The Roots

Released: December 2, 2011

Featuring: Dice Raw

Songwriter: Ray Angry Black Thought ?uestlove Dice Raw

Producer: Ray Angry Khari Mateen Richard Nichols ?uestlove

[Hook: Dice Raw]
Homicide or suicide, heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale my way
My way
My way
My way

[Verse 1: Black Thought]
Yo, I’m always early, I never take off
'Cause I've got a job: rob Peter to pay Paul
Now, I realize it’s the winner that takes all
Do what I gotta do because I can’t take loss
Picture me, living life as if I’m some animal
That consumes its own dreams, like I’m a cannibal
I won’t accept failure unless it’s mechanical
But still, the alcohol mixed with the botanical
I guess I be referred to the owners' manual full of loners
Full of all the homeless throwaways and the stoners
Soldiers of the streets, with eighth-grade diplomas
And the world awaiting their shoulders as a bonus
Look, let he without sin live without sin
Until then, I’ll be doing dirty jobs like swampmen
Counting the faces of those that I might've been
It’s like living that life, but I won’t live that life again

[Hook: Dice Raw]
Homicide or suicide, heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale my way
My way
My way
My way

[Verse 2: Dice Raw]
Lot of niggas go to prison—how many come out Malcolm X?
I know I'm not; shit, can't even talk about the rest
Famous last words: "You under arrest"
Will I get popped tonight? It's anybody's guess, I guess
A nigga need to stay cunning
I guess when the cops coming, need to start running
I won't make the same mistakes from my last run-in
You either done doing crime now, or you done in
I got a brother on the run, and one in
Wrote me a letter—he said, "When you coming?"
Shit, man, I thought the goal's to stay out
Back against the wall, then shoot your way out
Getting money's a style that never plays out
'Til you in a box, and your stash money’s paid out
The scales of justice ain't equally weighed out
Only two ways out: digging tunnels or digging graves out

[Hook: Dice Raw]
Homicide or suicide, heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale my way
My way
My way
My way

[Instrumental Interlude]

[Hook: Dice Raw]
Homicide or suicide, heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale my way
My way
My way

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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