Aight, let’s try this Freestyle Friday again! Last week we kicked things off by putting Joe Budden and Method Man up against each other… obvious, I know. This week, I want you all to try your hand at arguably two of the prolific emcees in the game, The Roots’ Black Thought and the Mighty Mos Def!
The idea of Freestyle Fridays is to battle one another with your favorite verse from either of the two competitors. You’re essentially battling other commenters in this thread by using the words of Black Thought or Mos Def.
Hit the cut to jump in!
Before we start, let’s see if we can keep the thread in order today, by following a couple simple rules:
1. Please don’t drop the lyrics to a whole song. No more than 16 bar verses!
2. Please stay in order…. Mos Def, then Black Thought, then Mos Def, etc. If you want to drop a Mos Def verse, wait until someone has dropped a Black Thought one. The idea is to go back and forth. It’s possible that more than one person may be trying to drop a verse at one time… we’ll just keep moving on.
I’ll start this thread off with a verse from Mos Def:
“Ha, I am a fighter and a lover
I’m the freaky baby daddy, I’m a bad motherfucker
I’m the earth, wind, fire, and the thunder
I said I am, go ask my mother
You don’t believe that shit believe what you want to
Alright, OK, So, Shut-up!”
-Mos Def, “Ghetto Rock”
Ok, Black Thought, where you at?
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
“The implorer, the universe explorer
Treat MC’s like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
Leavin these niggaz open like a box of Pandora
With styles that’s newer than the world order
Approximately three quarters of y’all are water
I straight deport ya
Then orchestrate your torture with roots of culture”
- Black Thought, “Conterto of the Desperado”
You did it, Kev….
From “Concerto of the Desperado”, Black Thought:
My thoughts wrestle and attack with the killer instincts
of a gorilla stronger than Samson
Without vanilla my soliloquy profess my ability to just
stimulate you like the best sensimilla
The half-life the Illadel-L-P-O-Phila proceed
hither is my death flower blow your tower to smithe-
-reens to fiends catch another rhyme gripper
Deeper than the meditations of a Hindu worshiper
Unorthodox, hip-hop, minister
Then I Serengeti cheetah my thoughts with the
you lose your balance when the sound hits ya
So check for the, fifth militia
A poet’s under pressure stressing that you get the picture
Even if it means you gotta hang over the banister
I pull a microphone on any pistol brandisher
And take advantage of ya because you amateur
Styles gunning down your sound man and manager
DAMN.
LOL @ Is, we think alike!
oh my goodness if i didn’t have a test in 12 minutes i’d participate. this idea is INGENIOUS.
“….So, stop with the nonsense, like he conscious
I’m just awake dog, I’m doing great dog
I don’t play games so I don’t playa hate y’all
Get it straight or get the fuck up out my face dawg
I’m like the second plane that made the tower’s face off
That shit that let you know it’s really not a game dawg
Your grind and my grind ain’t the same dog
I’m the catalogue, you the same song
So cool and ol’ school like eighty-four
The one your little mami windin up her waist for
The name that real niggaz got they hands raised for
Me and Mini got ya block yellow taped off”
- Mos Def, “Close Edge”
Damn Is, I’m glad I didn’t just post mine cause I was about to post from that track too…ok let me get Black in before he gets the jump again LOL
From “Boom!”, Black Thought:
Hold your flix, I’m not for the photo op’s
It’s Black, code name Yaphet Kotto ock
My twist like a ratchet in an auto shop
Since granddaddy old DeSoto stopped and he got the Caddie
I been gladly servin’, any y’all cats wanna act determined
Spit pesticides for rats and vermin
Seem like none of y’all chumps is learning
Y’all hopeless, and I’m a little better than dope is
Far from a brand new kid to show biz
MOS DEF one of the illest that you ever known
Rock steady baby, you a stepping stone
Smash your foundation into pebbles
My words leave your nerves unsettled
You take it to the next level down
Looking like a circus clown
Cats like you can’t even get a pound
Worldwide from the river to lakeside
My stage show stay live, make the sound man stage dive
I cut fat cats to eight lives with my eight ball lines
I’m home ‘fore I’m done with all nine
Got you shook like a fault line
Come all shine and get tarnished
Brooklyn got your pay roll garnished
They form a huddle
Whisper like they want trouble
I melt the ice grills into rainwater puddles
-Mos Def (Speed Law)
Wow!! This was a great idea. Def feeling the verses everybody is posting. Keep it up.
