The Remedy
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Common Featuring Q-Tip
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Yo, we all got different things that we got to deal with. We always are
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trying
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to put the blame on something else rather than sometimes looking at
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ourselves, recognizing a lot of the stuff that happens, sometimes it has to do
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with other things...but if we look within ourselves, we could prevent a lot of
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this nonsense sometimes, y'know. It's about
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relating back to the essence y'know what I'm sayin', where it all stems from.
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I'm-a do my
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thing over this drum, like a native tongue.
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Verse one Q-Tip:
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Do what you will, if you feel that your steeze is real
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complicated with the skills over reel to reel
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brown skin is what i feel, my mind and body's appeal
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is to the no-frill mills, who hear the beats to chill
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constantly, I'm hearing Black Americans just sneering
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Looking for a leader who can fill us up with ether
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Hitting us up with great emotional chat
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about the fact
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that the black
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is constantly held back
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Like 50 tracks back in a relay race
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and the white team's ahead
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so let's keep up the pace
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And I be needing something that could feed my logical taste
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At the end of the race is there a paradise place?
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Yo, we can't get involved in what the next man is doing
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Material gain we put too much in persuing
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"Yo duke, I need this dope so we can step to this party"
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But we can all mardi grati
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Minus that shit in our body
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"What that got to do with that"
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'Cause kid that's the essence,
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your physical presence
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embodies every lesson
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You can't run the Rolls Royce if the engine is busted.
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Can't even life the knife to cut the mustard.
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What we need to do first
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Now listen to this verse
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Let's concentrate on our spiritual plate.
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Recognize your existence in this vast blue space
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From a tiny cloud of blood
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To the human beings with taste, sight, touch, smell
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and sound
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Let's deem it profound!
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And prioritize this cause it was Allah's wish
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"Allah? I'm God"
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"No I ddon't believe that. That's a mystery"
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"If God is so good why does shit be happening to me?"
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There's divinity within
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because we come from the divine
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A force that's not seen But yo we feel it every time
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When the wind blows, and the earth turns,
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and the rain drops, and the babies cry
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and the birds fly, and the grounds quake,
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and the stars gleam, yo
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So many things are evidence of its existence
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What we need to do is link it with persistence,
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hear me out, yo
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Once we recognize that, we can move ahead
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Native Tongues, Common Sense yo he's Hip-Hop bred...
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Common:
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From the spiritual world my former life has developed
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First person I lost close to me was Stella
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Some of my mellows
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Lost their mothers and their brothers
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For them I feel empathy
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But I ain't pouring out fuckin' Hennessee
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I pour my heart out when I see Dot out on the deck
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Knowing two weeks ago he slapped-boxed with death
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I hear of niggas dying in the wind and on the news
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But when it's somebody you know it hits you
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and emotions get bruised
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I ain't been in your shoes,
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I won't judge you for knocking
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Because the spirit of the ghetto says "You Gotta!"
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They snatch you again from rock flippin'
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Give back into the neighborhood, you better start kickin'
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Stickin' stores
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On the strip
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I'm tired of Arabs giving me my change back
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Devil bomb my yesterday
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My tomorrow he never gave back
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I lay back, looking at the ceiling
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Wondering what can I do
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So my homie won't have to be dealing
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Not cause you serving and I'm rapping I'm better
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Just different pieces to the puzzle of black life
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That we gotta put together, to better ourselves
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cause families we gotta raise
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No matter how long the money
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Shorter become the days
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Men become like women
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and no difference in the season
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If you got popped five times
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You breathing for a reason
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Let's put this five, ten year come-up plan in progression
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Before we count our papers
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Count our blessings
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-----------------
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The Remedy
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| Common |
