Talib Kweli

[fox69]

"So Fresh"

"So Fresh"


Attack the block
1 2, 1 2, 1 2
1 2, 1 2, 1 2
1 2 3 the place to be
With the almighty Talib Kweli
With the Z

My rhymes make love to be mike will get than never force it
I plant my seed to hate a prag and pauses
Work, perceive the blessing y'all I see the whole picture
While you only see sex
Get birth to this style like you to beat the computer
But I never play the moves is too much estate
Life is all bout what you do, you don't say
Every man got a cold this move we don't break
Gotta pay those dues you give me the whole V on trial for my view
Z-Trip my cold D never whore for the sister is pimping like OD
That's the man José you know how to hoes B
What is street, what is stuck on this throat
Now in the east trade froose when you punch on the trees
That ain't the peach I came through
But I'm not on the leaves
Change colors money please that's the rap like the...
In the state of emergency blood is the currency
They spill it on the ground until the mud turn burgundy
Hotter than Mercury, sharper than the scalpel the doctor perform a surgery
A rapper talk about they burning me
That's absurd they thought it never occur to me
I let it spit it first out the courtesy
Currently the best full of fresh to death because of murder beats
Because of murder beats, yeah

Yeah I raise the glass for those who raised the bar
Wait a while for those who probably catch what I say them all
I need a new challenge so I could utilize
My true talents running over tracks like some new balance
Will make the... rhymes work to provide got a new time for innocent rhymes
Get out the way have em on their needs
Asking their master when they feed em
None of them I am half of what I've been seeing
I know you say you pack what I laugh still
You only metal got in the lines that is for deals
You need to smack the kill this is snack for real
The shit is so so if you rap and the... kill
I'm all seeing like the eyes on the black of bills
The black in the eyes of the shark when the tap seals
Keep it so fresh I got a scratched seal
You're the king I break the crown like Jack Jill

SO so so so so so so fresh
SO so so so fresh

 

[fox69]

"So Good"
(feat. Musiq, Wordsworth)

"So Good"
(feat. Musiq, Wordsworth)



[Talib Kweli - talking:]
Yeah...
As we continue on..
Yeah (We recordin' in the house)
Ladies and gentlemen
This the soundtrack (In the natural sound)
Do not be alarmed (Children playin')
Don't panic, be calm, yeah... (Crickets chirpin')
We gon' hit you with... with the words
We gon' hit you with the music (We in Fort Greene right now)
'Course we gonna hit you with that Kweli shit

[Musiq]
One of these days a change gon' come
For you and I and our children
Where you can live and just have fun
Don't nobody trip on where you come from
Everything is good yeah it's all love
It's freedom in the hood for all to get some
It's every woman to a man
To a child to a fam
With all us on a higher level of understanding
But if it's gonna take a while I'll chill
I can bask in the glory on that day
And if I gotta chill then boy I will
It's no problem for me because yo I be
B-Boy position standing here
Anticipatin' patiently just waitin'
To grind out for my dream
And you (you) can't stop me boy

[HOOK - Musiq]
Listen...
Ladies and gentlemen don't be alarmed
This is the soundtracks of what's goin' on
And if you want you can get it
I promise you if you let it
The rhythm'll be good to you
Yeah, let the rhythm be good to you
I promise baby it'll be so good to you
And now, you 'bout to witness the sound
Of these Words, Musiq, and Kweli

[Wordsworth]
Community blocks waitin' 'til my opportunity knocks
But the door is usually locked because it's usually cops
Most of wish we had a car and jewelry shop
But spend my days tryin'a fuck or find a movie to watch
Talkin' big plans to live large and move from the block
Your only option from your moms is to move to ya pops
Cigarettes tryin'a hold on to the few that you got
Price is crazy high for you to give up a loosies a lot
Areas we from you scared you don't run
Don't care what you've done
Be wary of tongue snitchin' 'n' hope the jury is hung
Tryin' to go from zero to one like a hero becomes
While here air in my lungs ideas I share with my sons
People down here so shady they could stare at the sun
Can't wait 'til that unemployment check clear once it comes
Daily routine, but my only theory when young
Was get money, get a job and hope her period comes... it's real life

[HOOK]

