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they say two things are certain in life: death and taxes
and neither one’s occurred to me yet
what beliefs are you living in that’s holding you back?
choose the way you view the world and find your own facts,
it’s like that
I see time spent complaining about the “the system” as worthless
I say fuck the system, pimp it, then use it for my own purpose
now don’t get it twisted,
my mission and my purpose is to get ya’ll uplifted,
because I’ve been gifted, and so have you been,
but ya’ll too busy acting like you’re victims of original sin
like suffering was pre-ordained to reign
like if you don’t struggle you ain’t real cuz you don’t know the pain
it’s insane
like tryna put a needle in a thin-vein and wondering why it don’t fit
instead of saying fuck it and just calling it quits,
what we really need to breed in our minds is a paradigm shift
but most don’t wanna hear that
rather smoke a blunt while swigging a beer back
although it might appear that I’m bringing fear back
I’m expressing my perspective, many can’t near that
inner-dwelling truth, we seldom revere that
claiming that we on the right course but we letting someone else steer that
so I’m asking you to take the time
to pay attention to the contents of your own mind
and you if disagree that’s fine,
but I’ma keep marching on this path of mine
and I’ll accept what I find
and if you grind, great – what are you grinding for?
what are you living for – is it worth dying for?
if you can’t answer that with an affirmative,
you should take a step back and find out what your purpose is
believe me, I’ve taken time for reflection
seen the deception and cleaned the infection
if I come off a little aggressive,
it’s ‘cause I can’t let you make a mockery out of my profession
rap is a tool, ya’ll use it like a weapon
lacking mental muscle, half-flexin
no cadences in with the vocal inflection
I’m developed with flow, ya’ll premature like c-sections
I won’t join your fan-page, I am not your bredrin
you got one style I got seven – hundred
my boiling point high like tungsten
ya’ll motherfuckers get burned easily like a Bunsen
you repping for the city? man, I question that assumption
you repping for yourself, and you don’t stand for NOTHIN!
talking that shit like the world owes you something
but what you owe to the world is something you ain’t confronting
and that’s the reason why you frontin’
but ya’ll a bunch of little Kanyes, I CAN’T TELL YOU NOTHIN!
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my third eye pierce through the lies like a gamma-ray
I hover over all these suckas like a manta-ray
I’m the sting-ray to ya’ll Steve Irwins
straight to the heart of the matter from which I burgeon
which mean I’m growing, they slowing, I’m not concerned with
these prostitute rappers acting like they flow virgins
you think you know rap, this a different version
where lyricism counts, like Kweli, packing my words in
so either stand tall otherwise be duckin’ me
I ain’t about to waste my time on bull-fuckery
so many say they gifted
but do they make a difference?
are they taking action or paralyzed by indecision?
a lot of ya’ll hesitate to make moves
not even on the court, you’re still up in the locker room
my team don’t even question me and what I got to do
they know that I’m focused, manifesting what is possible
steady dropping you
rhymes philosophical
embodying the very definition of unstoppable
I dropped the Foundations, some of ya’ll copped a few
some of ya’ll didn’t, that’s alright – I’m not watching you
hip hop’s been lacking in integrity
the genomes been cloned, I bring an original pedigree
this is my culture, I refuse to let it be
taken over and sodomized by the inequities
that I see, in front of me, I can’t ignore it
I wish that I could walk away from the ignorance
but then I’d be ignorant, so I gotta face forward
we all gotta die someday, some of ya’ll race for it
life I got a taste for it, so I’m not wasting it
(you) wanna see my origins, I’ll show you where the basement is
now I’m on stage with it, following my passions
now I’m steady taking what’s mine, I’m done asking
Like it or not, I’m here to tell you something
most of ya’ll talk but ain’t saying nothing
rappers spit empty words with no substance
so I feel obliged to say something
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I’m not worried about the souls of artists
I’m worried ‘bout the people who don’t know what art is
perpetually living in these narrow definitions of life
but what’s life if the soul’s gone missing?