This is one of my favorite verses
Blackthought (Superlyrical Lyrics w/Big Pun from capital Punishment)
My instrumental’s the Renaissance, no resem-ba-lance
To nothin’ you come across, lyrical holocaust
The crowd pleaser emcees freeze then catch seizure
They praise the Lord of rap thesis, true believers
My favorite verse from Mos Def
Traveling Man
Yo it’s the first class mission wit first class provision
The pray and hard work results is good livin
Let’s hear it for the gettin, let’s get all that we can
It’s important and it’s scorching so the fortune expand
Crossin borders of land, along the sands of time
I came to motivate the masses wit the standard of rhyme
You’re understandin that I’m (so fresh)
They know it all across the planet that I’m (so fresh)
Mos Def, takin both steps forward, these notes was recorded
The area’s applauded, I feel so rewarded
By the grace of Allah, you can shine like a star
The more you realize reality the better you are
But now I’m swayze, three minutes and change, you know the game
Gotta skate, plenty paper to make, here come the plane cuz
My fav Black Thought verse would be his part in Big Pun’s Super Lyrical:
Black Thought the super lyricist, your arch-nemesis
Still with the Punisher, that’s my accomplice
Stressin’ to emcees how they don’t really want this
Electrifying shit his excellency Thought spit
These cats they sentimental such with a gentle touch
Dancin’ double dutch and all sayin’ nothin’ much
My sound wave liftin’ your chin up like uppercuts
New found ways of rippin’ shit up, I de-ve-lop
Your squad chest swell up, still you’re mini-ay-ture to me
Nature-ally I bring the extremity
Musically intense with the globe in suspense
Contemplatin’ where the world traveler been since
The Roots bless you with a strong record, long like a epic
Immerse you in some ‘ol next shit, ill poetic
Thought from Illadelph somethin’ like nothin’ else
My talk stomp like elephants upon every elf, cause…what…
As for my fav Mos’ verse, I have a lot, lol, but his part in Respiration is insane:
Tonight alive, lets describe the inscrutable
The indisputable, we new york the narcotic
Strength in metal and fiber optics
Where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips
For profits, thirsty criminals take pockets
Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin class watches
Skyscrapers is collosus, the cost of living
Is preposterous, stay alive, you play or die, no options
No batman and robin, cant tell between
The cops and the robbers, they both partners, they all heartless
With no conscience, back streets stay darkened
Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened
My eagle talons stay sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin
You either make a way or stay sobbin, the shiny apple
Is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat
You could lose your teeth, many crews retreat
“What They do”, first verse:
Lost generation, fast paced nation
World population confront they frustration
The principles of true hip-hop have been forsaken
It’s all contractual and about money makin
Pretend-to-be cats don’t seem to know they limitation
Exact replication and false representation
You wanna be a man, then stand your own
To MC requires skills, I demand some shown
I let the frauds keep frontin
And roam like a celluar phone far from home
Givin crowds what they wantin
Offical hip-hop consumption, the 5th thumpin
Keepin ya party jumpin with an original somethin
Yo, I dedicate this to the one dimension-al
No imagination, excuse for perpetration
My man came over and said, “Yo we thought we heard you”
Joke’s on you; you heard a bitin-ass crew but um..
Just can’t beat that…
Mos’s verse from Twice Inna Lifetime
Mayor Rudolph can screw off! You too soft to stop us
You and your coppers should see some foot doctors
Got your burnt chest popped up, but keep your guns cocked up
Cuz all them cats that you knocked up and always gon’ be locked up
Hot Stuff like Donna Summer, another number one
And comin’ from the underground, this is how it’s comin’ down
Baby let me run it down,
Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Jane Doe, Punch, Wor.. umm..E!