[Talib Kweli]
Walkin' the block at night I, stopped at rhyme cypha
Circle of rhyme writers broken up crime fighters
They said we loiterin' started orderin' us around
We ain't jump at the sound of they voice,
They said "Get on the ground!"
This cuz we black or what?
I'm sick of cops harassin' us
Probably because we ain't degrade ourselves fast enough
The people passin' us stopped 'n' the cops start actin' right
Somebody had my back tonight
Off they go in a flash of light
You try to see the future take a mental picture of it
City life is hard when your apartment don't fit in your budget
You need to get a room like people who kiss in public
Plus you tempted to say "Fuck it" until you kick the bucket
There's more to life than appears it ain't no crystal stair
As nails'll stick out 'n' snare you and this is crystal clear
Ain't no officials in chairs or fans that scream your name
It ain't a game but it's still a challenge just the same

[Hook]

[Musiq]
But if it's gonna take a while I'll chill
I can bask in the glory on that day
And if I gotta chill then boy I will
It's no problem for me because yo I be
B-Boy position standing here
Anticipatin' patiently just waitin'
To grind out for my dream
And you (you) can't stop me boy

[HOOK]

 

[fox69]

"So Low"

"So Low"


I can go so low
I can feel the gravity that's in the world around me
I can go so low
I can feel the fire burning as it swirls around me
And I've been so low
I felt ice cold in hours at the bottom of the sea
Might have been so low
You might did low get low but you never been as low as me

I always speak for the struggle my people still hurting
I'm a name brand I'm a product but still a real person
I'm still flirting with death although I'm still certain
About my commitments in life although I'm still searching
I bet I find a way if not I bet I make a path
One thats seldom traveled by the masses
I never stuck in all the traffic I cut through all the plastic
Enemies of the enlightened like the government is fascist
I talk it how I live it yet I'm still considered a walking contradiction
Cause I'm breaking out of your artistic prison listen
I got my own demons what I'm supposed to do with yours
Times like this I gotta remind myself what I do It for
People I knew before celebrity swear they see the change in me
I tell em change is god you gotta let it be
How does it feel to come full circle
Still cursing still pursing my lips to pull purple but

I can go so low
I can feel the gravity that's in the world around me
I can go so low
I can feel the fire burning as it swirls around me
And I've been so low
I felt ice cold in hours at the bottom of the sea
Might have been so low
You might did low get low but you never been as low as me

Witness it the building of a legacy
So let us just pray cause the journey thats ahead of us
Got us facing a task that just might get the best of us
Thats why we gotta clash with the Titans like Pegasus
No Oedipus but it's like the beat is my therapist
When I let it in it get up in the cracks and the crevices
Of my memories what kind of treasure are you buried with
You fight when you die are you a soldier or a terrorist
Remember this there's no one else to blame when you're solo
Establish your fan base local before you take it global
Don't be scared spend your own dough
You gotta speak up be vocal sometimes you feel so low
Ain't nowhere to go but up go with us
We just getting started why you slowing up
But know enough to know by a collective we
Even if my name is on the record sleeve I ain't into brevity
What the fuck is a celebrity

I can go so low
I can feel the gravity that's in the world around me
I can go so low
I can feel the fire burning as it swirls around me
And I've been so low
I felt ice cold in hours at the bottom of the sea
Might have been so low
You might did low get low but you never been as low as me

 

[fox69]

"Soon The New Day"
(feat. Norah Jones)

"Soon The New Day"
(feat. Norah Jones)



[Verse 1]
Here we go like
Yes yes yawl
To the beat yawl
Ain't no sleep yawl
To the break of dawn
5 o'clock in the morning
We keep rockin on
The workin people runnin like the stop clock is on
We got it poppin in the meat market
Chicks take a seat, park it
By the bar so they can meet the Vick with deep pockets
And them dudes
Buy them cars that turn 'em in to sweet objects
of desire
Big rims and them tires
We finna drop it like it's heavy as hell
The clan of the cavebear
Used to use the club to hit and drag her by the hair
Still use the club to get her a martini or a beer
Try to get her home and put the smell of sex in the air
Come through like the cable guy
Get 'er done
That 'ole hit 'n run
Turn into bitter ones
Tonight is catch me if you can
You can taste the ginger bread
Ain't nothing like wakin' up with a stranger in yur bed
Nope!

