I don’t know what Love is But I know what it ain’t It’s the canvas without the paint It’s like appreciating sunshine When you ain’t ever been through the rain It’s like Feeling the pleasure But never dealing with pain And Love It ain’t a game Like When we’re winning it’s cool But when we’re losing You quit and complain ‘Cause when we’re down in the fourth quarter You just hold out your arms I’m going long Throwing the bomb Like a mortar And you don’t go overboard Or swim for shore When we hit a little patch of rough water Nah, you ride it out Confide your doubts Learn to know what Love is Inside and out But to take it there We can’t fake it here We could make it there If we make it clear We got a plan And we’re going to stick to it ‘Cause Love is a hard grind And when it’s our time We get to it So when it’s all done and through with We could kick back And watch the stars shine We’ve been through it True it was tough But we made movements to trust And fused it with good music And used it for us Now that’s Love Yeah, what is the meaning of Love And you know that I Love, Love But I need to know our Love is real And no other Love comes close to our Love Yeah, what is the meaning of Love And you know that I Love, Love But I need to know our Love is real And no other Love comes close to ours Yeah, what is the meaning of? Is it walking around all day P.D.A. so we’re seen in Love? Making sure we got witnesses Or is it between just us? Our business? Is this? Something for all of our friends And family members To analyze closely And scan it relentless? Or is it something only you and I can hope To understand and cope with Spanning oceans And Just as deep my Love is Unfathomable Making Love’s what I’d rather we do But instead Another fight Another night with doubt Wondering whether we still want in Or want out And Thinking about what it is exactly We got going on Is it Love? Perhaps we Mistook some emotions for Love It happens A thin line separates Love and hate And in fact It’s almost invisible That’s why we’re arguing one minute The next We’re getting physical The truth is I can’t define what Love is to you It just is Make Love Live And feel the lyrical It’s Love Yeah, what is the meaning of Love And you know that I Love, Love But I need to know our Love is real And no other Love comes close to our Love Yeah, what is the meaning of Love And you know that I Love, Love But I need to know our Love is real And no other Love comes close to ours Love is a hug and a kiss On the cheek from my moms And a night at the crib With your girl when it’s calm Now that’s Love Love, Love Love is the feeling I get From my niece and my nephew Your peeps when you’re down and you’re out And they bless you That’s Love Love Love

One is for the love Two is for salaam Three is for the calm Until I drop the bomb Four is for the sides on the door I got to break in To bum-rush the critics For my Five-star rating Six is for politricks Shaytan and statesmen Seven Eight (“Ate”) Nine And Ten Still waiting For Nine-Eleven to sink in Twelve is out drinking While his Thirteen year old Sells five bags for Lincolns At Fourteen, he’ll end up in the klink Or get shot Or need a regular appointment with a shrink And my ointment is my thinking This game is a menace Get Love until you score Like your first point in tennis Then America will give you Fifteen minutes of fame Diminish your name And claim business Never personal in this race In this race to get cream Get yours in due time Got mine in Sixteen Count it up One, Two, Three One, Two, Three One, Two, Three One, Two, Three If I only had Sixteen left until I was gone And this is my last verse On my last song Would I leave any knowledge of worth To pass on? When my Fifteen’s up I hope the kid cleaned up Fourteen up Mack High Freshman class Fridays ducked Seniors trying to egg my ass Thirteen was the year That I moved up top All the girls in Junior High Used to love me a lot But the love got strange The love done changed Twelve o’clock at the bar Trying to run my game I wrote rhymes at Eleven It was so damn fun Ten verses at a time Made my whole hand numb Reminiscing on the time Make a old man young Nine Eight was great Black Star on the plate Seven days Six degrees Five senses Four bloods Three dimensions Two turntables One Love Count it down, ya’ll One, Two, Three One, Two, Three One, Two, Three One, Two, Three

