Talib Kweli - The Manifesto lyrics

Manifesto, this is what we want to see happen For my peoples still breakin' graf writin' and rappin' I rock the mic right and exact, my life's my sacrifice Take my mic and I'm like a Chinese man with no rice Oh yeah, we flippin' through the pages of time to find design Like Vaseline on the faces of Black Georgia We shinin' deeper than petroleum jelly We in the air like conversations on celly And just appear like stretch marks on bellies After givin' birth you had to let go, you playin' for life The Manifesto, here comes the beat Because I said so keep pushin' I got the cushion for the seat of your soul Back in the day they stole our smile So we clothe our teeth in gold And we frontin', from n***a to kid, to Son of God It's wild dependin' on labels for man, woman and child My style just is all that's seen and all that's heard God gave us music so we play with our words So when Tek be in constant meditation like a monk While Kweli speaks in tongues to get your intellect drunk Yo, we bound to take over the 90% of your brain that you ain't usin' To us it's life or d**h, we keep you chosin' Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone Ain't no rest for the weary yo, forever it's on The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order Movin' upon the face of the water like reflections Aiyo all the real MC's can meet me outside So we can decide how we gonna change the tide Like the moon we on the earth takin' a ride around the sun Now son, we only just begun and the journey's far from done We all miss you, what your brain gone fishin' like Walter Mosley? There's an MC that can hold me, supposedly? No one could come close to me, only the family really know me Hip-hop's last hope like Obi Wan Kenobi Through your television I'm shinin' light like a train Comin out like earthworms when it rains Bringin' it like the C.I.A. be bringin' in crack Cocaine bailin' out of planes With the George Bush connections, I push reflection Like I'm sellin' izm like a dealer buildin' the system Supply and the demand it's all capitalism n***as don't sell crack cause they like to see blacks smoke n***as sell crack cause they broke My battle lyrics get conscious minds provoked And ghetto pa**es revoked Cause we surrounded by the evil You know that the people's minds is feeble They believe in it Even if it don't make sense, this makin' dollars sh** Don't take a scholar to see what's goin' on around you Either you widdit or you ain't is what it comes down to Have you forgotten we pickin' 100% designer name brand Cotton They still plottin', my third eye is steady watchin' Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone Ain't no rest for the weary yo forever it's on The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order Movin' upon the face of the water like reflections Yeah, see that's what I'm talkin' about, it be the slaughter, man We need to break it down because these heads They don't know what they talkin' about Frontin' all this nonsense, yo, break it down From open mics to solutions, I got a collage of answers And a ten point program just like the Black Panthers One, first respect yourself as an artist If you don't respect yourself then your rhymes is garbage Two, make sure your crew is as tight as you Cause when them n***as fallin' off, they gonna bring you down too Three, understand the meanin' of MC The power to Move the crowd like Moses split the seas Four, know your sh** and don't ever be blunted If you don't know what your words mean then your rhymes mean nothin' Five, kick facts in the raps and curse with clarity What's a curse when language is immersed in vulgarity Six, we gonna fix industrial politricks sh**, they made an art form out of ridin' dicks Seven, we soldiers for God needin' new recruits So if you rhymin' for the loot then you's a prostitute But eight, acknowledge that you need food on your plate In order to say your grace make sure your business is straight Nine, we buildin' black minds with intelligence And when you freestyle, keep the subject matter relevant Ten, every MC grab a pen And write some conscious lyrics to tell the children I'll say it again, every MC find you a pen And drop some conscious sh** for our children The Manifesto