It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

Talib Kweli- A clever lyricist indeed...

page: 1
0

log in

join
share:

posted on Dec, 1 2002 @ 07:03 PM
link   
Proving that Hip-Hop isn't just brainless dicks with platinum teeth...

A drunken police officer mows down an entire family in Brooklyn
The judge lets him go with no bail
It reminds us, of just how worthless our lives are to the justice system
I struggle, to explain the situation to my son, it's hard

[Verse Two]
Niggaz with knowledge is more dangerous than than niggaz with guns
They make the guns easy to get and try to keep niggaz dumb
Target the gangs and graffiti with the Prop 21
I already know the deal but what the # do I tell my son?
I want him livin right, livin good, respect the rules
He's five years old and he still thinkin cops is cool
How do I break the news that when he gets some size
He'll be percieved as a threat or see the fear in they eyes
It's in they job description to terminate the threat
So 41 shots to the body is what he can expect
The precedent is set, don't matter if he follow the law
I know I'll give my son pride and make him swallow it all (damn!)
# the pigs! I think the pigs killed Big and 'Pac too
If they didn't they know who did, they got to!
Who they serve and protect, nigga not you
Cops shot off of ten G's but they got glocks too
Let you protect yourself, or better yet respect yourself
Straight into the hospital is where you gotta check yourself
They be gettin tips from snitches and rival crews
Doin them favors so they workin for the drug dealers too
Just business enforcers with hate in they holsters
Shoot you in the back, won't face you like a soldier
Kurt Loder asked me what I say to a dead cop's wife
Cops kill my people everyday, that's life

Which I am sure from his perspective is very true. What do u think, and would you like me to post up some more lyrics of equal quality?

[Edited on 2-12-2002 by Fantastic_Damage]



posted on Dec, 1 2002 @ 07:10 PM
link   
I think he WAS on track with the Niggaz with knowledge is more dangerous than Niggaz with gunz. But he kinda ruins it when he gets all mad at past obsenities done by cops.

In South Africa they have this "Truth" program or whatever, where both sides tell their stories of the hate they did and are forgiven, that is it. No anger nothing. A white guy there can come out and tell about how he shot dead 10 blacks because he was drunk, and never was even arrested for it, and that's it, no punishment, just redemption.

I think this guy is on that path, but he kinda loses that path towards the end, it feels like he's asking for reprimands, or shouting out the crimes the others did. Rather than asking for redemption, and asking for the other party to redeem themselves kind of thing.

Sincerely,
no signature



posted on Dec, 1 2002 @ 07:32 PM
link   
not all the rappers are like that listen to gza or even public enemy!



posted on Dec, 1 2002 @ 07:40 PM
link   
Ive got Hip hop running out of my eyeballs. I know not all rappers are like that, I just wish others would open their minds to the fact.



posted on Dec, 1 2002 @ 10:47 PM
link   
Post the lyrics for 'New World Water', by TK and MosDef.Blackstar. Those are though provoking lyrics, or KRS One, Fourth Quarter.



posted on Dec, 2 2002 @ 10:19 AM
link   
Let's stick with these first...



posted on Dec, 2 2002 @ 10:23 AM
link   
is this a taleb kwali lyric?

"Man what's that smell?
Prolly yo uppa lip,
Coz a love to walk aroun' like ma shiat don't stank!"

genius

Yup, not all rappers sing about a load of crap, Talib and 2 Pac's songs have serious messages behind them



posted on Dec, 2 2002 @ 10:27 AM
link   
Shouldn't this be in the People Forum.



posted on Jun, 5 2003 @ 04:03 AM
link   
How 'bout this one...


