Black on Both Sides
Album - 12 ottobre 1999 - Debaser id 23379

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

Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape
Now let it fall... (Hungh!!)
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 feeling 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, speaking 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
Putting food on your plate
Many crews can relate
Who choosing your fate (yo)
We went from picking cotton
To chain gang line chopping
To Be-Bopping
To Hip-Hopping
Blues people got the blue chip stock option
Invisible man, got the whole world watching
(where ya at) I'm high, low, east, west,
All over your map
I'm getting 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 cellblock
A long way from the shell tops
And the bells that L rocked (rock, rock, rock, rock...)

*scratching*

Hip Hop is prosecution evidence
The out of court settlement
Ad space for liquor
Sick without benefits (hungh!)
Luxury tenements choking the skyline
It's low life getting tree-top high
Here there's a back water remedy
Bitter intent to memory
A class E felony
Facing 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 selling crack to smoking it
Medicine for loneliness
Remind me of Thelonius and Dizzy
Propers to B-Boys getting busy
The war-time snap shot
The working man's jack-pot
A two dollar snack box
Sold beneath the crack spot
Olympic sponsor of the black glock
Gold medallist in the back shot
From the sovereign state of the have-nots
Where farmers have trouble with cash crops (woooo)
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

I know, I can't afford to stop
for a moment.. that it's too soon.. to forget
I know, I can't afford to stop
for a moment.. that it's too soon.. to forget

[Mos Def] - speaking over sung vocals
Man.. for real
I was in love with this girl, y'know
I was.. to' up dog! I'm tellin you man
She was wild man.. f'real
It's just too.. let me tell you about her

[Mos Def]
Yo, in she came with the same type game
The type of girl givin out the fake cell phone and name
Big fame, she like cats with big thangs
Jewels chip, money clip, phone flip, the six range
I seen her on the ave, spotted her more than once
Ass so fat that you could see it from the front
She spot me like paparazzi
Shot me a glance in that catwoman stance with the fat booty pants
Hot damn!
What your name love, where you came from?
Neck and wrist laced up, very little make-up
The slims at the Rebok gym tone your frame up
Is sugar and spice the only thing that you made of?
I tried to play it low key but couldn't keep it down
Asked her to dance she was like �yo, I'm leaving now'
An hour later, sounds from Jamaica
She sippin Crys straight up, shaking, winding her waist up
Scene two: my fam throwin the jam
For Reed is on the stand big things is in the plan
The brother Big Moon make space for me to move in
Hey, this my man Mos, baby let me introduce
I turn around
Say, you is the same pretty girl that I had priorly observed
Trying to play me for the herb (yeah, that's her)
Shocked as hell she couldn't get it together
I just played it low and pretended I never met her
�How you feelin', �oh I'm fine', �my name is Mos', �I'm Sharice'
I heard so much good about you its nice to finally meet
We moved to the booth reserved crew especially
And honey love ended up sittin directly next to me
I'm type polite but now I'm lookin at her skeptically
Cause baby girl got all the right weaponry
Designer fabric, shoes, and accessories
Chinky eyes, sweet voice is *fucking* on me mentally
We conversated, made a laugh, yeah you know me bro
Even though I know the steelo, she wild sweet yo
I'm about to merc, I say peace to the family
She hop up like �how you gonna leave before you dance with me?'

[hook]
(sung)
I know I can't afford this life
For a moment
That its too soon
To forget
x2

(spoken by Mos Def)
She blew my whole habit, that girl
I was like �what'
I played it low though, I was like �yeah, aiight, c'mon then, let's go'
Its mad, it was so sick, I tell ya
Yo, honey was so blazin, she was just
Yo, she was like J. Kennedy
Word bond, to my mother man
She was that ill man, she take me to the dance floor
And she start whispering to me

