[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]
From the top, from the top, from the top, from the top
From the top, from the top, from the top, from the top
In a state of grace
Where the talent is surrounded by the pain and the violence
So the selling never safe
At the same time snitching to the Jake
Is the quickest way to be found at the bottom of a lake
But the problem we face seems so great
That we can't escape so we accept our fate
So the sex and the money and the murder and the pictures we paint
If an artist is a part of a community
And got an opportunity to get that cake
Would never come back to the hood, no immunity
Usually a nigga like that so fake
No different from a snake
Nothing left to give cause you always wanna take
If you ain't using all the talents God provided you with
Would a better minuteman understand you ain't nothing but a waste?
Look into the face of a young girl
Raising up like a flag when it's unfurled
Got game listening to her mother's pearls
And she love Beyonce cause she run the world
Her mama used to run this city
Way back before the nigga Puff was Diddy
When it came to the music then she got real picky
From New York, but preferred 2Pac over Biggie
No disrespect to Ms. Wallace, but she liked to do the knowledge
And she felt that Pac was more lyrical
Plus she never went to college
But she called herself 'Earth' found rhythm with the gods more spiritual
She God in the physical
And it's only natural to pray for a little you
Musical so she played the umbilical chords
So her daughter was born it was a miracle
Music is the light when it's dark
And the way that you spit your dart is a big part
She grew up loving hip hop
Now all her daughter got is "Love & Hip Hop"
Nowadays niggas turn up for the sex
Niggas turn up for the money, never turn up for the movement
Ratchet reality stars that be looking so stupid
Getting in the fights at reunions
She used to be inspired by the writers, now she's tired of the biters
No desire for the lying and the violence
That's inflicted on the body in a so-called party environment
Her body is politics
Lost count of how many whores she was called today
She won't do it no more, lost all her faith
They say she exaggerate when she holler 'Rape'
But it's only so much she can tolerate[Hook: Abby Dobson]
Help me find my way to a state of grace
Stir my heart, touch my soul
Feed me freedom sounds you made
Help me find my way to a state of grace
Lift me up with your weight
Pull me to the grace[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]
She wanna to be the first in her family with a higher education
Her entire graduation was a dire situation
Did a paper on the state of the hip hop generation
But no longer felt a part of the conversation
Used to be I'm a ''ride or die'' chick
B.I.G. with the ''Me And My Bitch''
No objections, being an object
Major label seeing a profit
She ain't never been a bitch or a ho
But she used to sing along when she heard it in a song
She used to be front row at the shows 'til she overdosed on the testosterone
Her favorite rapper invited her backstage would have stayed
But she felt like she really ain't belong
When she wouldn't let him hit, this nigga called her a bitch
She erased all her songs from the phone
You are who you fuck with, so the guy that she stuck with
You can bump it or dump it, the artist she trusted
Just broke her heart, so misogynistic and disgusting
She tried not to judge him
In her heart she still loved him
And the way that he lusting a part of his suffering
And this young man clearly not ready for the harder discussion
Female emcees acting more like a dude than a dude do, only if you knew
I know a few who flow crazier than if you flew over the nest of the cuckoo
But she never gonna hear them in the mix so the new attitude
Taking cues from the radio playing that doodoo
She on D'Angelo Pandora station playing that Voodoo, who knew?[Hook][Verse 3: Talib Kweli]
In the face of hate
She'd be lucky for a balance cause the world is challenging her to be great
I see lyrics as colors and shapes
Put it on tape, let her know I could relate
When you wish you could switch the way that you look
And your nose was smaller and your hair was straight
When you got no faith
When you hate yourself, when you hate your race
Let's get to the core
Our sisters worth more than grinding on the wall half-naked
She a bitch, she a whore
And you rich and you shit on the poor
In all of your records and ask 'em to buy it
Why should I support music that constantly disrespects me?
And make you dismissive of the efforts of those who get left
With the charge of repping it correctly
When it's free online or in a cloud
Ain't no reason to touch the radio dial
You wonder why you don't hear no sounds on the air
And it's clear that your sales going down
Down by law then you found the raw
On a message board and you sounding off
These niggas get the whole world, but what's the cause?
No wonder why these niggas be sounding lost
Rhyming is a memory
The assembly line rap niggas is designed by the enemy
Stop giving them your soul, gift wrap
Prepackaged, fabricated shit rap
Running through you like fast food; Big Mac's
You don't want no problems, fix that
All the time that you spent listening to that bullshit
Now you ain't never gon' get back[Hook][Outro: Talib Kweli]
She don't love it, no
She don't love it no more