What's Love

[Verse 1: Torae] Coming up they told me love was the message That somebody ain't get the memo if they left it Kids at the table, can't feed 'em love for breakfast Wife say she love a new pair of shoes and a necklace So what's a real nigga to do? When the masses get asked if they love what you do And over half that they ask got rebuttals like ''who?'' We ain't heard you on the radio, dude But not exactly The real hip hop be coming on real late And half the shit they got in rotation is real fake And all the real fans supporting it is real faint And that's how all your real love can turn into real hate But this music shit, it ain't nothing like it Gotta love the rush that you get when you feel inspired Loving how the crowd'll react when you recite it Gotta love it even days when you despise it I swear ain't nothing like it [Hook: Torae] But love can't pay these bills So please believe I'm here to get these meals Got me asking ''what's love?'' And loving how you stressing for sure So love don't live here no more Got me asking ''what's love?'' [Verse 2: Torae] I got niggas that love how to truly spit And I know niggas that love doing foolishness Use to think I would love to be in the music biz But now I'm asking ''what's love got to do with it?'' Politics kick back, favoritism mishaps Niggas getting higher, then fired, then put your shit back Like the headline on LeBron, you here now and you on Go to sleep and wake up and you be hearing that you gone Another love T.K.O Totally killing your output if you ain't know You gotta grind like you making love, love like you made it come It's love out here on this court, come and get you some So niggas asking ''where is the love?'' That ain't love in the video and love in the club Labels loving your movement and loving your buzz Then bring you in for the meeting, preaching ''love ain't enough'' But this music shit, it ain't nothing like it Whitney overdosed and Dion became a psychic Michael medicated and Ron Isley indicted Gotta love it even if you didn't like it I swear ain't nothing like it [Hook] [Verse 3: Pharoahe Monch] (The L) Good Lord, I know these ladies love luxury That's laminated at the top of the list - but look luckily At least when my lungs were lacerated I never behaved scorned or gave a sworn affidavit When I hit rock bottom like Goliath after David Literally when these lame labels meticated I liberated my life with love and levitated And left every lyric I laid completely obliterated (The O) Must be on on top, but no options And you can't operate orally without oxygen I was stealing petty cash when they were past the offering In line on sundays, that's when I knew I hit my optimum Low, but I still got a stand in though You know? I guess who really needs to know I guess the oodles of O's will never grow Unless you use your noodle they quadruple like voodoo (The V) Van Gogh verbally, victory won't visit you When your vibe's violated and adverts are not visible And vocally the volume's muted Very devoted, but every conversation convoluted (And the E) Epilogue, editor, my etiquette elicited My effort exponentially expands when solicited The E-M-C-E-E You know you have to say it twice, but only if you're nice Cause it's nothing like, it's nothing like [Hook]