[Chorus]
[Norah Jones]
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
[Talib Kweli]
Tomorrow I'll be like
Were am I?
Whets your name?
Gotta go, I'm glad you came
[Norah Jones]
But tonight you, will be so fun
[Talib Kweli]
Maybe you're the one!
[Norah Jones]
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn

[Verse 2]
Puttin on some Airs
King For a Day
Hard to face your fears we wear the mask like Cory McKay
You have a ball today
It's all a masquerade
Shorty paint her face like a clown but can't take away the frown
Found under the make up
I asked her "What's your passion?" answered "What's the paper" she sleep
and they don't want her to wake up
Maybe they should realize their own beauty
Baby you a star and not just a star on some dudes home movies

[Chorus]
[Norah Jones]
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
[Talib Kweli]
Tomorrow I'll be like
Were am I?
What's your name?
Gotta go, I'm glad you came
[Norah Jones]
But tonight you, will be so fun
[Talib Kweli]
Maybe you're the one!
[Norah Jones]
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn

[Verse 3]
Steppin out, I got my best outfit on
Gotta get it in. I'm slippin in the darkness like most of the day is gone
We up all night I wonder if can hang
We used to hang from a tree
Now we hangin behind the rope we V.I.P.
We do it
B.I.G.
Ain't no need to See I.D.
Thee entire scenery
Shrouded in mystery
Clouded with greenery
Six girls to every three dudes
So you have half a chance
If you ask to have a dance
The ones ready to freak off don't need no romance
They belong to the sisterhood of the traveling pants
They got them
Hungry eyes you know sensual trance
At a glance
The alcohol got you sexually advanced
The truth is so boring you gotta pretend a little; the antidote is more
colorful the rainbow and the Skittles
And the quest to trap the cat
The game is the Tinder Fiddles to get the bruce to say the sky's fallin
like your Chicken Little.
Come on!

[Chorus]
[Norah Jones]
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
[Talib Kweli]
Tomorrow I'll be like
Were am I?
Whats your name?
Gotta go, I'm glad you came
[Norah Jones]
But tonight you, will be so fun
[Talib Kweli]
Maybe you're the one!
[Norah Jones]
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
But tonight you, will be so fun
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn
But tonight you, will be so fun
Soon the new day, breaks the dawn [4X]

 

[fox69]

"Soul Music"
(feat. Res)

"Soul Music"
(feat. Res)



[Talib Kweli:]
Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-Madlib invasion - music please!

[female singer:]
Music, it makes me feel so good
Early in the morning it makes me, feel like I'm open
And I'm strollin
There are times that, the music, it just, it just let's me unwind
I said
Music makes you love, it make you feel, it make it true, it makes it real
It can make you move
It can make you mewl or pray or stare into yourself until you hear the voice
And I, hear the voice inside
It's a celebration, yeah
It's a celebration, I hear music

[male singer:]
There are times I wanna give up
Then I remember this gift, that God has given to me
He's living through me
You see the vision through me...
Music make you love, it make you feel, it make it true, it make it real
It can make you move
It can make you mewl or pray or stare into yourself until you hear the voice
And I, hear the voice inside

[female singer:]
It's a celebration, yeah yeah
It's a celebration, that never let me down
It makes me feel so good
Early in the morning it makes me, feel so like I'm just floatin
And strollin, there are times that
The music just let's me unwind
MUSIC!

 

[fox69]

"Space"

"Space"


What we gon' do?
We gon' work, we gon' play, we gon' lead the way
We gon' say everything that we need to say
Then get ghost in the breeze to blow the leaves away
And seize the day, it's like we're throwin' our seeds away
That ain't for me to say, right? It ain't got to be this way
We gon' take charge, make gods out of men
We gon' raise bars, show y'all how to win
Hit the rally, hit the riot, get the party started
Respect the word, you herbs, it's the Kwelity artist
Who solemnly promise my knowledge will demolish your college
And minus your scholarship acknowledge the dollars
And want me to payola, man I don't even know that broad
I'm takin' over, keep it fresh like bakin' soda
In your fridge, I keep it Brooklyn like Jamaican soda, escovitch
That's how it is, and everything is everything
Time to move on to better things
Kwelity, in the club is probably where Kweli be
Steadily ignoring all the policies
No ID, rockin' shorts and tees
VIP, puffin' all sorts of trees
You must mistake me for one of them soft emcees
I ain't like the rest you often see, get off of me, yo

