[Intro]
Talib Kweli yeah, ay
Get with it, get with it
Here we go, here we go, c'mon, c'mon {*2X*}
Yeah; Blacksmith (Blacksmith) it's the movement
Keep it movin, keep it movin
Here we go, here we go, c'mon, c'mon {*2X*}
Yeah; Blacksmith (Blacksmith) pay attention
Gutter Rainbows, yeah
[Verse 1]
Watch me flip it like the Blacksmith logo
I shine a light through the darkness when the night is black as Yaphet Kotto
All these rappers lookin mad in photos
Saddest player braggadocio quality make up for what I lack in promo
You say you blast a fo'-fo' (nah) you don't shoot
It's more like you shot me an e-mail but forgot to attach the vocals
Call 'em a bastard like their dad a no show
I'm too fast for slowpokes, runnin on the track with Yohji Yamamoto's
This ain't fashion rap, I'm bringin the passion back
Find me where the trouble at, that's my natural habitat
(Let's go~!) I take it with me in the booth
To the livin we owe respect, to the dead we only owe the truth
So if somebody feelin disrespected
Even when his face is smilin, his heart rate escalate to violence
Look at them tremble, jugglin drugs
Using abusing beautiful strugglin, still we usually bubblin
[Hook]
It's the voice of the voiceless, hope for the hopeless
Spit game way too real, they don't promote it
Cause the way I approach it, from another angle
I stay in the streets and notice the gutter rainbows
It ain't no pot o' gold, it's where the product sold
It's where we lock and load, and and cop that rock then roll
So turn it up loud, and turn it up now
Turn it up loud, turn it up now
[Verse 2]
Welcome to my hood where the rainbows is in the gutters
The pain that you will discover is makin the angels shutter
There's sex in the city but we never claimed to love her
I know you heard of us, we more murderous than Cain famous brother
Living with death smokin blunts with the Grim Reaper
Snitch niggas known to blow the whistle like a gym teacher
This gum flapper, swear he a gun clapper
Nah; somethin backwards, he really a dumb rapper
He trapped on the corner with the oil spillin
Mixed with the dirt and the water collected in the gutter 'til the color's brilliant
I paint pictures so legendary; I BEEN doin this
Your history is as short as the month of February
In a leap year - what do we fear?
Dead bodies lyin on the ground, nuttin to see here
To be clear, don't ever cross me like police lines
Cause libertarians will be not invited to tea time
[Hook]
[Verse 3]
Now when I whip around a building it form a corner tornado
Findin nature in the city, we cover our feet in gators
Bugattis to bodegas, they sellin rotten tomatoes
Stackin chips and I don't mean potato - there go another one
Graduated from quarter waters and Butter Crunch
To tuxedo nice with a gun tucked in his cummerbund
He get it from his momma, he ain't nuttin but his mother's son
She used to get it poppin like bubblegum
Peddlin poison was often better employment
The ghetto destroyin any sense of self she was enjoyin
Survival of the fittest ; by any means necessary
Got us callin drug dealers revolutionaries
You say he kill his people, he say I feed my family
And you ain't kickin in, you'll never understand me
You just stand in my way, now you an obstacle
And obstacles end up in the hospital - I'm just sayin
[Hook]
[Outro]
Hey {*8X*} turn it up now
Hey {*8X*} turn it up loud
Yeah! Ha, ha, break it down like
Woo~! Yo yo, yo yo yo-yo-yo
Gutter Rainbows
There’s no pot of gold over that rainbow, son.
There certainly is pot being sold there though, and not by a leprechaun… More like guns are being fired and cops are harassing in this fairy tale.
A play off of the T.V. show/movie “Sex and the City”, saying that in his hood they'res plenty of sex, but little love. The “her” refers to both the city and the partner in intercourse.
Only nature found in the city is the alligator skin on pimp’s shoes and leopard’s fur on his back:
Refers to Kweli’s song title “Gutter Rainbows”.
Pollution in inner cities can generate rainbows. This shows that beautiful things can come from something hideous(Metaphorically speaking)
Kweli uses this hook slightly differed on the song Turnt Up off of his latest solo project Prisoner Of Conscious.
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=8kW8-S1Ic-E
Here Talib does a play on words comparing the term “blow the whistling,” as in to tell on someone to a gym teacher’s whistle blowing, to the other form of blowing the whistle which comes in corrolation with the snitch. Blowing the whistle could also mean a snitch telling an authoritary figure, meaning snitching.
Libertarians are a political party in the U.S. who emphasize individual liberty and political freedom. The libertarians are not welcomed into the political playing field because of the financial interests involved in maintaining the status quo.
Talib is criticizing the Tea Party movement which claims to be representative of libertarians. The tea party movement started off that way but was quickly co-opted by the establishment (GOP) and now Neocons in hiding really.
People who are caught up in negative things usually don’t live long
Also, February is the shortest month obviously having 28 days, 29 at best every four years.
This is the scene depicted on the album’s cover, brilliant rainbows in gasoline/oil on the street. It’s a metaphor for how beautiful things, i.e. rap/hip-hop culture, can come out of poor conditions, i.e. the ghetto.
NYers know that “quarter waters” were the small juices that sold for a quarter each and Butter Crunches are a type of cookie. Each associated with childhood, hence “graduating” from them.
Description of the Natural Selection, popularized by Charles Darwin (the one with the best traits :strenght, reproductive ability, etc, is the one who is going to survive over a weaker person.)
In the bible, there were brothers, Cain and Abel. Though Talib gives a slight misdirect as it was Cain who killed Abel and not the other way around.
Talib Kweli’s raps are for the people living in ghettos who’s problems need to be heard
Death is so omnipresent and natural in the ghetto you learn to live with it to the point that you could smoke weed with Grim Reaper like he was your friend.
Yoshi Yamomoto is a notorious fashion designer. His company’s agressive spending could be what Talib is referencing when he says he’s too fast. And fashion rap is a growing trend where rappers flaunt the kind of clothes they are wearing. Talib is saying he is going to bring the passion back to rap
Talib Kweli shouts out his recording label Blacksmith Records which features:
- Jean Grae
- Strong Arm Steady
- John Forte
- Idle Warship
- Hi-Tek