[Intro: Mos Def]

History

It's happening every day, y'all

Right now

Everyday (Live, right now)

Right now

Good morning, Vietnam!

[Verse 1: Mos Def & Jay-Z]

Listen! Brooklyn wins again

It's the Stuy, it's the Bush, them niggas again

Ta' Kweli, Mighty Def, and S. Dot on the guest lock

Kanye, you're the dopeman of Hip-Hop, now let's rock

And roll out, niggas (Roll out), my hometown niggas (Ouu-ouu!)

I get it good in your hood, so slow down, niggas

Watch the speed, though, mind your pedal and ease off

Or screech off into a collision course with these walls (BAM!)

You don't move, don't pray, don't lose

Don't sleep, life passing, light flashing, life happens

That fast, party done, Black hands up in prayer

Black guns up in fear, dying wish is to touch the air

Seekin' heaven that wasn't here

Eyes will not see another year

It's another day, it's the same fight, different round – sound the bell

Mix it up in victory, you live it up, the beat'll get risen up

You're knocked down, then get back and get it up

Get off of Queer Street and get with us (Ha)

And get clear where we did it, from the heart, from the people

From the top, from the Jeep, from the gut, from the street

From my soul, to the mic, to the essence

So in my absence, you feel the presence—exactly

I make contact—for short, I emcee (Mos!)

Me and mine – we don't just get by, we get free (Nigga!)

And that's ready

[Verse 2: Jay-Z & Kanye West]

Just to get by, nigga, I sold coke, nigga, I pushed lah

Carried a four-five, claimed I was ready to die

Promised never to cry, held it all inside

Reality was too much to take, so I –

Kept my mind fried, slept for most of mine

Soon as I closed my eyes, then I woke up behind

Thinking, 'Either I load up these nines, or blow up with rhymes'

‘Cause this flow of mine is like blow up, but lines of coca

And your folks think Hov' just wrote stuff to rhyme

Nah, I'm a poster for what happens seeing your moms doing

5 dollars worth of work just to get a dime

So pardon my disposition

Why should I listen to a system that never listened to me?

Picture me working McDonald's (Yeah, yeah)

I'd rather pull a MAC on you (Ugh, yeah)

Sorry, Ms. Jackson, but I'm packin' – bye!

[Verse 3: Kanye West]

Yeah! It's somethin' about that Nina Simone piano flow

It's like if Michelangelo painted a portrait of Maya Angelou

And gave it to a sick poet for they antidote

If music get ya choked up, this is the tree and the rope

This is Chi, nigga, I'm Mr. All-of-That

Fuck a map, let's put this bitch on the almanac

Dice, what they hittin' for, Lacs what you sittin' on

Tracks who you spittin' on, rap 'til we get it on

And don't let nobody with the power to sign

Ever tell you you ain't got the power to rhyme

They used to tell me, "Toughen up, put some bass in your voice!"

Then used to tell me, "Lighten up, put some Ma$e in your voice!"

Lord willin' – I ain't killed nobody; but I have a feelin'

This album, that I'm gonna make a killin'

Or not a shilling, this is love-it-or-hate-it music

But at least we made it 'music'

And we didn't make it 'industry'

This is gon' be interesting

This'll be the end of me, or I'm finna be an entity

Kanye, Jay-Z, Mos Def, and Kweli

We are not makin' songs no more, we're makin' history

[Chorus: background singers, (Talib Kweli)]

This morning, I woke up

Feelin' brand new, I jumped up

Feelin' my highs and my lows

In my soul, and my goals

Just to stop smokin' and stop drinkin'

But I been thinkin', I got my reasons

Just to get (By), just to get (By)

Just to get (By), just to get (Get buh buh buh bye bye)

(Just to get by, just to get by)

(Just to get by) Just to get get buh buh buh bye bye

[Verse 4: Talib Kweli]

We keep it gangsta, say "fo' shizzle," "fo' sheezy"

Desensitized by the violence on the TV

During the war; killin' each other is easy

It's pourin' liquor for fallen niggas, believe me

It's ghetto libation – seen it all before

Just to get by, my people, we get fly

My people, we get high, fillin' cigars with the lah

Nigga, come on! Even Jesus was stoned

Before receivin' the throne

I send a "rest in peace" to Nina Simone

[Verse 5: Busta Rhymes]

Back in the days, we was used to doin' the shit

I can't call it all in the streets

We was hustlin' fiends that asked for it

I guess I was used to just standin' on corners

Waitin' for paper bags with bundles of crack

Hopin' the week was good, so I could get money back

(To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by)

When I was stressed, I possessed a side of my strength

That made me angry and bleed

With the frustration, havin' me smokin' Newports and weed

(To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by)

Those be the times when I try to rely

On my niggas and street mothafuckas

And reach out to wifey, and then I place a call on my mother

(To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by)

"Ayo, Mom, pick up the phone, I gotta to talk to you, Ma"

If you was Five Percent, instead of actin' stupid and guessin'

You had to go and study your lessons

And know your math in the building in session

[Chorus: background singers, (Talib Kweli)]

This morning, I woke up

Feelin' brand new, I jumped up

Feelin' my highs and my lows

In my soul, and my goals

Just to stop smokin' and stop drinkin'

But I been thinkin', I got my reasons

Just to get (By), just to get (By)

Just to get (By), just to get (Get buh buh buh bye bye)

[Outro: Talib Kweli]

Some people try, some people try

Just to get by, for my piece of the pie

We love to eat and get high

We deceive when we lie

And we keepin' it fly – yo, yo, yo, yo, yo

When people decide to keep a disguise

Can't see your eyes, see the evil inside

The best people you find

Stronger people in mind

I stay readin' the signs