Talib Kweli

Released: May 7, 2013

Featuring: Abby Dobson Nelly

Songwriter: Duke Ellington E. Jones Nelly Billy Strayhorn

Producer: E. Jones

[Intro: Talib Kweli]
It's a brand new day
If you passionate about what you do like I'm passionate about this music
This song is for you
It's like I can't breathe
When I wake up in the morning I can't breathe
Until I listen
Feed my family
I affect the world
And y'all along for the ride

[Hook: Abby Dobson]
Like a medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my heart, my music
Like a medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my life, my music

[Verse 1: Nelly]
I'm from a small city, but I have big dreams
Had some good ideas, but I had better schemes
I thought the hustle way for me was etched in stone
Until my partner died and name etched in stone
My daughter's growing up, my son on the way
They closing in on me, it feel like any day
Music saves me, swooped in like the navy
Put a lifetime of scars all in sixteen bars
So I took the vow and made music my life
Yep, I proposed and made music my wife
And if ever need to cut a nigga music's my knife
And if I need to bring the girls together music's my dyke
So if I degrade it and I hate it, even cried through it
I watch brothers prophesize about dying through it
Music gave me knowledge of self, and I'm a knowledge-ous self
Then gave me knowledge of wealth

[Hook]
Like a medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my heart, my music
Like a medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my life, my music

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]
Music a part of me, I'm a bully
Beating up the track with brutal honesty
The truth inside of me, rappers hit the booth and they lie to me
I'm using the inspiration guru provided me
The redefining of space, you can call me the new geometry
A picture of you pop up when I google monotony
Now all the people who rule and spend responsibly
Think your album is trash and it's not the voodoo economy
So you expecting the conscious and introspective views
Eat your lyrical vegetables, let me tell you what’s best for you
My music give you a message true and respect is due
But music is emotion that’s lost on the intellectuals
A tree fall in the forest is never heard
Amongst the sparrows and the robins and even the ghetto birds
You download it for free but what I create is sacred
It cost you nothing but I pay to make it, trust me

[Hook]
Like a medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my heart, my music
Like a medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my life, my music

[Verse 3: Talib Kweli]
I was born on the afterbeat
I'm like Robert Johnson
When you reach the crossroads
Me and the devil have to meet
I saw the same thing as Clef and Lauryn, when they saw it
Lauryn went looking for God and 'Clef kept tourin'
We listen to the same songs but we hear them different
Serenade of death like we got a fear of living
Having a seance on stage cause the spirit risen
Stop the devilish ways with clever displays of lyricism
These songs are a natural resources of actual street stories
Attract the police forces
Slaves to the rhythm the masters they eat off us

If skills sold, Talib Kweli would have been one of the most commercially successful rappers of his time. As it was, however, the earnest MC became one of the most critically successful rappers of his time, which dawned in the late ‘90s when he rapped alongside Yasiin Bey (then known as Mos Def) and DJ Hi-Tek as part of the group Black Star.

Talib is known for his numerous collaborations with other artists like Kanye West, Common, Madlib, Bilal, The Roots, Dead Prez, Q-Tip, John Legend, the list is endless. He has also embraced a whole new generation like Blu, Kendrick Lamar, Curren$y, and Ab-Soul.

Kweli has recently spearheaded a direct-to-fan means of distributing his music via his new site #KweliClub. Check it out to get his latest music including many free downloads.

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