War By Other Means

[Intro]
A faithless preacher? Or you a mean motherfucking servant of God?

[Sene: Verse 1]
I said If I could ride Pegasus back to Exodus
Before the apple Adam ate, before Able exited
Before we made the atom split, we were all African
Kings around the black again, before slave trafficking
Before computers; If I could pick a territory it would be Zamunda, uh
Before Kunta, Before rumors of a Lucifer
Before I had to watch for the sirens on a lumina, or
Before I had go and to see my homies at their funeral
My life is beautiful, my life is brutal though
Era of the crack game, beepers and the crap games
AIDS became the black plague and angels changed their last name
Big body Benzes, graffiti on the benches
Friends turning friends in to get a lighter sentence
So if you hit heaven any earlier than I
Just know that I'm trying to make amends
Amen

[Verse 2]
In a fiscal year, the fish scale sold
Give more to the ghetto than the WIC check can
The mayor is a player and the pigs don't care
The rich are given everything the kids don't have
My first seeds coming and I'll be damnned
If you don't know that, this a cold cold land
I know some flippers that'll flip you for a pardon
So pardon if I'm dolo cause I don't trust Jack
You feel gangster cause you sold some drugs
But when the po-po come why you don't bust back?
Your man get the word and he come "CLACK CLACK"
Upholding the law, that's a joke not fact
I've dumbed it down for dummies now to undersound
Or understand what I'm humming 'bout
Shit, I even cut the drumming out
Sound stoned cause I even cut the loving out

[Interlude]
I often receive letters from people that quote famous names. Such and such a person, a preacher, a revivalist, a man of God. I read these books and I swear by the words of these preachers. I want to give them a warning my friend

[Verse 3]
A man used a poem to decide where he's living
It decides wheres he's going, determines where they show is
Determines how they look in it, determines what his dough is
My words built an ark like ?, like Noah's
Poets, hanging with poorest and the lowest on the totem
All fathers for the fallen
God tried to slow him, devil tried to call him
Came home, somebody grubbing on my porridge
I'm the New Yorkers
Fried rice sitting over pork chips
Loose stogs sold at the store where the whores is
Streets sniff enough blow to kill horses
"Fuck the Police" plays loud on the porches
But if I try to repent
Will I get into the pearly gates, forgive and forget
Cause if not, I'm busting every shot that I got
I don't see an angel Gabriel to pay my rent
You see criminals, I see friends and
You hear subliminals, well I see trends and
We left to wonder where the madness ends
Where the goodness starts
By the stars I bet

[Interlude]
It's not that we live in fear, we live in...we live in power. We have firearms, we have food, we have gold, we have friends, we have truth, we are not weak, we are not dependent. Ants store food, grasshoppers don't. Ants survive the winter, the grasshopper doesn't

[Verse 4]
Check it out
Passion, written in the caption
Sitting with the sinner saying prayers over caskets
Seeing silhouettes and it must be the absinthe
Miss home but it must be my absence
Traveling the map since back when
John became a Baptist, I feel as if
I could tell the story of the world but backwards
I can name my son globe, my girl atlas
Tell you why the sun glow
Come back with pieces of the sun, turn it up son, blast it
Rap baccalaureate, master historian
Swooping through the black hole, shotgun DeLorean
Home of Mos Def and Notorious
Bullets flying by you in the squeeze like accordions
Tell me where the chorus is
I've been falling back and talking to you on some roaring shit
Being my ? shit
Kate in the office with Jay on the phone telling y'all to support the kid
Kevorkian, caviar with a spork in it
What you talking? Put a fork in it

[Interlude]
What was that? An Exhibition? We need emotional content. Now try again!
(Student tries again)
I said "emotional content." Not anger! Now try again!
(Student tries again and succeeds)
Lee: That's it! How did it feel?
(Student thinks; teacher smacks his head)
Don't think. FEEL. It's like a finger pointing away to the moon
(Looks at student who is looking at the finger; smacks student again)
Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all of the heavenly glory! Do you understand?

[Interlude]
I was going to the worst place of the world and I didn't even know it yet
The purpose of war is to serve a political end but the true nature of war is to serve itself
War is a continuation of politics by other means
This is what it's all about John, this is what we're praying for

[Verse 5]
Can't shake it
Look all around, see Satan
Apes bathing with the atheists
Popes choosing alias
Our way, doomsday, dancing with the aliens
Anti-episcopalian (what an ugly thing to say)
Who pushed the prophet to the line?
Who's the guy that sprung the mallet helped to put the nail in him?
Anti-American, demon
Pail ?
That shit'll have him knocking on my door, feds tailing him
Shoot him down say that he was working with the Taliban
You can find me out in Brooklyn moving with my caravan
Gold Cadillac, brown fist ? shit
Just as long as I'm sitting on a mile
And my seed's got a queen just to help me when his pampers think
Cancer sticks, malt and liquor
Rome fell, watch as we fall quicker
Coke sells, folks don't sell drugs homie
And big brother hope you got your cellphone with you
You know you're really gangster when you're pulling out the jack
And they cap you because they thought you taking cell phone pictures
I grease my bows with that Mississippi mojo
Working like I'm in the dojo in this hell cold kitchen
You call it rap, I call it testimonials
To teach the kids and older folks some hard knock scriptures

[Interlude]
Well it was nice while it lasted
Uhm as you can see it would appear that everything has come back again

We had a good one, I can't complain (x4)

[Verse 6]
We hear cheers of a crowd
But ? still like tears tattooed to the cheeks of a crown
Man knows nothing
We can be fly but imagine what happens when we all fall down
Or better yet, who will they arrest if we all just decide to put the four-fives down?
Truths in the towers, locked away
And it's ugly as the Hunchback of Notre Dame
The streets hear still feel blood soaked stains
Targeting the poor like ? on planes
Trying to duck rubber that comes our way
Because real G's never kept a gun on safe
And reality is raw like prison's gates
Where folks do ? to sell their weight
Sell they momma, stores don't sell vests, they sell armor
You can a buy a bullet why your missus paint her nails and your kids look at video games
Same Walmart, same Target
Painted on our chest
And I put mine in the paint like Artest

We had a good one, I can't complain (x4)