Nine
Protective Custody
[Dante]
Yo, Mood recite chapters
Rappers write scripts for actors
Don't rap about the facts, till they attack the catch
Handcuffed and shackled, stand up get tackled
Defeaters of your leaders heaters on their Adam's apple
Keep quiet, be silent the sphere no weak vibe
We defy, a new in it root, for street wise
Got to stop it, they taxin' for guns, wars and rockets
Puttin' profits in their pockets
The lock and kill our prophets

[Dante & Main Flow]
MF: They stole knots, hold spots, trapped in the road block
DT: We globetrot, we roll pop, running from old cops
MF: The whole shots, cold plots, Babylon's gold pot
DT: Loan Glocks, cold shots, set off like we sold rocks

[Main Flow]
We dealing with NARCS and cases
Deaths over parking spaces
Evil hearts are racist, Ohio's dark places
Brutality on mark faces, car chases
Incarceration, unite so we can spark the nation

[Nine]
You got the right to remain silent at the same time
They got the right to remain violent and aim nines
They got no love for you, just slugs for you
Who want it? I fight back like a rat when he cornered
Catch me at the light, windows tinted, 35 percent
Breakin ya neck, to see who's in it
What is my intent? Trying to live, without the nonsense
You dying to give
[Tiye Phoenix]
Yo yo, the spokesqueen, number one Tiye Phoenix
The black Venus de Milo
Doper then Tae Bo, every man, woman and child know
We unified force against the shooters of Diallo
And now they sure to lose like Luther at the Apollo
For Amistad to Amadou, attacked in the streets
The term COP really stands for Cappin Our Peeps
They shot him, 40 rounds, our brother got slaughtered down
We push through the border now, jihad, holy war bound

[Breeze Brewin']
You wanna be a fuckin accident, the beast was barkin
You wanna know how many accidents to rob a New Yorker?
And the possible atrocity
Millimeters from the kids set the Glock
With a ferocity, seemin as it's inbred
While I stated innocent, but stressing it
You sure that it was desolate
It could have been an isolated incident
Nothing was found, no hard feelings I fight bad guys
Strutting around like Keith Christ huttin the site
Airtime

[Talib Kweli]
This goes out to MC's who used to rock in Washington Square Park
Now Guiliani got it locked after dark, we mastered the art
Of living in death shadow, it's enough of a battle
To dodge the police
And have to rise above the crabs in the barrel
My people spill blood in the streets
I'm never running from beast
Can I get a response from all the revolutionaries up in this piece?
(yeah!!)
What up, cause of the way we think they want to incarcerate us
They think time will break us, but time won't make us
[Punchline]
I rock a vest even when I take shots at a bar
The type to write the word police on a unmarked car
I resent you, gettin off easy if they suspend you
I end you, hope they use your own gun against you
It's all mental, my man died in the streets
I'm pouring out liquor, until there's nuthin to drink
That's how many cats died, slayed by the beast
That night, 5-0 held court in the streets

[Interlude (scratched repeatedly)]
"Who protects us from you"
"Hip-hop"

[El-P]
Petrified little venomous school yard outcast
From disfunctional world of redneck garbage
Community bastard child, seekin power to overcompensate
For miniscule shit court
And repress shitty sexual activity style
Need a vocation when standing
Spliff of the semi-retarted, is prone to fits of
Spontaneous violence and compulsive lying
Package dukes that has a lunchbox with a Glock
And your Ku Klux decoder ring
We'll sing Kumbaya to the tune of a man dying
[Jah-Born of Medina Green]
Y'all seen the front page? another black man got slayed
By the beast hit with a rain, of 4 Glocks got sprayed
Hey Giuliani, was 41 shots necessary?
Now my people's got to worry, bout the cops possibly killin me
Justice? All I see is Just Us
Gettin knocked locked and bust, without a word discussed
NYPD, should be NYPIG
I don't deal with the swine, don't want swine dealin with me

[Jean Grae]
These shot happy motherfuckers legally ready to blaze n***as
With raised triggas and cocked back with plans to fake figgas
Who black and innocent, fuck it let's get militant
Run up in the precinct, strapped with gats
With full clips loaded, aimed at their heads
Stainin' the feds, double 20 plus one round to blood red
Revenge, we must return to avenge my brother, we coming
The first sister holdin the lead

[John Forte]
El Capitano keep my guns high
I run through New York cuz I'm alumni
The fact I'm in it, half street, half academic
I memorize my stash number, the flash number
Ya pig stinch, plus your badge number
Ya precinct, and the Irish lad you serve under
I'm probaly grinding drugs, come from hittin the kitchen
A black man in a pretty car will fit the description
You get informed quick
You racist fuck, I was born rich

[Mr. Khaliyl]
I seen it happen before, and it could happen again
You on a block mindin' your own and then you're left by your friends
Cuz they ain't down to scrap, just wanna ride in your Benz
But when the cops is on the beat, that's when the party begins
Like a karate picture, the way they mop the floor with ya
All caught up in the heat, now the doctor can't stitch you
Nobody movin with you, cuz you really ain't bout it
Now there's fear in your heart, and there's blood in your mouth
It's like something we never seen before
It's almost like we dreamed it all
Live or die, either or, my blood is what they fiending for
My people's screamin for the justice we deserve
Send 41 back, we leaving 22 on the curb