Released: February 11, 1997
Featuring: John Forté A Tribe Called Quest Busta Rhymes
Songwriter: Lauryn Hill Wyclef Jean Q-Tip Phife Dawg Busta Rhymes John Forté Pras
Producer: Wyclef Jean Lauryn Hill
[Intro: Muhammad Ali]
I done something new for this fight
I murdered a rock, injured a stone
Hospitalized a brick
I'm so mean I make medicine sick
[Verse 1: Wyclef Jean]
(Come on)
Root to the fruit
More bass than Bootsy Collins
You versus me
Thats like Ali verses Foreman (a-ha)
God's act, stand back and watch
Devil's time out
Can't be timed with no swatch watch
Who I am, the black Abraham
Zunga zunga zang, yellow man, Vietnam
Add an extra bar as I spar with literature
Taking kingdoms from tsars
Winning more wars than the Moors
[Verse 2: John Forté]
Now what's the deal star?
I seen the Devil spar with Allah
Mathematics was the key to set my whole race free
You might debate we, a refugee
No harm hurt me
Dying, thirsty from the struggle
To my own hustle bubble
On the low, woe is me
To show the Free Bob right
The righteous Asiatic thinker
While Satan rob light
Civilized like the Mali
Burgundy, wildy rocking
Seen the fifth when Ali clocked him
John Forte he'll keep you locked in
[Verse 3: Q-Tip]
People all around
You got to recognize and witness
The Mister who swift enough to knock you out with Mic fitness
Hands blistered from holding the mics tight
Some say it's fight night
Well throw the R after the F cause I'ma take away your breath
The bell rings and now it's just a daily operation
Yo, you soft like lubrication
You can see this occupation (The winner)
And you know we hail from Q-Borough
L-Boogs and Clef the trainers, Prazwell promotes the thorough
[Verse 4: Lauryn Hill]
We used to bite the bullets with the pig-skin casing
Now we perfect slang like a gang of street masons (uh)
Scribe checks, make connects
True pyramid architects (yeah)
Replace the last name with the X (X)
The man's got a God complex
But take the text, change the picture
Watch Muhammad play the messenger like Holy Muslim scriptures
Take orders from only God
Only war when it's Jihad
See Ali appears in Zaire to reconnect 400 years
So we the people, dark but equal, give love to such things
To the man who made the fam' remember when we were kings
[Hook: Lauryn Hill]
Blocks on fire (Block's on fire tonight)
Fiends getting higher (uh-huh)
Robbing blue collar
(Hey yo we rob them blue collars)
Killing for a dollar (Stick 'em up)
See youths get tired (Ali ah yeah)
Dealing with them liars (Ali ah yeah)
(We're dealing with too many liars)
From Brooklyn to Zaire (uh-huh ah yeah)
We need a ghetto Messiah (ah yeah come on)
[Chorus: Lauryn Hill]
Send me an angel in the morning, baby
Send me an angel in the morning, darling
Send me Muhammad in the morning, baby
Send me an angel in the morning, darling
[Verse 5: Phife Dawg]
Once the pen hits the pad it's danger
To this I be no stranger
Step inside the ring and I'll derange ya' (Come on)
I'm hearing no comments, everyone looks despondent
Dejected, rejected similar to Liston Catching licks
Beat it, Sonny
My man is still the greatest in this
To hell with Frazier, yapping' about that negative shit
Now listen, you can try and escape if you want to
But ask yourself, who the hell you gonna' run to?
Like Sade Adu, you got a punch that I can sleep to
Fugees, Tribe, Busta Rhymes forever coming through
[Verse 6: Pras]
We sing Amazing Grace over two dollar plates
One roll, snake eyes like Jake The Snake
Many lies put up for stakes, wash our sins at the Great Lakes
You and I cannot see eye to eye, so therefore we can't relate
I'm here, when I make myself crystal clear
You fled to Cape Fear when I laced you up in Zaire
Tussle with a lasso in the Royal Rumble
Separate boys from men in the concrete jungle
[Verse 7: Busta Rhymes]
I remember when Cassius Clay flipped the script
Taking trips to Zimbabwe
Africans started calling the God, Ali Bumbaye (so bwoy)
So bright, it be the God stricken
God nutrition, lightly stricken (ha)
Blows that feel like you was poison bitten
Ha, yo, I'm 'bout to blister you and your sister
Predicting every ass whipping before my fights my nigga
This be your last warning once you walk right past the doorman
Ali and Foreman gonna' lock ass until the morning
Marvel finances provided by Joseph Mobutu
Special guests of honour like the Archbishop Desmond Tutu
We watched the Rumble In The Jungle
To see who be the targeted uncle, to be the first to fall and fumble
'Nuff blows they getting thrown, like solid milestones
Internally shaking up niggas, imbalance your chromosones
With the force of a thousand warriors
When I bust your ass, identify me as the lord victorious
[Hook: Lauryn Hill]
Blocks on fire (You're a star)
(Blocks on fire)
Dudes getting higher (You're a star)
Robbing blue collar (You're a star)
(Yeah rob them blue collars)
Killing for a dollar (You're a star)
See people get tired (You're a star)
(Youths getting tired)
Of dealing with them liars (You're a star)
(We're dealing with too many liars)
From Brooklyn to Zaire (You're a star)
We need a ghetto Messiah
I done something new for this fight
I murdered a rock, injured a stone
Hospitalized a brick
I'm so mean I make medicine sick
[Verse 1: Wyclef Jean]
(Come on)
Root to the fruit
More bass than Bootsy Collins
You versus me
Thats like Ali verses Foreman (a-ha)
God's act, stand back and watch
Devil's time out
Can't be timed with no swatch watch
Who I am, the black Abraham
Zunga zunga zang, yellow man, Vietnam
Add an extra bar as I spar with literature
Taking kingdoms from tsars
Winning more wars than the Moors
[Verse 2: John Forté]
Now what's the deal star?
