunshine / and what I want is what I need to beat or stunt time / but maybe slowing the speed is showing growth in degrees / I’m laying low in the breeze until it’s crunch time
Soul traveling me and my map / leaving my pack on ‘til I need to relax / and no matter where I’m gone I’m always looking back / where do I belong where is home, at
Born and raised on the Southside / of the city that gave you Barack Obama and Common Kanye and Do or Die / and where a lot of the drama I played my part of / saw my karma making marks for the way to something new if I / could break the modern day chain saying stay in your lane / look to your left to your right then you do the same / all that time you want change insane / think I see a plane in my future / my brain on Bermuda no trains or commuters nah / I gotta tell you that my aim is to move to a painting that moves / something like a Dali but I’ll probably never make it / unless it’s a Picasso one where everything is shaking / cus it’s taking too long to call a place home / cus everywhere I’ve been and what it made me is so sacred / I’m waiting like Godot to lay in a abode where everyday I stay is another day I grow
Soul traveling me and my map / leaving my pack on ‘til I need to relax / and no matter where I’m gone I’m always looking back / where do I belong where is home
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7. |
What I Am
02:20
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If I could say what I was really feeling you would feel like you had left from this planet and your breath had vanished / expanded to understanding / a plan perfect to free a stranded seed planted in weed sand and debris damaged indeed but ready to break the surface / simple / singular purpose / reach as high as it can despite the circus in the circuits of man / burning his hand to touch turn to burn a buck but never he earn enough to affirm his lust for a hologram / a picture that he trust / mental image what it meant to be winning but my luck was broken back in the beginning getting in it for the wrong reason / but through the wrong seeing / the way glowing like auroras showing solar breezes / what my soul needed / to show me how to plug the holes I should know breathing / breaching my limits letting go of what I know is weaker / it’s in the air the ether / play the receiver and let it seep from my fingers ‘til it’s complete and it lingers like something sweet the demeanor of dreamers who fiending to sleep be in it deep awake to the day all that it keeps falling in peace no walls / no streets streaks of the all screech off to reach ya’ll to free ya’ll ‘til we all call the block / a place to raise a child / purple haze of days / finding a smile in this scrimmage you versus you that never finishes and witnesses / a bad ending to a sad story call it allegory for pain / painted in shades of being a human being that wades in the water / waits for Valhalla / the author at the altar of experience / impossible to altar Gibraltar with no fear in it / hearing it but not too / listening but not you / whispering to spirits here and figures that’ll watch you / telling ‘em to trust that we’ll make it together we headed to better or bust we aching but shaking the weather with feathers on our backs we touch / a measure of heaven found resting in the crest of our lust / severed away the desert that begetted our crutch / so we shed it something wetter with the rest of what was setting us up / deaded the shuck confidence is alive / in the eyes of my eyes we all gods all good all hoods ready to rise until we arrive / mind on the job at hand / show my brother the plan to find bliss in the midst of what I am
What I Am
What We Are
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8. |
A Way Out
03:31
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Tired of sitting at this red light / full tank, filled from a past life / ready to go foot on the gas / like if this light won’t change then I’m ready to crash / into the fast life, high risk but the cash nice / eye lids laying low ‘cus the grass nice / blood- shot waiting for my blood to stop, it’s like my love’s on lock I wish I had dice / then I could say it was a bad roll, maybe / I could say it was beyond control / but what I know is I hold all the keys where the glow is / the love below waiting for my speaker box / to blow where the woe is / Vincent van Gogh won’t listen with both ears only hear blocks / to progress, so I guess / blow another cloud of the smoke from my chest / hoping in the sky where it floats is my rest / but ‘til then, I’m gone see if my best is still in / to make a run for it call it sun soaring / that’s the goal to hold gold no snoring / so I’m up breaking my mold shaking the old off my bones to know a good morning / on the horizon rising with my yawning I’m all in until I fall in exploring
Clouds looking for a way out every day looking for a way how gotta play no matter the sway of the forces now we made our minds and we lay where the source is
Gotta be a better way to break outta the box out of the way / of my own pain my own shame from my past wrongs / it’s such a long game is something else on / I see myself gone on another trip / no return tick gotta make it stick like a newborn new life and I been sworn / to be a leader for the fight through the windstorm but all my winds gone / I can’t breathe with the weight of my deeds cutting deep into my Teflon / but no vest on just blessed wherever I rest covered in the best of protection / my mother’s prayers aligned with stars and combined with the gods to strike down and smother haters / but there’s other layers I gotta lay a way to / carve through to start moves Gale Sayers
Clouds looking for a way out every day looking for a way how gotta play no matter the sway of the forces now we made our minds and we lay where the source is
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9. |
Time
02:42