Artist: Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli)
Album: Lyricist Lounge - Volume One
Song: Manifesto
Typed by: [email protected]

Manifesto, this is what we want to see happen
for my peoples still breakin graf writin and rappin
I rock the mic right and exact my life's my sacrifice
Take my mic and I'm like a Chinese man with no rice
Oh yeah we flippin through the pages of time, to find design
Like Vaseline on the faces of Black Georgia, we shinin
Deeper than petroleum jelly, we in the air like conversations
on celly and just appear like stretch marks on bellies
after givin birth you had to let go, you playin for life
The Manifesto, here comes the beat because I said so keep pushin
I got the cushion for the seat of your soul
Back in the day they stole our smile, so we clothe our teeth in gold
and we frontin, from nigga to kid, to Son of God
It's wild dependin on labels for man woman and child
My style just is, all that's seen and all that's heard
God gave us music so we play with our words
So when Tek be in constant meditation like a monk
while Kweli speaks in tongues to get your intellect drunk
yo we bound to take over the 90% of your brain that you ain't usin
To us it's life or death we keep you chosin

Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone
Ain't no rest for the weary yo forever it's on
The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order
Movin upon the face of the water, like Reflections

Aiyyo all the real MC's can meet me outside
So we can decide how we gonna change the tide
like the moon we on the Earth takin a ride around the Sun
Now Son we only just begun, and the journey's far from done
We all miss you, what your brain gone fishin like Walter Mosley?
There's an MC that can hold me, supposedly?
No one could come close to me, only, the family really know me
Hip-Hop's last hope like Obi Wan Kenobi
Through your tunnel vision I'm shinin light like a train
Comin out like earthworms when it rains, bringin it
like the C.I.A. be bringin in crack coc aine bailin out of planes
with the George Bush connections, I push Reflection
like I'm sellin izm, like a dealer buildin the system
Supply and the demand it's all capitalism
Niggaz don't sell crack cause they like to see blacks smoke
Niggaz sell crack cause they broke, my battle lyrics
get concious minds provoked and ghetto passes revoked
cause we surrounded by the evil, you know that the people's minds
is feeble they believe in it, even if it don't make sense
This makin dollars #, don't take a scholar to
see what's goin on around you, either you widdit or you ain't
is what it comes down to, have you forgotten?
We pickin 100% designer name brand cotton
They still plottin, my Third Eye is steady watchin

Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone
Ain't no rest for the weary yo forever it's on
The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order
Movin upon the face of the water, like Reflections

(Yeah see that's what I'm talkin about, it be the slaughter man
We need to break it down because these heads
they don't know what they talkin about
Frontin all this nonsense, yo break it down)

From open mics to solutions I got a collage of answers
and a ten point program, just like the Black Panthers
One: First respect yourself as an artist
If you don't respect yourself then your rhymes is garbage
Two: Make sure your crew is as tight as you
cause when them niggaz fallin off they gonna bring you down too
Three: Understand the meaning of MC
The power to Move the Crowd like Moses split the seas
Four: Know your # and don't ever be blunted
If you don't know what your words mean then your rhymes mean nothin
Five: Kick facts in the raps, and curse with clarity
What's a curse when language is immersed in vulgarity
Six: We gonna fix industrial poli-tricks
# they made an artform out of ridin dicks
Seven: We soldiers for God needin new recruits
So if you rhymin for the loot then youse a prostitute
but Eight: Acknowledge that you need food on your plate
In order to say your grace make sure your business is straight
Nine: We buildin black minds with intelligence
and when you freestyle, keep the subject matter relevant
Ten: Every MC grab a pen
and write some concious lyrics to tell the children
I'll say it again, every MC find you a pen
And drop some concious # for our children
The Manifesto!



posted on Jun, 5 2003 @ 04:20 AM
link   
Wow I'm lvl 15 there, add up my other levels I'd probably be lvl 17


Well that last one is better Buddha.

Now if only they'd speak Queen's English or more like the Duke in "Kate and Leopold" they wouldn't seem so ignorant and thus less respected.

Whoever speaks and acts like Leopold or Shakespeare or someone of such character, can not be disrespected by anyone. Their mere words causing those of lesser degree to tremble and bow.