[Mos Def]
Yo, let me apologize for the other night
I know it wasn't right
But baby you know what its like
Some brothers don't be coming right
I understand, I'm feeling you
Beside, �can I have a dance?' ain't really that original
We laughed about it, traced her arms across my shoulder blades
They playing lovers' rock, I got the folded fingers on her waist
Heating my blood up like the Arizona summer song
Finished then she whisper �honey, let's exchange numbers'
Scene three: weeks of datin late night conversation
In the crib heart racin, tryin to be cool and patient
She touched on my eyelids, the room fell silent
She walked away smilin singing Gregory Issac
Like �if I don't, if I don't, if I don't'
Showin me that tan line and that tatoo
Playin Sade, "Sweetest Taboo"
Burnin candles, all my other plans got canceled
Man I smashed it like an Idaho potato
She call my at my J.O., �come now', I can't say no
Ginseng tree trunks, rockin the p-funk
Cocking her knees up, champion lover not ease up
Three months, she call �I feel I'm runnin a fever'
Six months, I'm tellin her I desperately need her
Nine months, flu-like symptoms when shorty not around
I need more than to knock it down I'm really tryin to lock it down
Midnight we hook up and go at it
Burn is over, let her know, sweetheart I got to have it
She tellin me commitment is somethin she can't manage
Wake up the next morning, she gone like it was magic
Ahh damnit! My shit is all Harrison Ford frantic
My 911 wasn't answered by my fly Taurus enchantress
Next week, who hit me up, I saw Sharice at the kiddie club
With some banging ass Asian playin lay it down and lick me up
What!?

[Watch it]
Relax, pump the brakes
You're speeding money
You'll smash your whole shit up [slow down]
Lights be changing fast on these streets money, slow down
[slow down] Sleeping on the wrong cats

Clear like a megaphone
Pretty nigga heart skipped the metronome
Rocked the Trump Tower to the terrordome
Poor house to pleasure domes
Soprano, alto, tenor to baritone
MOS DEF one of the illest that you ever known
Rock steady baby, you a stepping stone
Smash your foundation into pebbles
My words leave your nerves unsettled
You take it to the next level down
Looking like a circus clown
Cats like you can't even get a pound
Worldwide from the river to lakeside
My stage show stay live, make the sound man stage dive
I cut fat cats to eight lives with my eight ball lines
I'm home 'fore I'm done with all nine
Got you shook like a fault line
Come all shine and get tarnished
Brooklyn got your pay roll garnished
They form a huddle
Whisper like they want trouble
I melt the ice grills into rainwater puddles
Make the proud-hearted leave on the humble
Black steel in the hour
Assemble my skill form my power
My poems crush bones into powder
You mumble like a coward
I'm Mos Def, you need to speak louder
SUPER HEREOS!
Get your power, your masks and capes snatched
Brooklyn take what you can't take back
I know a lot of cats hate that
All I can say black
There's a city full of walls you can post complaints at
All the doubters and believers adjust your receivers
"I feel it," you can taste it through the speakers
The three six oh-riginal sketch lyrics so visual
They rent my rhyme books at your nearest home video

Tell them cats they need to sit back and observe where they at
Brook-nahm Vietnam
The heat is on
Put your joint on cruise
Try to rush you scuff your brake shoes, just cool and relax
Take a breath, take ten paces back
Stay on time Omegas
Brooklyn patrol like interstaters
Take their license and their registration papers

My joint's so passionate
Make you peal out and mash your shit
Get wild cold crash your whip
Front chassis wrecked, but ock you can't be too upset
Tow truck got my tape in the deck
I'm permanent like tattoos and birth marks
Third degree burn marks
Driving on tracks like Dale Earnheart
Stay on the low like the earth spot
Put a big loss on your earn chart
Nice since the nurse signed my birth chart
Seldom seen but often heard, while your jams is barely heard
Just my name is a daily word
*From avenues to streets, terraces and park places
Stair wells, jail cells, penthouse to basements
Arrangement basic, but still fans chase it
Y2K can't delete the true ancient
Apache war drum on the ranges
Skill level dangerous
Arrow head that killed all the cavemen
They cry John-Blazing, but step on the pavement
And get violated like a plaintiff
I ain't shit to play with
I give a Goddamn what your name is
Delete it and make it so it never get repeated
Believe it
Tell the feds, tell your girl, tell your mother
Conference call you wack crew and tell each other
That they just ain't holding me
I'm Mos Def, your hopefully
Mush off or you get bust off like a ovary

