The Roots

Released: July 13, 2004

Featuring: Son Little

Songwriter: Son Little Black Thought ?uestlove Kamal Gray Leonard “Hub” Hubbard Frank “Knuckles” Walker Anthony Tidd Captain Kirk Douglas

Producer: Frank “Knuckles” Walker Richard Nichols Anthony Tidd ?uestlove

[Intro]
So what are you going to do when the guns are drawn?

[Verse 1]
Yeah it would be cool it could be too
Stop running round in circles off of what we fuel
Living a lie eventually believing it's true
A lot of people here are frauds one could be you
It's outrageous and they just ain't nothing
But save us an ocean of brown fists in various flavors
A favor for a favor man, this is the majors
Tell me what you would do with no phone or pagers
No Kinko's, no Fed Ex and no ATM's
What you gone do when the police state begins
Well it already began but I guess it depends on
What's really going on, what's happening, huh
Military target practicing
They finna write another Patriot Act again
The days is short the nights is long
The fight goes on
The pistol and the pipes are drawn

[Hook]
The middle of the night we fight like Barbarians in sight of the former might
You might think that it's a waste
Of our time
And I think you would be right
Till he drop that rhyme
The middle of the night we fight like Barbarians in sight of the former might
You might think that it's a waste
Of our time
And I think you would be right
Till he drop that rhyme

[Verse 2]
And some might say that it's a waste of time
Cause ain't no amount of dancing finna break the bondage
We go to war and transcend space and time
When every record ain't a record just to shake behinds
You know the stakes is high we in the face of drama
That's why we can't shake it or escape the problem
Its like a game of roulette the barrel revolving
They only wanna see us occupying a coffin
Mothers crying too often from they lost child leaving
From trying to get over, get under, get even
Get inside getting, getting dumped, getting greedy
We got to get it right
It ain't about to be easy
You better pull you goggles up, it's about to get greasy
Believe it's on as long as we can still speak freely
The pages of my life would make it hard to read me
I know my people hearing me, holler if y'all need me

[Hook]
The middle of the night we fight like Barbarians in sight of the former might
You might think that it's a waste
Of our time
And I think you would be right
Till he drop that rhyme
The middle of the night we fight like Barbarians in sight of the former might
You might think that it's a waste
Of our time
And I think you would be right
Till he drop that rhyme

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.

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