Talib Kweli - Rare Portraits lyrics

Gravitas light it up, uh
Lighten it up, brighten it up, yea
You want the grown step your bars up
You brag about the scrilla them
Killas lighten your cars up
Welcome to the complete history
Of the one known as Talib Kweli

Such a blessing, I'm making the bread leven
Descendant of Terra Firma I'm from
The era of legend the blind to my eyesight
Too scared of the world ending
My men of spiritual essence be
Walking right into heaven
Ascending without the stairs
Expressing without the fears
We diamonds but our minds are
Corrupted just like De Beers
Unravelling minds
Travelling through time Langoliers
Standing with the flow like the
Man in the gondolier
In the park of Washington Square
Locks in my hair
Louder than the bull horns we
Was locking 'em there
Cops would prepare to lock us up
They was scared like tales from the dark side
Summer of the Central Park five 1989
Was the number
The year that I started rhyming
From Brooklyn to Staten Island
Them Decepticons was wildin'
Music soothing but the imagery
Violent as bomb threats
Therapy for the prison industrial complex
Provided the context for the
Crime with the TEC-9
At Brooklyn Tech I spit it the best
So they had to respect mine
I did it to death on my grind
On a quest to get signed
Sorta like the tribe would always
Suggest we check the rhyme
An internal with Puff Daddy
In front of the buffed patio
Rolling with Hi Tek in the MPV
Through the streets of the 'Nati
Before graduating to Caddies
Was carrying crates
Shoutout to Flex all day doing
Records with John Forte
We was standing outside the
Tower devouring prey, powerful
Display of bullet points that we shower
And spray the block with
Back in them salad days
These rappers was appetizers
I played it like I was David
I was tackling that Goliath
Attacking the open mics to
The victory was decisive
This life it was so enticing
My surgery so precise
I would chop it like thin
Slices at parties we politic
At the country club
Lighting up dutches with Pac and Big
At the crib of supernatural
Battling back and forth
Back before Jean was in the unsigned hype
In the back of The Source
Rest in peace to Allah's sons
Shabba was liking to call you son
Cause you minor
I call you son cause you shine
What's up Alyasha, this is OG Brooklyn shit
Not for impostors
(nah) , pour out a shot of vodka for them
Big L (Big L) , Big Poppa (Big Poppa)
Big Pun (Big Pun) , 2Pac, what? (word)
The jungle is too savage
Rap true master producing the new classic
This shit is too plastic
It's blow to to spinal tap
I started with the Rawkus Recordings
We work the vinyl backwards
From DEF JUX to Loaded Lux
I'm the underground
King like I'm rolling with Bun
The vets know what's up
The flow is nuts it's solid
I got the golden touch
Plus my iron sheek and I got
The game and the cobra clutch
This the highest caliber, do the algebra
From Yasiin Bey to Jean
Grey to Pharoahe Monch
Black Thought to Common
Almost 20 years after the
Release of Soundbombing and it
Still sounds timeless
I'm out and on tour with the greatest
A Tribe Called Quest
And the De La's, opened for Jay Z and Nas
Who else could say this?
In Vegas with Tech N9ne getting
Faded before the gig
Only later to hit the RIO and
Hop on the stage with Prince true story
I always knew the importance of great shows
Since 1992 I seen Ice Cube play Toads
Way cold, continue to pave the road for the
Kendricks and J coles, continue to stake gold
From making the way for Kanye to
Meetings with Mr harry Belafonte
All started on park benches with Dante
Predicting the future
So observant I'm clairvoyant
The frame can't contain it
I'm painting a rare portrait