| A man whose genius and freedoms and—
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| Ability to communicate and—
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| To talk, and to touch chords—
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| A man who has the ability and the audacity
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| And the unmitigated gall God to stand up, to stand up
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| I heard the sound of the trumpets, the voice on the throne
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| Seen the twenty-four elders and I knew I was home
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| I was told to write a song for the people
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| Take the original Hebrews on an Exodus of Black Excellence
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| Tell them to invest in us and make testaments about each other
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| On how we sisters and brothers
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| Cover the land and corners with poems and stone
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| Go hard with it, let 'em know you God with it
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| Even though I authored it, let no one margin it
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| And make it all about paper or first week’s sales
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| Though this is from Heaven give 'em verses from Hell
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| Those that fell off the path, bring 'em back to the math
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| Your staff will be your microphone
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| Your name is Common, you was born to fight the norm
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| Take house niggas outta darkness 'til they lights is on
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| I’ma put a hyphen on your name: rapper-actor-activist
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| You the one that can reach into the black abyss
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| Stars that’s asterisks, show 'em what a classic is
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| Freedom riders need passengers
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| In your lyrics use scriptures and passages
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| To make them rise like Lazarus and resurrect it again
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| They’ll put disrespect on your name and respect it again
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| Every section you in, bless 'em and keep bussin'
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| If they don’t like it, shake the dust and say «fuck em»
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| Until you get home, I’m the one you trust in
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| I’m happy to be in any place
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| Where God’s name is remembered
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| Soon I will be gone with the trouble of this world
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| Trouble of this world, trouble of this world
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| Soon I will be gone with the trouble of this world
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| Going home to live, going home to live
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| Going home to live with God
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| Go into the wilderness like Musa on a pilgrimage
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| Streets are villages, speak with diligence and authority
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| The fake are the Pharisees and Sadducees
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| Give them that Garvey free from the Black Odyssey
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| Yo pardon me, you the God bodily
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| Functioning on earth as a part of me, that’s why I gave you artistry
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| Go into the hoods with the shooters and the strippers
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| Forget the New World Order, New Jerusalem is with us
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| Tell sisters they earths and goddesses
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| If they got bottom, don’t get caught in a bottomless
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| Pit, there’s a lot of us fit for the kingdom is near
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| You can tell by the wars and how the seasons appear
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| You’ll appear in the circles in Hollywood, I birth you
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| In Chicago, you know how to parlay good
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| You’ll get Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys, give those to your family
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| Don’t get caught up in the vanity or the world’s insanity
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| Soon I will be gone with the trouble of this world
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| Trouble of this world, trouble of this world
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| Soon I will be gone with the trouble of this world
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| Going home to live, going home to live
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| Going home to live with God
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| To those of you who are unfamiliar with those words
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| They mean, in English, 'Peace, be unto you' |