Released: July 10, 2020

Songwriter: Curtis Brown Sean C Ishmael Muhommad Black Thought

Producer: Sean C

[Intro]
In just a few moments
We will hear from the most powerful black man in America today
Uh (Everybody)
(I don't think you heard me) Ayo
The most powerful black man in the world

[Verse]
Ayo, they ask why I seem so solemn
On the throne between three stone columns
You know the name, fuckin' up the game, no condoms
Everybody got damn first world problem
The truth is inconvenient as non-believers
Fearing DACA dreamers instead of FEMA
Bentley, Benz, or a Beamer, Fiji or Aquafina (Everybody, every goddamn body)
We fuck around and be the next Iwo Jima
The tides risin' at the same time like they synchronized
For makin' art, for makin' love, for makin' Hajj
The home is where the hatred lies, they takin' lives
But everybody just so saved and sanctified
Then they rely upon, we the few defiant ones (Everybody, every goddamn body)
Communicating in higher forms than Viacom
To dialogue before the roar of the riot horn
I wonder on which side of the lines I belong?
Lady Liberty face full of concealer
I'm half Masta Killa and half Hugh Masekela
Latrophobia, that's a fear of the healer
Kaepernick is an activist, y'all in fear of the kneeler
Everything's obtuse, nothin' is obscene
Another young life was lost on live stream
Another great fell from grace in high esteem
Then the clock struck thirteen, we in some kind of dream
First I'm handling first things, decipher what it means
To a planet of earthlings, where the question remains
Am I a journal or journalist? Herbal eternalist
Olympic tournament level genius author, affirmative
Though turnin' back and returnin', I'm not concerned with it
The permanent ink paved the way out the turbulence
My hands against the wall outside a billiards hall
I hear police discussin' whether to try and kill us all
I questioned if that'd matter, life is like a tree that falls
In the woods, even with iPhone footage to see it fall
Great men chose the Papermate Pen or State Pen
The firin' pin of a pistol aimed at a playpen
We go from musket to a missile to a revelation (Everybody, every goddamn body)
Between Heaven and Satan, while I'm steady creatin'
And try to separate the truth from the lies that they told us
I even heard the Soviet's, the 45th POTUS
That ain't the photo they showed us, or acceptin' the onus
Did they Washington us? My condolence to y'all diplomas
Here's a bonus, the point of view to make things see through
If I'm a walking institution, I'm a HBCU
Face the music, keepin' it moving's one of the great things we do
Yo, the devil's tryna put together his gang, me too
And whether you come from Lagos or Trinidad and Tobago
You can either stay broke or be wealthy as Jeff Bezos
If you just stay woke, I was in the dark then day broke (Everybody, every goddamn body)
Directin' questions to my ancestors until they spoke now
Inherently rockin' the disco currently
Bars is cryptocurrency, hypnotherapy
Shittin' on everything, 5'9", 6'4" lyrically
Crystal clarity, wonder how I spit so thoroughly
Stay so hungry, rappers can't get no mercy (Everybody, every goddamn body)
That's the reason any other one who spit won't versus me
It's so lonely in my own class "Formerly known as"
And the inscription that your headstone has
On my own path, in my own world like Disney's
I feel the fuckin' system fail just like kidneys
Up steps the one who upsets all carriages
'Cause it's imperative we change the narrative

[Outro]
(Everybody) Yeah, and that's Thought vs Everybody
(Everybody) Listen, check it out, that go to everybody
(Everybody) Yo, I got myself over everybody
(Everybody, every goddamn body) Yeah, every goddamn body

Black Thought

Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter is the co-founder and MC of the legendary Philadelphia-based hip-hop group The Roots.

Thought is highly renowned in the Hip-Hop community for his socially aware, informed, and character-driven rap style. He is considered by many, a lyrical killer and legend that falls in the same category as Yasiin Bey, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, members of the Wu-Tang Clan and even Nas.

He also is a member and founder of supergroup Money Making Jam Boys, consisting of Black, and other Roots collaborators Sugar-Tongue-Slim (STS), Greg Porn, Truck North, and Dice Raw. STS can be heard on “Right On” while the other three are widely and largely on Undun.