Wages of sin

[Talib Kweli]

Yeah, yeah, YEAH!

Y'all already know what it is, this is fam

Yo, Brooklyn raise up (come on)

Uptown raise up, Queens

Staten Island, the Boogie Down

[Chorus: Mr. Khaliyl (Talib Kweli)]

Aiyyo some people die for it (And some live it)

Some people snatch what they can (And some give it)

It's not how you play the game (It's how much you win)

Fuck the wages of sin, we gon' hustle

(We don't get by) We multiply

(We don't settle for less) We take the whole pie

(Don't gamble, we invest) Cause the stakes is high

(Whether we live or we die, we gon' hustle)

[Talib Kweli]

You all comfy when shit is paid up, like the car note or your rent

Look out you broke, and now you got more Hustle than Larry Flynt

Diggin up dirt on politicians when you got no pot to piss in

Sellin watches for commission, with fake rocks that don't glistin

Holdin up a block position, been a lot of options,

for you to get in, stop the bitchin!

You just ain't makin no hot decisions - where the blood clot?

Look how many gold-diggers the clubs got

If you ain't up on the hustle, find yourself doin the bus-stop,

or the train station, with the change, waitin for a metro card

Petrified, cuz once you get the dough to let go is hard

I'm a vet though and it's odd to see these new cats splurgin

Industry virgins think money make 'em a better person

Sign to ya mans label, which is under a label, under a parent label,

apparently you ain't even able to sit down at the table

You ain't braggin about seein the dough,

You braggin about bein a ho

Don't be mad at me, be mad at'cha boys,

I just thought you needed to know

[Chorus]

[Mr. Khaliyl]

Yo, they try to gas me up (gas me up)

But I don't fall for the flattery

Just keep the people charged like assault with a battery

Now your mad at me, and your squad wanna battle me

Cuz every line I spit, got a money-back guarantee

With a lifetime warranty, just keep the receipt

Universe is passing moments, but my world is the street

They can't dance and when they hustle, they trip over they feet

They tryna make ends meet like when they cipher complete

I used to wanna be a star when I was a spectator

So now I'm legendary, when I die I'll be greater

It's funny how life is just like an elevator

But major life changes ain't nuttin to be afraid of

Remember (-member) nuttin in this life come free

Cuz if I take from you, somebody else gon' take it from me

And I'll be damned if I let somebody take it from me

Shit I'ma do for y'all the way you never did it for me

Come on

[Chorus]

[Talib Kweli]

Up in the city that never sleeps, black mommas forever weep,

and cats whip Jeeps equipped with fashion designer leather seats

But the team is never beat, and we always weather the heat

Stay with that mentality, I'll bet y'all niggas never eat

[Mr. Khaliyl]

Yo, they callin me the Devil's Advocate,

but they don't know the half of it

The lone catalyst, shaped for my master shit

Make it tangible, firmin up the hand of these apes

Who can't grasp because intense, so they rewindin my tapes

Yo Kweli!

[Talib Kweli]

We count down to armageddon like 1, 2, 3, 4

We raw like C4, been here before and after

You up and down like a see-saw,

With your fake hustle, that beats more

Like when I ask my three year old son to make muscles

[Mr. Khaliyl]

Cuz muscles come in all shapes, and mine take the form of breath

So when I spit the air is thick enough to beat you to death

See to die is to have lived, but you can't even die right

You like a candle on the sun, nigga you just a waste of light

[Chorus]

[Mr. Khaliyl (Talib Kweli)]

Come on eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh

(It's like, it's like, it's like)

Come on, come on, come on (Uh, uh, uh, it' like)

Yea yea yea yea yea yea (Yo, it's like, uh)

Yea yea yea (Come on it's like)

Raw Series, Mr. Man (Come on, it's like)

(Yo, yo, it's like)

Kweli, Reflect 'Ternal

(Y'all wanna get a peice) C-Smith

Rawkus Records, Raw Series Entertainment

Make it nice like that for you..