[Intro: Talib Kweli]
Fight for the whole purse
Cause life is a cold verse

[Verse 1: Yasiin Bey]
Mathematics is steel in the hour of
Chaos and God power love
Topple the Tower of Babylon
Break the great steel gate and elevate
Above all hate and all things
Grace, enthusiasm, sincerity, passion
Known through the classes and masses, massive
Trans-Atlantic mavericks, you are living Asiatic
The organic masters, the cream of the planet
The Panthers, sovereigns with answers
Medicine for madness, divine guideline for balance
Beyond sensational rapture
How clever to capture phony ceremony theatrics
So real it's surreal, look at my face
You could feel it before I had anything to say
Yasiin, Dante, Black Star, ever see all day
Fantastic, great, rise, elevate

[Hook: Yasiin Bey]
Before I made the news, you already know
And that's the truth
I said, before I made the news
You already know
And that's the truth
I said, before I made the news
You already know
And that's the truth
And it never made the news
It don't need to make the news to be true
Black Star, black black so
What's up with you?
How you doing, how you feel?

[Yasiin and Talib Kweli]
How you doing, how you feel?
And let the world spin round and round
No matter how it spin, it won't break me down
I'm on solid ground, but far above the clouds

[Yasiin Bey]
Consumer evil easing on down
Black and I'm proud, say

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]
Way more than just a stereo filler -- rising way above it
People love it, our material realer
We spit heavy, Rick Perry is a serial killer
Forget Carrie at the prom with a bucket of blood
It gets scary
Get buried just for speaking your mind
Stopped so often driving on the Turnpike
It's like driving in a coffin
I'm asking who riding, but riding is quite exhausting
Calling cats forfeit who get with the game often
Looking for fame and fortune, they try to remain important
Consorting with them whores and releasing the same endorphins
A pimp is still pimping regardless of what you call him
Mahi-mahi ain't just a fancy name for dolphin
Never get caught up in a name -- ask Yasiin
The realest she ever seen, Talib Kweli Greene
Funny people used to give my mom a hard time
Now my President is black and his name is hard as mine
Imagine if the Tea Party was black as the Caucus
They would be at the rally telling cops back up off 'em
Do it for the glory, the ghetto, the war stories
Soldiers on shore leave who occupy Wall Street
For good chicks who give it up to God on Sundays
Pretty chicks walking on the project runways
Rocking black on black like the project gunplay
Your sun'll come back out one day, trust me
[Hook 2: Yasiin Bey]
Before I made the news
You already know
And it's the truth
I said, before I make the news
You already know
And that's the truth
I said, before it made the news
You already knew
And that's the truth
And it never made the news
It don't need to make the news to be true
Black Star, black black too
What's up with you?
How you doing, how you feel?
How you doing, how you feel?

[Yasiin and Talib Kweli]
And let the world spin round and round
No matter how it spin, it won't break me down
I'm on solid ground, but far above the clouds

[Yasiin Bey]
The sin of evil isn't going down
Black and I'm proud, say it now
I make them set their hands down, say
Black Star, get down
Never mind, look around