Beef is not what Jay said to Nas Beef is when workin' niggas can't find jobs So they tryna find niggas to rob Tryna find bigger guns so they can finish the job Beef is when the crack kids can't find moms Cause they end up inna pine box or locked behind bars Beef ain't the Summer Jam for Hot 97 Beef is the cocaine and AIDS epidemic Beef don't come with a radio edit Beef is when the judge is callin' you "defendant" Beef, it comes with a long jail sentence Handed down to you in a few short minutes Beef is when your girl come through for a visit Talkin' bout "I'm pregnant by some other nigga" Beef is high blood pressure and bad credit Need a loan for your home and you're too broke to get it And all your little kids is doin' is gettin' bigger You tryin' not to raise 'em around these wild niggas Beef is when a gold-digger got ya seat and a A manicured hand out like "pay me nigga" Or I'm tellin' your wife Or startin' up some foul rumor that'll ruin your life Beef is when a gangster ain't doin' it right Another gangster then decided what to do with his life Beef is not what these famous niggas do on the mic Beef is what George Bush would do in a fight Yeah, beef is not what Ja said to 50 Beef is more than Irv not bein' here with me When a soldier ends his life with his own gun Beef is tryin' to figure out what to tell his son Beef is oil prices and geopolitics Beef is Iraq, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip Some beef is big and some beef is small But what y'all call beef is not beef at all Beef is real-life happenin' every day And it's realer than them songs that you get at Kay Slay This has been a Black Star P-S-A From Mos Def, Pretty Flocko, black Dante And the Black Star embassy, B to the K

In she came with the same type game The type of girl giving out the fake cell phone and name Big fame, she like cats with big thangs Jewels chip, money clip, phone flip, the six range I seen her on the Ave, spotted her more than once Ass so fat that you could see it from the front She spot me like paparazzi Shot me a glance in that catwoman stance with the fat booty pants Hot damn What's your name love, where you came from Neck and wrist laced up, very little make-up The slims at the Reebok gym tone your frame up Is sugar and spice the only thing that you made of I tried to play it low key but couldn't keep it down Asked her to dance she was like, yo I'm leaving now An hour later, sounds from Jamaica She sipping Cris straight up, skanking, winding her waist up Scene two: my fam throwing the jam Fareed is on the stand big things is in the plans The brother Big Moon make space for me to move in Hey, this my man Mos, baby let me introduce I turn around, say word It was the same pretty bird who I had priorly observed Trying to play me for the herb Shocked as hell she couldn't get it together I just played along and pretended I never met her How you feeling Oh, I'm fine My name is Mos I'm Sharice I heard so much good about you it's nice to finally meet We moved to the booth reserved for crew especially And honey-love ended up sitting directly next to me I'm type polite but now I'm looking at her skeptically Cause baby girl got all the right weaponry Designer fabric, shoes, and accessories Chinky eyes, sweet voice is fucking with me mentally We conversated, made a laugh, yeah you know me bro Even though I know the steelo, she wild sweet, yo I'm about to murk, I say peace to the family She hop up like, how you gon' leave before you dance with me Yo, let me apologize for the other night, I know it wasn't right But baby you know what its like, some brothers don't be coming right I understand, I'm feeling you, besides Can I have a dance ain't really that original We laughed about it, traced her arms across my shoulder blades They playing Lovers Rock, I got the folded fingers on her waist Heating my blood up like the Arizona summer Song finished then she whispered honey, let's exchange numbers Scene three: weeks of dating late night conversation In the crib heart racing, trying to be cool and patient She touched on my eyelids, the room fell silent She walked away smiling, singing Gregory Issac Like, if I don't, if I don't Showing me that tan line and that tattoo Playing Sade, Sweetest Taboo Burning candles, all my other plans got cancelled Man I smashed it like an Idaho potato She call me at my J.O., come now, I can't say no Ginseng tree trunks, rocking the P-funk Cocking her knees up, champion lover not ease up Three months, she call I feel I'm running a fever Six months, I'm telling her I desperately need her Nine months, flu-like symptoms when shorty not around I need more than to knock it down I'm really trying to lock it down Midnight we hook up and go at it Burn a stoge and let her know, sweetheart I got to have it She telling me commitment is something she can't manage Wake up the next morning, she gone like it was magic Ah damn it, my shit is on Harrison Ford frantic My 911's unanswered by my fly Taurus enchantress Next week, Moon hit me up, I saw Sharice at the kitty club With some banging ass Asian playing lay it down and lick me up What

