The Roots, Dice Raw, Common - The Show (Must Go On) lyrics

The show, the show, it must go on
The show, the show, it must go on
I can't stop, I won't stop
I will not, I will ride
The show, the show, it must go on
The show, the show, it must go on
I can't stop, I won't stop
I will not, I will ride the show

Uh, and I'm still the one
Am I a poet or a prophet
Or a stone to build upon?
And what's the reason I still perform?
Feeding my children on
How I'm on a hustle from dusk 'til dawn
Where all the love and the trust is gone
My eyes wider than a baby that just was born
Fightin a war they ain't pay
Me enough to join
Behind a phrase they was crazy enough to coin
You kiddin me? The pursuit
Of happiness, life, liberty
And all type a necessities they not givin me
I put my body in jeopardy
Cause I'm committed even though they try to
Stifle ya man creativity
They got hopes and plans a gettin rid of me
I hit em like Ethiopia hit up Italy
Swift as the bullet that
Killed King and Kennedy
You know the battle is on for infinity, now

The show, the show, it must go on
The show, the show, it must go on
I can't stop, I won't stop
I will not, I will ride
The show, the show, it must go on
The show, the show, it must go on
I can't stop, I won't stop
I will not, I will ride the show

I remember the show like Dougie
When people quiet was ugly
Yellin', "Get money"
Now the show done went dummy
Still doin shows where the spots be bummy
Roaches in the dressing room
I'm thinkin of a better room
Maybe the upper where my people won't suffer
The leather gets tougher
We drive like a trucker through the night
For every wrong making two rights
And use mics to reach new heights
The blue lights
Follow, I guess it's the scent of Chicago
That make 'em wanna mess 'em up tomorrow
In these borrowed days
The rhyme and the mind that pays
The world is a show, you define ya stage
One two, it's live so you can't undo
No sleep cause then ya dreams won't come true
And everyone's like a broad
That we run through each venue
This ain't gon' stop so we just gon' continue
The show, the show, it must go on
The show, the show, it must go on
I can't stop, I won't stop
I will not, I will ride
The show, the show, it must go on
The show, the show, it must go on
I can't stop, I won't stop
I will not, I will ride the show

The Ernest Hemmingway of B-boy poems
They can never take the pen
Away of LeRoi Jones
Pushin' a black Yukon gold in a new time zone
Diggin' on every nuance with two eyes closed
The life I chose, more of a mission
I make a crowd convulse and
Act on impulse and intuition
I've seen the future, listen
Believe the superstition
I keep spittin' 'til it's
A truce or crucifixion
I’m at home in the pressure zone
Weakness is never shown let alone
I'm a man made of mere flesh and bone
I can't help that my heart
Beat is a metronome
And I've acquired a taste
That's upper echelon
Lyrical professional, maniac megalo
Plate in my head that spin
The way the record go
And break it down like it's
The walls of Jericho
If they don't know by know
They prob'ly never know

The show, the show, it must go on
The show, the show, it must go on
I can't stop, I won't stop
I will not, I will ride
The show, the show, it must go on
The show, the show, it must go on
I can't stop, I won't stop
I will not, I will ride the show

The show the show