(Talib Kwali):
|
Yo I was sold to a sick European by a rich African battlin'
|
Middle Passages, I can't go back again
|
Battlin' years of denyin' history, lies and mysteries
|
Wives with misty eyes watchin' their niggas be beaten viciously
|
Battlin the wilderness of North America
|
Ran by the river, only stoppin' to pray
|
Chased by predators
|
Terrorists with etiquette who vote and kill their president
|
Their capacity for evil so evident and prevalent
|
Ain't no hesitation involved, a nation dissolved
|
While we sit back waitin' to evolve
|
Those who would trade in their freedom
|
For their protection deserve neither
|
Fuck a name, fuck tradition
|
Religion - you learn Jesus
|
Turn the other cheek
|
Inherit the Earth, just stay meek
|
Fuck the way you speak
|
Try to walk, we chop off your feet
|
Fastforward to 2003, niggas beef
|
The psychology of children of slaves it run deep
|
|
[Mos Def and Talib Kweli]
|
Hell yeah, hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo
|
What's beef? hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo
|
That's beef, hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo
|
It's always your own peoples
|
Sometimes it's your own peoples yo
|
Yeah yeah, hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo
|
What's beef? hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo
|
That's beef, hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo
|
It's always your own peoples
|
Sometimes it's your own peoples yo
|
|
[Mos Def]
|
Beef is not what Jay said to Nas
|
Beef is when workin' niggas can't find jobs
|
So they tryna find niggas to rob
|
Tryna find bigger guns so they can finish the job
|
Beef is when the crack kids can't find moms
|
Cause they inna PINE box or locked behind bars
|
Beef ain't the Summer Jam for Hot 97
|
Beef is the cocaine and AIDS epidemic
|
Beef don't come with a radio edit
|
Beef is when the judge is callin' you "defendant"
|
Beef, it comes with a long jail sentence
|
Handed down to you in a few short minutes
|
Beef is when your girl come through for a visit
|
Talkin' bout "I'm pregnant by some other nigga"
|
Beef is high blood pressure and bad credit
|
Need a loan for your home and too broke to get it
|
And all your little kids is doin is gettin' bigger
|
You tryin not to raise 'em around these wild niggas
|
Beef is when a gold digger got ya seed in her;
|
A manicured hand out like "pay me nigga"
|
Or I'm tellin' your wife
|
Or startin' up some foul rumor that'll ruin your life
|
Beef is when a gangster ain't doin it right
|
And other gangsters done decided what to do with his life
|
Beef is not what these famous niggas do on the mic
|
Beef is what George Bush would do in a fight
|
Yeah, beef is not what Ja said to 50
|
Beef is Weldon Irv not bein here with me
|
When a soldier ends his life with his own gun
|
Beef is tryin' to figure out what to tell his son
|
Beef is oil prices and geopolitics
|
Beef is Iraq, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip
|
Some beef is big and some beef is small
|
But what y'all call beef is no beef at all
|
Beef is real life happenin' everyday
|
And it's realer than them songs that you get at Kay Slay
|
This has been a Black Star PSA
|
From Mos Def, Pretty Flocko(?), black Dante
|
And the Black Star embassy, B to the K
|
|
-----------------
|
What's Beef
|
Black Star |