[Edited on 5-6-2003 by TheWanderer]



posted on Jun, 5 2003 @ 10:16 PM
link   
Artist: Mos Def
Album: Black on Both Sides
Song: New World Water
Typed by: [email protected]

[Mos Def]
There's nothing more refreshing (that cool refreshing drink)
Than a cool, crisp, clean glass of water
On a warm summer's day (That cool refreshing drink)
Try it with your friends

New World Water make the tide rise high
Come inland and make your house go "Bye" (My house!)
Fools done upset the Old Man River
Made him carry slave ships and fed him dead nigga
Now his belly full and he about to flood somethin
So I'ma throw a rope that ain't tied to nothin
Tell your crew use the H2 in wise amounts since
it's the New World Water; and every drop counts
You can laugh and take it as a joke if you wanna
But it don't rain for four weeks some summers
And it's about to get real wild in the half
You be buying Evian just to take a #in bath
Heads is acting wild, sippin poor, puffin dank
Competin with the next man for higher playin rank
See I ain't got time try to be Big Hank,
# a bank; I need a twenty-year water tank
Cause while these knuckleheads is out here sweatin they goods
The sun is sitting in the treetops burnin the woods
And as the flames from the blaze get higher and higher
They say, "Don't drink the water! We need it for the fire!"

New York is drinkin it (New World Water)
Now all of California is drinkin it (New World Water)
Way up north and down south is drinkin it (New World Water)
Used to have minerals and zinc in it (New World Water)
Now they say it got lead and stink in it (New World Water)

Fluorocarbons and monoxide
Push the water table lopside
Used to be free now it cost you a fee
Cause oil tankers spill they load as they roam cross the sea
Man, you gotta cook with it, bathe and clean with it (That's right)
When it's hot, summertime you fiend for it (Let em know)
You gotta put it in the iron you steamin with (That's right)
It's what they dress wounds and treat diseases with (Shout it out)
The rich and poor, black and white got need for it (That's right)
And everybody in the world can agree with this (Let em know)
Consumption promotes health and easiness (That's right)
Go too long without it on this earth and you leavin it (Shout it out)
Americans wastin it on some leisure # (Say word?)
And other nations be desperately seekin it (Let em know)
Bacteria washing up on they beaches (Say word?)
Don't drink the water, son they can't wash they feet with it (Let em know)
Young babies in perpetual neediness (Say word?)
Epidemics hopppin up off the petri dish (Let em know)
Control centers try to play it all secretive (Say word?)
To avoid public panic and freakiness (Let em know)
There are places where TB is common as TV
Cause foreign-based companies go and get greedy
The type of cats who pollute the whole shore line
Have it purified, sell it for a dollar twenty-five
Now the world is drinkin it
Your moms, wife, and baby girl is drinkin it
Up north and down south is drinkin it
You should just have to go to your sink for it
The cash registers is goin "cha-chink!" for it
Fluorocarbons and monoxide
Got the fish lookin cockeyed
Used to be free now it cost you a fee
Cause it's all about gettin that cash (Money)

Said it's all about gettin that cash (Money) (x9)
Johny cash (Money)
Roseland cash (Money)
Give me cash (Money)
Cold cash (Money)
(Repeat to fade)

Cash rules everything around me,
Move!


Holy scriptures right here...whoa, i love hiphop.



posted on Jun, 6 2003 @ 08:05 AM
link   
I like that one too. It's produced by the Beatnuts.


ONE



posted on Jun, 6 2003 @ 08:29 AM
link   
Someone stole my kweli CD! waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh...


*Mourns the loss of good music*

Now all I have to listen to is 2001.

XAOS



posted on Jun, 6 2003 @ 09:13 AM
link   
xaos

Did you lose "Kwelity", or is it "Quality"? That sucks. I'm going to borrow it from my sister; haven't listened to it yet.


ONE



posted on Jun, 6 2003 @ 10:59 AM
link   
It's "Quality" and as Xzibit says on the second track "Its quality material"
Great CD. I'm gonna hunt down the theif though, just watch.
Listen to it immediately.

XAOS



posted on Jun, 6 2003 @ 11:04 AM
link   
What a coincidence. I'm listening to Quality right now..



new topics

top topics



 
0

log in

join