Excuse me! Just ate another emcee!
Sometimes that’s just how it be
Partner wash you down with green tea and some lime
We like the five on the fist, fortified organized like DIS!
Yo! On these seventy-three keys, of ivory and ebony
I swear solemnly that I’ll forever rock steadily
People wanna know where Malik? He right next to me
The weaponry, the secret recipe
Hard to peep this, deep shit, shows I eat with
Contaminated thoughts I walk the street with
I bayonnet cassettes and chop beats with
this olympic lyricism you can’t, compete with
Globe travellin, throwin your verse like a javelin
Things Fall Apart and MC’s unravellin
Backstage whisperin to management like
“change the order, it’s no way that we can rock after them”
My man sport the ‘fro like _What’s Happenin?_
From the latest hi-atus, The Roots back again
Your crew practicin to catch this natural blend
They packages read “care when handlin”
It’s all soft shit, batteries not included with
Matter of fact, your whole front’s a re-enactment
I blow your ba-tty ass into fragments, P-5-D
The new testament, mic specialist, what?
-Black Thought 100% Dundee (1st verse)
MOS DEF “fortified live”
But kings and queens get overthrown when they grab the microphone
Shootin videos in homes that they know they’ll never own
I guess they cannot work alone, they forever with crew
L sparking, steady barking bout the wildness they do
Posin in photographs shot at complimentary angles
Be playin Mr. Tuffy when they feminine like bangles
Practices is fraudulent, fallacies record to tape
Step in my zone, your spot’ll get blown like Watergate
DILATED PEOPLES feat. BLACK THOUGHT “hard hitters”
Live everyday like its your last
’cause one day ??you’d fight??, my nigga
Fuck around son it might be tonight cause figure
The likeliness of you surviving this brawl is slim
It’s like scuba diving with no oxygen
Monster when i situate my slang
Leave a nigga almost brainless once and bang
Had a crowd screamin bout how they don’t want your thang
Keep it the sharpest one in the game its no secret
My style is certified , philly-animal rough
Runnin’ things, pull more strings than gamble and huff
Cannibal hustlers taught me how to handle myself
Hit man for hire pull a hot pick from shelf and spark
The pioneer to represent illadelph is thought
I got these weak niggas pullin theyselves apart
Y’all know the tone the one that hold the throne
That radiate your dome like a motorola phone nigga
TONY TOUCH feat. MOS DEF & DE LA SOUL “whats that (que eso?)”
MOS DEF’s verse
Took spanish one for four years, just so you know
Spit my shit right here
Óigame, malo muchacho
Mos Def con Tony Flaco, el idioma que yo hablo
Pretty young champ like Camacho, spittin the hot flow
B-Boy shout, Zulu gestapo, bro
You know my stilo, cigarrillo con tamarindo
Habichuelas negras, arroz amarillo
Yo soy suave viejito, campeón nacional como Tito
Bringin the heat bro, unique when I speak yo
Doin my Way like Carlito, beats by M-A-S-E-O
From Panama to Puerto Rico, play my jam on Caliente noventa y siete
On the expressway, and press play, see what ya neck say
Duro siempre, para mi gente, ganamos
Se acabó venga vamos, corillo, alcen las manos
Blowin ya spot like I got toast
A lotta MC’s is Def, but they not Mos, and not close
Understand it when I shine, all your light is through
Ya niggas wack in one language, I’m nice in two, fuck is you feat.
