Respiration-Black Star/Common

[00:00.000] 作词 : Tony Cottrell/Talib Kweli Greene/D. Smith [00:00.120] 作曲 : Tony Cottrell/Talib Kweli Greene/D. Smith [00:00.241]"What'd you do last night?" [00:01.085]"We did, umm, two whole cars [00:02.745]It was me, Dez, and Mean Three, right? [00:05.134]And on the first car in small letters it said [00:07.141]'All you see is…' and then you know [00:09.162]Big, big, you know some block silver letters [00:11.835]That said 'crime in the city', right?" [00:13.314]"It just took up the whole car?" [00:14.573]"Yeah, yeah, it was a whole car and ****..." [00:16.285] [00:17.229]¡Escúchela! La ciudad respirando [00:35.535] [00:36.103]The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis [00:39.410]Shining, like, "Who on top of this?" [00:41.440]People was tusslin', arguing and bustlin' [00:43.737]Gangstas of Gotham hardcore hustlin' [00:46.604]I'm wrestling with words and ideas [00:48.950]My ears is pricked, seeking what will transmit [00:51.647]The scribes can apply to transcript [00:53.746]Yo, this ain't no time where the usual is suitable [00:57.221]Tonight alive, let's describe the inscrutable [00:59.890]The indisputable, we New York the narcotic [01:03.535]Draped in metal and fiber optics [01:05.664]Where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips [01:07.867]For profits, thirsty criminals take pockets [01:10.649]Hard knuckles on the second hands of working class watches [01:13.203]Skyscrapers is colossus, the cost of living is preposterous [01:16.768]Stay alive, you play or die, no options [01:18.627]No Batman and Robin [01:20.017]Can't tell between the cops and the robbers [01:22.002]They both partners, they all heartless with no conscience [01:25.291]Back streets stay darkened [01:26.775]Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened [01:28.774]My eagle talons stay sharpened, like city lights stay throbbing [01:32.120]You either make a way or stay sobbin' [01:34.054]The shiny Apple is bruised but sweet [01:36.025]And if you choose to eat, you could lose your teeth [01:38.343]Many crews retreat, nightly news repeat [01:41.288]Who got shot down and locked down [01:42.883]Spotlight to savages, NASDAQ averages [01:45.782]My narrative rose to explain this existence [01:48.178]Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance [01:51.000] [01:51.394]So much on my mind that I can't recline [01:53.383]Blastin' holes in the night 'til she bled sunshine [01:56.069]Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine [01:58.823]Breathe out, **** smoke retrace the skyline [02:01.430]Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call [02:04.090]I can't take it, y'all, I can feel the city breathing [02:06.974]Chest heaving, against the flesh of the evening [02:09.691]Sigh before we die like the last train leaving [02:12.541] [02:12.764]Breathin' in deep city breaths, sittin' on shitty steps [02:14.907]We stoop to new lows, Hell froze the night the city slept [02:17.584]The Beast crept through concrete jungles [02:19.188]Communicating with one another [02:20.303]And ghetto birds where waters fall [02:21.816]From the hydrants to the gutters [02:23.169]The Beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin' [02:25.576]You on the wrong side of the track, looking visibly shaken [02:28.348]Taken them plungers [02:29.146]Plunging to death that's painted by the numbers [02:31.303]With Krylon applied pressure; cats is playing God [02:33.721]But having children by a lesser baby mother, but **** it [02:36.289]We played against each other like puppets [02:38.045]Swearing you got pull [02:39.157]When the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes [02:41.638]Getting knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise [02:44.341]Look in the skies for God, what you see besides the smog [02:47.079]Is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene [02:49.759]Thoughts that people put in the air [02:51.579]Places where you could get murdered over a glare [02:53.914]But everything is fair; it's a paradox we call reality [02:56.826]So keepin' it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality [03:00.530]Killers Born Naturally, like Mickey and Mallory [03:03.071]Not knowing the ways'll get you capped, like an NBA salary [03:05.880]Some cats be emceein' to illustrate what we be seein' [03:08.716]Hard to be a spiritual being [03:10.183]When shit is shaking what you believe in [03:11.405]For trees to grow in Brooklyn, seeds need to be planted [03:14.166]I'm asking if y'all feel me and the crowd left me stranded [03:16.794]My blood pressure boiled and rose [03:18.636]‘Cause New York niggas acting spoiled at shows [03:20.460]To the winners, the spoils go [03:21.971]I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates [03:24.630]New York life type trife, the Roman Empire state [03:27.372][Chorus: Common, Mos Def, all] [03:27.735]So much on my mind, I just can't recline [03:30.098]Blastin' holes in the night 'til she bled sunshine [03:32.781]Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine [03:35.590]Breathe out, green smoke retrace the skyline [03:38.162]Yo, don't the bass ride out like an ancient mating call? [03:40.792]I can't take it, y'all, I can feel the city breathing [03:43.617]Chest heaving, against the flesh of the evening [03:46.728]Sigh before we die like the last train leaving [03:49.174] [03:49.375]¡Escuchela, Respirando como yo… Ojos sinceros, escondiendo pena y temor [03:53.793]El silencio de mentira, tocando al hogar escapando sentimientos entre ella y yo [03:58.957]On The Amen corner I stood lookin' at my former hood [04:02.575]Felt the spirit in the wind [04:03.820]Knew my friend was gone for good [04:05.066]Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, I couldn't mask it [04:07.760]Mixin' down emotions, struggle I hadn't mastered [04:10.591]I choreograph seven steps to Heaven [04:13.125]In Hell, waiting to exhale and make the bread leaven [04:16.077]Veteran of a cold war; it's Chica-I-go for [04:18.822]What I know or what's known [04:21.119]So some days I take the bus home, just to touch home [04:24.075]From the crib I spend months gone [04:25.846]Sat by the window with a clutched dome [04:27.891]Listening to shorties cuss long [04:29.177]Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong [04:31.778]Tried to call, or at least beep the Lord [04:33.651]But didn't have a touch-tone [04:34.690]It's a dog-eat-dog world, you gotta mush on [04:37.053]Some of this land I must own [04:38.354]Outta the city, they want us gone [04:40.093]Tearing down the 'jects creating plush homes [04:42.737]My circumstance is between Cabrini and Love Jones [04:45.427]Surrounded by hate, yet I love home [04:47.816]Ask my guy how he thought travelling the world sound [04:50.655]Found it hard to imagine he hadn't been past downtown [04:53.343]It's deep, I heard the city breathe in its sleep [04:56.153]Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep [04:58.844]Deep, I heard my man breathe in his sleep [05:01.488]Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep [05:04.664] [05:04.957]So much on my mind, I just can't recline [05:06.942]Blastin' holes in the night 'til she bled sunshine [05:09.441]Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine [05:12.106]Breathe out, **** smoke retrace the skyline [05:14.826]Yo, how the bass ride out like an ancient mating call? [05:17.630]I can't take it, y'all, I can feel the city breathing [05:20.309]Chest heaving, against the flesh of the evening [05:22.976]Kiss the odds goodbye, I’m on the last train leaving