[Modenine]

It's the Flygerian, going H.A.M with the hustle

Run up on the Mode and pull a hamstring muscle

If you got an old bone to pick, bury the fossil

Or else , it's gonna be a one-sided tussle

You can tango, I'm all about the cash, Kurt Russell

Up front payment, money in the duffle, bag

But over here, they desecrating the art form

Lying to themselves like, Mode too hard for 'em

I raise the bar, you finishing where I start from

You far from a beast on the mic, you need a stronger grip

I got no endorsement, no sponsorship

They want a song about a silly dance, a monster hit

I ain't got that, but I got bars to make you back flip

Put the beat in a casket, when the Polymath spit

My peers pull me down, it's like I'm rapping from a crab's pit

All I'm trying to do is fill my bread basket

[AWKWORD]

AmeriKKKa, that's with three Ks

We need a man in a cape in the land of the brave, these days

Cave man cut my Capital One, for one, cause it isn’t pre-paid

And summer's always here, get out the street to beat the heat wave

Popped a pen, poured on paper to prove my beats slayed

But when Peter Piper picked a peck, the peppers were afraid

Always been the same, new ways to lynch a slave

We can march a million miles, make sense but no change

While bastards build a billion bars to break us with the cage

On The Other Side of the River, they do drugs at a rave

Seniors sleep soundly, estates safe cause a gates

We on the outside like, bitch, we bend but don’t break

It's like Apartheid, resist, in Mandela's six names

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, Zulu mind frame

[Maka]

Everything you gave me

Made me who I am

Today

Today

[Five Steez]

Looking at my life, there's one constant

My outlet always been this lyrical content

I never turn my back on this craft

Regardless of how I earn my cash on this path

The industry shady, sometimes, only stress

But I chose my direction and there's no regrets

I love music, with the biz, I was infatuated

'Til I realized most people masquerading

I do my art from the heart, hope it reach you

I'm fulfilled cause my songs spoke to people

Still slaving on the plantation, working to make it

You can never find a verse where I fake it

And yes, I know my purpose is sacred

Hailing from Kingston, Jamaica, the turf of the greatest

You can hear the hunger and thirst on these pages

And the genius in the nouns and verbs in these statements

[Holstar]

An '80s baby, when Hip Hop was in its infancy

Like let there be light, with open eyes they said, this infant sees

An African drum beat, bare feet, the ground cracks open

My ancestors can't let this vocal cords from me

They can source from me, but double XL with the sorcery

An African kid who wanna blast at the kid

Mastered a bit, now the Grandmaster Flash faster

LSK is my pulpit, Zambian rap pastor

Said I'd never be the best, but the best rocking a bullet vest

Spitting my verbal cannons, heart in my hand, I got an open chest

I more than live it, I embody the culture

Trying to save Hip Hop's carcass from these industry vultures

Fiends is tumultuous, Hip Hop is in a state of emergency

But they earn, you see? And they still don't see, the urgency

[Maka]

Everything you gave me

Made me, who I am

Today

The good, the bad, the ugly

Somehow, I found, the way

[Latasha Alcindor]

Dedicated to my dedication

Writing out my heart in this Q Train station

Man ya'll don't know what this girl been facing

Keep a slight grin, but the game grim, acting Grinch with my patience

Case in point, I be pointing out the cases

Vicious cycles with the denominator is faceless

Whose arrival making us hate us in occasion

Making our fate seem like The Matrix

All I want in life is to make living off a mics

Keep my fam straight, keep the people outta hype

And let 'em know the weight that they feel, we feel it too

The pressure in the rough, makes a shorty shine through

The see through, the evils, they teach you

But ego is pivotal, to the ways of getting you

So always kill it boo

[Third Eye]

My mama raised a soldier

Malawian born, but shooting global 'til it's over

Technology low, yo, my Internet slow, so

I'm shooting every rhyme, every single time, every front line, that's a soldier

The warm heart of Africa, there's never no war

But then we fight against the odds just to even the score

But in Malawi what's war, is adding up all these votes

For these fat politicians never knowing the score

They told us it's a draw, but now we celebrate the victory

Somebody explain these blood stains on my history

Dictators burn books, companies burn statistics

We end up just another number, it's sadistic

The floods are coming up, because the rain is going down

Thought I was coming up, until the floods came around

Malawi's named after a flame, so just imagine

A flame standing over the flood, and then he drown

[Maka]

Everything you gave me

Made me, who I am

Today

The good, the bad, the ugly

Somehow, we found, a way

[Wakazi]

My journey ain't never been in a straight line

No one to give me, so you know, I had to take mine

With TEC-9s, no, taekwando

Yes, but I was always equipped with a great mind

No one heard me through the grapevine

They say the best never come with a warning, so it's a great sign

So fuck they talk about why I ain't signed

Trust me I'll be all they talk about, at the finish line

Bilingual, beasting through these mixtapes, no single

Married to the game, yes and still single

Sina habari na mademu labda tu mingle

Getting the box, ain't never been a jackpot, bingo

Mandingo, mi ndo mpingo uliona kwa na ulimbo

Wananasa wakigusa nawachapa na hii fimbo

Me ndo mlinzi wa Hip Hop, protect lindo

Make sure everything go, smooth ka huu wimbo

[The Assembly]

[Lebo]

Hey, yo, Mel? It’s H, homes. You back in town yet?

[Mel]

Nah, I'm on way back, though

I'm almost at the border, had to take back roads

What up with you?

[Lebo]

Hey, I'm relaxed, bro. Just looking for something to do

Thought that you'd be back, so

Back roads, what you doing that fo'?

[Mel]

Can't afford to be paying mad dough

Bribing traffic officers for silly shit, I'm that broke

You're only leaving if you flash the purple paper, can't escape 'em

[Lebo]

Ah, snap, I guess that's how they make 'em

When the uniform's ‎the only thing that changes

But I’m glad you made it

Wait, you riding with a baby?

[Mel]

Nope, queues are crazy

Same mission, lots of different faces

Our people on the hustle for this paper

[Lebo]

Ay, and how we chase it and waste it at the same pace

Lays the basis for where the fates place us

But still we share space with the same races

That we say disgrace us, though we wear the same skin

Cause family is more than just next of kin

[Mel]

Damn, family is more than just next of kin

[Lebo & Mel]

Yup, family is more than just next of kin

Word, family

Family

Family

[Maka]

Everything you gave me

Made me, who I am

Today

The good, the bad, the ugly

Somehow, we found, a way