when the only focus is who’s bringing the cash in
that doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for passion
unless the passion is the paper,
in which case we made a mistake and we all caught the vapours
and that’s a topic that’s been touched on,
see I’m in love with hip hop, most of these rappers got a crush on
I bust on, these haters who be lusting for the glamour
line ‘em up like nails, and yes, I bring the hammer
like BANG BANG – I be doing the damn thang
a lot of ya’ll are talking but ain’t doing a damn thang
and it’s a damn shame cuz most of ya’ll are capable
but ya’ll be steady living your lives like they’re replaceable
We gotta get our perspectives right
yo we gotta start respecting life
instead of searching out a dime for a spliff
what we need to bring about is a paradigm shift
picture this: a parentless child, no role-model
liked to get buck-wild, became addicted to the bottle
growing not knowing who’s blood was flowing in his veins
couldn’t cope with all the pain, started smoking crack cocaine
found himself in alleyways
trying just to pass the days
prayed every night to God that in his sleep he’d pass away
but every day he woke up to another
day of living hell, wishing that he had a mother
or a father he could turn to
so vials he burned through
but the streets’ lessons he would learn through
every day the same, he got so sick of the sequence
took a detour, showed up at a 12-step meeting
somebody there shared about struggling and getting by
and for the first time in his life, he could identify
gradually the weight began to lift off his shoulder
life shifted its direction, now he’s 6 months sober
We gotta get our perspectives right
yo we gotta start respecting life
instead of searching out a dime for a spliff
what we need to bring about is a paradigm shift
We all got struggles man, we all go through it
so how come we acting like we the only ones that do it
like "you can’t feel my pain ‘cause my struggle’s so deep"
but we create reality through words that we speak
it’s like, to be strong that means help you can’t seek
we left dragging our asses through the week,
now that’s weak
nobody makes it on their own, no matter what they say
so I got principles that on the mic I must obey
since ya’ll listening it’s my responsibili-tay
to hit you with some rhymes that might make you live your life today
and I’m alright today,
so I’ma write today,
something you can vibe to in the times that I’m away
if my rhymes ain’t influencing you
then I’m failing in the mission I was sent to do
cuz I already see my path, this was meant for you
this is life, the only one that can commence it is you
We gotta get our perspectives right
yo we gotta start respecting life
instead of searching out a dime for a spliff
what we need to bring about is a paradigm shift
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NO SWAGGER, I ain’t got NO SWAGGER
I don’t need swagger to be an MC
ya’ll can talk about all the swagger you want, but
that don’t make you a dope rapper to me
ya’ll MCs like to talk about your swagger
but to me you look a little strung out, like Mick Jagger
so here’s my rebuttal to ya’ll, I’m no bragger
but these lyrics will penetrate your heart, like a dagger
see I don’t got time to waste with these braggarts
rappers burn like bundles of sticks, I call ‘em faggots
on the mic., claiming you spit bullets like pistol
best rapper alive? oh shit – I must have missed you
you’re whole facade is transparent like a ghost
I’m a psych major, ya’ll too easy to diagnose
like the way you walk around on stage could hide your lack of skill
riding the promoter’s dick, the reason why you’re on the bill
I ain’t got no swagger, man, I don’t need that
want me to conform to the norm? fuck the feedback
my lyrics much deeper than that, but ya’ll don’t see that
I’ll be writing rhymes while you’re smoking a tree-sack
NO SWAGGER, I ain’t got NO SWAGGER
I don’t need swagger to be an MC
ya’ll can talk about all the swagger you want, but
that don’t make you a dope rapper to me
(x2)
What is an MC?
a microphone controller/
if you can’t move the crowd, you can’t rock the mic/
and if that crowd that you move consists of your crew,
then you really don’t know if your skills are tight/
see a lot of these rappers talk about their swag
acting like they spit chronic when it’s really some shwag
just because you’re dressing fly don’t mean that you’re ruling G
professing that you’re cool to me, but looking like a fool to me
you ain’t no MC, just another rapper wannabe
swagger-like you try to be, cuz you saw it on BET
spittin bullshit frequently,
you look like a freak to me
you think that you’re addressing the crowd, but you don’t speak to me
see I don’t have swagger man, I got style
oh you’re a dope MC? let me hear you freestyle
looking fresh to death, but you ain’t saying nothing
no swagger over here, but at least I’m saying something
NO SWAGGER, I ain’t got NO SWAGGER
I don’t need swagger to be an MC
ya’ll can talk about all the swagger you want, but
that don’t make you a dope rapper to me
(x2)
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Articulating Benevolence in my Character
Devoted to Excellence, I’m the Flow Guarantor
Haphazardly these Idiots try Jockin’ me
Karate Kick these Leeches Methodically
Neurotically Offended by Practical Questions
Rappers’ Stupidity causes more Tension
Unmentioned Veneration for the Wackness
Xenophobic Youths in the game too Zealous
spittin’ Abstract Bullshit that seems Copacetic
