(Talib Kweli) And the people say? We wanna live it up And what the people want? deliver us And what the people Hey... I got that,
[Talib I call these rappers baby seals, cause they you to death I could call 'em Navy SEALs, cause government feds What of the vets? They drugged up, they fucked up, they in debt There ain't no love and no respect, it's like a gang like a club or a set the new WWF What do you rap or do you Niggaz love to forget We got til gone, you think you on, you still hustlin backwards Your norm a tropical storm, it's a fuckin disaster to the topic we on, it all started at Rawkus They couldn't find the words to describe me so resort to the shortcuts Is he a backpacker? Is he a mad An or the author of the last chapter We living in times of love and cholera Synonymous with the apocalypse, look up the clouds is We got maybe ten years left say meteorologists, We still for the Congress to acknowledge this~!
[Chorus: Kweli & singers in the background] What the people want? deliver us We wanna it up, please deliver us Th-th-this is the, th-th-this is the, is the hostile gospel I'm through the fire - please deliver us I'm preaching to the choir - please us Just keep it real with us, you scared to spill blood Your words rung hollow, we someone to follow
Kweli] You ain't tomorrow, so get your paper up You can't always just borrow and asks for bruh Stand on own two, never covet thy neighbor's stuff Karma's a bitch so watch your mouth and what you sayin I start a based on general observation Hip-Hop is not a nation, it to population Niggaz got a lot to say when inside the belly of Satan Awaitin trial how the hell I got placed in this system Am I a victim or a product of indoctrination? exploit it and use me like a movie with product placement You hear the congregation; this is the gospel The is hard to swallow it'll leave you scarred tomorrow Keep it honest our motto, niggaz keep it bottled I'm the writer who reach the fighters speeches by Cus D'Amato DJs to vinyl like "Fuck Serato" Suppliers who ride around the block, in the custom Ballin like the the lotto you know who the cleanest is A nigga keep it reeich the stitch and greedy geniuses I'm not a hipster, but I flip it like a pimp Expose the game, treat it a bitch fire out these hoes, cause they snitch and tap wires while I plead the fifth You can't trust a in the biz, so be careful who you eatin with and sleepin and also who you chiefin with You never know they added in secret ingredients
[Talib Freedom's a road that's traveled, watch hell unravel Right before the eyes of the soldier who fell in The single mother who raised her to bear the sacred water And not the hand of every man who make a offer To black kids wishin they white kids, they close they eyelids Like, "I bet they neighborhood like this" kids wishin they black kids, and wanna talk like rappers It's all backwards it's identity The industry inside us is vipers with trying to bite us Drug is the health care providers We cakin, narcotics outta household products We ain't workin out 'til we exorcise the demons that's us Plus they seem to just provide us with enough to hang ourselves dope to slang ourselves, enough toast to bang ourselves It's officially nigga season, these is bleedin That's why I'm freedom we had enough of trigger squeezin
[Outro: In these days and times All I need is to be I do it on my own Lord can you me? There are trials still to It's salvation that I So I'm to the sky Lord can you me? us... Deliver us, us, ohhhhhhhhhh Oh, us us Ohhhhh us yes Deliver us, us, deliver us Yeah yeah yeah, ohhhhhhhhhh... [ad to fade]