[VERSE 1: DCQ]
On urbain terrain I strive to maintain
Stress is strain with a whole heap of pain
A lotta f**in games that I can't seem to win
I'm livin in the land of sin
I close my eyes and I count to 10'000
sh** is still f**ed up down in public housing
Turn on the TV just to see my man on the news
No job, but he had a pair of $100 shoes
So I get my head ready cause I know where I'm at
I got good sense and now I need a 1'000 gats
Cause times in America is all out of order
You gotta pay just to get good drinkin water
They goin bucknuts and I ain't tryina hear it
The end ain't near, it's here
I stay cool in the Babylon swelter
Bout to build a house with a f**in bomb shelter
Cause it's a lotta smilin faces out here and I don't trust em
Muthaf**as make a wrong move and I'ma bust em
I'm sleepin on the floor with my nines by the door
War ain't fair, it's war
Front line, muthaf**a
[Mos Def]
You can never underestimate your enemy
You gotta realize there's people who wake up 6 AM in the morning to jog
Running for their life cause they underestimate...
[VERSE 2: Ces]
sh** in here is gettin kinda warm
Muthaf**as didn't know that I had this for em
I'm spittin buckshots and you could all get dropped
Muthaf** a vest, I'm takin all headshots
It's the great beat breaker, Brakalak jacker
Dominant genes, son, it gets no blacker
You're scared, b**h, as is with the style you lack
I'm havin reoccurin dreams of blowin out your back
So take that ( *gunshot* ) and that ( *gunshot* )
And that ( *gunshot* ) and that ( *gunshot* )
I'm as hard as it gets, you can't sit where I sat
Roll with a ill crew, pack a big god j**el
I ain't the b**h steady tryina get a new hairdo
(Ooh) Look, you ain't gotta like it, cause sh** is real
I'ma say how I feel, the truth must be revealed
Your eyes wide open and you still can't see
Steady smokin blunts talkin bout I'm free
Spend all of your time sleepin with the enemy
Doin dumb sh** that you seen on TV
Can't get caught up in the hocus pocus
Times is so hopeless, I gotta keep focus
And I'ma do whatever it takes
Cause sh** ain't easy, but that's the breaks
Times is too wild to smile
I'm ready, get it on, son, you know my style
Can't clown cause I'm down for mine
From now to '99, frontline, muthaf**a
[Mos Def]
It's no room for fear
We givin these heads the respect and the credit that they don't deserve
Youknowmsayin?
That's why they don't respect us
When we start to realize who we are
Then we can clearly see who they are
[VERSE 2: Mos Def]
Originality is now a yummy soundbite
Everything sounds aight but trite, but it don't sound right
Treadin over urban terrain is a great source of pain
But it's the path that I chose, so I can't complain
If I get honory, pardon me, gems and gents
I'm on a mission in the very literal f**in sense
If heads don't understand it's of no consequence
Cause not everyone is worthy to hold my confidence
In a world so clandestine I stand frontline
[?] motion and mad explosion
The vision descension and ma**ive tension
Stiflin congestion and no progression
I try to keep on lookin at the prize
But I'm steady wipin blood out my eyes
Mr. Charlie k** your pops and rape your mother
Now we f**in turn around and shoot each other?
Run for cover, well that ain't a f**in option
I'm comin through head first, I ain't stoppin
s**ers want beef cause I speak on these topics
But don't sleep, I'm keepin heat like the tropics
A full clip and my hand on my dick
I'm like a muthaf**in elephant, I don't forget sh**
From Medgar Evers down to Emmet Till
Black bodies swingin from trees outlining American hills
Talk all that racism sh** if you want to
But white man, I don't trust you, and I will bust you
Even if you try to act trife
It's the M-o-s loced out for life
100 years ago you brought the rah-rah
Now it's recycled in Kumbaya
And I ain't goin out like a punk
You say holier than thou, well you can call it what you want
No slippin, I gotta stay aware
I'm too prepared to be steppin out scared
Brothers' eyes are watchin, can't go out like a s**er
Mos Def is in another frontline muthaf**as
[Mos Def]
Victory is the only choice
There's no other alternative but victory
And the only way to be victorious is to understand your enemy
You have to understand that they're fighting to survive
But we are fighting to live
They're fighting for something totally different
The differences are great
And we have to realize that their time is up
And if they're desperate...
A desperate enemy should not be hard-pressed because he has nothing to lose
And he will take you to hell with him
So you either to win or you fight to die
Fight to win or you fight to die