Released: June 4, 2002
Featuring: Talib Kweli
Songwriter: Héctor Lavoe Supa Dave West Talib Kweli Meshell Ndegéocello
Producer: Supa Dave West Allen Cato Meshell Ndegéocello
[Angela Davis Sample]
"I was a member of the Communist Party. I'm not a member of the Communist Party, anymore - but I still consider myself very much a socialist. So we'll get to that later."
[Talib Kweli]
Let's go
[Angela Davis Sample]
"One of the reasons why the war in Vietnam was able to happen as long as it did - was because this - of this fear of communism. And people pointed to the Vietnamese as their enemy. As if somehow or another, if the country defeated the communist enemy in Vietnam, things were gonna be okay at home."
[Chorus: Meshell Ndegeocello]
But it's a hot night
Let's talk about the sign o' the times
Politics
And the fight of a revolutionary soul singer
It's a hot night
Head down to the club
For the piña coladas
Without the alcohol
And let's talk about the world, y'all
[Verse 1: Meshell Ndegeocello]
Can you pick me up?
You know I hate driving in the evil city
And baby, read my mind, hit La Caridad
So I can get some coffee
And we can get our talk on
Seems I got caught up in this romanticized idea of revolution
With saviors, prophets, and heroes
But in the silence of my prayers
I had a vision of my hatred dissolving to grains of sand
Realized that to the universe that's all I really am
Just a grain of sand
I don't want to get caught up in all that spiritual shit
But it ain't much to hold onto
We all living in a world built upon
Rape, starvation, greed, need, fascist regimes
White man/rich man democracy
Uh
Suffer in the world trade paradise
Hit me now, come on
[Chorus: Meshell Ndegeocello]
But it's a hot night
Let's talk about the sign o' the times
Politics
And the fight of a revolutionary soul singer
It's a hot night
Head down to the club
For the piña coladas
Without the alcohol
And let's talk about the world, y'all
[Verse 2: Meshell Ndegeocello, Talib Kweli]
Let me be the first to say this
Fuck the first b***h ever ask me to buy her some dumb shit
N****s be fightin' for Jordans they can't afford
Bought in a store, costing more than a hun-dred, yeah
Capitalism got 'em trapped in a vision
That tell lies they watch way more than a sunset, uh
I feed my babies with music, I tell the truth
But now I'm a target in they market, ain't that a sumummabitch
It's a urgent emergency courtesy of the counterinsurgency
Tryna murder me, yeah, and now it's on, and uh
It's cause I verbally hurdle all they absurdities
Accurate rhyme poem and I survive the storm, and uh
Certainly words can be weapons, if people heard me
They thinkin' they God and they decide what's right or wrong
They live in a bubble, I live for the struggle
After the fight, we home on a hot night
My woman, it's nice and warm, but uh
[Chorus: Meshell Ndegeocello]
But it's a hot night
Let's talk about the sign o' the times
Politics
And the fight of a revolutionary soul singer
It's a hot night
Head down to the club
For the piña coladas
Without the alcohol
And let's talk about the world, y'all
[Talib Kweli]
Let's do it, come on
[Bridge: Talib Kweli, Meshell Ndegeocello]
Join the party, fists in the air, everybody for the
Revolutionary soul singer
Side to side, third eye on the prize, we take a ride with the
Revolutionary soul singer
Give the seeds what they need to breathe and proceed, it's the
Revolutionary soul singer
Word up, yeah, y'all, we prepared, y'all, no fear, y'all
Come on
It's a shame the way we all run around
It's a shame the way we all run around
Cause you're blind baby! Blind to the facts!
It's a shame the way we all run around
Cause you're blind baby!
It's a shame the way we all run around
I said you're blind baby!
Blind to the facts of who you are!
[Chorus: Meshell Ndegeocello]
But it's a hot night
Let's talk about the sign o' the times
Politics
And the fight of a revolutionary soul singer
It's a hot night
Head down to the club
For the piña coladas
Without the alcohol
And let's talk about the world, y'all
[Talib Kweli]
Let's do it
[Angela Davis Sample]
"And now of course, that the welfare system has been disestablished - and there are no jobs, so to speak - for the women who are told, that if they don't work... they can only get welfare for a certain period of time and then they have to find a job. Now they haven't had the opportunity to go to an institution like this. They may not have the skills. Where are they going to find a job? And if they have children, how are they going to pay for childcare, in order to guarantee the conditions which will allow them to work?"
