You say one for the treble, two for the time   Come on, y'all let's rock this   You say one for the treble, two for the time   Come on      Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape   Now let it fall   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 feelin' 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, speakin' 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 ammunition   Chi, chi, chi, pow      Move from the gate, voice cued on your tape   Puttin' food on your plate, many crews can relate   Who choosin' your fate, yo, we went from pickin' cotton   To chain gang line choppin', to Be Boppin', to Hip Hoppin'   Blues people got the blue chip stock option   Invisible man, got the whole world watchin'      Where ya at? I'm high, low, east, west, all over your map   I'm gettin' 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 who else 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, rock, rock, rock, rock   Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock      Hip Hop is prosecution evidence   The out of court settlement, ad space for liquor   Sick without benefits   Luxury tenements chokin' the skyline   It's low life gettin' tree top high      Here there's a back water remedy   Bitter and tender memory, A class E felony   Facin' the death penalty, hungh   Stimulant and sedative, original repetitive   Violently competitive, a school unaccredited      The break beats you get broken with   On time and inappropriate   Hip Hop went from sellin' crack to smokin' it   Medicine for loneliness   Remind me of Thelonius and Dizzy   Propers to B Boys gettin' busy      The war time snap shot   The workin' man's jack pot   A two dollar snack box   Sold beneath the crack spot   Olympic sponsor 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, woo   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