I don't remember the first time I heard Kweli
I don't remember what I was doing
There were no remembered witnesses to my doings
But it seems like I've known him foreverHe who has moved through mornings and midnights
Through deaths and dawns
To document our bones, our blood, our lives
Listen, listen to his exact wings
Strumming mists from cloudsListen, listen, a man always punctual with his mouth
Listen to his revolution of syllables
Scoping lightning from his pores
Keeping time with his hurricane beat
Asking us to pick ourselves up and become thunderYeah, they say you can't please everybody
Let's go, yeah, they ain't know what that sound likeFeel the heartbeat, feel the heartbeat
On your eardrum, we got a new heartbeat
Feel the heartbeat, feel the heartbeat
On your eardrum, we got a new heartbeatYo, what becomes of a dream deferred
That never makes it to the world to be seen or heard?
Do it breathe? Do it got a heartbeat? Is it alive?
Do it leave only to become a star in the sky?I believe the scratch that I know, this ain't my full potential
Only usin' 10 percent of my mental on instrumentals
But incidentally, my energy heavenly
Can he be so ill? There ain't no, pill or no remedyThe maker of memories posses the recipe to your fate
Make no mistake, there ain't no escapin' your destiny
Especially when 'til death do us part, like wedding rings
I'll be here forever, put that on everythingYou're everything man
You're everything manYour alpha and your omega, your beginning and your end
Your father, your brother, your lover, your friend
The blood in your vein that gets spilled and, runs in the drain
That's right, my flow one and the same, the joy and the painMy name, the burner that destroy the toy and the train
All city, all night I'm enjoyin' the fame
I'm a hustler, I'm a gangster and a rebel with the rank of a general
In the battle between God and the DevilI lay claim to your spirit, your religion, your belief system
I'll do your hit in your kitchen and you're relief pitchin'
This kid proficient in every position
The man of your dreams and your nightmares commandin' your vision'Til it's quite clear like light beer, yeah, I'm standin' right here
I get you hot but stay cooler than the night air
I try to fit it in the same rhyme
But realize, I can't be everything to everyone at the same timeYou're everything man
You're everything manFirst time I heard him, I was in Japan
Seems like the first time I heard him was like
The Reflection, 'Reflection Eternal'Like when Kanye came out
I guess was when I started to listen, I hate to say that but
New York native and serious Talib fanI came all the way from Puerto Rico just to see Talib Kweli
Him, Mos Def, all of them man
I need them out here in my life
It's a rainy morning in New York City