it’s Deranged how our Egocentric Faults are Genetic
Horrendous Impairments in our Judgments
Kamikaze Lemmings Living Lives that be Martyred for Nothing
Oppositional Positions that can’t Quell
the Reactive State of our Thoughts, I can Tell
Ultimately all Viciousness Will Weaken
I X-ray eXpanse of Years from my Zenith
Alphabetics…
Absolutely rappers Are, Awfully Arrogant
Bestowing their own Brand of Bullshit Belligerence
Consequently, the Crap is Concentrated
into Didactically Dated raps, Demonstrated
in an Ever-changing Era that Excludes an Equivalent
Feebly and Frantically we’re Frolicking so Frivolous
Giving up on our God-Given Gifts of Greatness
Holes in our Heads to Hear, instead we Hate this
Intelligence Inside us, Indicating
we should Jump with Jubilation
and the Knowledge of Kings
and Limit our Licentiousness
Moreover gotta Mention this
Nationalistic Narrative is a Negative
Only Obsequious Observers are Obsessed
with a Policy by which Possessions leave you Possessed
Quick-Release Self, it’s Two-Thousand and Ten
Unleash Vivacious Writtens to X-press Your Zen
Alphabetics…
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On some West-coast type shit
on some west-coast type shit…
rockin’ on some west coast type shit
tho I never been there, the vibe I like it
never been to Oakland, never seen Compton
no I’m not a thug, not about gun-poppin’
reppin’ for the T-dot, city full of options
I love it to death despite all of its problems
the level of creativity in my city is incredible
so many different restaurants, my city’s so edible
graffiti on the walls seldom legible
every single rapper in my city think they standing on a pedestal
egocentricity and inauthenticity
the real show love and the fake fall pitifully
I consider hip hop as a gift to me
You use it to abuse it? then you lookin’ like a bitch to me
haters can’t get to me, because I be, standing at a distance
but I know that I’m hittin ‘em cuz they show resistance
rockin’ on some west coast type shit
rockin’ on some west coast type shit
regardless where you from or what city you be reppin’
hip hop is universal, touching every corner and section
and location on the map, it’s boom-bap
attack with the raps, get you high like a dime-sack
still I gotta rep my city, that’s where I’m at
the H3 Cypher where you find the dope rhymes at
vivid verbal pictures like an IMAX
bustin like climax
lyrical hijacks
of your synapses
mind-state captures
via steppin into my lyrical raptures
rappers is actors
their whole frame fractures
when I expose them as straight manufactured
flows jacked, bastards
ya’ll could stand with these MCs
rhymes so deep make your soul feel empty
tempt me? hold yo ass in contempt, B
you the flavour of the month, my poetry lasts centuries
rockin’ on some west coast type shit
rockin’ on some west coast type shit
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straight up – I’m a descendant of Holocaust survivors
six million Jews killed in the holocaust
I remember that every single day
I’m alive because of those who survived
Verse 1:
F to the U to the B to the B
yo my people – step up and get ready
fortify-live, hold it down rock-steady
yo it’s time to act now, got the strength already
I’ma drag up what most don’t recall
bigger than a gun-fight or any damn brawl
genocide - that’s the biggest crime of them all
my people were attacked but we just wouldn’t fall
I know about the yellow stars and the food stamps
I know about the gas chambers and the death camps
this goes way beyond right and wrong
did you know that there were six million dead and gone
on trains to Auschwitz
you wanna talk shit?
wanna talk like you’re rough, like you’re the hot-shit?
have you ever lost someone special in your life?
did you feel the despair, pain sadness and strife?
multiply it ten times, you’re still not even close
to atrocities that occurred beyond the coast
signs were posted, but nobody read ‘em
the criminal stood tall, but no-one would dead ‘em
1.5 million children were slaughtered
from babies, to nephews, to sons, and daughters
“never again” – it’s been said many times
but the ignorance of mankind still shines
people wanna kill us just because we survive
in a pool of sacrifice, my people take a dive
anti-Semites wanna steal my rights?
meet me face to face and I might take your life
‘cause it’s time alright – time to get up and fight
time for my people of the world to unite
I say act sooner rather than later
‘cause I’m sick of sitting back like a damn spectator
time to put an end to the instigators
expose the the neo-nazi fascist haters
CHORUS:
While people sat back, the Jews did suffer
barely any food from breakfast to supper
stripped of humanity
brink of insanity
a war machine took our lives with vanity
targets of ignorance and products of arrogance
the more I think about it, the less it makes sense
looking back now, if you my two cents
there’s not grass on the other side of the fence
just train tracks where we were shipped like cattle
the underground war where we fought our battles
sounds of the screams that make the bones rattle
the death of my people that happened in the shadows
Verse 2:
They turned a blind eye
while my people died
while Hitler and his nightmare multiplied
while everybody slept, the blitzkrieg crept
lives out of check – wrecked at the hate intercept
they said concentration camps were just a myth
but it was more real than a shot from a fifth
Poland was invaded, many lives were seized
hey, there’s an idea, Policy to Appease?