I see my city up In bad times All my peeps commit mad crime And doing mad time Or getting slaughtered On streets It’s video recorded So you could catch it on your local news I kick rhymes like spoken blues My mom loves me But she could be jiving too and My car’s sub-par But I’m still riding through and My job sucks But at least it provides the food And helps pay the bills When the utilities are due and I’m just doing what I’m doing I try to keep it positive, true I can’t speak for you and you and You in the front With your piece Trying to stunt with your fleece on Don’t give these killers a reason ‘Cause real killers don’t need a reason And all that profile and show Will land you in a pile of snow Getting your freeze on, soldier Your mission is over Shouldn’t have been running recon In a place where it’s colder The heat’s on Hell Little shorties with asses on swell Getting their freak on Barely past the age of twelve Young cats getting caged In cells like they’re endangered Jails and prison facilities filled To capacity So they build more prisons It’s real But still have the audacity To tell us they ain’t got enough money for classes So where’d the taxes go? The way they tax us so The government shouldn’t ever be strapped for dough They take half our dough And wonder why motherfuckers get jacked and smoked Stupid, cats is broke Sing the blues I’m on the avenue feeling The color of the sky when the rain clouds are gone And when it rains it pours But I just want to weather the storm And live to see a new day dawn Sing the blues I’m on the avenue feeling The color of the sky when the atmosphere’s clear But when the clouds form You’ll see me in the eye of the storm Engaged in a fight to go on To the breaka-breaka Dawn doing my day-to-day Today could be my last So I don’t think I want to wake up But I pick my face up Off the pillow Get out of bed Wipe my eyes Unsure of what lies ahead Everything seems so unclear Out of focus Put on my glasses And now I notice The sun shines a little brighter We got some good weather My steps a little lighter I feel a little better But how long does a good feeling last? The length of a song? Or the depth of a glass of wine? Or a question you ask And the passing time it takes To get the answer? Truth is an emancipator That’s why we’re in chains without data When it rains I’m in a room with Coltrane And Cal Tjader Drinking gin Straight up Until my body is numb Or the pain become a dream Or some nightmarish scene Rewound and replayed In my head For three days Then I rise from the grave Like I’m saved And I pray to myself I can fulfill that vision But life in my city’s like prison Mentally Or religion A system of beliefs that oppresses That’s why I don’t believe in the system ‘Cause the system need correction Less correctional facilities Less tax, more money Yes, please Less fees More frees More Free speech Free school Free health care Free Mumia Abu Fuck welfare Free information Let all the people know What you know ‘Cause I know That you know You want to hear us Sing the blues I’m on the avenue feeling The color of the sky when the rain clouds are gone And when it rains it pours But I just want to weather the storm And live to see a new day dawn Sing the blues I’m on the avenue feeling The color of the sky when the atmosphere’s clear But when the clouds form You’ll see me in the eye of the storm Engaged in a fight to go on

Yeah, you heard the songs about this and that Gun claps and gats So-called official rap And, um You heard the songs that be dissing that From underground emcees Who want to bring shit back But, um What exactly are they bringing back? Is it a place in their mind Where they be lingering at? Or a moment in time they cling to? Like eighty nine when Rakim was the man And Kane did his thing too? Yeah I feel what you mean But it’s time you seen The only way we’re going back’s with a time machine What’s the obsession with the past? It ain’t healthy You’re living in the now Stop living in denial Get some help, B Denial is a river in Egypt And turning back the clock’s beyond your achieving Beyond all reason and rhyme I’m all season like tires that You need when you drive in my city It’s a pity that you follow When you should be leading Us to a brand new era of emceeing But stuck On a date fixated on grieving Like somebody died or you lost what you believe in But you’re bringing it back What you retrieving? It’s real emceeing that died Hip Hop is still breathing I rock it from the morn to the evening And you could learn a lesson From that metaphor It’s called progression Move on To move on you got to be strong To be strong you got to keep on To keep on we got to progress ya’ll Yes, yes ya’ll And Move on To move on you got to be strong To be strong you got to keep on To keep on we got to progress ya’ll Yes, yes ya’ll I ain’t bringing it back I bring it forward Till my shit heard round the world Like the kick by Norwood And everybody knows that I’m for this Real hip hop shit So I ain’t trying to diss no recordings I’m just trying to say Shit ain’t in accordance With making hip hop what it could or should be Just forget about the past Trying to recreate it Keep the art in your heart And your thoughts from being jaded And skill Reinstate it and it needs to be stated That if you’re a DJ Then you need to play this Like my joint is