"What'd you do last night?"   "We did umm, two whole cars   It was me, Dez, and Main Three right?   And on the first car in small letters it said   'All you see is..' and then you know   big, big, you know some block silver letters   that said '..crime in the city' right?"   "It just took up the whole car?"   "Yeah yeah, it was a whole car and shit..."      [spanish speaking woman] Escuchela.. la ciudad respirando   (translation of spanish: Listen to it.. the city breathing)      * woman repeats 3X *      [spanish speaking woman] Escuchela..      [Mos Def]   The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis   Shinin, like who on top of this?   People was tusslin, arguin and bustlin   Gangstaz of Gotham hardcore hustlin   I'm wrestlin with words and ideas   My ears is picky, seekin what will transmit   the scribes can apply to transcript, yo   This ain't no time where the usual is suitable   Tonight alive, let's describe the inscrutable   The indisputable, we New York the narcotic   Strength in metal and fiber optics   where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips   for profits, thirsty criminals take pockets   Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin class watches   Skyscrapers is collosus, the cost of living   is preposterous, stay alive, you play or die, no options   No Batman and Robin, can't tell between   the cops and the robbers, they both partners, they all heartless   With no conscience, back streets stay darkened   Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened   My eagle talons STAY sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin   You either make a way or stay sobbin, the Shiny Apple   is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat   You could lose your teeth, many crews retreat   Nightly news repeat, who got shot down and locked down   Spotlight to savages, NASDAQ averages   My narrative, rose to explain this existance   Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance      So much on my mind that I can't recline   Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine   Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine   Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline   Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call   I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin   Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening   Sigh before we die like the last train leaving      [Talib Kweli]   Breathin in deep city breaths, sittin on shitty steps   we stoop to new lows, hell froze the night the city slept   The beast crept through concrete jungles   communicatin with one another   And ghetto birds where waters fall   from the hydrants to the gutters   The beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin   You on the wrong side of the track, lookin visibly shaken   Taken them plungers, plungin to death that's painted by the numbers   with Krylon applied pressure, cats is playin God   but havin children by a lesser baby mother but fuck it   we played against each other like puppets, swearin you got pull   when the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes   Gettin knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise   Look in the skies for God, what you see besides the smog   is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene   Thoughts that people put in the air   Places where you could get murdered over a glare   But everything is fair   It's a paradox we call reality   So keepin it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality   Killers Born Naturally like, Mickey and Mallory   Not knowing the ways'll get you capped like an NBA salary   Some cats be emceeing to illustrate what we be seeing   Hard to be a spiritual being when shit is shakin what you believe in   For trees to grow in Brooklyn, seeds need to be planted   I'm asking if y'all feel me AND THE CROWD LEFT ME STRANDED   My blood pressure boiled and rose, cause New York niggaz   actin spoiled at shows, to the winners the spoils go   I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates   New York life type trife the Roman Empire state      [Mos Def and crew]   So much on my mind I just can't recline   Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine   Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine   Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline   Yo don't the bass ride out like an ancient mating call   I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin   Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening   Sigh before we die like the last train leaving      [spanish speaking woman] Escuchela.. respirando ??      [Common]   Yo...on The Amen, Corner I stood lookin at my former hood   Felt the spirit in the wind, knew my friend was gone for good   Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, I couldn't mask it   Mixin down emotions, struggle I hadn't mastered   I coreograph seven steps to heaven   And hell, waiting to exhale and make the bread leavened   Veteran of a cold war It's Chica-I-go for   What I know or, what's known   So some days I take the bus home, just to touch home   From the crib I spend months gone   Sat by the window with a clutched dome listenin to shorties cuss long   Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong   Tried to call, or at least beep the Lord, but didn't have a touch-tone   It's a dog-eat-dog world, you gotta mush on   Some of this land I must own   Outta the city, they want us gone   Tearin down the 'jects creatin plush homes   My circumstance is between Cabrini and Love Jones   Surrounded by hate, yet I love home   Ask my God how he thought travellin the world sound   Found it hard to imagine he hadn't been past downtown   It's deep, I heard the city breathe in its sleep   Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep   Deep, I heard my man breathe in his sleep   Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep      [Mos Def and crew]   So much on my mind I just can't recline   Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine   Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine   Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline   Yo how the bass ride out like an ancient mating call   I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathing   Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening   Kiss the Ide's goodbye, I'm on the last train leaving