Tell them cats they need to ease back and observe where they at
Brook-nahm Vietnam
The heat is on
Put your joint on cruise
In a rush you scuff your brake shoes, just cool and relax
Take a breath, take ten paces back
Brook-nahm Vietnam
The heat is on, no off-ramp or detour
Make these gassed up jokers observe the speed law
Make these gassed up clowns observe the speed law
Make these gassed up clowns observe the speed law
Cause they speedin, speedin, speedin, speedin, speedin,
speedin, speedin, speedin, speedin, speedin,
speedin, speedin, speedin, speedin, speedin
Relax
Slow down, you better chill money
Lights be changing fast on these streets dude
Smash your whole shit up
You better cool out money
It ain't like that out here
Look at these cats man, it's funny man
He probably just got that car
About to fuck your whole shit up
Speed laws out here money
Knight riding cats
In control like interstaters, state-ahs, state-ahs,
state-ahs, state-ahs, state-ahs, state-ahs, state-ahs,
state-ahs, state-ahs, state-ahs, state-ahs, state-ahs,
Stay the.. FUCK off the road, money!!.....

I don't wanna write this down, [world... premiere]
I wanna tell you how I feel right now [world... premiere]
I don't wanna take no time to write this down, [world... premiere]
I wanna tell you how I feel right now, hey [world... premiere]

Tomorrow may never come
For you or me
Life is not promised
Tomorrow may never show up
For you and me
This life is not promised

I ain't no perfect man
I'm trying to do, the best that I can,
With what it is I have
I ain't no perfect man
I'm trying to do, the best that I can,
With what it is I have

Put my heart and soul into this song [yes yes]
I hope you feel me
From where I am, to wherever you are
I mean that sincerely
Tomorrow may never come
For you and me
Life is not promised
Tomorrow may never appear
You better hold this very moment very close to you [right now]
Very close to you [right now]
So close to you, So close to you [your moment in history is right now!]
Don't be affraid, to let it shine

My Umi said shine your light on the world
Shine your light for the world to see
My Abi said shine your light on the world
Shine your light for the world to see
[I want black people to be free, to be free, to be free]
My Abi said shine your light on the world
[Want black people to be free, to be free, to be free]
Shine your light for the world to see
[Want black people to be free, to be free, to be free]
My Umi said shine your light on the world
[Want black people to be free, to be free, to be free]
Shine your light for the world to see
[Want black people to be free, to be free...]

Sometimes I get discouraged
I look around and, things are so weak
People are so weak
Sometimes,
Sometimes I feel like crying
Sometimes my heart gets heavy
Sometimes I just want to leave and fly away [fly fly fly, like a dove]
Sometimes I don't know what to do with myself [ow!]
Passion takes over me
I feel like a man
Going insane
Losing my brain
Trying to maintain
Doing my thang
Hey hey hey hey hey
Put my heart and soul into this y'all
I hope you feel me
Where I am, to wherever you are [ha ha ha ha]
Sometimes I don't want to be bothered
Sometimes I just want a quiet life, with
Me and my babies, me and my lady
Sometimes I don't want to get into no war
[Black people to be free, to be free...]
Sometimes I don't wanna be a soldier
Sometimes I just wanna be a man, but

Umi said shine your light on the world
Shine your light for the world to see
My Abi said shine your light on the world
Shine your light for the world to see
[I want black people to be free, to be free, to be free]
My people said shine your light on the world
[Want black people to be free, to be free, to be free]
Shine your light for the world to see
[Want black people]
My elders said shine your light on the world [Hey hey]
Shine your light for the world to see

I want black people to be free, to be free, to be free
All my people to be free, to be free, to be free
Oh black people to be free, to be free, to be free
Oh black people to be free, to be free, to be free

That's all that matters to me (x7)

Black people unite and let's all get down
Gotta have what,
Gotta have that love
Peace and understanding
One God, one light
One man, one voice, one mic
Black people unite come on and do it right
Black people unite come on and do it right
Black people unite come on and get down
Gotta have what,
Love, peace and understanding
One God, one voice, one life
One man, gon' shine my light
Black people unite, now hop up and do it right
Black people unite, now come on and do it right
Yeah baby that's what I like
Yeah baby that's what I like
Yeah baby that's what I like...
[Black people, my people....]

