What's Beef?

Yo I was sold to a sick European by a rich African battlin'

Middle Passages, I can't go back again

Battlin' years of denyin' history, lies and mysteries

Wives with misty eyes watchin' their niggas be beaten viciously

Battle in the wilderness of North America

Ran by the river, only stoppin' to pray

Chased by predators

Terrorists with etiquette who vote and kill their president

Their capacity for evil so evident and prevalent

Ain't no hesitation involved, a nation dissolved

While we sit back waitin' to evolve

Those who would trade in their freedom

For their protection deserve neither

Fuck a name, fuck tradition

Religion - you learn Jesus

Turn the other cheek

Inherit the Earth, just stay meek

Fuck the way you speak

Try to walk, we chop off your feet

Fastforward to 2003, niggas beef

The psychology of children are slaves to run deep

[Mos Def and Talib Kweli]

Hell yeah, hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo

What's beef? hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo

That's beef, hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo

It's always your own peoples

Sometimes it's your own peoples yo

Yeah yeah, hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo

What's beef? hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo

That's beef, hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yo

It's always your own peoples

Sometimes it's your own peoples yo

[Mos Def]

Beef is not what Jay said to Nas

Beef is when workin' niggas can't find jobs

So they tryna find niggas to rob

Tryna find bigger guns so they can finish the job

Beef is when the crack kids can't find moms

Cause they end up inna pine box or locked behind bars

Beef ain't the Summer Jam for Hot 97

Beef is the cocaine and aids epidemic

Beef don't come with a radio edit

Beef is when the judge is callin' you "defendant"

Beef, it comes with a long jail sentence

Handed down to you in a few short minutes

Beef is when your girl come through for a visit

Talkin' bout "I'm pregnant by some other nigga"

Beef is high blood pressure and bad credit

Need a loan for your home and you're too broke to get it

And all your little kids is doin is gettin' bigger

You tryin not to raise 'em around these wild niggas

Beef is when a gold digger got ya seat and a

A manicured hand out like "pay me nigga"

Or I'm tellin' your wife

Or startin' up some foul rumor that'll ruin your life

Beef is when a gangster ain't doin it right

Another gangster then decided what to do with his life

Beef is not what these famous niggas do on the mic

Beef is what George Bush would do in a fight

Yeah, beef is not what Ja said to 50

Beef is more than Irv not bein here with me

When a soldier ends his life with his own gun

Beef is tryin' to figure out what to tell his son

Beef is oil prices and geopolitics

Beef is Iraq, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip

Some beef is big and some beef is small

But what y'all call beef is not beef at all

Beef is real life happenin' everyday

And it's realer than them songs that you get at Kay Slay

This has been a Black Star psa

From Mos Def, Pretty Flocko, black Dante

And the Black Star embassy, b to the k