[Talib Kweli]
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Yo Dee (What?)
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Come on (Yeah..)
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What? What? Come on
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(Yeah)
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"Give me the fortune, keep the fame," said my man Louis
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I agreed, know what he mean because we live the truest lie
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I asked him why we follow the law of the bluest eye
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He looked at me, he thought about it
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Was like, "I'm clueless, why?"
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The question was rhetorical, the answer is horrible
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Our morals are out of place and got our lives full of sorrow
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And so tomorrow comin later than usual
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Waitin' on someone to pity us
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While we findin beauty in the hideous
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They say money's the root of all evil but I can't tell
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YouknowhatImean, pesos, francs, yens, cowrie shells, dollar bills
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Or is it the mindstate that's ill?
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Creating crime rates to fill the new prisons they build
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Over money and religion there's more blood to spill
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The wounds of slaves in cotton fields that never heal
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What's the deal?
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A lot of cats who buy records are straight broke
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But my language universal they be recitin my quotes
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While R&B singers hit bad notes, we rock the boat
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of thought, that my man Louis' statements just provoked
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Caught up, in conversations of our personal worth
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Brought up, through endangered species status on the planet Earth
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Survival tactics means, bustin gats to prove you hard
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Your firearms are too short to box with God
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Without faith, all of that is illusionary
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Raise my son, no vindication of manhood necessary
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[M.D.]Not strong
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[T.K.]Only aggressive
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[M.D.]Not free
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[T.K.]We only licensed
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[M.D.]Not compassioniate, only polite
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[T.K.]Now who the nicest?
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[M.D.]Not good but well behaved
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[T.K.]Chasin after death
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so we can call ourselves brave?
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[M.D.]Still livin like mental slaves
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[both]Hidin like thieves in the night from life
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Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
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[both]Hidin like thieves in the night from life
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Illusions of oasis makin you look twice
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[Mos Def]
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Yo, I'm sure that everbody out listenin agree
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That everything you see ain't really how it be
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A lot of jokers out runnin in place, chasin the style
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Be a lot goin on beneath the empty smile
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Most cats in my area be lovin the hysteria
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Synthesized surface conceals the interior
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America, land of opportunity, mirages and camoflauges
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More than usually -- speakin loudly, sayin nothin
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You confusin me, you losin me
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Your game is twisted, want me enlisted -- in your usary
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Foolishly, most men join the ranks cluelessly
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Buffoonishly accept the deception, believe the perception
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Reflection rarely seen across the surface of the lookin glass
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Walkin the street, wonderin who they be lookin past
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Lookin gassed with them imported designer shades on
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Stars shine bright, but the light -- rarely stays on
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Same song, just remixed, different arrangement
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Put you on a yacht but they won't call it a slaveship
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Strangeness, you don't control this, you barely hold this
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Screamin brand new, when they just sanitized the old shit
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Suppose it's, just another clever Jedi mind trick
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That they been runnin across stars through all the time with
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I find it's distressin, there's never no in-between
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We either niggaz or Kings
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We either bitches or Queens
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The deadly ritual seems immersed, in the perverse
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Full of short attention spans, short tempers, and short skirts
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Long barrel automatics released in short bursts
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The length of black life is treated with short worth
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Get yours first, them other niggaz secondary
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That type of illin that be fillin up the cemetary
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This life is temporary but the soul is eternal
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Separate the real from the lie, let me learn you
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Not strong, only aggressive, cause the power ain't directed
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That's why, we are subjected to the will of the oppressive
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Not free, we only licensed
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Not live, we just excitin
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Cause the captors.. own the masters.. to what we writin
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Not compassionate, only polite, we well trained
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Our sincerity's rehearsed in stage, it's just a game
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Not good, but well behaved cause the ca-me-ra survey
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most of the things that we think, do, or say
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We chasin after death just to call ourselves brave
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But everyday, next man meet with the gr |