The Manifesto

Manifesto, this is what we want to see happen For my peoples still breakin graf writin and rappin I rock the mic right and exact my life's my sacrifice Take my mic and I'm like a Chinese man with no rice Oh yeah we flippin through the pages of time, to find design Like Vaseline on the faces of black children, we shinin Deeper than petroleum jelly, we in the air like conversations On celly and just appear like stretch marks on bellies After givin birth you had to let go, you playin for life The Manifesto, here comes the beat because I said so keep pushin I got the cushion for the seat of your soul Back in the day they stole our smile, so we clothe our teeth in gold And we frontin, from nigga to kid, to Son of God It's wild dependin on labels for man woman and child My style just is, all that's seen and all that's heard God gave us music so we play with our words So when Tek be in constant meditation like a monk While Kweli speaks in tongues to get your intellect drunk Yo we bound to take over the 90% of your brain that you ain't usin To us it's life or death we keep you chosin Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone Ain't no rest for the weary yo forever it's on The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order Movin upon the face of the water, like Reflections Aiyyo all the real MC's can meet me outside So we can decide how we gonna change the tide Like the moon we on the Earth takin a ride around the Sun Now Son we only just begun, and the journey's far from done We all miss you, what your brain gone fishin like Walter Mosley? There's an MC that can hold me, supposedly? No one could come close to me, only, the family really know me Hip-Hop's last hope like Obi Wan Kenobi Through your tunnel vision I'm shinin light like a train Comin out like earthworms when it rains, bringin it Like the C.I.A. be bringin in crack cocaine bailin out of planes With the George Bush connections, I push Reflection Like I'm sellin izm, like a dealer buildin the system Supply and the demand it's all capitalism Niggas don't sell crack cause they like to see blacks smoke Niggas sell crack cause they broke, my battle lyrics Get concious minds provoked and ghetto passes revoked Cause we surrounded by the evil, you know that the people's minds Is feeble they believe in it, even if it don't make sense This makin dollars shit, don't take a scholar to See what's goin on around you, either you widdit or you ain't Is what it comes down to, have you forgotten? We pickin 100% designer name brand cotton They still plottin, my Third Eye is steady watchin Every shook eye ain't seen, every goodbye ain't gone Ain't no rest for the weary yo forever it's on The Manifesto, establishes a hip-hop order Movin upon the face of the water, like Reflections (Yeah see that's what I'm talkin about, it be the slaughter man We need to break it down because these heads They don't know what they talkin about Frontin all this nonsense, yo break it down) From open mics to solutions I got a collage of answers And a ten point program, just like the Black Panthers One: First respect yourself as an artist If you don't respect yourself then your rhymes is garbage Two: Make sure your crew is as tight as you Cause when them niggas fallin off they gonna bring you down too Three: Understand the meaning of MC The power to Move the Crowd like Moses split the seas Four: Know your shit and don't ever be blunted If you don't know what your words mean then your rhymes mean nothin Five: Kick facts in the raps, and curse with clarity What's a curse when language is immersed in vulgarity Six: We gonna fix industrial poli-tricks Shit they made an artform out of ridin dicks Seven: We soldiers for God needin new recruits So if you rhymin for the loot then youse a prostitute But Eight: Acknowledge that you need food on your plate In order to say your grace make sure your business is straight Nine: We buildin black minds with intelligence And when you freestyle, keep the subject matter relevant Ten: Every MC grab a pen And write some concious lyrics to tell the children I'll say it again, every MC find you a pen And drop some concious shit for our children The Manifesto!