[Outro:]
Everybody, gimme my space
Everybody take four steps back
Somebody gon' get hurt
All fun and games 'til someone lose an eye or something
I ain't playin' with y'all
Everybody in the house, back up, back up and gimme my space
There's enough room in here for everyone to eat
Everyone to breathe, everyone to live
We can all get it if we get it together
Know what I mean, yo?
Come on, gimme my space
Just rock to this
Just rock to that
Everybody in the house, back up, back up and gimme my space
Come on, just rock to this...

 

[fox69]

"Space Fruit (Interlude)"
(feat. Sa-Ra Creative Partners)

"Space Fruit (Interlude)"
(feat. Sa-Ra Creative Partners)



[instrumental for the first 20 seconds]

[Sa-Ra Creative Partners]
I just wanna say
Let me, taste, the, fruit, of, your, space
Oh what a, oh what a day
I just wanna play
Ma-gick-al vi-sions, what, we, lay
I wanna, I wanna stay

[instrumental for the next 26 seconds]

[Sa-Ra Creative Partners]
I just wanna say
Let me, taste, the, fruit, of, your, space
Oh what a, oh what a day
I just wanna play
Ma-gick-al vi-sions, what, we, lay
I wanna, I wanna stay

[instrumental to fade]

 

[fox69]

"Stand To The Side"
(feat. Vinia Mojica)

"Stand To The Side"
(feat. Vinia Mojica)



[Kweli]
Go right to left, left to right
Middle passage connection
Yeah, about to build
Tell you which way to go

[Both]
We go right to left, left to right
If you fight to the death, what's left to fight
[X4]
Yo, here we go

[Kweli]
I wanna write away
I wanna write here
I wanna write brave words to fight fear
Write dreams and nightmares
Might scare the folks stuck in the day
But nothing to say,
Well I'm way ahead by light years
So beware we keep the lights on
I wanna write the songs from right to wrong
Right on
Riding the light so you see in the dark
So deep you gotta be still like your beating heart
My words apply the pressure to make the bleeding stop
See the art, living right, eating smart
I wanna right to life, a right to death
Police read your rights from right to left
But I never write to remain silent
I fight through police line
Cops walk the beat that I write to
I teach minds, write rhymes with the right sound
Right now, journalists write up
I write down

[Both: Chorus]
Party people put a hand in the sky
Grab a cloud and squeeze til no man is dry
We wet it up, go ask the people if they plannin to die
Can't stay to live, consumers is plannin to buy
Smoke death operators is standing by
They take you order for the slaughter of the family why
Do they make it so hard for a man to provide
You better get wit it, or {stand to the side [X7]}

[Vinia Mojica]
And the story line goes on
Right to left, who's right who's wrong
Fuck the politics and pride
I just to try to stay alive
To witness where the battle lines are drawn
Speak my mind and sing my song
I'm passin on the moral y'all
This is ain't play
True, you got to know the way
It's hard now
Open eyes
See hopeful lives
Sing it now

[Kweli]
Making my way through life
Talking to elders and taking advice
Ignoring their words and paying the price
Living in the world where false preachers got us praying to christ
Get with the young girls in the choir and laying the pipe
No control of our soul we all wait at the light
So comfortable they we hating to fight to make it right
Late at night I'm controlled by the DJ on the mic
I love hip-hop and every joint he playing is tight
A day in the life is a brick in the foundation of like
A maze in Egypt amazing when I'm creating a sight
For the world to behold and the story to last
So one day ghetto children can visit their glorious past
After Pac and Notorious past what do we have
Niggas worth more when they dead, it's so sad
Started with the slavery we finish the plan
But I broke the cycle, and became a man

[Both: Chorus]

[Kweli]
Come on,
I got my man Savion in the house
We about to put it down
Here we go

 

[fox69]

"State Of Grace"
(feat. Abby Dobson)

"State Of Grace"
(feat. Abby Dobson)



