Mos Def - Hip Hop

Off Black on Both Sides

(Lyrics)
You say one for the trebble two for the time
Come on y'all let's rock this!
You say one for the trebble two for the time
Come on!

Speech is my hammer bang the world into shape
Now let it fall... (Hungh!!)
My restlessness is my nemesis
It's hard to really chill and sit still
Committed to page I write rhymes
Sometimes won't finish for days
Scrutinize my literature from the large to the miniature
I mathematically add-minister
Subtract the wack
Selector, wheel it back, I'm feeling that
(Ha ha ha) From the core to the perimeter black,
You know the motto
Stay fluid even in staccato
(Mos Def) Full blooded, full throttle
Breathe deep inside the trunk hollow
There's the hum, young man where you from
Brooklyn number one
Native son, speaking in the native tongue
I got my eyes on tomorrow (there it is)
While you still try to follow where it is
I'm on the Ave where it lives and dies
Violently, silently
Shine so vibrantly that eyes squint to catch a glimpse
Embrace the bass with my dark ink fingertips
Used to speak the king's English
But caught a rash on my lips
So now my chat just like dis
Long range from the base-line (switch)
Move like an apparition
Float to the ground with ammuntion (chi-chi-chi-POW)
Move from the gate, voice cued on your tape
Putting food on your plate
Many crews can relate
Who choosing your fate (yo)
We went from picking cotton
To chain gang line chopping
To Be-Bopping
To Hip-Hopping
Blues people got the blue chip stock option
Invisible man, got the whole world watching
(where ya at) I'm high, low, east, west,
All over your map
I'm getting big props, with this thing called hip hop
Where you can either get paid or get shot
When your product in stock
The fair-weather friends flock
When your chart position drop
Then the phone calls....
Chill for a minute
Let's see whoelse tops
Snatch your shelf spot
Don't gas yourself ock
The industry just a better built cell block
A long way from the shell tops
And the bells that L rocked (rock, rock, rock, rock...)

*scratching*

Hip Hop is prosecution evidence
The out of court settlement
Ad space for liquor
Sick without benefits (hungh!)
Luxury tenements choking the skyline
It's low life getting tree-top high
Here there's a back water remedy
Bitter intent to memory
A class E felony
Facing the death penalty (hungh!)
Stimulant and sedative, original repetitive
Violently competitive, a school unacredited
The break beats you get broken with
on time and inappropriate
Hip Hop went from selling crack to smoking it
Medicine for loneliness
Remind me of Thelonius and Dizzy
Propers to B-Boys getting busy
The war-time snap shot
The working man's jack-pot
A two dollar snack box
Sold beneath the crack spot
Olympic spnosor of the black glock
Gold medalist in the back shot
From the sovereign state of the have-nots
Where farmers have trouble with cash crops (woooo)
It's all city like phase two
Hip Hop will simply amaze you
Craze you, pay you
Do whatever you say do
But black, it can't save you

Category:

Music

Tags:

• mos
• def
• black
• on
• both
• sides
• hip
• hop
• hip-hop
• rap
• with
• lyrics

[comptonGANGBANG]

Hip Hop went from selling crack to smoking it

[DownTehRabbitHole]

@JoeKickasz Yes.. Hes a legend.

[ChompingDiMystik]

@FreedomIsInTheMind Likewise family.. I hear that. We definitely need more individualism in today's society - there are WAY too many sheep running around waiting to hop on the next bandwagon or trying to be accepted by others. Pfft.. shit's pathetic to be honest. Anyway, big respect bro.. Stay Real !! Blessed.. Love and Good Music =)

[FreedomIsInTheMind]

@ChompingDiMystik exactly... Doing your own research (finding your own music) shows a desire to do your thing and that's what we need more of today in my opinion. Individuals who think for themselves and don't just want to go along with the status quo and mainstream. esp..dudes. bless bro, and stay positive. always nice to hear from the independent thinker!!!

[ChompingDiMystik]

@FreedomIsInTheMind Well said bro.. i agree completely.. it always pisses me off when i hear idiots say hiphop is dead. Real hiphop lovers know where its at and how to find it.. i havent listened to radio/tv in years and i have no problem finding real music... Im always discovering new/old underground talent that stays true to the artform and blows my mind away. Underground is where its at for sure.

[FreedomIsInTheMind]

Hip-hop is a different class of music than rap...first and foremost the message. Hip-hop is not dead, nor is anything happening to it. Underground is where it's been all along......underground. And if you think a message can die, you're only kidding yourself. You can never kill an idea, especially the idea that's the voice of the voiceless. The fact that I can hear this song over and over says it's not dead. New artists still put these hits out....they're UNDERGROUND.

[DLeechicc]

this is tru hip hop in in its purest form ,i grasp this as taking the underline messages of the culture and taking heart beat of the culture to convey a message that is timely and riveting to the culture to uplift and strengthen as well as something to vibe to..lol hip hop,,not a fan of the era of depraviety and self indulgence that destructs the mind of the listener and those colllectively listening with a ear to obey...

[somejerkoffborgnoob]

@BlueSoul3455 all mainstream is fag. and i think i had it wrong the eminem crew never messed with mos def. but marshal is still a satanic homo.

[BlueSoul3455]

@somejerkoffborgnoob

if eminem is such a fag why did mos def work do a freestyle with him?

[somejerkoffborgnoob]

mos def seems like the nice guy of rap music, now why would those fags from eminem wanna mess with him? sounds goof. . hip hop indeed is cracked the fuck out with all mainstream whos mos def working for hae cant straight up say the truth?

[seamac206]

Ad space for liquor

[cLaRiPa8]

this song has more words as the whole Carter IV

Mos Def <3