fear not of man
Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem
If you can hear me ladies and gentlemen
Then I'm very happy that you came here
Ooh-oooh, whee!
That was for Brooklyn
Ha ha, we get it every time
You got me on? Oh
Shout out to all of my crew, East-West, North-South
All the continent, Europe, all abroad international
Bring it in, bring it in, bring it in, bring it in
It's a lot of things goin' on y'all
21st century is comin'
20th century almost done
A lot of things have changed
A lot of things have not, mainly us
We gon' get it together right? I believe that
Listen—people be askin' me all the time
"Yo Mos, what's gettin' ready to happen with hip-hop?"
(Where do you think hip-hop is goin'?)
I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with hip-hop?
Whatever's happening with us"
If we smoked out, hip-hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin' alright, hip-hop is gonna be doin' alright
People talk about hip-hop like it's some giant livin' in the hillside
Comin' down to visit the townspeople
We are hip-hop
Me, you, everybody, we are hip-hop
So hip-hop is going where we going
So the next time you ask yourself where hip-hop is going
Ask yourself: where am I going? How am I doing?
Till you get a clear idea
So if hip-hop is about the people
And the hip-hop won't get better until the people get better
Then how do people get better? (Hmm)
Well, from my understanding people get better
When they start to understand that they are valuable
And they not valuable because they got a whole lot of money
Or 'cause somebody, think they sexy
But they valuable 'cause they been created by God
And God makes you valuable
And whether or not you recognize that value is one thing
You got a lot of societies and governments
Tryin' to be God, wishing that they were God
They wanna create satellites and cameras everywhere
And make you think they got the all-seeing eye
Eh, I guess The Last Poets wasn't too far off
When they said that certain people got a god complex
I believe it's true
I don't get phased out by none of that, none of that
Helicopters, the TV screens, the newscasters, the satellite dishes
They just wishing
They can't really never do that
When they tell me to fear they law
When they tell me to try to have some fret in my heart behind the things that they do
This is what I think in my mind
And this is what I say to them
And this is what I'm saying to you check it
All over the world hearts pound with the rhythm
Fear not of men because men must die
Mind over matter and soul before flesh
Angels hold a pen, keep a record in time
Which is passing and running like a caravan trader
The world is overrun with the wealthy and the wicked
But God is sufficient in disposing of affairs
Gunmen and stockholders try to merit my fear
But God is sufficient over plans they prepared
Mos Def in the flesh, where you at, right here
On this place called Earth, holding down my square
'Bout to do it for y'all, and y'all at the fair
So just bounce, come on bounce
B-b-bounce b-bounce b-bounce-bounce
And just-
Just step, two, three
Just step, two, three, and
Step two
Two, three and
One two three and four
One two three and four
Once again
All over the world hearts pound with the rhythm
Fear not of men because men must die
Mind over matter and soul before flesh
Angels hold a pen keep a record in time
Which is passing and running like a caravan trader
The world is overrun with the wealthy and the wicked
But God is sufficient in disposing of affairs
Gunmen and stockholders try to merit my fear
But God is sufficient over plans they prepared
Mos Def in the flesh, where you at, right here
On this place called Earth, holding down my square
Bout to represent in your whole atmosphere
Bout to represent in your whole atmosphere
To your atmosphere, to your atmosphere
Oh-ooh!
That was for you—and Brooklyn, too!