[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]
From the top, from the top, from the top, from the top
From the top, from the top, from the top, from the top
In a state of grace
Where the talent is surrounded by the pain and the violence
So the selling never safe
At the same time snitching to the Jake
Is the quickest way to get found at the bottom of a lake
But the problem we face seems so great
That we can't escape so we accept our fate
So the sex and the money and the murder are the pictures we paint
If an artist is a part of a community
And got an opportunity to get that cake
Would never come back to the hood, no immunity
Usually a nigga like that so fake
No different from a snake
Nothing left to give cause you always wanna take
If you ain't using all the talents God provided you with
For the betterment of man, understand you ain't nothing but a waste
Look into the face of a young girl
Raising up like a flag when it's unfurled
Got game listening to her mother's pearls
And she love Beyonce cause she run the world
Her mama used to run this city
Way back before the nigga Puff was Diddy
When it came to the music then she got real picky
From New York, but preferred 2Pac over Biggie
No disrespect to Ms. Wallace, but she liked to do the knowledge
And she felt that Pac was more lyrical
Plus she never went to college
But she called herself 'Earth' found rhythm with the gods more spiritual
She God in the physical
And it's only natural to pray for a little you
Musical so she played the umbilical chords
So her daughter was born it was a miracle
Music is the light when it's dark
And the way that you spit your dart is a big part
She grew up loving hip hop
Now all her daughter got is "Love & Hip Hop"
Nowadays niggas turn up for the sex
Niggas turn up for the money, never turn up for the movement
Ratchet reality stars that be looking so stupid
Getting in the fights at reunions
She used to be inspired by the writers, now she's tired of the biters
No desire for the lying and the violence
That's inflicted on the body in a so-called party environment
Her body is politics
Lost count of how many whores she was called today
She won't do it no more, lost all her faith
They say she exaggerate when she holler 'Rape'
But it's only so much she can tolerate

[Hook: Abby Dobson]
Help me find my way to a state of grace
Stir my heart, touch my soul
Feed me freedom sounds you made
Help me find my way to a state of grace
Lift me up with your weight
Pull me to the grace

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]
She wanna to be the first in her family with a higher education
Her entire graduation was a dire situation
Did a paper on the state of the hip hop generation
But no longer felt a part of the conversation
Used to be I'm a ''ride or die'' chick
B.I.G. with the ''Me And My Bitch''
No objections, being an object
Major label seeing a profit
She ain't never been a bitch or a ho
But she used to sing along when she heard it in a song
She used to be front row at the shows 'til she overdosed on the testosterone
Her favorite rapper invited her backstage would have stayed
But she felt like she really ain't belong
When she wouldn't let him hit, this nigga called her a bitch
She erased all her songs from the phone
You are who you fuck with, so the guy that she stuck with
You can bump it or dump it, the artist she trusted
Just broke her heart, so misogynistic and disgusting
She tried not to judge him
In her heart she still loved him
And the way that he lusting a part of his suffering
And this young man clearly not ready for the harder discussion
Female emcees acting more like a dude than a dude do, only if you knew
I know a few who flow crazier than if you flew over the nest of the cuckoo
But she never gonna hear them in the mix so the new attitude
Taking cues from the radio playing that doodoo
She on D'Angelo Pandora station playing that Voodoo, who knew?

[Hook]

[Verse 3: Talib Kweli]
In the face of hate
She'd be lucky for a balance cause the world is challenging her to be great
I see lyrics as colors and shapes
Put it on tape, let her know I could relate
When you wish you could switch the way that you look
And your nose was smaller and your hair was straight
When you got no faith
When you hate yourself, when you hate your race
Let's get to the core
Our sisters worth more than grinding on the wall half-naked
She a bitch, she a whore
And you rich and you shit on the poor
In all of your records and ask 'em to buy it
Why should I support music that constantly disrespects me?
And make you dismissive of the efforts of those who get left
With the charge of repping it correctly
When it's free online or in a cloud
Ain't no reason to touch the radio dial
You wonder why you don't hear no sounds on the air
And it's clear that your sales going down
Down by law then you found the raw
On a message board and you sounding off
These niggas get the whole world, but what's the cause?
No wonder why these niggas be sounding lost
Rhyming is a memory
The assembly line rap niggas is designed by the enemy
Stop giving them your soul, gift wrap
Prepackaged, fabricated shit rap
Running through you like fast food; Big Mac's
You don't want no problems, fix that
All the time that you spent listening to that bullshit
Now you ain't never gon' get back

[Hook]

[Outro: Talib Kweli]
She don't love it, no
She don't love it no more

 

[fox69]

"Stay Around"

"Stay Around"


Ladies and gentlemen
Kweli!