[Mos Def]
There's nothing more refreshing (that cool refreshing drink)
Than a cool, crisp, clean glass of water
On a warm summer's day (That cool refreshing drink)
Try it with your friends

New World Water make the tide rise high
Come inland and make your house go "Bye" (My house!)
Fools done upset the Old Man River
Made him carry slave ships and fed him dead nigga
Now his belly full and he about to flood somethin
So I'ma throw a rope that ain't tied to nothin
til your crew use the H2 in wise amounts since
it's the New World Water; and every drop counts
You can laugh and take it as a joke if you wanna
But it don't rain for four weeks some summers
And it's about to get real wild in the half
You be buying Evian just to take a fuckin bath
Heads is acting wild, sippin poor, puffin dank
Competin with the next man for higher playin rank
See I ain't got time try to be Big Hank,
Fuck a bank; I need a twenty-year water tank
Cause while these knuckleheads is out here sweatin they goods
The sun is sitting in the treetops burnin the woods
And as the flames from the blaze get higher and higher
They say, "Don't drink the water! We need it for the fire!"
New York is drinkin it (New World Water)
Now all of California is drinkin it (New World Water)
Way up north and down south is drinkin it (New World Water)
Used to have minerals and zinc in it (New World Water)
Now they say it got lead and stink in it (New World Water)
Fluorocarbons and monoxide
Push the water table lopside
Used to be free now it cost you a fee
Cause oil tankers spill they load as they roam cross the sea
Man, you gotta cook with it, bathe and clean with it (That's right)
When it's hot, summertime you fiend for it (Let em know)
You gotta put it in the iron you steamin with (That's right)
It's what they dress wounds and treat diseases with (Shout it out)
The rich and poor, black and white got need for it (That's right)
And everybody in the world can agree with this (Let em know)
Consumption promotes health and easiness (That's right)
Go too long without it on this earth and you leavin it (Shout it out)
Americans wastin it on some leisure shit (Say word?)
And other nations be desperately seekin it (Let em know)
Bacteria washing up on they beaches (Say word?)
Don't drink the water, son they can't wash they feet with it (Let em know)
Young babies in perpetual neediness (Say word?)
Epidemics hopppin up off the petri dish (Let em know)
Control centers try to play it all secretive (Say word?)
To avoid public panic and freakiness (Let em know)
There are places where TB is common as TV
Cause foreign-based companies go and get greedy
The type of cats who pollute the whole shore line
Have it purified, sell it for a dollar twenty-five
Now the world is drinkin it
Your moms, wife, and baby girl is drinkin it
Up north and down south is drinkin it
You should just have to go to your sink for it
The cash registers is goin "cha-chink!" for it
Fluorocarbons and monoxide
Got the fish lookin cockeyed
Used to be free now it cost you a fee
Cause it's all about gettin that cash (Money)

Said it's all about gettin that cash (Money) (x9)
Johny cash (Money)
Rosanne Cash (Money)
Give me cash (Money)
Cold cash (Money)
(Repeat to fade)

Cash rules everything around me,
Move!

[Mos Def]
Hey hey, ha ha say what say what
Ha ha bust it yo
Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, is beautiful Brooklyn
Long as I live here believe I'm on fire hey
Cuz it's the B-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
L-Y-N is the place where I stay
The B-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
Best in the world and all USA
It's the B-to-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
L-Y-N is the place where I stay
The B-to-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
Place where I rest is on my born day
Bust it, sometimes I sit back and just reflect
Watch the world go by and my thought connect
I think about the time past and the time to come
Reminesce on Bed-Stuy when I was spry and young
I used to try and come, to the neighborhood function
Throw on my Izod, say a little something
When I was just a youngin, before the days of thuggin
How me and Charlie Chims (aiyyo what?) I'm only buggin
Fast forward, Nine-Now I gotta team my seed
I must proceed at God's speed to perform my deed
Livin the now space and time, round the nine to five
For as long as I'm alive, paw I got to strive
I ain't sittin roadside, that ain't harder to plan
I'm out here for my fam doin all that I can
I love my city, sweet and gritty in land to outskirts
Nickname Bucktown cuz we grown to outburst
Philosophy redefine us, touch mines I touch back
Walk the streets like a sweet and get beat like drum tracks
Catch no shakes over jakes (boomp-boomp!) we bust back
Bring the marty to your face wit no place to run back
I'm from the slums that created the bass that thump back
This ain't a game clown, play ya James Brown and jump back
What you want, Jack? Young cats stash they jums at
Draw they guns back, momma screams where she sons at
Tryin to hunt that, recurring dream of high stakes
The fourth largest, first artist, Brooklyn is the place
Settled by the Dutch many years ago
Three billion strong and here we go

