In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Kweli]
The highest caliber, make it a night to remember like Shalamar
Then escape to Havana with Assata, do what I gotta
Planes get shot down in Cuban air space over the water
I got insight, it's a clear case of reading your aura
Man, what you got for us as my Black men stand in line like a chorus
Makin' these MC's our sons like Horus
I'm always taking shots like a Japanese tourist, get the picture?
Flyer than Keyser Soze and no exposure
[Mos Def]
I'm sippin wishing well water imported from Pluto
That's why my eyes is glassy, so ain't got to ask me
The interplanetary Illuminati move your body
I trekked the stars first, so fuck Kirk and Scotty
I threw basement parties on the Mothership
Now I'm on planet Earth on some other shit
Many 'habitants of this world be strivin and strugglin
Tryin to eat food and keep the rights to they publishing, huh
Ghetto red hot, man that shit is like bubblin
Can't get no peace cause the Beast keep troubling
Youth, they oppose and the blows they be doubling
Nike heads is trife and the shots, they be thundering
Ways and customs don't make any sense
They be givin me stress and they test my maintenance
Use the sand and the Ummah as my sustenance
No, this style will never lack, melanin's my evidence
[Mr. Man]
In order to effective, with your words you must be selective
Cause showin and provin is the Prime Directive
Movin those who are outdated with vernaculated thought, so
Every time I take a turn MC's take a loss
My point across, I gotta get to where I want to be
As the wickedest public speaker since '73
Or '74, which was the year I first touched ground
As the physical manifestation of sight and sound
So gather 'round, to hear the profound brown vomiter
Absorb the sonic energy manifestin through your monitor
The livin proof, I make the truth sound clear
Mr. Man, in nine ether represent right here, check it out
Chorus (2X):
Kweli
This once in a lifetime like a Halley's comet
Yo, we bring it to Medina like the prophet Mohammed
Mos Def and Mr Man:
Peace be upon he, and, we MC's
Speak the fortified live exhibit level degree
[Kweli]
Yo, what's wrong with this picture? (picture) Don't it seem bugged
MC's is high on they supply, sounds like they takin drugs
Y'all trippin like mescalin and killin the feeling like penicillin
Switchin' to Lionel Rich' and dancin on the ceilin
Go ahead and be a heroin(e), your own mind
Fuck your internet, coke is it when you on line
Smokin dirty weed, ignorin the medicinal herbals
So we in your ass like you was Richard Gere and we was gerbils
You get stepped on like crack vials by ghetto children, plus
Swept under the rug, we turnin niggas into dust
You done came out of the earth (earth), what your life worth?
When you get left with what you had on the day of your birth
[Mr. Man]
Ha...Yo, it's the super scientifical, high-powered prolifical
Lyrically a miracle, mentally I'm physical
Massively encryptical, verbally invincible
These kids wanna battle but the material's pitiful
The only original, wicked individual
Whenever I rhyme, I break it down into syllables
Simply because it's coming straight out of Brooklyn
It sounds so out of sight I got the blind people lookin
It's Mr. Man the act, boy what? You get stolen
I'll cut your ass in half and leave you with a semicolon
[Kweli]
We cold-crushin MC's that's gold-rushin for the cheese
They see a flash in the pan waitin for royalties
[Mos Def]
But kings and queens get overthrown when they grab the microphone
Shootin videos in homes that they know they'll never own
I guess they cannot work alone, they forever with crew
L sparking, steady barking bout the wildness they do
Posin in photographs shot at complimentary angles
Be playin Mr. Tuffy when they feminine like bangles
Practices is fraudulent, fallacies record to tape
Step in my zone, your spot'll get blown like Watergate
[Mr. Man]
Wait, my blastin rate is past a state of rappers who procrastinate
Mr. Man is great, so every time I rhyme, I fascinate
Masses hate to have to wait for me to unload
So I flip into my mode of rhyme, long like a road
See, I drop the greats like clumsy waiters drop plates
I got rhymes by the crates to erase the duplicates
Cause, I blow wack rappers out like afros
My shit is so phat it be stretchin my asshole
But huh, that's not the point because I'm better than most
I make MC's Wonder like bread but then, bread gets toast
It's like that, Mr. Man, Mos Def, and Kweli
represent for every single real MC, you don't stop
(Yo, yo, yo, this is the mighty Mos Def)
Chorus (2X)
The highest caliber, make it a night to remember like Shalamar
Then escape to Havana with Assata, do what I gotta
Planes get shot down in Cuban air space over the water
I got insight, it's a clear case of reading your aura
Man, what you got for us as my Black men stand in line like a chorus
Makin' these MC's our sons like Horus
I'm always taking shots like a Japanese tourist, get the picture?
