Talib Kweli - Rare Portraits lyrics

Gravitas, light it up Lighten it up, brighten it up, yea You want the grown step your bars up You brag about the scrilla them k**as 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 like [?] 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 [?] with the tec nine At Brooklyn Tech I spit it the best so they had to respect mine I did it to d**h 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, confronted the [?] Rolling with Hi Tek in the MPV through the streets of the Natti 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 solid 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 [?] sons [?] was liking to call you son Cause you mine I call you son cause you shine What's up [?], this is OG Brooklyn sh** Not for impostors, pour out a shot of vodka for them Big L, Big Poppa, Big Pun, 2Pac The jungle is too savage, rap true master producing the new cla**ic This sh** is too cla**ic it's blow to [?] to spinal tap I started with the Rawkus Recording we work the vinyl backwards From DEF JUX to Loaded Lux I'm the underground king like I'm rolling with Bun and [?] 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 calibre 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 sound common 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 9 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 [?] 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