Respiration - Black Star/Common.mp3

[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 ****ty 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 ****** 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