Released: April 28, 2008

Featuring: Dice Raw Yasiin Bey Styles P

Songwriter: Mark Farner ?uestlove Dice Raw Black Thought Yasiin Bey Styles P

Producer: ?uestlove

[Intro: Dice Raw]
Hello hello hello hello
Hello hello hello hello
Hello hello hello hello
Hello hello hello hello
Hello hello hello hello

[Verse 1: Yasiin Bey]
Every anywhere: heights, plains, peaks or valleys
Entrances, exits, vestibules and alleys
Winding roads that test the firm nerve
Fortune or fatal behind the blind curve
The engine oil purr, lights flash to a blur
Speed work through the Earth, make your motor go "Skrt!"
Tonight at noon, watch a bad moon rising
Identities in crisis and conflict diamonds
Blinding, staring at lights 'til they cryin'
Bone gristle poppin' from continuous grindin'
Grapes of wrath in a shapely glass
Ingredients influential on your ways and acts
Zero tolerance to raise the tax
It don't matter how your gates is latched
You ain't safe from the danger, jack
Made it way before they made the map
Or a G-P-S, this is D-E-F, leader!

[Chorus: Dice Raw]
I know where I'm goin' even when it's dark
And being led down that road (Hello hello hello hello)
You don't see that something's wrong
Earth's spinnin' outta control (Hello hello hello hello)
Everything's for sale, even souls
Someone get God on the phone (Hello hello hello hello)
Northside, nigga, Southside (Hello hello hello hello)
Shit's poppin' off worldwide (Hello hello hello hello)

[Verse 2: Black Thought]
Between the greenhouse gases, and earth spinning off its axis
Got Mother Nature doin' backflips
The natural disasters; it's like 80 degrees in Alaska
You in trouble if you not an Onassis
It ain't hard to tell that the conditions is drastic
Just turn on the telly, check for the news flashin'
How you want it bagged: paper or plastic?
Lost in translation or just lost in traffic?
Yo, I don't wanna floss; I done lost my passion
And I ain't trying to climb; yo, I lost my traction
They makin' me break, my contents under pressure, do not shake
I'm workin' while the boss relaxin'
Here come Mr. Taxman, he leavin' a fraction, give me back some
Matter-fact, next paycheck, it's like that, son
I'll fuck around and have to hurt a few men
They probably chalk it up as a disturbing new trend—Hello!

[Chorus: Dice Raw]
I know where I'm goin' even when it's dark
And being led down that road (Hello hello hello hello)
You don't see that something's wrong
Earth's spinnin' outta control (Hello hello hello hello)
Everything's for sale, even souls
Someone get God on the phone (Hello hello hello hello)
Northside, nigga, Southside (Hello hello hello hello)
Shit's poppin' off worldwide (Hello hello hello hello)

[Verse 3: Styles P]
Should I say hello? Or should I say that Hell is low?
Am I a nigga or a Neg-r-o? (Tell me)
I'm an African American (Yeah)
They sell drugs in the hood
But the man, he move the medicine (He move the medicine)
He'll prescribe you Augmentin for everything (Everything)
A little stuffy nose, tell you, get some Claritin (Haha)
You know I'm hip to it
And it's hard to claim the land when my great-great-great-grands were shipped to it
Look at technology: they call it downloading (Pshh)
I call it downsizing; somebody follow me (Follow me)
Does a computer chip have an astrology? (Does it?)
And when it fuck up, could it give you an apology? (Could it?)
Should I say hello? Or should I say goodbye? (Goodbye)
Try to understand how smart and how hood am I
It don't matter though
Until we learn that the world don't turn right
We all oughta scatter, though

[Chorus: Dice Raw]
I know where I'm goin’ even when it's dark
And being led down that road (Hello hello hello hello)
You don't see that something’s wrong
Earth's spinnin’ outta control (Hello hello hello hello)
Everything's for sale, even souls
Someone get God on the phone
(Hello hello hello hello)
(Hello hello hello hello)

The Roots

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.