[Mos Def]
History
It's happenin' every day y'all (right now)
Everyday (right now)
Right now (good mornin', Vietnam!)
Listen
Brooklyn wins again
It's the Stuy, it's the Bush, dem niggas again
Ta' Kweli, Mighty Def, and S. Dot on the guest lock
Kanye, you're the dope man in hip hop, now let's rock
Now roll out niggas, my hometown niggas
I get it good in your hood so slow down niggas
Watch the speed though, mind your pedal and ease off
Or screech into a collision course with these walls - bam!
They don't move, don't pray, don't lose, don't sleep
Life passin', light flasin', life happens that fast part a gun
Black hands up in prayer
Black guns up in fear
Dyin' wish is to touch the air
Seekin' heaven that wasn't here
Eyes will not see another year
It's another day
It's the same fight
Different round, sound the bell
Mix it up in victory where you live it up the beat
And get risen up you're knocked down get it back and get it up
Get off of queer street and get with us
And get clear where we did it
From the heart, from the people
From the top, from the jeep
From the gut, from the street
From my soul to the mic to the essence
So in my absence you feel the presence, exactly
I make contact, for short, I MC
Me and mine we don't just get by
We get free and that's ready [Mos -- nigga]
[Jay-Z]
Just to get by
Nigga I sold coke, nigga I pushed lah
Carried a fo'five
Claimed I was ready to die
Promised never to cry
Held it all inside
Reality was too much to take so I
Kept my mind fried
Slept for most of mine
Soon as I closed my eyes
Then I woke up behind
Thinkin' either I load up these nines
Or blow up with rhymes
Cause this flow of mine is like blow up but lines of coca
And your folks think Hov' just wrote stuff to rhyme
Nah, I'm a poster for what happened seein your moms
Doin five dollars worth of work just to get a dime
So pardon my disposition
Why should I listen to a system that never listened to me?
Picture me working McDonald's
I'd rather pull a mac on you
Sorry Ms. Jackson but I'm packin
[Kanye West]
It's something about that Nina Simone's piano flow
It's like a Michaelangelo painted a portrait of Maya Angelou
And gave it to a sick poet for they antidote
If music get's you choked up this is the tree and a rope
This is Chi nigga, I'm mista all-a-dat
Fuck a map, let's put this bitch on the almanac
Dice what they hittin' for, 'lax what you sittin' on
Tracks who you spittin on, rap till we get it on
And don't let nobody with the power to sign
Ever tell you you ain't got the power to rhyme
They used to tell me toughen up
Put some bass in your voice
They used to tell me lighten up
Put some Mase in your voice
Lord willin' I ain't kill nobody
But I have a feelin' this album
That I'm gonna make a killin'
Or not a shillin'
This is love it or hate it music
But, at least we made it music
And we didn't make it industry
This is gon' be interesting
This'll be the end of me or I'm finna' be an entity
Kanye, Jay-Z, Mos Def, and Kweli
We are not makin' songs no more
We're makin' history
[Background singer]
[Talib Kweli]
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by
We keep it gangsta, say 'fo shizzle', 'fo sheezy'
Desensitized by violence on the TV during the war
Killing each other is easy, its pouring liquor for fallen
Niggas believe me it's ghetto libation, see it all before
Me, it's ghetto love, I bet you seen it all befo'
Just to get by, my people we get fly
My people we get high, filling cigars with the lah
Nigga come on, even Jesus was stoned before receivin' the throne
I said to rest in peace to Nina Simone
[Busta Rhymes]
Back in the days we was used to doin the shit
I can't call it all in the streets
We was hustlin fiends that asked for it
I guess I was used to just standin on corners
Waitin for paper bags with bundles of crack
Hopin the week was good so I could get money back
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
When I was stressed I possessed a side of my strength
That made me angry and bleed
With the frustration havin me smokin Newports and weed
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Those be the times when I try to rely
On my niggas and street motherfuckers
And reach out to wifey and then I place a call on my mother
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
(Hey yo mom pick up the phone, I g- I gotta to talk to you ma)
If you was five percent instead of actin stupid and guessin
You had to go and study your lessons
And know your math in the building in session
[Hook: Talib Kweli + background singers]
This morning I woke up
Feelin brand new, I jumped up
Feelin my highs and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smoking and stop drinkin
But I been thinkin I got my reasons
Just to get (by), just to get (by)
Just to get (by), just to get (get buh buh buh bye bye)
[Talib Kweli]
Some people try
Some people try just to get by
For my piece of the pie
You love to eat and be high
We deceive and we lie
And we keepin' it fly - yo yo yo yo yo
People
Keeper of the skies
Can't see your eyes
See the evil inside
The best people you find
Stronger people in mind
I stay readin' the signs
