Talib Kweli
The Quiet One
[Chorus - Talib Kweli]
What have I become
I was never the quiet one
Been the voice of the people for my entire run
From 1991, that's when I begun
Professional I get deep as a leviathan

[Verse 1 - Talib Kweli]
We need to vibrate higher, we spiritually half awake
We like the guy on the couch who be getting you half baked
I'm a New Yorker, I be seeing a literal rat race
These Nazis still want to give us the literal gas facе
They not satisfied with all of the n***as thеy castrate, son
It's criminal, these racists addicted to blackface
These rappers actors that deliver considerably bad takes
With pauses so pregnant they physically lactate
These n***as is fake, and they stayin in lyrical last place
It's a miracle how Diamond be diggin through mad crates
But churches are locked for criminals have faith
The streets sizzle when they move in the thizzle like Mack (?) Dray
The visual? Fake tennis shoe with the fat lace
'Cause I'm from Gotham, the home of the original Batcave
People screamin' like they Onyx, delivered the last days

[Chorus - Talib Kweli]
What have I become
I was never the quiet one
Been the voice of the people for my entire run
From 1991, that's when I begun
Professional, I get deep as a leviathan
Archie Bell & the Drells, how we tighten up
We talkin' bout practice, Alan Iverson
[Verse 2 - Busta Rhymes]

I'm movin' silent through major corridors wearin' moccasin slippers
Brooklyn n***as whistle bullets like Janice Joplin whispers
This shit's so hot your skin will bubble impossible blisters
Fuck what you got she'll part your top like unstoppable clippers
Remarkable shit, I spit divine, undeniable pictures
Liable to pull up on n***as that ride and dividable (?) killers
Philosopher, the scriptures hang high up in inside my villas
Who's linin' up with this shit with a little wine while you (?) linin' my pillars
And try and just figure you see me when you look in that mirror?
Go sip on that syrup and that blunt when your smoke start to clear up
The silhouette of my shadow will plant the fear of
Every soul we locked down and every town we cheer up
When you see me you best address me Mr. Josh (?)
Hammers back your whole team like the 76ers
Maufuckas, you dumb? You know we kill people for fun?
We gotta wait 'til I'm sung (?) to look at the god I've become

[Chorus - Talib Kweli]
What have I become
I was never the quiet one
Been the voice of the people for my entire run
From 1991, that's when I begun
Professional, I get deep as a leviathan
Archie Bell & the Drells, how we tighten up
We talkin' bout practice, Alan Iverson
[Verse 3 - Talib Kweli]

Since 9/11, profiled as the Taliban
Mayor of Gotham like Galivan (?) with a talisman
Fuck a Batman, we keep shooters
The manager of the building the only man we call super
This diamond shit knock you from the Bronx, that's a twofer
Heavily stoned like the whole Tudor (get it?)
From old New York before you could have porn on your home computer
Tell me something again like Chaka Khan and Rufus
That roof your ball to the score up like bang like Joe Kupa (???)
You know the rule, press your bust pipes like Roto Rooter
The blunderbusses that you saw a lupus (?) size cannon
In your faces where they stick it like a nice landing
They have you acting with your face like Michael Shannon
Whether you see the big picture or you micromanage

Yeah, I got a guy
The one you contact for a proper high
I will not apologize or compromise
Or try to convert your way whether for title or for Spotify
You talkin' streams I'm talkin' Nile rivers
You say you have a dream but we got Malcolm in us
We from the real Gotham, we some wild n***as
Livin' my best life: smile bitches
[Chorus - Talib Kweli]
What have I become
I was never the quiet one
Been the voice of the people for my entire run
From 1991, that's when I begun
Professional, I get deep as a leviathan
Archie Bell & the Drells, how we tighten up
We talkin' bout practice, Alan Iverson