from the UK to Germany
while thousands cried and begged on their knees
my grandparents really only had one choice
they had no hope and they didn’t have a voice
instead of falling victim like so many did
they said “fuck death!” and they chose to live
and because of that
I’m rapping on this track
I stand alive because of that just one fact
still they suffered with physicalities
arthritis and dementia abnormalities
like breaking off the leg of a Broadway dancer
for my grandma, no answer
died from the cancer
lives forever scarred, locked behind bars
while people drove around in their fancy cars
while unheard cries went near and far
my people kept faith as they prayed to the stars
CHORUS:
While people sat back, the Jews did suffer
barely any food from breakfast to supper
stripped of humanity
brink of insanity
a war machine took our lives with vanity
targets of ignorance and products of arrogance
the more I think about it, the less it makes sense
looking back now, if you my two cents
there’s not grass on the other side of the fence
just train tracks where we were shipped like cattle
the underground war where we fought our battles
sounds of the screams that make the bones rattle
the death of my people that happened in the shadows
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I remember the first time the microphone I ever gripped
years ago now, but like yesterday remember it
the benefit of experience, lackin it
still poetically attackin it, I spit rhymes immaculate
nervous as hell, still I held it with the power grip
the beat was like a meal, I devoured it
far from being powerless
and tho I was afraid, as the music played on,
I stayed strong and I overcame my cowardice
feeling that connection as I looked out in the audience
heads bobbin-and, I knew I had to come correct
every time, in every single line if I wanted respect
and that’s something I’ma never forget
every time I picked up the mic, I got stronger
delivery harder, freestyles longer
used to get lifted by smoking marijuana
now I stay gifted, spittin’ what I wanna
more like I got-ta
hip-hoppa core Bambaata
slayin the track like manslaughta
touching my mic, told you not-ta
how u gonna hold a candle up to the sun, you got nadda
word to Big L, 2pac, and Big Poppa
rap’s in the blood in my veins, not the watered
down versions that you be hearing, domineering
on the radio-waves interfering with the culture
Ain’t no time to pretend, it’s 2010
My man FELN it’s 2000-Zen
So we create Zen in 2010
2000-Zen ‘till forever
So I grab mics, and I hold them
silver tongues make way for the golden
they say many called so few are chosen
well I’m both - competition gets frozen
I’ve awoken, yes awakened
to another level, higher elevation
I am the origin of my own creation
fuck change, I cause transformation
you can call it abstract, you can have that
chump-change, you don’t know where my math’s at
I’m like Moses, my mic’s where my staff’s at
I’m like appearances, ya’ll can’t get past that
I’m leading these rhymes in a lyrical exodus
it takes more than flashy flows to come next to this
concentration deep, seems effortless
most can’t F with this
after I’m gone you’ll be left with this
thought-provoking, soul invoking
lyrical brainstorm that gets you open
a token of my appreciation
for hip hop, I add to the conversation
contrary to the self-deprecation
I’m urging humanity to stand as a nation
thru hip hop, I stand for unification
salavation; ain’t no time for move fakin’
Ain’t no time to pretend, it’s 2010
My man FELN it’s 2000-Zen
So we create Zen in 2010
2000-Zen ‘till forever...
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The Blue Collar Worker isn’t about socioeconomic class struggles. It’s a mind-state of the type of grind that nobody sees and yet everybody knows about. It’s not just about rockin’ the mic on stage or spittin’ in the booth; it’s also about trekking around the city with a full backpack and a mission to accomplish. It’s about dragging your ass out of bed when you’d rather sleep-in and taking steps even though your feet hurt. It’s about working that job that you’d rather not work so you can pay for studio time and get your tracks mixed. It’s embodying the type of courage that nobody rewards you for and doing the damn thang instead of complaining about what needs to be done.
The Blue Collar isn’t a status symbol. It’s a representation of everything it takes to achieve one’s goals and materialize one’s dreams. It symbolizes a level of earnestness and integrity that the vast majority of people lack in their lives. It’s a commitment to honouring one’s word and not settling for excuses. It’s the acknowledgment that obstacles are merely limitations that have not yet been overcome.
This is what I mean I say, “I’m on a different kind of grind when I pop the Blue Collar…”
