Before He Walked
Talib Kweli, Nelly, Abby Dobson
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Lyrics
Brand new day
Ayo, if you passionate about what you
Do like I'm passionate about this music
This song is to you
It's like I can't breathe
When I wake up in the morning, I can't breathe
Until I listen
Feed my family
I affect the world
And y'all along for the ride
Let's go
Like medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my heart, my music
Like medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my heart, my music
I'm from a small city, but I had big dreams
Had some good ideas, but I had better schemes
I thought the hustle way for me was etched in stone
Until my partner died and his name etched in stone
My daughter's growing up, my son on the way
They closing in on me, it feel like any day
Music saved me, swooped in like the Navy
Put a lifetime of scars all in sixteen bars
So I took the vow and made music my life
Yep, I proposed and made music my wife
And if I ever need to cut a nigga, music's my knife
And if I need to bring the girls together, music's my dyke
So yep, I degraded and I hated, even cried through it
I watched brothers prophesize about dying through it
Music gave me knowledge of self
And I'm a knowledge of self, then gave me knowledge of wealth
And I'm young
Like medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my heart, my music
Like medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my heart, my music
Music a part of me, I'm a bully
Beating up the track with brutal honesty
The truth inside of me
Rappers hit the booth and they lie to me
I'm using the inspiration Guru provided me
I'm redefining the space, you could call me the new geometry
A picture of you pop up when I Google "monotony"
Now all the people who gruel and spend responsibly
Think your album is trash and it's not the rule of economy
So you expecting the conscious and introspective views
Eat your lyrical vegetables, let me tell you what's best for you
My music gives you a message, true, all respect is due
But music is emotion that's lost on the intellectuals
I tree to fall in the forest is never heard
Amongst the sparrows and the robins and even the ghetto birds
You download it for free, but what I create is sacred
It cost you nothing but I pay to make it, trust
Like medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my heart, my music
Like medicine in times of war, helps me get over
The sweetest sounds I ever heard, my joy, my heart, my music
I was born on the after beat
I'm like Robert Johnson when he reached the crossroads
Me and the devil have to meet
I saw the same thing as Clef and Lauryn when they saw it
Lauryn went looking for God and Clef kept touring
We listen to the same songs but we hear 'em different
Serenaded death like we got a fear of living
Having a sรฉance on stage 'cause the spirit risen
Stop the devilish ways with clever displays of lyricism
If your songs are a natural resource
Is our actual street stories attract the police forces?
Slaves to the rhythm, the masters, they eat off us
And he could rhyme before he walked