Respiration (Flying High Mix)

(Mos Def singing)<br>I`m flyin` high, in the friendly sky<br>without ever leaving the ground, yeah yeah<br>Rest of the folks are tired and weary<br>And have laid their bodies down<br><br>(Talib Kweli)<br>We lyrically rich, livin, spiritually fit<br>Eating healthy, coming clean never filthy<br>In God`s eyes I`m wealthy<br>Felt the power as I entered the palace of 7 lights<br>Time traveled participatin on battles my brethren fight<br>For birth rights that they already got, and shouldn`t have to get<br>Break down the steady plot that`s accurate<br>Bust the shots that`s immaculate<br>Take it to your nugget cause my beloved covet they freedom<br>Believe it put nothing above it love it or leave it<br>We blessed with free will so we choose to be ill<br>Like sharks keepin it movin we could never be still<br>Swim in the channels of life<br>The orators of rhyme handling mics<br>Tiptoeing through the corridors of your mind with candlelights<br>Everlasting in your hood like liquor stores and check cashin<br>Niggaz flashing (?----) classes sippin thug passion blastin <br>Makaveli 4, I bet on brothers with nothing to live for<br>To give more to the struggle, they already at war<br><br>(Chorus)<br>So much on my mind I just can`t recline<br>Blastin holes til the night bled sunshine<br>Breathe in... <br>Breathe out, <br>Heard the bass ride out like an ancient (mating call)<br>I can`t take it, I can feel the city breathing<br><br>(Mos Def)<br>Yo,<br>I pushed my pen and wrote this scribe<br>Like the morning wouldn`t find me alive<br>I`m surrounded on all sides<br>By the kind and the cool, wise men and the fool<br>Young guns attending school, ghetto classes include:<br>Get yours, get it right<br>Get down, get paid, get ass, get around<br>Get on, get fly, get jig and get high<br>Live to get and you`ll only end up getting by<br>When the nighttime covers the city like a cloak<br>I approach and assemble my hopes, into notes<br>Hard to sleep in the city that don`t<br>Cause it won`t let you rest, noises on your doorstep<br>`Nuff distress<br>Police department, raid the park bench on nonsense<br>Cause they fear to see the brothers conference<br>Regardless, we bond tight and we rumble all day to break night<br>Daylight, wifey riffin` to death - "you ain`t right"<br>The same fight about my late night habits is mad static<br>But the city`s so alive that I just got to have it<br>The planet of Brook-LAWN is what I look on<br>Ghetto chef rock your vest when you gettin your cook on<br>Dedicating this song to Scott LaRock, B.I.G. and `Pac<br>Kwame Ture, Betty Carter and John Henrik CLark<br>Ron Brown, and freedom fighters going down<br>You set the pace, now we finish the race<br>It`s on now<br><br>(Chorus)<br>So much on my mind I just can`t recline<br>Blasting holes til the night bled sunshine<br>Breathe in... <br>Breathe out,<br>Heard the bass ride out like an ancient (mating call)<br>I can`t take it, I can feel the city breathing<br><br>(Black Thought)<br>Yo, Yo<br>I`m from the year-round shootouts to summertime cookout<br>The wintertime grind with the shorties on the lookout<br>A chosen few know the rule, the rest threw the book out<br>The law stay on crews, thirsty with they hook out<br>That old-school bang out, <br>Money that pulled the thang out<br>They bit him and hit him with a few, he just came out<br>With the sharks that travel all parts within the same route<br>Narrow walls closin in, cutthroat to exit at the opening<br>Wrong place, you wasn`t where you were supposed to been<br>You back around the end, heavy wasteline again<br>With them same suspect cats that waste time again<br>Ya`ll need to wake the fuck up, and peep the monument in your face<br>Cuz ain`t no time to waste not a minute<br>I seen my cousin (?----) said "Peace, yo where you been at?"<br>He said "the final frontier `Riq, I`m up in that,<br>and it`s the time to watch the place your foe and where your friend at,<br>Cuz where I rotate ain`t nothin to grin at, I been at<br>the fork in the crossroads, the outer limit,<br>See you can stand tall or crawl and act timid"<br>The Black Thought with the Black Star, infinite<br><br>(Chorus and ad libs to fade)