Hostile Gospel, Pt. 1 (Deliver Us)

[Intro: singers (Talib)]

Deliver us, deliver us (Yeah)

Deliver us, deliver us (What? Yeah)

[Talib Kweli]

And what the people say? We wanna live it up

And what the people want? Please deliver us

And what the people need? Hey...

I got that, yeah

[Talib Kweli]

I call these rappers baby seals, cause they club you to death

I could call 'em Navy SEALs, cause they government feds

What become of the vets? They drugged up, they fucked up, they in debt

There ain't no love and no respect, it's like a gang it's like a club or a set

Hip-Hop's the new WWF

What do you rap or do you wrestle? Niggaz love to forget

We got til it's gone, you think you on, you still hustlin backwards

Your topical norm a tropical storm, it's a fuckin disaster

Back to the topic we on, it all started at Rawkus

They couldn't find the words to describe me so they resort to the shortcuts

Is he a backpacker? Is he a mad rapper?

An entertainer or the author of the last chapter

We living in these times of love and cholera

Synonymous with the apocalypse, look up the clouds is ominous

We got maybe ten years left say meteorologists, shit

We still waitin for the Congress to acknowledge this~!

[Chorus: Talib Kweli & singers in the background]

What the people want? Please deliver us

We wanna live it up, please deliver us

Th-th-this is the, th-th-this is the, this is the hostile gospel

I'm reaching through the fire - please deliver us

I'm preaching to the choir - please deliver us

Just keep it real with us, you scared to spill your blood

Your words rung hollow, we need someone to follow

[Talib Kweli]

You ain't promised tomorrow, so get your paper up

You can't always just borrow and asks for favors bruh

Stand on your own two, never covet thy neighbor's stuff

Karma's a bitch so watch your mouth and what you sayin bruh

I start a conversation based on general observation

Hip-Hop is not a nation, take it to population

Niggaz got a lot to say when locked inside the belly of Satan

Awaitin trial debatin how the hell I got placed in this system

Am I a victim or just a product of indoctrination?

They exploit it and use me like a movie with product placement

You hear the congregation; this is the hostile gospel

The truth is hard to swallow it'll leave you scarred tomorrow

Keep it honest our motto, these niggaz keep it bottled

I'm the writer who reach the fighters like speeches by Cus D'Amato

DJs stickin to vinyl like "Fuck Serato"

Suppliers who ride around the block, in the custom models

Ballin like the struck the lotto you know who the cleanest is

A nigga keep it reeich with the stitch and greedy geniuses

I'm not a hipster, but I flip it like a sneaker pimp

Expose the game, treat it like a bitch

Smack fire out these hoes, cause they snitch and tap wires while I plead the fifth

You can't trust a soul in the biz, so be careful who you eatin with

and sleepin with and also who you chiefin with

You never know they might've added in secret ingredients

[Chorus]

[Talib Kweli]

Freedom's a road that's seldom traveled, watch hell unravel

Right before the eyes of the soldier who fell in battle

The single mother who raised her daughter to bear the sacred water

And not take the hand of every man who make a offer

To black kids wishin they white kids, when they close they eyelids

Like, "I bet they neighborhood ain't like this"

White kids wishin they black kids, and wanna talk like rappers

It's all backwards it's identity crisis

The industry inside us is vipers with fangs trying to bite us

Drug suppliers is the health care providers

We cakin, makin narcotics outta household products

We ain't workin out 'til we exorcise the demons that's inside us

Plus they seem to just provide us with enough rope to hang ourselves

Enough dope to slang ourselves, enough toast to bang ourselves

It's officially nigga season, these niggaz is bleedin

That's why I'm spittin freedom we had enough of trigger squeezin

[Chorus]

[Outro: singer]

In these tryin days and times

All I need is to be free

I can't do it on my own

Lord can you deliver me?

There are trials still to come

It's salvation that I need

So I'm reachin to the sky

Lord can you deliver me?

Deliver us...

Deliver us, yeah

Deliver us, ohhhhhhhhhh

Oh, deliver us

Deliver us

Ohhhhh Deliver us yes

Deliver us, deliver us, deliver us

Yeah yeah yeah, ohhhhhhhhhh... [ad libs to fade]