Live Intro Performance | 2020 Roots Picnic Virtual ExperienceBlack Thought

[Intro]
Uh-huh! Two fifteen, twenty-one pound

[Verse]
I said, memory banks too strong to try and jog with
I'd probably fry your omelette on some com shit
Long fire-arms holder what I write a song with
Right or wrong, moving right along
It's a higher form of convo with the gods, I'm in dialogue with
I hear the voice of the announcer signing off, Rachmaninoff
Threw a Molotov on your doorstep
A bullet from a Glock tore through your cortex, Monarch of Melanin
They all relishing the way I'm Ralph McDaniels meets Ralph Ellison
The fine arts is elegant, dark as heaven-sent
Official intelligence presented to you by the stopper
Tell them cops it's too late to talk to me proper
Them South Philly boys is who offed Jimmy Hoffa
What hangs in the balance to the Talented Mr. Trotter
And the two-fifteen my savant crew
What can kill you in five words? That's not a haiku
What's the most powerful book? That's not the Bible
They say; "Do as I say do, but not as I do"
It's about time we held history liable
For survival of the most fit, let them quote this
Get the people more than only hope for the hopeless
Knowing the police headquarters is the culprit
Slugs spiral outta the four-fifth and don't miss
I give a fuck about confederate flags?
I got a heart more darker than America's past
My bars is part Chris Parker, part Malik Shabazz
And just shine like a treasure taken outta the trash
But dig it, it gets deep like a bass guitar
The fiends never say the taste is off
The CDC, done trace the cough back
To where your faith was lost at and press 69 to call back
When the Jakes provide bricks, what would you call that?
Some freemason type shit, what would you call crack?
Now we can swan dive into this or we can just fall back
I faced time with the victims, they was just all black
I'm like, what does it give to the man who's got everything?
Freedom is above and beyond duPont's Registry
You ain't racing with the baton, you're not getting me
Where you rotate in is not the proximity
Look, it's been about more than just the flesh
It's so ill, I can still never catch my breath
It's so real in the field, so protect your neck
Like you was in the Seventh Seal playing chess with death
I figure, I'll be a sage for the rest of my days
The way I surf to the stage on the crest of the wave
Like a black Pharoah that suckled on a breast of a slave
If you place me on a page don't mess up the name
It goes: T-A-R one 'I' like a monocle
The last astronomical master of the chronicle
True spelling of it is with a K and not a Q
I break it down to particles and molecules
Dark or melo, slick McArthur fellow, prophet of rage
An audio slave like Morello
I was raised in my formative stage
Right, in the ghetto where they made me not be afraid nor to settle
I'm a one and only son of young lieutenant Thomas X
Knowledge, wisdom, common sense, never mind the rest
Trying to find honour where there's absolutely honorless
The Spook Who Sat by the Door, devil behind the desk
I'm thankful that I'm wide awake for this
Diaspora's Afro pick like Hank Willis
Any activism is bad for bank business
America's always been safe for straight killers
Yo, the trail was tailor-made for me to fail
The kill or be killed all end with me in jail
It's funny how the new Mark Twain could be Chapelle
And we shut down the starving trend if we prevail
I won't be reduced to simply a trope
It proves everything that I wrote's a slippery slope
It's hard to cope and still push the envelope
When your mind is far beyond this kaleidoscope
Ayo, the way they cutthroat a brother, do we not bleed?
And from the shots, do we not run in top speed?
Whether black, blue, brown, bow-legged or knock-kneed?
Every weapon is not made by Martin and Lockheed
Are we detained if they say that we cannot leave?
Am I insane if I tell you I cannot breathe?
Messages written in languages they cannot read
Public Enemy's, Chuck D's and Hank Shocklee's
Stick with your preposterous beliefs
They pull up and park and let the block perish in peace
And this speech could be the last words of the deceased
That makes my next mixtapes a posthumous release
But listen, spilling a black man's blood so iconic
I go hard today because tomorrow's not promised
Do the knowledge, you could be crowned king Tutankhamun
God forbid, go back to packs of Top Ramen
The overlook effect's an astronaut problem
Let's count down in seconds till NASA start calling
As for Black Thought, I'm a master
Probably never be captured, Method with the last report
Sorrow is the debate, the statements and everything I create
The negative's not relative, they don't relate
That's cool, it is what it is, can I be great?
Waiting for the big payback like it's a rebate
To elevate to the V12 from the V8
A whip so fast that it's impossible to be late
And it's all love, but it's impossible if we hate
It deflates the wind from against our sails
Trying to keep in check like the prince of Wales
Toss any infidels against the rails
Heavy metal Mötley Crüe no Vincent Neil
I'm in channel but still go against the grain
If you talking about my life, it's probably a movie
Who'd play me and my wife? Taraji and Chewy
Back in the day, maybe a young Ossie and Ruby
My chops is like Canada Lee
So yours truly for the Oscar
I started smoking weed like a Rasta when we lost Cassandra
That was hard to ponder
But I refuse to break down or stay somber
While history repeats itself like a mantra
I got too much more to live for
The demon and the Lord out here in a turf war
It's the way that the whole world is worse for
Probably with the wildlife reclaiming the earth for

[Outro]
Yo, Philly stand up, two-fifteen