Hamilton Cypher

[INTRO: BLACK THOUGHT] Welcome to the 2015 BET Cypher My name is Black Thought from the legendary Roots crew And my partner Questlove on the one and two It’s my pleasure to be presenting a few of the stars Of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton So on go, my man Lin, my sister Renée, my man Daveed We gon’ set it [VERSE 1: LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA] Lin Miranda here, have you not seen what we can do? I write shows stacked with black and Puerto Rican dudes I ride slow to avoid police procedurals We write slow because I build ‘em like cathedrals I used to do my homework in the back of a bodega With abuela, saving up to get a Sega I stayed up late to tape John Leguizamo’s Spic-O-Rama Now I write plays, I literally came to bring the drama And Hamilton’s a monument to hip-hop I mix em up a Big, Pac, Raekwon, Doc, Dre, Em, Jay, Black Thought Mix em up in a big wok Woo! I better back up that big talk I’m workin’ on various projects I’m writin’ a song for the Rock next You can Google that, I got Now and I got Next, ah I’m full of surprises, it might take a minute to digest I’m gunnin’ for Pulitzer prizes. Ah, it’s a bit of a process But I got a Grammy, got a Tony, got a Emmy Goddamnit, homie, somebody show me the way to the Oscars But I digress, Hamilton god bless, Puerto Rico I’ll see y’all at the Richard Rodgers [VERSE 2: RENEE ELISE GOLDSBERRY] Mother of two with one life to live So I’ll jump on but I got no fucks to give I came to represent the ladies in our hist’ry We know the founding fathers but the mothers are a mystery Spitting bars harder than Joan of Arc’s armor Drivin’ Rosa Parks’ car, bustin out Frances Farmer Airborne with Amelia Earhart, walkin’ tightropes Being Pocahontas giving smallpox to white folks Comin’ out swingin’ like Venus and Serena On the screen I rep the queens from Nefertiti to Latifah Ain’t I a woman? Like Sojourner, I’m the truth Hand on the Bible, book of Esther, book of Ruth Upgraded the Railroad to a chariot with Harriet And Marie Curie brought some shit so hot we had to bury it Get my golden lariat, I’m a Wonder Woman gunnin’ for ‘em What you runnin’ from? You hear the thunder rumblin’ something’s coming Shatter y’all, hurricanes on wood frame houses The name’s Renée, you’ll never be the same BLAO. Game: blouses [VERSE 3: DAVEED DIGGS] Hittin the block like a hammer hittin the nail on the head And come from a city where Hammer made hits and get people fed And fightin so steady we hittin the block with hammers And headed into the gritty and ready, crrracakak till they dead Left the city asleep on syrupy medicine and my pockets start to swell I should seek some acetaminophen, huh? Three ounces in two styrofoam cups Take twice daily, duck twelve. It’s never enough Incredible press, to get 'em to lessen The pressure on triggers, for niggas is bound to erupt Call me Vesuvius, what you all foolin' with, quick and unruly and blow the fuck up I’m a cut above, a uppercut away They screamin’ “Finish him,” Mortal Kombat, immortal on raps Diminishing returns make the burners come out, start to wave Question me if you wanna, y’all, I was up on the stage Playing a polyglot glutton, suckin’ a molly popsicle So sick of the club I just turn up at the hospital Ordering orderlies to turn the heat up four degrees So I can take my shirt off and live out my California dreams Scribble “Thug Life” in invisible ink An umbilical minor chord-clipping metaphysical link To the pastime high, wrecks, last time I checked There was hella rappers in line for the time to scream “I’m next” I just walked right in the door marked “Hamilton Stage,” stayed patient Playing these dead presidents I’m getting my reparations Dig [VERSE 4: BLACK THOUGHT] Here come the one in charge A hundred bars to get everybody up in arms When other artists all froze like a gun was drawn I turn to a new black like the color orange, huh When I was born, everyone was warned That this prolific shit I mourn might become the norm I come through Sun Tzu when it come to war For one of mine, I’ll be takin’ every one of yours ‘Cause I ain’t even tryna bicker and blame I feel like the bigger the name, the bigger the game I spent long nights hunched over a flickering flame Perfecting this particular slang, I’m sick in the brain I’m on it, I seen it comin’ like a clairvoyant So I just left the meter runnin’ and prepared for ya I call it premonition, intuition, paranoia But a lot of people are scared, shit, I’m scared for ya I see the flag’s still getting swung hard But we done turned the Motor City into a junkyard We keep playin’ ourselves, and playin’ the trump card The neverending search for something that’s for a fuck, hard To keep up with the Joneses or them Kardashians Only to be exposed like Ashley Madison I’m like, is this a rerun? Oh, that’s what’s happenin’ Somebody probably goin’ be coming at this African Look at me I’m a Six Million Dollar Man dressed as a rap god Test my religion, get baptized Too many of us bit the dust for crumbs of crust In God We Trust, now watch it rust Here when life ain’t even worth three loosies A pair of chicken wings, cigarettes, two juices They make new nooses, and everybody know what the truth is And that’s what Black Thought from the Roots is Icon