Talib Kweli ft. Yasiin Bey, Mr. Man - Fortified Live Lyrics

The highest caliber make it a night to remember like Shalamar
Then escape to Havana with Assata I 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

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 struggling
Tryna eat food and keep the rights to they publishing, huh
Ghetto red hot, man, that shit is like bubbling
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

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Movin' those who are outdated with vernaculated thought, so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 wanna 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

This once in a lifetime like a Halley's comet
Yo, we bring it to Medina like the prophet Mohammed
Peace be upon he, and, we MC's
Speak the fortified live exhibit level degree
This once in a lifetime like a Halley's comet
Yo, we bring it to Medina like the prophet Muhammad
Peace be upon he, and, we MC's
Speak the fortified live exhibit level degree

Yo, what's wrong with this picture? Don't it seem bugged
MC's is high on they supply, sounds like they takin' drugs
Y'all trippin' like mescaline and killin' the feeling like penicillin
Switchin' to Lionel Rich' and dancin' on the ceilin'
Go ahead and be a heroin, 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 or 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, what your life worth?
When you get left with what you had on the day of your birth

Ha, yo, it's the super scientifical, high-powered prolifical
Lyrically a miracle, mentally I'm physical
Massively I'm critical, 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

We cold-crushin' MCs that's gold-rushin' for the cheese
They see a flash in the pan waitin' for royalties

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

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 and 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, heh, that's not the point because I'm better than most
I make MCs 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)

This once in a lifetime like a Halley's comet
Yo, we bring it to Medina like the prophet Mohammed
Peace be upon he, and, we MC's
Speak the fortified live exhibit level degree
This once in a lifetime like a Halley's comet
Yo, we bring it to Medina like the prophet Muhammad
Peace be upon he, and, we MC's
Speak the fortified live exhibit level degree

Word up
I wanna send a big shoutout to Native Tongue
My man Kamur Fareed, my Ali Shaheed
My seed, my nelly indeed, you know what I'm sayin'?
My man Kweli and Mr. Man of course
All Brooklyn area crew, all Queen's crew
Shaolin, Long Island too
And all my favorite sporting outlets
For havin' all of my favorite kicks on half price
Oh, damn, got you lookin' good