I seen the Devil spar with Allah
Mathematics was the key to set my whole race free
You might debate we, a refugee
No harm hurt me
Dying, thirsty from the struggle
To my own hustle bubble
On the low, woe is me
To show the Free Bob right
The righteous Asiatic thinker
While Satan rob light
Civilized like the Mali
Burgundy, wildy rocking
Seen the fifth when Ali clocked him
John Forte he'll keep you locked in
[Verse 3: Q-Tip]
People all around
You got to recognize and witness
The Mister who swift enough to knock you out with Mic fitness
Hands blistered from holding the mics tight
Some say it's fight night
Well throw the R after the F cause I'ma take away your breath
The bell rings and now it's just a daily operation
Yo, you soft like lubrication
You can see this occupation (The winner)
And you know we hail from Q-Borough
L-Boogs and Clef the trainers, Prazwell promotes the thorough
[Verse 4: Lauryn Hill]
We used to bite the bullets with the pig-skin casing
Now we perfect slang like a gang of street masons (uh)
Scribe checks, make connects
True pyramid architects (yeah)
Replace the last name with the X (X)
The man's got a God complex
But take the text, change the picture
Watch Muhammad play the messenger like Holy Muslim scriptures
Take orders from only God
Only war when it's Jihad
See Ali appears in Zaire to reconnect 400 years
So we the people, dark but equal, give love to such things
To the man who made the fam' remember when we were kings
[Hook: Lauryn Hill]
Blocks on fire (Block's on fire tonight)
Fiends getting higher (uh-huh)
Robbing blue collar
(Hey yo we rob them blue collars)
Killing for a dollar (Stick 'em up)
See youths get tired (Ali ah yeah)
Dealing with them liars (Ali ah yeah)
(We're dealing with too many liars)
From Brooklyn to Zaire (uh-huh ah yeah)
We need a ghetto Messiah (ah yeah come on)
[Chorus: Lauryn Hill]
Send me an angel in the morning, baby
Send me an angel in the morning, darling
Send me Muhammad in the morning, baby
Send me an angel in the morning, darling
[Verse 5: Phife Dawg]
Once the pen hits the pad it's danger
To this I be no stranger
Step inside the ring and I'll derange ya' (Come on)
I'm hearing no comments, everyone looks despondent
Dejected, rejected similar to Liston Catching licks
Beat it, Sonny
My man is still the greatest in this
To hell with Frazier, yapping' about that negative shit
Now listen, you can try and escape if you want to
But ask yourself, who the hell you gonna' run to?
Like Sade Adu, you got a punch that I can sleep to
Fugees, Tribe, Busta Rhymes forever coming through
[Verse 6: Pras]
We sing Amazing Grace over two dollar plates
One roll, snake eyes like Jake The Snake
Many lies put up for stakes, wash our sins at the Great Lakes
You and I cannot see eye to eye, so therefore we can't relate
I'm here, when I make myself crystal clear
You fled to Cape Fear when I laced you up in Zaire
Tussle with a lasso in the Royal Rumble
Separate boys from men in the concrete jungle
[Verse 7: Busta Rhymes]
I remember when Cassius Clay flipped the script
Taking trips to Zimbabwe
Africans started calling the God, Ali Bumbaye (so bwoy)
So bright, it be the God stricken
God nutrition, lightly stricken (ha)
Blows that feel like you was poison bitten
Ha, yo, I'm 'bout to blister you and your sister
Predicting every ass whipping before my fights my nigga
This be your last warning once you walk right past the doorman
Ali and Foreman gonna' lock ass until the morning
Marvel finances provided by Joseph Mobutu
Special guests of honour like the Archbishop Desmond Tutu
We watched the Rumble In The Jungle
To see who be the targeted uncle, to be the first to fall and fumble
'Nuff blows they getting thrown, like solid milestones
Internally shaking up niggas, imbalance your chromosones
With the force of a thousand warriors
When I bust your ass, identify me as the lord victorious
[Hook: Lauryn Hill]
Blocks on fire (You're a star)
(Blocks on fire)
Dudes getting higher (You're a star)
Robbing blue collar (You're a star)
(Yeah rob them blue collars)
Killing for a dollar (You're a star)
See people get tired (You're a star)
(Youths getting tired)
Of dealing with them liars (You're a star)
(We're dealing with too many liars)
From Brooklyn to Zaire (You're a star)
We need a ghetto Messiah
- When We Were Kings Soundtrack (1997)
- The Lost Tribes (2006)
- Killing Me Softly With His Song
- Ready or Not
- Fu-Gee-La
- How Many Mics
- Zealots
- Family Business
- The Beast
- The Score
- Nappy Heads (Remix)
- The Mask
- Cowboys
- Rumble In The Jungle
- No Woman, No Cry
- Manifest/Outro
- Vocab (Refugee Hip-Hop Remix)
- Fu-Gee-La (Sly & Robbie Mix)
- Fu-Gee-La (Refugee Camp Remix)
- Fu-Gee-La (Refugee Camp Global Mix)
- Mista Mista
- Nappy Heads
- Ready or Not (Salaam’s Ready for the Show Remix)
- A Change Is Gonna Come (UK Bonus Track)
- Da Kid From Haiti Interlude
- Vocab