Ras Kass - Van Gogh lyrics

Ah, celebrate hahaha, yeah, ah
Vita Brevis, Ars Longa
Life is short, art is long
It's been a long time
I shouldn't of left you
But Priority Records be fuckin' up, nephew

Extraterrestrial poet
My pen stroke is grotesque
Rugged nigga, abrasive to any foe' flesh
So let's paint a thousand
Words worth a picture panoramic though
More esoteric than hieroglyphs and scriptures
And chemical mixtures, spit your's
Not just kick words
Spit swords when we joust from the mouth dogg
Heard he got the hottest shit out
But Titanic emcees somehow manage to freeze
Fracture your flows so bandage your steez
No royalties subtract his mathematics like I
Was droppin' satanic degrees
Long time no see chico
Still eatin' pussy at the Nico? (ha haaa)
I'm screamin' "Power to the people"
Most times, genius is misunderstood
But understand
You stand under unstable tables of foundation
My true occupation
Dissemination of information
Usin' both sides of the brain
And I ain't complacent
Complain when I speak, fuck Priority Records
Like Prince, I'm writin' "slave" on my cheek
Cause my kids gotta eat
Meanwhile A&R's sniffin' coke
Gettin' kickbacks, fuck that
My written's like Christ wit a
Cross on his back i'll breathe a total Black
Experience on a track
What use to be hot was what a emcee said
Now Hip-Hop don't respect you unless
You platinum or dead

I'm Van Gogh, Van Gogh
But you don't hear me though
You're too near me not to hear me
Clearly, cut off my ear severely
Van Gogh, Van Gogh, Van Gogh (yeah)
But you don't hear me though
You're too near me not to hear me
Clearly, cut off my ear severely

I'm down wit Violet Brown and Ebony Cats
Down wit 65 niggas packin' 70 gats
I'm down wit Shinehead, Big Gipp
Goodie M-O-B
My nigga Twista, Killah Priest, and Pimp C
From UGK, Do Or Die, AK
Kwest the Madd LaD, Wendy Day
I self lord am master art form
Metaphors and furthermore
Verbal masterpiece to master war
Then master more
Cause a real nigga known to flow
Rigor mortis to stiffen your riffin'
Thugged out without Bloodin' or Crippin'
Till the needle start skippin'
The cut fuck your hairline
Up like Scott Pippen
Huh, hopin' the dummies stop frontin'
I'm like Illmatic
Meets the Good Will Huntin'
Vocal innovator, be equal to or greater
Givin' people levels to digest the data
Cause you can't teach algebra
To first graders i'll school a hustler
About the Sixteen Crucified Saviors
Khrishna of India was Black
Quetzalcoatl of Mexico, black
Buddha was Black, actual facts
But niggas only wanna know
About money, pussy, and crack
I practiced build and destroy on rap tracks
And that's that
Phat rap, y'all keepin' it real
Well that's wack
My rap snap torso, and crack back
Doin' this, that and the third
Givin' you my ear like Van Gogh, nigga
Ya heard went to New York state
Pushin' rhymes like weight
And watch some of these rap niggas hate
(what in the homo)
But it's all love, Ice Cube did it
2pac did it
And no matter what, I'mma die shittin'
Motherfucker
Josh Petell wrote "The Disenchanted Hero"
Hell no

I'm Van Gogh, Van Gogh
But you don't hear me though
You're too near me not to hear me
Clearly, cut off my ear severely
Van Gogh, Van Gogh, Van Gogh
But you don't hear me though
You're too near me not to hear me
Clearly, cut off my ear severely
Van Gogh, Van Gogh (yeah)
Cause really though
How I'm supposed to really blow
When you drop a album every 2
Years and only shoot one video?

Damn, Ras

Man, Khalil, they ain't
Gon' never understand, but don't trip
These labels, these magazines, radio
Video shows
They just as groupie as the groupies
They just as guilty as the artists
For not keepin' this shit true
But hey you gotta love it or leave it alone
An' I still love this ol' Hip-Hop shit
So just respect it when I
Get my championship ring, you know