Common, A Tribe Called Quest - The Remedy lyrics

Yo, we all got different things that we
Got to deal with, you nam'sayin? Sometimes
I think people always want to put the blame
On something else rather than
Sometimes looking at
Ourselves recognizing that a lot
Of the stuff that
Happens sometimes has to do with other
Things but if we look within ourselves
We could
Prevent a lot of this nonsense sometimes
You know? It's about relating back to the
Essence, you nam'sayin'
Where it all stems from so I'mma do my
Thing over the drum like a
Native Tongue, you know? yeah, buss it

Do what you will
If you feel that your steeze is real
Complicated with the skills over
Reel to reels brown skin is what I feel


My mind and body's appeal
Is to the no-frill mills
Who hear the beats to chill
Constantly, I'm hearing Black
Americans just sneering
Looking for a leader who can
Fill us up with ether
Heating us up with great emotional chat
About the fact that the
Black's constantly held back
Like 50 tracks back in a relay race
And the white team's ahead
So let's keep up the pace
And I be needing something that
Could feed my logical taste
At the end of the race
Is there a paradise place?
Yo, we can't get involved in what
The next man is doing
Material gains we put too much in pursuing
("Yo duke, I need this dough so we
Can step to this party, man, word")
But we can all Mardi Gras-di minus
That shit in our body
("Yo, what that got to do with that?")
'Cause, kid, that's the essence
Your physical presence embodies every lesson
You can't run the Rolls Royce
If the engine is busted
Can't even life the knife to cut the mustard
What we need to do first
Now listen to this verse
Let's concentrate on our spiritual plate
Recognize your existence in this
Vast blue space
From a tiny cloud of blood to the human
Beings with taste Sight, touch
Smell and sound, let's deem it profound
And prioritize this 'cause it
Was Allah's wish ("Allah? Yo, I'm God")
("I don't believe that that's a mystery")
("If God is so good, yo
Why this shit be happening to me?")
There's divinity within because we
Come from the divine
A force that's not seen but, yo
We feel it every time
When the wind blows, and the Earth turns
And the rain drops, and the babies cry
And the birds fly, and the grounds quake
And the stars gleam yo, so many things are
Evidence of His existence
What we need to do is
Link it with persistence hear me out
Yo, once we recognize then we can move ahead
Native Tongues, Common Sense, yo
He's Hip-Hop bred

From the spiritual world my film
Of life has developed
First person I lost close to me was Stella
Some of my mellows lost their
Mothers and their brothers
For them I feel empathy
But I ain't pouring out no fuckin' Hennessy
I pour my heart out when I
See Dot out on the deck
Knowing two weeks ago he
Slap-boxed with death
I hear of niggas dying in the
Wind and on the news
But when it's somebody you know it hit's you
And emotions get bruised
I ain't been in your shoes
I won't judge or knock you
The spirit of the ghetto say you got to
That scratch you gettin' from rock flippin'
Give back into the neighborhood
You better start kickin'
Stickin' stores on the strip
I'm tired of Arabs giving me my change back
Devil bomb my yesterday
My tomorrow he never gave back
I lay back, looking at the ceiling
Wondering what could I do
So my homies won't have to be dealing
Not cause you serving and
I'm rapping I'm better
Just different pieces to the
Puzzle of black life
That we have to put together
Better ourselves
'Cause families we gotta raise
No matter how long the money
Shorter become the days
Men become like wind
Ain't no difference in the season
If you got popped five times
You breathing for a reason
Let's put this five-
Ten-year come-up plan in progression
Before we count our papers
Count our blessings and there you have it
You know you got to grab it
It's all good, naw'mean?
Let's make it clear: the Native
Tongues is in here
The JBs, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest
Common Sense
Busta Rhymes, Flipmode, naw'mean?
You got The Ummah, Beatnuts, Rah Digga
Consequence, Mos Def, naw'mean?
Black Sheep, Beatnuts, Queen La, Mo Love
Naw'mean?
Native Tongues up in here, don't forget it
Raphael Saadiq yo, we out, peace