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Where did time go / is right here, or over there only time knows / time shows it’s face, but with our blindfolds only see the nose / so the key to our souls stays in a box / locked away hidden in clocks / seconds and hours a beckon to tower / above to believing and leaving the doubters / who grieving for reasons, ain’t even ours / being we beings with love as our power / we greet the deceivers with peace and then flowers / cease to insist that we shift and we cower / beneath the shiclack of the whip / back in the grip of the moment that gave us atonement / forgive but we never forget / the beautiful omen that showed us our home / and then we zone on for that something to lift / our gaze, open our spirit to show us the way / to tap into the thunder of bliss / under the kiss of this and that we saw the match made / of right and wrong, black and white, the night and the dawn / traps and the light, call it your life, suffered in plight, maybe a song / maybe a poem frozen in time / blood in the prose yours and then mine / shaped as a rose to live as a sign / wherever it grows remember the time
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10. |
Your Highness
03:40
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11. |
New Age
02:44
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Separate the cream from the crop I /drop my bags off at the nearest stop as I race to the top / like Willy Wonka just gave me the place, straight through the ceiling / outer space making it hot, bringing that feeling / like you made it through the maze and the flock / so great surreal and celebrated like the day that you dropped / embracing will to still another moment for me to build / believing reasons that receded from my failures / aka the best days / cleaning up a mess, fresh for the test days / confess, stress weighs / only if I let it kinetic, I get it stepping ‘til I let in a fresh phase / creative interaction, bringing the satisfaction / collapsing, garbage guarded by my ego / regardless of my ego / marching with my people / through darkness and the evil / to spark this end of feeble / embarkments ‘til we equal / and arms-length to the regal / like that
Headed to the end of the beginning like a / adolescent taking lessons to the entering of / confessions of a grown man making a home stand for the fam / not only for the lonely at sea looking for land / and a place where they could finally be, what they had planned / plant a seed for the family tree, so it can span / from it’s roots to the tip of the leaves, showing the band / of brothers they we finally free, leading the clan / to a new age where few gauge whether or not / we living well based on who paid together our plot / is flowing over to a new age to better our shot / at making new ways from old new ways to hold ‘em / goals like they made out of gold but never sold ‘em / sewed ‘em into our clothes and now we know ‘em / and we never letting go of control it’s like I told ‘em / and endeavoring to strengthen the soul and so we rolling like that!
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12. |
How Does It Feel?
05:45
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Carried away to another level living life high, by only looking at trees / changes in the leaves showing evolution, a seed in spring / a beautiful funeral at my feet now / deep browns and greens, red fire holding sun light looking like a night in my dreams / dream, on dreamers ‘til it’s built into everything / drive to work just as good as out of work and in between / sadness a memory, death just a seasonal shift, otherwise known as a gift / like when winter bring that fresh ice springing into rivers incubate life / great life celebrate in summer then grace- fully fall / back to it’s center source beginning nature inner essence womb cradle crater holding greatest light and love – roots – / understood the journey above was all truth / from the photosynthesis sending the sun into innocence / entering a cycle of concurrent give and replenishment peace / maybe this was meant to birth a new vision / seeing what was given with Earth and just living (free)
How... How does it feel to be me? Ever ask your self? How... How does it feel to be me?
A perfect settlement, take a breath, give back different elements / a rose gives aroma, you give the praise of smelling it / holding it, baby skin pedals unfold in it slowly /patient but persistent growing opening an image of something you know is holy / gracious, good mother nature let me taste it / touch it in a rush and catch a thorn slow it up sit back and hear a story of you coming up rough / through concrete, woods floors, but they couldn’t block your / inner sonar for solar inspiration / synonymous with the divine kind / your kind is a testament to testaments / appropriate for funerals and weddings new births and new blessings / last names or first, metaphor for / love, gangsters, prophets and war / above and below, thorns then a pillow you glow free
How... How does it feel to be me? Ever ask your self? How... How does it feel to be me?
Some say its just mathematics / others claim the hand of god some say its magic / evolution or illusion some grab at it / atheist laughing screaming reason and habit / while some are doing deeds to please popes in habits / some believe, the key’s in our DNA / a certain color you belong in a certain place / some say chase every dollar you can taste / don’t waste a moment slipping / others holding on through they kids and / they spouses, they houses and cars / defined by a job q’aballah or by Allah / some say we are the sum of something magnetic on par with every God ugh! / Can we remember what the question is / and right before that motivation had for asking it / must’ve been something fantastic kid / got lost in it then it finished now we after it / but it’s still there sleep beneath our eyelids, free...
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