The Roots

Released: August 29, 2006

Featuring: Truck North

Songwriter: Black Thought Khari Mateen Dice Raw Truck North

Producer: Khari Mateen

[Verse 1: Truck North]
Yeah, through the sirens, the lights is blinding
Battle cries sound off, warriors dying
Last call at the bar for snakes and tyrants
Hands up, that's a massacre the cops kept firing
Run amok, keep y'all eternally crying
Fed up, place red stains on global giants
The brain of an Orson Welles
Stuck in a masterpiece, Citizen Kane's personal hell
It's done, and it's hot where them hustlers dwell
And the air bears the stench of a corpse's smell
Homie down on his luck one foot in the jail
And he down to his last with a quarter to sell
This right here, world premiere of the last days
The final paragraphs to the book's last page
You could feel it coming, no running away
Let's get free or let's get paid
Same shit different day
The cornerstone to where I lay
It's shattered glass and crack bags where they play
And scattered ass is passed in ridiculous ways
These cats Chef like they Isaac Hayes
Parallel to the grave
Stuck in the game with no rules
And we screaming for some water and some edible food
Man I'm right there, rabbit ears, nothing to lose
This is what you ain't learning in school
I'm trying to tell you it's hard

[Hook]
A loaf of bread, milk and eggs, stick of butter man
Somebody's mother lies dead in the gutter
Sheriff down by them heads, talking that Gullah
Tell the kids don't look under those covers, man [x2]

[Verse 2: Black Thought]
Check it out
A child is born, his mother is gone
He in the middle of it literally, tussling strong
For his life, the tide high in the eye of the storm
A mannish boy arrive and the riot is on
With no spare time to try to respond
Or prepare times, it's hard not becoming a headline
Or praying in the night when it's bedtime
Or laying your head down
Cuz you already know what it is now
You know a lot of leaders ain't honest
And they can't keep a promise
And I hate to speak about it but it's all freakanomics
Cramped and proud of it, you amped and you rowdy
Treading water trying to lift up your head without drowning
This type of shit can make your heart stop pounding
But you pushing for the top, too scared to stop
Now it gets deep, bodies are floating around in the streets
Lot of people who won't even be around in a week
Man, get the operation gone, what y'all waiting on?
We been patient, y'all mo'fuckas taking long
The television getting all the information wrong
Doing how they do it getting they mis-education on
They already late
Somebody been was 'posed to regulate
Instead of wait before they let the levee break
You try running from the truth but it's giving chase
I got to ask myself,yo, is any nigga safe?

[Hook]

The world’s premiere hip-hop band, The Roots were formed in Philadelphia in 1987 by MC Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and drummer and bandleader Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Since those early days, the band has weathered changes in personnel and record labels while performing hundreds of shows a year and releasing a string of well-regarded (if not always top-selling) albums.

While the musicianship of Thompson and the other band members, as well as their seemingly limitless repertoire, gets most of the attention, real hip-hop fans know that the rapping skills of Black Thought (along with former group member Malik B.) are the group’s hidden weapon. Thought, one of the few MCs brave enough to go toe to toe with Big Pun, handles any groove the band throws at him with aplomb, style, and flash.

Today, The Roots are seen by millions every night as the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a move that has given the group the chance to indulge its not-insignificant comic side.

more tracks from the album

Game Theory

From the album

Game Theory (2006)

The Roots popular songs

Bread and ButterThe Roots

The Roots

Game Theory