Testo Take it back Talib Kweli

Take it back

(feat. Marsha Ambrosius)

Yeah, it feel good like, uh, sing along like
Lalalalalalalalalala [x2]

My rhymes ascend to unusual heights
Soar through the beautiful night
In danger like your Constitutional rights
We stay quiet when they start attackin
The men retractin em more
The silence is golden and the violence is platinum
The government take our sons and our daughters
Give em guns, make em run to the slaughter
In places where runnin water is a luxury
And some can't afford it
So they torture reporters
Who get beheaded just for crossin the borders
Who we kiddin? We just rap for a livin
The passion lackin, it's missin
These cats is actin, makin backwards decisions
I kept it black and took it back to beginnings
Got an established position
Took a break and now I'm back and I'm winnin
Devil like "Why try when you won't win? " I got my eyes open
We all sick of cryin and hopin
I tried votin but the politicians just left me flat
They said the war was over last year, my man just left for Iraq!
That shit is whack, so I made him a CD for the ride
With some songs that he ain't heard in a long time, and

[Hook:]
It take you back don't it? It take you back don't it?
Hit the bar after work to end off the long grind
Heard a song that I ain't heard in a long time and
It take you back don't it? It take you back don't it?

[Chorus:]
Remember when you used to feel much better?
Now your days and nights are much colder
All you wanna do is get over
Gotta find a better way, just hold on
Get your mind right, you find the light
See it through the good and the hard times
Oh, all you wanna do is get over
Gotta find a better way, just hold on

Yeah, ain't war hell?
If the good die young I'm in the field where the saints all fell
Suckin my teeth, the sheep inside has been replaced with the beast
Slaughter anybody facin the East
Talk is cheap and so the Senators are
Stuffin they pockets, stuck in the closet
Busy buyin methamphetamines and gettin massages
Yesterday I lost two of my partners
After suicide bombers blew up the market
Now they view em as martyrs, regardless
The ground troops in the digital war, picked off
The politicians is criminals, whores
No my mama ain't Cindy Sheehan
She a Christian who think it's Holy War
So my mission in Iraq is something she believe in
Meanwhile my babies is gettin older
Iraqi nights is gettin colder, Iraqi fighters is gettin bolder
I'm hopin for a soldier's farewell
People complainin, cause a kid get on a plane with fuckin hair gel

[Hook:]
Got my babies on my mind
I heard a song that I ain't heard in a long time, and
It take you back don't it? It take you back don't it?
This is war I put in work in the morn, my long grind
Heard a song that I ain't heard in a long time, and
It take you back don't it? It take you back don't it?

[Chorus:]
Remember when you used to feel much better?
Now your days and nights are much colder
All you wanna do is get over
Gotta find a better way, just hold on
Get your mind right, you find the light
See it through the good and the hard times
Oh, all you wanna do is get over
Gotta find a better way, just hold on

Remember Just Ice, gold fronts (Letoya)
Remember "God give em what they want! "
Yeah my man Chuck D.

Killin it back then
It take you back don't it?

Edo G be a father too, the child
Live at the BBQ, it's wild
It take you back don't it? It take you back don't it?

Remember ULTRA! MAGNETIC magnetic magnetic
When's the last time you heard a funky diabetic?
I don't know man I don't know man I don't know man I don't know
Remember the Ed Lover dance,
Remember, Hammer's genie pants
But we wasn't really, rockin with Hammer, In New York City
Hammer! You ain't hittin New York
Remember the 3rd base video? MC Surge was lookin for him
It take you back don't it? It take you back don't it?

Back in the days I loved the bass and Jazz samples
Excursions, Nodaless(?) just for example
Do you remember? You not gon be able to do it
Down in Miami Luke was makin you lose
The God Rakim was makin you clap ya hands to it
NWA with the gangsta music, makin ya lose it
Slick Rick had the chain game on smash
Symphony blast and Daddy Kane on last
KRS through the Kid from p.m.

Dawn off the stage
This before he was spiritual-minded
This before the temple
Can it be that it was all so simple?
JB's comin through, that's the raw instrumental
LL the first to go all sentimental
Now they all say that they ain't really rappers
But they MUST pay homage to the pioneers,
Plus the garbage, just ain't sayin the least
They say music sooth the savage beast
Classic beats make it a masterpiece
Have a seat.