*part two*

[Mos Def]
GOOD MORNINNNNNNNNNGG VIETNAM!!!
Ha (back up back up back up back up back up)*repeated in background*
Yo sometimes I sit back, reflect on the place that I live at
Unlike any place I ever been at
The home of big gats, deep dish hammer rim caps
Have a mishap, push ya wig back
Where you go to get the fresh trim at
Four on the jake got the Timb rack
Blue collars metro carding it
Thugs mobbin it, form partnership
Increase armorment, street pharmacist
Deep consequence, when you seek sleek ornaments
You get caught, rode the white horse and can't get off
Big dogs that trick off just get sent off
They shoebox stash is all they seeds gotta live off
It's real yo but still yo, it's love here
And it's felt by anybody that come here
Out of towners take the train, plane and bus here
Must be something that they really want here
One year as a resident, deeper sentiment
Shoutout "Go Brooklyn!", they representin it
Sittin on they front stoop sippin Guinesses
Usin native dialect in they sentences
From the treeline blocks to the tenaments
To the Mom & Pop local shop businesses
Travel all around the world in great distances
And ain't a place that I know that bear resemblance
That's why we call it The Planet
Not a borough or a province, our style is uncommon
From ?sun? to the ? to the Lafayette Gardens
Wycoff Gowanus in they army jacket linings
Yo this goes out to my cats in Coney Isle
Friday night out in front The Himalaya goin wild
This goes out to Crown Heights and Smurv Village
The nighties, and all my ?yarda trenny? Brown's Village
Parkside tennants caught, thirties, forties, and the fifties
The cats out in Starrett City gettin busy
To the Hook, to the East, to the Stuy
Bushwick and Canarsie, Farragut, Fort Greene, and Marcy
My Flatbush posse, generals and armies
When it's time to form, just call me
And let this song be, playin loud in Long B
If you love Bucktown STRONGLY!
RAISE IT UP!

*part three*

[Mos Def]
Brooklyn my habitat, the place where it happen at
Live sway and the sharp balance of the battle axe
Irons is brandished at, thugs draw they hammer back
It's where you find the News 2 crew cameras at
It's where my fam is at, summertime jame is at
They play Big and get you open like a sandal back
Hotter than candle wax, hustlin you can't relax
The crack babies tryin to find where they mama's at
It's off the handle black, wit big police scandals that
Turn into actions screenplays sold to Miramax
The type of place where they check your appearance at
And cats who know where all the high low gear is at
The stompin grounds, where you find a pound, smoke is that
Be blazin charm that have your wave cap floatin back
The doorstep where the disposessed posted at
Dope fiends out at Franklin Ave sellin zovarax
You big ballin better keep your money folded back
Cuz once the young guns notice that it's over, black
Brooklyn keep on takin it, worldwide we known for that
Flossy cats get it snatched like the local tax
The place I sharpen up my baritone vocals at
Where one of the greatest MC's was a local cat

(Chorus)

We all got to have, a place where we come from
This place that we come from is called home
We set out on our travels, we do the best we can
We travel this big earth as we roam

We all got to have, a place where we come from
This place that we come from is called home
And even though we may love, this place on the map
Said it ain't where ya from, it's where ya at

(verse one)
I come up in the street around some real wild brothers
With more than one name and more than one baby mother
More than one chase, been on more than one run
Got more than one enemy and more than one gun
*Speaks foreign language*
While these cats that's less privileged is just more raw
Less space cause the projects laced with more flaws
Less sleep cause the nights ain't peace, it's more war
The can is raw like thirsty, rainy season thunder claps
On the block with your old pop pleading number act
To the spot with the red top fiends is huddled at
To the crib where the little kids spend their summers trapped
With the jungle cats, lions and tigers, leopards and cheetahs
For gazelle you get chased like a zebra, they blaze cheeba-cheeba
And dominate the weaker on the street
Hungry bellies only love what they eat and it's hard to compete
When they smile with your heart in they teeth
And the odds is stacked high beyond and beneath
Son i been plenty places in my life and time
And regardless where home is, son home is mine

(chorus)

