the remedy
Common featuring q-tip

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