Yo, piss in the staircase, blood on the pavement
I fill the quills with it let it spill on the pages
Compose another anthem for the killers and manglers
Villains and wranglers, fifth still in the chamber
Shit, I’m scientific but my reflex’s gangsta
Pull out-rageous arms from the floor of the basement
Then bust ’nuff talons if my peoplez in danger
I’m Larry Davis, duckin’ helicopter, hoverin’ government agents
We muscle the language
What ‘Riq spit will leave your shit in utter amazement
I’m hot brolic call it contagious
The shit the Roots started got these other artists going through changes
My vision is the strangest, the rhythm is anguish
Y’all niggaz on the titty in your formative stages
Is something in the iris and the way I spit
That tell these other crab rappers I ain’t fo’ no shit
Black traumatic, so there you have it
My battin’ average, abort full of graphic assault, it’s all classic
Thought, put ass-backwards rappers in a small package
Experience is all that is, I’m well established
Me and the mic in holy matrimony like a marriage
The technique in your reach, if only you could have it
For me it’s automatic, it’s na-tu-ral, I’m mad thoro
Poet for hired pack metal
You feel me?
-Black Thought (Quills – First Verse)
Visions occupy my synaptic space
Command and shake, to illustrate my mind’s landscape
The tall grass, the low plains, the mountanous ridges
Thickets among the forests, rivers beneath the bridges
Presence of hilltops, lit up with tree tops
Eavesdrop; and hear the incline of sunshine, nine
Stones in orbit, refuse to forfeit
They all form a cipher, and they came to absorb it
I follow suit, and face it, embrace it
Shinin bright, but still I’m careful not to waste it
Destined to rise, because I’m basement adjacent
Spirit is still so just chill and be patient
Some heads approach like I’m the one to base with
Clowns about to scream and shout but don’t say shh..
I ain’t your student so I ain’t to be tested I’m majestic,
I represent my strength without effort
My, method is unorthodox, but of course it rocks
My serious synopsis will drop kick, my topics
Run the gauntlets and galvanize the audience
I must represent, I don’t come off with no corniness
It’s all luminary, despite commentary
Some people say, Mos how you get so?
My sign will make you jump around like calypso
And, murmur to yourself like a schizo
There ain’t no bottom on the…
-Mos Def (Hater Players)…
*Side Note – The Ecstatic = Hip Hop Album Of The Year To Date (It Takes Awhile To Grow Onto Ya)!
Mos Def’s verse from Kanye West’s Two Words
Two words, United States, no love, no brakes
Low brow, high stakes, crack smoke, black folks
Big Macs, fat folks, ecstasy capsules
Presidential scandals, everybody MOVE
Two words, Mos Def, K West, hot shit
Calm down, get back, ghetto people, got this
Game ball, lock shit, dump off, cock shit
We won’t stop shit, everybody MOVE
Two words, BK , NY, bedstuy
Two hawks, too hungry, too many, that’s why
These streets know game, can’t ball, don’t play
Every traffic, one lane, everybody MOVE
Two words, Mos Def, black check, hot shit
Calm down, get back, ghetto people, got this
Game point lock, long pump cocked
We won’t stop, everybody MOVE
Game theory
Yeah, where I’ma start it at, look I’ma part of that
Downtown Philly where it’s realer than a heart attack
It wasn’t really that ill until the start of crack
Now it’s a body caught every night on the Almanac
Rock bottom where them cops gotta problem at
Where them outsiders getting popped for they wallet at
I had nothin but I made somethin outta that
Now I’m the first out the limo like Charlie Mack
From 215 it’s him the livest one
And he’s representin Philly to the fullest
Blacks the realest
You can’t touch him and not for nothin
If you bout hip hop then you gots to love it
If not then fuck it
Hold your flix, I’m not for the photo op’s
It’s Black, code name Yaphet Kotto ock
My twist like a ratchet in an auto shop
Since granddaddy old Desoto stopped and he got the Caddie
I been gladly servin, any y’all cats wanna act determined
Spit pesticides for rats and vermin
Seem like none of y’all chumps is learning
Y’all hopeless, and I’m a little better than dope is
Far from a brand new kid to show biz
Tryna hold on, maintain my focus
Coming out a room with a could of smoke
Smokers rolling with the punches
I survive and rock
Cause I keep the crowd alive
And the texture of my voice
Is coarse and kind of hoarse and cut
Like I’m throwing a thousand knives
New on here that is Black Thought from The Roots – Boom! from the Tipping point
Mos Def – Mathematics
Yo, check it one for Charlie Hustle, two for Steady Rock
Three for the fourth comin live, future shock
It’s five dimensions, six senses
Seven firmaments of heaven to hell, 8 Million Stories to tell
Nine planets faithfully keep in orbit
with the probable tenth, the universe expands length
The body of my text posess extra strength
Power-liftin powerless up, out of this, towerin inferno
My ink so hot it burn through the journal
I’m blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle
Hip-Hop past all your tall social hurdles
like the nationwide projects, prison-industry complex
Broken glass wall better keep your alarm set
Streets too loud to ever hear freedom sing
Say evacuate your sleep, it’s dangerous to dream
but you chain cats get they CHA-POW, who dead now
Killin fields need blood to graze the cash cow
It’s a number game, but shit don’t add up somehow
BTW, much props on the site, been coming on here for a while and really dig it. I hope this freestyle friday idea keeps going forward!
