Intro: Mos Def I'm flyin' high, in the friendly sky Without ever leaving the ground, yeah yeah Rest of the folks are tired and weary And have laid their bodies down [Verse 1: Talib Kweli] We lyrically rich, livin, spiritually fit Eating healthy, coming clean never filthy In God's eyes I'm wealthy Felt the power as I entered the palace of 7 lights Time traveled participatin on battles my brethren fight For birth rights that they already got, and shouldn't have to get Break down the steady plot that's accurate Bust the shots that's immaculate Take it to your nugget cause my beloved covet they freedom Believe it put nothing above it love it or leave it We blessed with free will so we choose to be ill Like sharks keepin it movin we could never be still Swim in the channels of life The orators of rhyme handling mics Tiptoeing through the corridors of your mind with candle lights Everlasting in your hood like liquor stores and check cashin n***as flashing (?----) cla**es sippin thug pa**ion blastin Makaveli 4, I bet on brothers with nothing to live for To give more to the struggle, they already at war [Chorus: Mos Def] So much on my mind I just can't recline Blasting holes til the night bled sunshine Breathe in... Breathe out Heard the ba** ride out like an ancient (mating call) I can't take it, I can feel the city breathing [Verse 2: Mos Def] Yo, I pushed my pen and wrote this scribe Like the morning wouldn't find me alive I'm surrounded on all sides By the kind and the cool, wise men and the fool Young guns attending school, ghetto cla**es include: Get yours, get it right Get down, get paid, get a**, get around Get on, get fly, get jig and get high Live to get and you'll only end up getting by When the nighttime covers the city like a cloak I approach and a**emble my hopes, into notes Hard to sleep in the city that don't Cause it won't let you rest, noises on your doorstep 'Nuff distress Police department, raid the park bench on nonsense Cause they fear to see the brothers conference Regardless, we bond tight and we rumble all day to break night Daylight, wifey riffin' to d**h - "you ain't right" The same fight about my late night habits is mad static But the city's so alive that I just got to have it The planet of Brook-LAWN is what I look on Ghetto chef rock your vest when you gettin your cook on Dedicating this song to Scott LaRock, BIG. and 'Pac Kwame Ture, Betty Carter and John Henrik Clark Ron Brown, and freedom fighters going down You set the pace, now we finish the race It's on now [Chorus: Mos Def] So much on my mind I just can't recline Blasting holes til the night bled sunshine Breathe in... Breathe out Heard the ba** ride out like an ancient (mating call) I can't take it, I can feel the city breathing [Verse 3: Black Thought] Yo, Yo I'm from the year-round shootouts to summertime cookout The wintertime grind with the shorties on the lookout A chosen few know the rule, the rest threw the book out The law stay on crews, thirsty with they hook out That old-school bang out Money that pulled the thang out They bit him and hit him with a few, he just came out With the sharks that travel all parts within the same route Narrow walls closin in, cutthroat to exit at the opening Wrong place, you wasn't where you were supposed to been You back around the end, heavy wasteline again With them same suspect cats that waste time again Ya'll need to wake the f** up, and peep the monument in your face Cuz ain't no time to waste not a minute I seen my cousin (?----) said "Peace, yo where you been at?" He said "The final frontier 'Riq, I'm up in that And it's the time to watch the place your foe and where your friend at Cuz where I rotate ain't nothin to grin at, I been at The fork in the crossroads, the outer limit See you can stand tall or crawl and act timid" The Black Thought with the Black Star, infinite [Chorus: Mos Def] So much on my mind I just can't recline Blasting holes til the night bled sunshine Breathe in... Breathe out Heard the ba** ride out like an ancient (mating call) I can't take it, I can feel the city breathing [Adlibs and Outro: Talib Kweli] I got so much trouble on my mind