[Hook]
Won't you stay around with me?...
And please say the rhyme
Cause these rappers think that I'm
In love with your state of mind
Cause you a favourite of mine
And I know you on your grind
I don't want to waste your time
But baby won't you stay around with me?...
And let my love (and let my love)
And let my love

[Verse 1]
Kweli you should rap about this, you should rap about that
Any more suggestions? You in the back, yeah you
You should rap more on beat, you should rap more street
And never ever get your mack on please, how bout you?
I like the way you're melodic, it's cause you capture hypnotic
Portraits and seem to make the average exotic
Probably unite, I know you getting some love, but you can't spit like a thug
And you a blow, you make a hit for the club, word
I don't like your voice, I don't like your choice of beats
It sounds like it's forced, and what was up with "Back Up Offa Me"?
I ain't like that, man you should get with Hi-Tek
Now he got nice tracks, them other dudes is type wack
Yeah, people keeping it coming, I keep it bubbling
Like the heat from oven boiling the water and the hate
So they light my fire...
I got a mic empire, my own label
I had to emancipate me-me like Mariah...
At some point I might retire, on some bullshit
My legacy, horseshit like Mariah's...
Illest flow found in the game, soothing like the sound of the rain
It's the dude profound with the fame, I refusing to be sounding the same
Keeping the verses, deleting the curses, defeating the purpose
When the people go on strike, I'm in the street with the workers
Speaking the words from a pulpit like the preachers at churches
Raise my hand, all the teachers get nervous
Cause they know I air them out
And they ain't even really gotta hear me out
Keep it dirty like pigpen, voice in the warrior's head like ??
Clocking like Big Ben, old school slang still find a way to innovate
Pete Rock got em feeling great, the ladies say

[Hook]
Won't you stay around with me?...
And please say the rhyme
Cause these rappers think that I'm
In love with your state of mind
Cause you a favorite of mine
And I know you on your grind
I don't want to waste your time
But baby won't you stay around with me?...
And let my love (and let my love)
And let my love

[Verse 2]
Light the tip of the L, this heavyweight rap tipping the scale
And we never let the system prevail, real picturesque, missing the sale
Never that, it's forbidden like the candy sisters lifting the veil
I'm still leading the pack, these cats lacking
Just because you be having a dragon don't mean you got the fire...
It ain't nothing to play with, it's sacred
My pen is the paintbrush, and dipping in paint plus
Truth, love, joy, anger, hatred and anguish
That's the spectrum of colours I paint with
I don't feast at the banquet, cause freedom is the set that I bang with
Listen the conditions in my slum village is tainted
I grew through the pavement, like the flower the girl drew in the paper
The sky bluer and the ?eye's? save you
The rules of engagement that they use, attitudes of a slave
Man got me stressed out losing my patience
The moves that I'm making across waters
Through contraband that I'm taking across borders
Information never lost in translation
Too many new words to be learned, I'm spitting fire giving third degree burns
Giving them heat stroke, hotter than rocking a P cote
At ??, all these rappers super like me so, we go
Back in the days like reminiscing with Pete yo
Ladies welcome to the Kweli show
She goes...

[Hook]
Won't you stay around with me?...
And please say the rhyme
Cause these rappers think that I'm
In love with your state of mind
Cause you a favorite of mine
And I know you on your grind
I don't want to waste your time
But baby won't you stay around with me?...
And let my love (and let my love)
And let my love

[Outro]
Ladies and Gentleman, its Talib Kweli
Yeah, this Ear Drum y'all
B-B-B-B-Banging on your ear drum
We got the incredible Pete Rock on the track like...
I like that, I like that
I want to give an extra big shout to my man Dave Dart
Holding me down as always and as usual
And his new born son, Cannon, brand new to the world
He's now down with Blacksmith, Blacksmith is the movement
Jean Grae, Strong Arm Steady gang, Talib Kweli
It's what it is, yeah