Some people live out in-New York City
Some people live out in-Atlanta
Some people got to live-Chicago
Some people do live-Miami
All my people at-California
And other people got to live-London
And everybody got to live in the whole big world
Together just you and me

(verse two)
When i think of home, my remembrance of my beginning
Laundromat helping ma dukes fold the bed linen
Chillin in front my building with my brother and them
Spending nights in Bushwick with my cousins and them
Wise town and Beat Street, federal relief
Slowly melting in the morning grits we used to eat
Sticking to your teeth and teeth is hard to keep
With every flavor Now & Later only a dime apiece
Old timers on the bench playing cards and thangs
Telling tales about they used to be involved in things
Start to drinking, talking loud, cussing up and showing out
On the phone, call the cops, pick'em up, move'em out
And it's all too common to start wildin
I'm a pirate on an island seeking treasure known as silence
And it's hard to find
Block parties in dark lobbies
Funeral homes packed but only dark bodies
I can't sleep hardly, stirred up like Bob Marley
Marley Marl played the symphony, remember we recall
Son i been to many places in my space and time
and whatever my home is, son home is mine.

(chorus)

[Intro: Mos Def]
Booka-booka-booka-booka-booka-booka
Ha hah
You know the deal
It's just me, dog
Beats by Suprimo for all of my people, negroes and latinos
and even gringos...

Yo, check it one for Charlie Hustle, two for Steady Rock
Three for the fourth comin live, future shock
It's five dimensions, six senses
Seven firmaments of heaven to hell, 8 Million Stories to tell
Nine planets faithfully keep in orbit
with the probable tenth, the universe expands length
The body of my text posess extra strength
Power-liftin powerless up, out of this, towerin inferno
My ink so hot it burn through the journal
I'm blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle
Hip-Hop past all your tall social hurdles
like the nationwide projects, prison-industry complex
Working class poor better keep your alarm set
Streets too loud to ever hear freedom ring
Say evacuate your sleep, it's dangerous to dream
for cha-ching cats get the CHA-POW, who dead now?
Killin fields need blood to graze the cash cow
some numbers game, but shit don't add up somehow
Like I got, sixteen to thirty-two bars to rock it
but only 15% of profits, ever see my pockets like
Sixty-nine billion in the last twenty years
spent on national defense but folks still live in fear like
nearly half of America's largest cities is one-quarter black
That's why they gave Ricky Ross all the crack
Sixteen ounces to a pound, twenty more to a ki
A five minute sentence hearing and you're no longer free
40% of Americans own a cell phone
so they can hear, everything that you say when you ain't home
I guess, Michael Jackson was right, 'You Are Not Alone'
Rock your hardhat black cause you in the Terrordome
full of hard niggaz, large niggaz, dice tumblers
Young teens and prison greens facin life numbers
Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients
Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation
This new math is whippin motherfucker's ass
You wanna know how to rhyme you better learn how to add
It's mathematics.

[Chorus X2: scratched by DJ Premier]
{The Mighty Mos Def..}
{It's simple mathematics}
{Check it out!}
{I revolve around science..}
{What are we talking about here?}

Do your math} (X2)
{One..two..three..four}
{What are we talking about here?}

Yo, it's one universal law but two sides to every story
Three strikes and you be in for life, manditory
Four MC's murdered in the last four years
I ain't tryin to be the fifth when the millenium is here
Yo it's 6 Million Ways to Die, from the seven deadly thrills
Eight year olds gettin found with 9 mill's
It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal
He on the hill puffin krill to keep they belly filled
Light in the ass with heavy steel, sights on the pretty shit in life
Young soldiers tryin to earn they next stripe
When the average minimum wage is $5.15
You best believe you gotta find a new grind to get CREAM
The white unemployment rate, is nearly more than triple for black
so frontliners got they gun in your back
Bubblin crack, jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty
and end up in the global jail economy
Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence
Budget cutbacks but increased police presence
And even if you get out of prison still livin
join the other five million under state supervision
This is business, no faces just lines and statistics
from your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits
The system break man, child, and women into figures
Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggaz
Numbers is hardly real and they never have feelings
but you push too hard, even numbers got limits
Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret:
The million other straws underneath it - it's all mathematics!

[Chorus X2]

{Mathematics..}

[ INSTRUMENTAL ]