Flyer than Keyser Soze and no exposure
[Mos Def]
I'm sippin wishing well water imported from Pluto
That's why my eyes is glassy, so ain't got to ask me
The interplanetary Illuminati move your body
I trekked the stars first, so fuck Kirk and Scotty
I threw basement parties on the Mothership
Now I'm on planet Earth on some other shit
Many 'habitants of this world be strivin and strugglin
Tryin to eat food and keep the rights to they publishing, huh
Ghetto red hot, man that shit is like bubblin
Can't get no peace cause the Beast keep troubling
Youth, they oppose and the blows they be doubling
Nike heads is trife and the shots, they be thundering
Ways and customs don't make any sense
They be givin me stress and they test my maintenance
Use the sand and the Ummah as my sustenance
No, this style will never lack, melanin's my evidence
[Mr. Man]
In order to effective, with your words you must be selective
Cause showin and provin is the Prime Directive
Movin those who are outdated with vernaculated thought, so
Every time I take a turn MC's take a loss
My point across, I gotta get to where I want to be
As the wickedest public speaker since '73
Or '74, which was the year I first touched ground
As the physical manifestation of sight and sound
So gather 'round, to hear the profound brown vomiter
Absorb the sonic energy manifestin through your monitor
The livin proof, I make the truth sound clear
Mr. Man, in nine ether represent right here, check it out
Chorus (2X):
Kweli
This once in a lifetime like a Halley's comet
Yo, we bring it to Medina like the prophet Mohammed
Mos Def and Mr Man:
Peace be upon he, and, we MC's
Speak the fortified live exhibit level degree
[Kweli]
Yo, what's wrong with this picture? (picture) Don't it seem bugged
MC's is high on they supply, sounds like they takin drugs
Y'all trippin like mescalin and killin the feeling like penicillin
Switchin' to Lionel Rich' and dancin on the ceilin
Go ahead and be a heroin(e), your own mind
Fuck your internet, coke is it when you on line
Smokin dirty weed, ignorin the medicinal herbals
So we in your ass like you was Richard Gere and we was gerbils
You get stepped on like crack vials by ghetto children, plus
Swept under the rug, we turnin niggas into dust
You done came out of the earth (earth), what your life worth?
When you get left with what you had on the day of your birth
[Mr. Man]
Ha...Yo, it's the super scientifical, high-powered prolifical
Lyrically a miracle, mentally I'm physical
Massively encryptical, verbally invincible
These kids wanna battle but the material's pitiful
The only original, wicked individual
Whenever I rhyme, I break it down into syllables
Simply because it's coming straight out of Brooklyn
It sounds so out of sight I got the blind people lookin
It's Mr. Man the act, boy what? You get stolen
I'll cut your ass in half and leave you with a semicolon
[Kweli]
We cold-crushin MC's that's gold-rushin for the cheese
They see a flash in the pan waitin for royalties
[Mos Def]
But kings and queens get overthrown when they grab the microphone
Shootin videos in homes that they know they'll never own
I guess they cannot work alone, they forever with crew
L sparking, steady barking bout the wildness they do
Posin in photographs shot at complimentary angles
Be playin Mr. Tuffy when they feminine like bangles
Practices is fraudulent, fallacies record to tape
Step in my zone, your spot'll get blown like Watergate
[Mr. Man]
Wait, my blastin rate is past a state of rappers who procrastinate
Mr. Man is great, so every time I rhyme, I fascinate
Masses hate to have to wait for me to unload
So I flip into my mode of rhyme, long like a road
See, I drop the greats like clumsy waiters drop plates
I got rhymes by the crates to erase the duplicates
Cause, I blow wack rappers out like afros
My shit is so phat it be stretchin my asshole
But huh, that's not the point because I'm better than most
I make MC's Wonder like bread but then, bread gets toast
It's like that, Mr. Man, Mos Def, and Kweli
represent for every single real MC, you don't stop
(Yo, yo, yo, this is the mighty Mos Def)
Chorus (2X)
Lyrics submitted by nsxdriven
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