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Common, Black Star - Respiration (Album Version (Explicit))

Respiration
Common, Black Star
06:05
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Song lyrics

[Intro:]
— What'd you do last night?
— We did, umm, two whole cars. It was me, Dez, and Main Three, right? And on the first car in small letters it said, “All you see is...”, and then, you know, big, big, you know, some block silver letters that said “crime in the city”, right?
— It just took up the whole car?
— Yeah, yeah, it was a whole car and shit...

¡Escúchela! La ciudad respirando...

[Verse 1: Mos Def]
The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis
Shinin', like, "Who on top of this?"
People was tusslin', arguin' and bustlin',
Gangstas of Gotham hardcore hustlin'.
I'm wrestlin' with words and ideas,
My ears is pricked, seekin' what will transmit,
The scribes can apply to transcript.
Yo, this ain't no time where the usual is suitable,
Tonight alive, let's describe the inscrutable,
The indisputable, we New York, the narcotic
Draped in metal and fiber optics,
Where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips,
For profits thirsty criminals take pockets,
Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin' class watches.
Skyscrapers is colossus, the cost of living is preposterous,
Stay alive, you play or die, no options,
No Batman and Robin,
Can't tell between the cops and the robbers,
They both partners, they all heartless with no conscience.
Back streets stay darkened,
Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened,
My eagle talons stay sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin',
You either make a way or stay sobbin'.
The shiny Apple is bruised but sweet,
And if you choose to eat, you could lose your teeth,
Many crews retreat, nightly news repeat,
Who got shot down and locked down,
Spotlight to savages, NASDAQ averages,
My narrative rose to explain this existence
Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance.

[Chorus:]
So much on my mind that I can't recline,
Blastin' holes in the night till she bled sunshine,
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine,
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline,
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call.
I can't take it, y'all! I can feel the city breathin',
Chest heavin' against the flesh of the evening,
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving.

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]
Breathin' in deep city breaths, sittin' on shitty steps,
We stoop to new lows, Hell froze the night the city slept,
The Beast crept through concrete jungles
Communicatin' with one another
And ghetto birds where waters fall
From the hydrants to the gutters.
The Beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin',
You on the wrong side of the track lookin' visibly shaken,
Taken them plungers,
Plungin' to death that's painted by the numbers
With Krylon applied pressure; cats is playin' God
By havin' children by a lesser baby mother, but fuck it!
We played against each other like puppets,
Swearin' you got pull,
When the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes,
Getting knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise.
Look in the skies for God, what you see besides the smog
Is broken dreams flyin' away on the wings of the obscene,
Thoughts that people put in the air,
Places where you could get murdered over a glare,
But everything is fair; it's a paradox we call reality,
So keepin' it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality,
Killers born naturally, like Mickey and Mallory,
Not knowing the ways'll get you capped, like an NBA salary.
Some cats be emceein' to illustrate what we be seein',
Hard to be a spiritual being
When shit is shakin' what you believe in,
For trees to grow in Brooklyn, seeds need to be planted
I'm askin' if y'all feel me, and the crowd left me stranded.
My blood pressure boiled and rose,
‘Cause New York niggas actin' spoiled at shows
To the winners, the spoils go,
I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates,
New York life type trife, the Roman Empire state.

[Chorus:]
So much on my mind that I can't recline,
Blastin' holes in the night till she bled sunshine,
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine,
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline,
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call.
I can't take it, y'all! I can feel the city breathin',
Chest heavin' against the flesh of the evening,
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving.

[Verse 3: Common]
On the Amen Corner I stood lookin' at my former hood,
Felt the spirit in the wind,
Knew my friend was gone for good.
Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, I couldn't mask it,
Mixin' down emotions, struggle, I hadn't mastered.
I choreograph seven steps to Heaven,
In Hell, waitin' to exhale and make the bread leaven,
Veteran of a cold war; it's Chica-I-go for
What I know or what's known,
So some days I take the bus home, just to touch home
From the crib I spend months gone,
Sat by the window with a clutched dome
Listenin' to shorties cuss long,
Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong,
Tried to call, or at least beep the Lord,
But didn't have a touch-tone.
It's a dog-eat-dog world, you gotta mush on,
Some of this land I must own,
Outta the city, they want us gone,
Tearing down the 'jects creatin' plush homes,
My circumstance is between Cabrini and Love Jones.
Surrounded by hate, yet I love home,
Ask my guy how he thought travellin' the world sound,
Found it hard to imagine, he hadn't been past downtown.
It's deep, I heard the city breathe in its sleep,
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep,
Deep, I heard my man breathe in his sleep,
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep.

[Chorus:]
So much on my mind that I can't recline,
Blastin' holes in the night till she bled sunshine,
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine,
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline,
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call.
I can't take it, y'all! I can feel the city breathin',
Chest heavin' against the flesh of the evening,
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving.

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