"I was a member of the Communist Party. I'm not a member of the Communist Party, anymore - but I still consider myself very much a socialist. So we'll get to that later."
[Talib Kweli]
Let's go
[Angela Davis Sample]
"One of the reasons why the war in Vietnam was able to happen as long as it did - was because this - of this fear of communism. And people pointed to the Vietnamese as their enemy. As if somehow or another, if the country defeated the communist enemy in Vietnam, things were gonna be okay at home."
[Chorus: Meshell Ndegeocello]
But it's a hot night
Let's talk about the sign o' the times
Politics
And the fight of a revolutionary soul singer
It's a hot night
Head down to the club
For the piña coladas
Without the alcohol
And let's talk about the world, y'all
[Verse 1: Meshell Ndegeocello]
Can you pick me up?
You know I hate driving in the evil city
And baby, read my mind, hit La Caridad
So I can get some coffee
And we can get our talk on
Seems I got caught up in this romanticized idea of revolution
With saviors, prophets, and heroes
But in the silence of my prayers
I had a vision of my hatred dissolving to grains of sand
Realized that to the universe that's all I really am
Just a grain of sand
I don't want to get caught up in all that spiritual shit
But it ain't much to hold onto
We all living in a world built upon
Rape, starvation, greed, need, fascist regimes
White man/rich man democracy
Uh
Suffer in the world trade paradise
Hit me now, come on
[Chorus: Meshell Ndegeocello]
But it's a hot night
Let's talk about the sign o' the times
Politics
And the fight of a revolutionary soul singer
It's a hot night
Head down to the club
For the piña coladas
Without the alcohol
And let's talk about the world, y'all
[Verse 2: Meshell Ndegeocello, Talib Kweli]
Let me be the first to say this
Fuck the first b***h ever ask me to buy her some dumb shit
N****s be fightin' for Jordans they can't afford
Bought in a store, costing more than a hun-dred, yeah
Capitalism got 'em trapped in a vision
That tell lies they watch way more than a sunset, uh
I feed my babies with music, I tell the truth
But now I'm a target in they market, ain't that a sumummabitch
It's a urgent emergency courtesy of the counterinsurgency
Tryna murder me, yeah, and now it's on, and uh
It's cause I verbally hurdle all they absurdities
Accurate rhyme poem and I survive the storm, and uh
Certainly words can be weapons, if people heard me
They thinkin' they God and they decide what's right or wrong
They live in a bubble, I live for the struggle
After the fight, we home on a hot night
My woman, it's nice and warm, but uh
[Chorus: Meshell Ndegeocello]
But it's a hot night
Let's talk about the sign o' the times
Politics
And the fight of a revolutionary soul singer
It's a hot night
Head down to the club
For the piña coladas
Without the alcohol
And let's talk about the world, y'all
[Talib Kweli]
Let's do it, come on
[Bridge: Talib Kweli, Meshell Ndegeocello]
Join the party, fists in the air, everybody for the
Revolutionary soul singer
Side to side, third eye on the prize, we take a ride with the
Revolutionary soul singer
Give the seeds what they need to breathe and proceed, it's the
Revolutionary soul singer
Word up, yeah, y'all, we prepared, y'all, no fear, y'all
Come on
It's a shame the way we all run around
It's a shame the way we all run around
Cause you're blind baby! Blind to the facts!
It's a shame the way we all run around
Cause you're blind baby!
It's a shame the way we all run around
I said you're blind baby!
Blind to the facts of who you are!
[Chorus: Meshell Ndegeocello]
But it's a hot night
Let's talk about the sign o' the times
Politics
And the fight of a revolutionary soul singer
It's a hot night
Head down to the club
For the piña coladas
Without the alcohol
And let's talk about the world, y'all
[Talib Kweli]
Let's do it
[Angela Davis Sample]
"And now of course, that the welfare system has been disestablished - and there are no jobs, so to speak - for the women who are told, that if they don't work... they can only get welfare for a certain period of time and then they have to find a job. Now they haven't had the opportunity to go to an institution like this. They may not have the skills. Where are they going to find a job? And if they have children, how are they going to pay for childcare, in order to guarantee the conditions which will allow them to work?"
From the album