Common - Ghetto Show lyrics

[Intro: Talib Kweli x2] Ghetto to ghetto, backyard to yard We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods Precious metals round our necks and arms We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods [Refrain: Anthony Hamilton] Whatever's in your heart is where you want to be My hood is the ghetto Even when you look it's never what you see My hood is the ghetto I've been down before up is just a reach Cause my hood is the ghetto Catch a second wind then begin again My hood is the ghetto [Verse 1: Common] Black magic in the hood, it's tragic but understood Crack addicts, crack windows, crack wood Even what's bad becomes good, status becomes stood Upon the pedestal welcome to the ghetto show Federal buildings, pissy hallways filled with children pushing children Fiends lips peeling, sh** seems real and What's real is the estate of mind that we're in The situation feels great My man peels weight, so he can fill plates You might get love but you still feel hate With gang shakes and chain clinks, we communicate Chicago to Brooklyn n***a real ones do relate [Verse 2: Talib Kweli] If lyrics sold, then truth be told I'd probably be just as rich and famous as Jay-Z Truthfully I wanna rhyme like common sense Next best thing I do a record with Common Sense Cause it's the music, the blues, it's the jazz, it's acoustics Soul, Rock and Roll, the hip-hop that we producin', yea It's the gear, it's the flare, it's the stare Nowadays they'll shoot you where they used to shoot the fair Remember lost soldiers, pour a beer, shoot the air We got our own elected officials, no matter who the mayor I know you know what I'm talking about From New York to the South, take off your shoes when you walk in the house [Refrain] [Verse 3: Talib Kweli] Yo, I grew up where they're playin' skelly in the parking lot And sell paintings of Aaliyah, B.I.G. and Pac up in the barbershop Buildings too big so you don't really see the stars a lot But rappin', drinkin', and goin' to prison you see them bars a lot I feel the spirit in the dark and hear it in my heart And always keep my ears to the block till I dearly depart Hip-hop is really the art We have to express the part of ourselves that make us want to martyr ourselves It ain't harder to tell when somebody stick you up and put the hammer to you They want them dead presidents like stic.man and Mutulu With a gun to your jaw, these kids don't run anymore Kicks is a hundred or more [Verse 4: Common] A man in front of the store, beggin' for money and mercy I told him say a prayer under his breath, he cursed me n***as is thirsty I heard it's a drought Up early, servin' from their grandmother's house Sometimes the ghetto feels desolate, the eyes of the hood yo is desperate Affected by the deficit, times and lessons get hard Either get by or get God, but you try to get by It's like the block keep blockin' You try to make moves, its like the car keep stoppin' These shorties in the court, need Cochran yea I tell them while the weed seeds poppin', in the game you need options No time for feet watchin', me and Kwe keep rockin' for the ghetto [Refrain x2]