your favorite Instead of that Watered down version You androids are programmed to spin I’m M.C. Meaning I’m programmed to win Microphone Cybernetically Enhanced to ascend To new heights Crush new mikes Get credit Do shows No edit Your flows so pathetic I compose alphabetically Kinetically charged Flows that explode when thrown Like Remy Lebeau’s cards And go hard Like extremities when aroused And bogard Mikes for centuries if I get allowed Keep on like the hook in this song Don’t stop Keep stepping No looking It’s gone Boy you got to move on Move on Keep it moving Keep it moving Don’t stop Don’t stop Baby pop you got to Move on To move on you got to be strong To be strong you got to keep on To keep on we got to progress ya’ll Yes, yes ya’ll And move on To move on you got to be strong To be strong you got to keep on To keep on we got to progress ya’ll Yes, yes ya’ll Life is a long road Traveling your feet grow blisters And callousness from challenges you meet No mystery Is greater than the reason Why we even exist or The reasons that I pushed you away But I miss you now Wish I could kiss you now But really that’s a whole ‘nother issue now No need for tissue now I reminisce on how Love used to be So good But memory’s no good to me ‘Cause no matter what I think or do I could never repossess what I possessed in you So I progress to the next you And proceed To plant a seed from the best fruit And hope I’m successful ‘Cause remembering the pain that I felt When it was over I mean really over I was sobered But too late to wake up from my drunkenness Not alcoholic Just the captain of a sunken ship Gone forever like my grandmother May She left me at the end of a cold September day Didn’t understand why she couldn’t stay And even though I lost all faith Still began to pray I think about you all the time Love You became the very voice in my mind Love The way you used to radiate I mean shine Love And wherever you are I want you to know I’m doing fine Love Moving on To move on I got to be strong To be strong I got to keep on To keep on I got to progress ya’ll Yes, yes ya’ll And Move on To move on we got to be strong To be strong we got to keep on To keep on we got to progress ya’ll Yes, yes ya’ll And move on

Fresh From the oven I’m back Hot Off the rack Across the track I’m forth and back Like a conversation I took some time for some contemplation To think about the world I live And the situations I face On a daily basis It’s like I’m lost in a desert With no hope of oasis Still I’m hoping for traces Of asylum From these problems I got a million Let me rank and file them And go to war with the issues I’m pissed for Not the wars politicians enlist for That ain’t right ya’ll So let’s fight for Something mine and yours Can unite for And when the night falls Is when life calls I pick the right cause Lead them to the light source Out of darkness Out of hate Out of heartless Cold habitats that are harshest That ain’t far fetched ‘Cause I’m far from Being fake And I ain’t on the take Like rappers on major labels Got signed And forgot about rhyme They’re about bottom line, but Bottom line They’re about out of time ‘Cause the movement is moving Time to stop snoozing We are not losing We’re cruising To the finish line Your auto needs tuning? This is hip hop No preservatives No gimmicks No claiming I murder kids This is all real This is all skill This is all ill Somebody should call a doctor And tell him this is how he should rock the microphone properly My live show is something you’ve got to see For yourself to believe it Or you could just trust me I’m not industry I’m in the streets Hustling a bite to eat Most nights Don’t like to sleep I’m the type that’ll write for weeks Too hype for beats Too nice I need two mics to speak And two nights a week for release and Fourteen days on a vacation On a beach With the rest of my fam And my peeps My sister’s little man And my nieces I love them to pieces Love from the deepest Depths of the whole of my self And soul’s inner reaches So I hope they learn what life teaches Without being burned too badly But sadly The world is a crazy place Stone cold killers walk streets With a baby face Indoctrinated at an early age To learn the code of the streets And worldly ways It’s all about the next generation And what’s waiting on the horizon Sun rise and shine In your son’s eyes And no one’s wise enough to know What the next day holds But the signs? All there Manifesting like We might live in a world Where kids question, like Where did the seas go? Where did the bees go? Why don’t the flowers and the trees grow? Where did the real emcees go? Where did the songs about the rights of the people And the fight for peace go? I look into the eyes of my niece So young and innocent And wonder What’s imminent? Check the station The world will keep spinning But will people remain in rotation?