Black Star
Mineral Mountain
[Intro: Yasiin Bey, Talib Kweli]
Yo can we, can we play that um, New Normal, by Madlib?
Dude, this guy is so good, first of all, that cover
See now, certain pieces of music, certain pieces of art are just important, like what they communicate and just, that cover just looks like, the cosmos
Woo!
Now remember I said, I wrote something to this
Let's hear it, let's hear it
[?] I wrote something
You recognize if I flip the cut, okay go

[Verse 1: Yasiin Bey]
Listen, B.E.Y. the G.U.Y. again
And he's back to make Ali in his prime seem shy
Lord pardon me for harboring hubris
Senior year dropout, religious studious
Many arose, some perish, some fail
The false must perish, only the true prevail
Don't even put it on the scale to weigh
Off the charts, too heavy for the scale to say
But God's grace, we are able to shape time and space
We're back in the style, form, and wave
What the Eagle told the sparrow, "The crows ain't the problem" ...
Too boss to bother
Stronger than the dolla-ala

That B.E.Y., hah
Hold tight with the light and vision beyond sight
Flow built with what death don't kill
They showin' light for Pac, or Big, or Nip, or Phife, [?]
"Outstanding" like the Gap band jamming
Blow!
[Bridge: Yasiin Bey]
Tight, hype, roll tight, roll tight
But yes, yes y'all, let's hear the beat, born free
You and me, complete
It's Yasiin, and in between

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]
Sometimes I'm out to get, [?] to get, [?] to get
Eighth light shine bright when my brothers get in the booth
Make sure the space where you're thinking is safe and trigger proof
'Cause soon they make telling the truth mental abuse
All these hamster wheel rappers stay stuck in a loop
Only boring people get bored, they got nothing to do
I'm a legend but still spit like I got something to prove
With bullet points like a rapper with a gun in the booth
I'm 'bout as silent as the violence that the summer produce
That make us grow up so fast and got us running from youth
James Brown found the boots of a man that was hung by a noose
And put them on to walk a day in his shoes, playing the blues
Keep our eyes on the prize, it's ours to lose
You paying your rent at the fool's paradise, it's hard to move
We finna kick it, hear the drum and get wicked, like party crews
Took out the bishop like Q, so they told me I got the juice

[Chorus: Yasiin Bey]
To the beat, born free
You and me get complete, indeed
Standards of conduct, standards of beauty
The Mountain of Gold, the Inevitable Miracle
Standards of conduct, standards of beauty
Mineral Mountain, the Inevitable Miracle
[Verse 3: Black Thought]
My history, what can I say? It ain't perfect
It ain't on wikipedia, you can't search it
The thing about graffiti is it ain't cursive
If it don't make you feel a way, it ain't worth it
The force I'm against lost common sense
The boss right hand lost dominance
From not acknowledging his sole promises
The test resulted in a false positive
I've been met with a lot of flames and came through it
Thought it never come to this until it came to it
You try to change the game, then it change you
It's just a few that really know the Dilla though, James Dewitt
I'm not one of us, I'm a sum of us
Been waiting for the dough to come and punish us
For anthems we get pigeon peas and planted, damn
Now we running from the sun, what's become of us?

[Chorus: Yasiin Bey]
Hah, yes yes y'all, hah, and to the beat
It's you and me, hah
Standards of conduct, standards of beauty
Mountain of Gold, *mumble*, hah
Standards of conduct, standards of beauty
Mountain of Gold, the Inevitable Miracle, yeah
[Outro: Yasiin Bey, Talib Kweli, Dave Chapelle]
It's beautiful brother, The Inevitable Miracle
Bro, I got it. You gotta star doing cyphers
Over Zoom like this?
Yes! Just for the first -
Wait we recorded that, see that could be an NFT!
I knew you were gonna say that, see I already pressed it up
*Laughter*