Memories don't live like people do They always remember you Whether things are good or bad, its just the memories Memories don't live like people do-o Baby don't forget me, I'm a travellin' man Movin' through places, space and time Gotta lotta things I got to do God willin' I'm comin' back to you My baby boo I'm a travellin' man Movin' through places, space and time(space and time) Gotta lotta things I got to do But God willin' I'm comin' back to you Baby boo I'm leavin' Well go 'head and leave The call heard 'round the world from the wives of MC's These cats is payin' more that half a pound My garment bag I snatch it down Ain't got the state but we could prob'ly run a blacker town Scenarios like this is tear jerkers For the modern MC ie. the blue collar worker 'Cuz this thing called rhymin' no different from coal minin' We both on assignment to unearth a diamond When you start climbin' And them eyes start shinin' You be strugglin' and strivin' And they think you prime-timin' Maintain and keep silent make note and observation This confrontation This is the daily operation A concentration Stay focused on my recitation 'Bout to reach my destination with no pause or hesitation Baby make the preperation 'cuz this ain't no recreation This is Pro Ball! And we lettin' you know y'all At the show y'all Doin' this for dough y'all Get the phone call And I'm ready to blow y'all 'Bout to go y'all Been a pleasure to know y'all And I'm lettin' you know that Memories don't live like people do They always remember you Wether things are good or bad, its just the memories Memories don't live like people do-o Baby don't forget me, I'm a travellin' man Movin' through places, space and time Gotta lotta things I got to do God willin' I'm comin' back to you My baby boo I'm a travellin' man Movin' through places, space and time (space and time) Gotta lotta things I got to do But inshallah I'm comin' back to you Baby boo I'm leavin' But God willin' I'll be back home To drop these heavy ass bags up off my backbone Around the world with a catalog of rap songs My baby girl is walkin', been away for that long But no you haven't well at least that's how it seem to me My home town is like a whole different scenery The old timers on the stoop leaning leisurely The new jacks up in the park smokin' greenery Easily taken for granted when you up in it but its sweet scented When you been down for a minute Move around city limits Break it down with the vintage The innovative Classical B-Boy image Collect the winnin's 'Cause that's the reason that we came here This thing is not a game here The fortune not the fame here From New York to the Cakalaks Cali in the Cadillacs Chicago know we innovate Infiltrate Virginia State DC make me stimulate Philly know we penetrate Georgia make us generate Let's set a date to get the pace They celebrate to my jams in foreign lands Even your mans in Japan know who I am Minasan, make everybody out in Nippon Say ichiban, make yard man know where ya getti from ?? Phenomenon, 'scuse me that's a phone call Its the show y'all Tryin' to get this dough y'all 'Bout to blow y'all Been a pleasure to know y'all And I'm lettin' you know Memories don't live like people do-o Baby don't forget me, I'm a travellin' man Movin' through places, space and time Gotta lotta things I got to do But inshallah I'm comin' back to you My baby boo I'm a travellin' man Movin through places, space and time (space and time) Gotta lotta things I got to do But GOD willin' I'm comin' back to you Back to you I'm leavin'! I'll be back to you I'm leavin'! I'll be back to you All over the world we go DC all over the world we go VA all over the world we go The Cakalaks all over the world we go London all over the world we go Japan we go over the world we go Paris we go over the world we go 1-2, 1-2...All aboard

Ha ha You know the deal It's just me yo Beats by Su-Primo for all of my peoples, Negros and Latinos And even the gringos Yo, check it one for Charlie Hustle, two for Steady Rock Three for the fourth coming live, future shock It's five dimensions, six senses Seven firmaments of heaven to hell, 8 Million Stories to tell Nine planets faithfully keep in orbit With the probable tenth, the universe expands length The body of my text posses extra strength Power-lifting powerless up, out of this, towering inferno My ink so hot it burn through the journal I'm blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle Hip-Hop past all your tall social hurdles Like the nationwide projects, prison-industry complex Working class poor better keep your alarm set Streets too loud to ever hear freedom ring Say evacuate your sleep, it's dangerous to dream But you chain cats get they CHA-POW, who dead now Killing fields need blood to graze the cash cow It's a number game, but shit don't add up somehow Like I got, sixteen to thirty-two bars to rock it But only 15% of profits, ever see my pockets like Sixty-nine billion in the last twenty years Spent on national defense but folks still live in fear like Nearly half of America's largest cities is one-quarter black That's why they gave Ricky Ross all the crack Sixteen ounces to a pound, twenty more to a ki A five minute sentence hearing and you no longer free 40% of Americans own a cell phone So they can hear, everything that you say when you ain't home I guess, Michael Jackson was right, "You Are Not Alone" Rock your hardhat black cause you in the Terrordome Full of hard niggas, large niggas, dice tumblers Young teens and prison greens facing life numbers Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation This new math is whipping motherfuckers ass You wanna know how to rhyme you better learn how to add It's mathematics "The Mighty Mos Def" "It's simple mathematics" "Check it out!" "I revolve around science" "What are we talking about here?" "The Mighty Mos Def" "It's simple mathematics" "Check it out!" "I revolve around science" "What are we talking about here?" "Do your math" (Repeat: x2) "One.. t-t-two.. three, four" "What are we talking about here?" Yo, it's one universal law but two sides to every story Three strikes and you be in for life, mandatory Four MC's murdered in the last four years I ain't trying to be the fifth one, the millennium is here Yo it's 6 Million Ways to Die, from the seven deadly thrills Eight-year olds getting found with 9 mill's It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal He on the hill puffin krill to keep they belly filled Light in the ass with heavy steel, sights on the pretty shit in life Young soldiers trying to earn they next stripe When the average minimum wage is $5.15 You best believe you gotta find a new ground to get cream The white unemployment rate, is nearly more than triple for black So front liners got they gun in your back Bubbling crack, jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty And end up in the global jail economy Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence Budget cutbacks but the increased police presence And even if you get out of prison still living Join the other five million under state supervision This is business, no faces just lines and statistics From your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits The system break man child and women into figures Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggas Numbers is hardly real and they never have feelings But you push too hard, even numbers got limits Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret The million other straws underneath it, it's all mathematics "The Mighty Mos Def" "It's simple mathematics" "Check it out!" "I revolve around science" "What are we talking about here?"