Word up, the formation of words to fit
That’s what I usually disturb you with
A lot of rappers never heard of this, or know half the time it is
You doubt the Illa-Fifth, what could you accomplish?
Whether they skywriting your name, or you anonymous
You be speechless, with stinging sinuses
The Roots royal highnesses through your monitors
I tilt my crown, then blow down a diamond kiss
You need to buy a CD and stop rewindin this
I’m the finalist, shinin like a rugged amethyst
And at your music conference, I’m the panelist
Listen close to my poetry, I examine this
like an analyst, to see if you can handle this
Check it out
You, got the groove, emcees
freeze, stand still, nobody move
unless you dealin with The Next Movement
The P-Phi-D we be the mon-u-ment
I live my life nice, but I’m not too bent
You theatrical as a Broadway play, this ain’t Rent
One hundred percent, straight out the Basement
Spreading this across a planet on some next shit
How many people feelin this love music? C’mon
The Roots ‘The Next Movement
A huge fan of both emcee’s – I enjoyed reading all these verses. But in my opinion, this one trumps ALL.
Yo, I’m sure that everbody out listenin agree
That everything you see ain’t really how it be
A lot of jokers out runnin in place, chasin the style
Be a lot goin on beneath the empty smile
Most cats in my area be lovin the hysteria
Synthesized surface conceals the interior
America, land of opportunity, mirages and camoflauges
More than usually — speakin loudly, sayin nothin
You confusin me, you losin me
Your game is twisted, want me enlisted — in your usary
Foolishly, most men join the ranks cluelessly
Buffoonishly accept the deception, believe the perception
Reflection rarely seen across the surface of the lookin glass
Walkin the street, wonderin who they be lookin past
Lookin gassed with them imported designer shades on
Stars shine bright, but the light — rarely stays on
Same song, just remixed, different arrangement
Put you on a yacht but they won’t call it a slaveship
Strangeness, you don’t control this, you barely hold this
Screamin brand new, when they just sanitized the old shit
Suppose it’s, just another clever Jedi mind trick
That they been runnin across stars through all the time with
I find it’s distressin, there’s never no in-between
We either niggaz or Kings
We either bitches or Queens
The deadly ritual seems immersed, in the perverse
Full of short attention spans, short tempers, and short skirts
Long barrel automatics released in short bursts
The length of black life is treated with short worth
Get yours first, them other niggaz secondary
That type of illin that be fillin up the cemetary
This life is temporary but the soul is eternal
Separate the real from the lie, let me learn you
Not strong, only aggressive, cause the power ain’t directed
That’s why, we are subjected to the will of the oppressive
Not free, we only licensed
Not live, we just excitin
Cause the captors.. own the masters.. to what we writin
Not compassionate, only polite, we well trained
Our sincerity’s rehearsed in stage, it’s just a game
Not good, but well behaved cause the ca-me-ra survey
most of the things that we think, do, or say
We chasin after death just to call ourselves brave
But everyday, next man meet with the grave
I give a damn if any fan recall my legacy
I’m tryin to live life in the sight of God’s memory
Like that y’all
Mos Def’ verse from Thieves in the Night.
Had to post the entire verse. Might be the best verse I’ve ever heard. He kills it!!