Released: January 1, 1997

Featuring: Dug Infinite

Songwriter: Stevie Wonder Dug Infinite No I.D.

Producer: No I.D.

[Intro]
What good does it do
If you don't hear, you don't listen
And you don't carry into practice what you hear, what did you come to hear for?
We ain't begging for ears
We are trying to get a people... to change their ways
And you're not changing your ways
You hear the word while you SPORT... and while you PLAY
And you leave and you go RIGHT BACK to the CRAP that you hearing
So it don't make you BETTER
But something is gonna make you better
And I'm gonna tell you what that is

[Sample]
Oh Lord
Oh Lord
Oh Lord

[Bridge: No I.D.]
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
And if I die before I wake...
Hmmm, check it out, check it out

[Verse 1: No I.D.]
One day I was sitting and I called up the lord
Had justice on my mind and my hand on the sword
I was feeling like a fight, and feeling in my pocket
Yo my money ain't right, just one of them nights
So I'm looking for the lights so I don't let off in the pitch black
Exploding wet guys like shaking up a six pack
Hard times hit me like a bad shoe fit me
I just called up to make sure you ain't forget me
Things be up and down and I ain't saying you ain't with me
I know that you permit me, to play you all shifty
When I go real low, yo, I watch you come and get me
It's a rollercoaster ride and I'm knowing how that dip be
Trying to hang on, I'll be needing some assistance
Cause every single day be breaking my resistance
I gotta get that stamina so I can go the distance
But in this world it be rougher than rough

[Hook: No I.D.]
See it's rough and it ain't gon' change
Trying to do my thing and it feels so strange
I know you with me, if you feeling like the struggle ain't gon' change
Huh, maybe it ain't gon' change

[Sample]
Help me pray for one sinner from the ghetto
You know that he's a sinner
Oh Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord would you please
Put a blessing on?

[Verse 2: Dug Infinite]
Life will take you out, make you think precise
I know a lot of cats right now that's paying the price
That's why I strive to survive, work hard to keep a knot
You got me dropping rhymes flipping cribs on your block
Now what's my M.O., that I'm good without a demo
Replication from Z's myself plain and simple
We bring the heat, you know the style got that fuego
We build and destroy it like a child with Lego
Master of these skills, in other words I be stable
I'm still able, to bust your shit like Kato
It's funny how the ghetto made me who I am
And at the same time, it snatched the life out my man
These be the type of things that be hard to understand
The same type of things that got me working with a plan
I hold the world like Atlas, hope my knees don't buckle
These times be tough plus they rougher than rough

[Hook: Dug Infinite]
See it's rough and it ain't gon' change
I'm tryna do my thing and it feels so strange
I know you with me, if you feeling like this struggle don't change
Maybe it ain't gon' change

[Sample]
Help me pray for one sinner from the ghetto
You know that he's a sinner
Oh Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord would you please
Put a blessing on?

[Bridge: Dug Infinite]
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
That if we die before we wake
We praise the Lord our soul to take

[Sample]
Help me pray for one sinner from the ghetto
You know that he's a sinner
Put a blessing on
Oh Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord would you please
Put a blessing on?

No I.D.

No I.D. on the track, let the story begin. Also known as “The Godfather of Chicago Hip-Hop,” Ernest Dion Wilson is a Chicagoan producer perhaps best known for his extensive work with fellow windy city native and childhood friend Common, including the classic “I Used to Love H.E.R.” and mentoring Kanye West at their mothers' request. Indeed, Wilson has played a key part in his career since Ye was 14: guiding him, contributing production to multiple songs including “Heartless” and “Gorgeous,” and challenging him to make the beat that would ultimately become “Otis.”

Like many of his peers Dion (then called Immenslope) started out as a DJ, forming a group with Common, and was given his name by Twilite Tone who later joined. Initially thinking it wouldn’t work out, he went to college only to get back into music after leaving. He began going to seminars, learning the culture, got into production and signed with Relativity, eventually beginning to learn management. Early on he admired the likes of Pete Rock, Large Professor, The Beatnuts and A Tribe Called Quest and started on an SP-1200, a very limited machine. The WHPK radio station was home to the Late Show which he hosted with Tone, where Common and West actually had a rap-battle in 1996.

In 1997 he released his debut album, Accept Your Own & Be Yourself (The Black Album). He’s scarcely rapped since, but appeared on Logic’s “America.”