Released: September 28, 2004

Featuring: Yasiin Bey

Songwriter: Charlemagne Talib Kweli Yasiin Bey

Producer: Charlemagne

[Hook: Talib Kweli & Yasiin Bey]

Ghetto people it's time to ride (Supreme, Supreme)
Baby get involved, go side to side (Supreme, Supreme)

Side to side...

[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]

'Bout to slap box with the beat
The shit I spit, it's a snapshot of the street
You can see the crack spot in the backdrop
The heat in the stash spot of the black drop
You wonder why there's more crime
Free food, or a check the only time niggas on line
Getting information from the nigga-net
The trickle-down theory guess it ain't reached niggas yet
I make a bigger bet
Kweli 'bout to be a bigger threat
'Cuz there's hardly any real niggas left
What the fuck these niggas talking 'bout
Living the movie but the audience is walking out
I fight the temptation to rip the heart from your chest
'Til there's only five hard beats left
It's like a dead man walking
I turn on the radio and I hear dead men talking

[Hook 2X]

[Verse 2: Yasiin Bey]
Yo'
I got my headphones up like I'm listening close
Face blank with expression, it isn't a joke
Start fire, sit back and spit at the smoke
To get it provoked, blow it back to get in your throat
Math problem, Take all the niggas you know
Add that number up with every nigga you don't
Final number, sum total of the niggas that won't
Break me down, shake me up or fade my style
What time it is?, cool you can hate me now
And ten minutes from then, you gon' love me again
Bucktown republic again
Writing on the wall trouble again
Intensify struggle and such
Killers, Sade love is deluxe
Sound garnered, for the wild hearted
Downtrodden, up-starters
Young violent, uprising
Cocaine, and gunpowder
Up north, or bus crowded
Daily rides to thug mountain
Cold caves and peaks are high
Danger present but unclear, and know how to hide
If you wonder why you got so much on your mind
'Cuz your living in a troubling time, this is a puzzling time
Fall back without recovering time, and time's up
Brooklyn, put your dimes up

[Hook 2X]

[Verse 3]

[Yasiin Bey]
I put feeling inside of my rap
Hold it down for my side of the map
No matter what north, south east or west side that I'm at
Bend the needle on the monitors back

[Talib Kweli]
Got a problem with that?
The holler back if the stars is black
We the New Era, you just a Starter cap
Find out what happens when the artist attack
Be sharp as a tack, fall back you smarter than that

[Yasiin Bey]
Or perhaps you just ain't as smart as you think
Figure 8'n on the thin ice part of the rink
You're a vessel that's promised to sink
Terra firma ain't as hard as you think
Stare down, and you starting to blink

[Talib Kweli]
Like 182 this for fellas and the ladies who
Don't need to be spoon fed like baby food
I take a bite out the track like a Sabre-tooth
And spit out the truth
'Til the cops come and spray the booth

[Hook 2X]

[Outro 4X: Talib Kweli & Yasiin Bey]
It's all right with you, it's all right with me
Do the damn thing, what you wanna be (Supreme, Supreme)
That's right, that's right that's right that's right
That's right, that's right that's right that's right (Supreme, Supreme)

Talib Kweli

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.