Common Lyrics

The Hustle lyrics - Common (feat. Dart Chillz, Omar)

[Common]
My eyes watch God from a place
Where times is hard, hard times we embrace
Everybody want a yard, cuz a yard means space
Being broke is odd and leaves an odd taste
In the mouth of the metropolitan
The hustle is hollarin'
Beautiful minds grind, grind for the dollarin'
Whether dice scholarin' or white collarin'
We all taught hustle to prophet like Solomon
The young play corners, Sean Jean modelin'
They get it from they momma, black music is fatherin'
Blue and whites flash lights like parliment
In court non-whites, wishin' they had Cocharan
Tell your guy and them, yo the blocks hot again
Aunties walking to liquor stores in moccasains
My guy got a gig, on the side he barberin'
Married a foreign chick so she could get a green card up in the hustle

[Chorus]
[Common]
Just put it in your back and hustle
The paper's stacked so hustle
[Omar] Gon'! - Gon' get it and get me that
Gon'! - Gon' get it and get me that
[Common] Just move, and shake, and grind and hustle
It's on your mind so hustle
[Omar] Gon'! - Gon' get it and get me that
Gon'! - Gon' get it and get me that

[Dart Chillz]
First to the third, I'm close to the curb
Toast to the bird, now I'm posted to serve
Heard is a verb when you pour dirt on the floor
Bill collecters and the roaches working your nerves
It's a ghetto truck for a ghetto boy
To get in them ghetto streets and get him a ghetto toys
So he can come so just work murder rate is increasin'
I don't give a fuck long as my coke is decent
And my rims blind the whole damn precinct
Everytime you see a head in my lap you know she sinked
I know I'm dead in this trap, that's not how we think
Fifty shells all around on the ground, can't catch a weak blink
Five went through me, two stayed in me to do my duty
Only thing that subdued me
Two weeks, same corner, new freaks
New geese, all white AND 1's new sneaks

[Chorus]

[DJ Joe Sinista scratches bridge]
"Can't knock the hustle!" "The Hustle!" "I'm in"
"Im in" "I'm in too deep" "deep to sleep!" "Can't knock the hustle!"
"The hustle!" "Caught up in the hustle!" "I'm gettin' high"
"Can't knock the hustle!" "The Hustle!" "I'm in"
"Im in" "I'm in too deep" "deep to sleep!" "Can't knock the hustle!"
"The hustle!" "Gotta hustle up!" "I got to have it, have it...have it" [echos out]

[Common]
Some rhyme, some throw shows, some sow clothes
Some hobo at the junction inbetween cars
Some enter in functions inbetween stars
Some teach, some preach saying they seen God
Some put they money up, against me odds
Flippin' real estate yo, stocks and bonds
Dreams of rollin El Derado's bumpin' El DeBarge
Whatever the dreams, stay on ya deem the world is ours, its the hustle

[Chorus - repeat 2X]

[DJ Joe Sinista]
"Gotta hustle up!" "Stay hustlin'!"
"Gotta hustle up!" "Stay hustlin'!"
"Gotta hustle up!" "Stay hustlin'!"
"Gotta hus-" "hustle up!"
"Stay hustlin' hustlin' hustlin'!"
[echoes out]

Come Close lyrics - Common (feat. Mary J. Blige)

[Intro]
[Common:] It's just a fly love song, what
[Mary J:] Mmmmm
[Common:] It's just a fly love song, what

[Verse: Common]
Are we living in a dream world?
Are your eyes still green girl?
I know your sick and tired of arguing
But you can't keep it bottled in
Jealousy, we got to swallow it
Your heart and mind baby follow it
Smile, happiness you could model it
And when you feel opposite
I just want you to know
Your whole being is beautiful
I'ma do the best I can do
Cause I'm my best when I'm with you

[Chorus: Mary J. Blige]
Come close to me baby
Let your love hold you
I know this world is crazy
What's it without you

[Verse: Common]
Put down your bags love
I know in the past love
Has been sort of hard in you
But I see the God in you
I just want to nurture it
Though this love may hurt a bit
We dealing wit this water love
You even give my daughter love
I want to build a tribe wit you
Protect and provide for you
Truth is I can't hide from you
The pimp in me
May have to die with you

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
I know what you're thinking, you're on my mind
You're right, you're right, you're right
You promise so fast you just might take flight
Hope your not tired, tonight, tonight

[Verse: Common]
You help me to discover me
I just want you to put trust in me
I kind of laugh when you cuss at me
The aftermath is you touching me
It's destiny to we connected girl
You and i we can affect the world
I'm tired of the fast lane
I want you to have my last name

[Chorus]

[Bridge (2x)]

New Wave lyrics - Common (feat. Laetitia Sadier)

Yeah! The war zone. Who you fighting for?

[Verse 1: Common]
It's funk to rhythm and punk to rock
loud like shot that come from a glock
Pick up your mind, run from the spot
Revolution jumping in the parking lot
Shit is so hot that the sun watch
Children by the window with the gun cocked
they could get robbed and stop the luck (?)
Monkeys dance around for MTV spots
I lock into a....
rock into a rhythm of street and ancient wisdom
Experiment in stereo loud so crank the system
For the humble on the path I paint a vision
How far will a nigga go just for attention
And to be remembered, you forgot the mission
Listen!

[Chorus: Laetitia Sadier]
All traces of life
in our gats we carry
that's used to dress humanity
([Common:] it's a New Wave, Come on!)

[Sung in French]
All traces of life
in our gats we carry
that's used to dress humanity
([Common:] it's a New Wave, Dig it!)

[Sung in French]
This life is precious
it's goddamn? marvelous
before it ever ends
([Common:] it's a New Wave, Come on!)

This life is precious
it's goddamn? marvelous
before it ever ends
([Common:] Come on! Come on!)

[Verse 2: Common]
I lay terror in this era like Che Guevera
for the people to make or wait it's better
in a room called real I stay forever
Everyday I lose something I gain forever
Meditate on how I can change the weather
My brainstorm for some it's like (?) umbrella
where bullets and lies both spray together
My mind scream like Al Green "Let's Stay Together"
How could a nigga be so scared of change
That's what you hustle for, for the currency exchange
Ya'll rich, we could beef curry in the game
out your mouth, ain't nobody hurrying my name
You seen what happened when the Com go BANG
Wouldn't have a shot, even at a gun range
Seen hype become fame against the grain become main-stream
It all seems mundane in the scope of thangs

[Chorus]

[Verse 3: Common]
From a land of shit talk, boy stars and pitch forks
didn't really see white until I went North
Getting bent on backyards, wishing in the air for a black god
Where people fix cars and clap hard
and look to the stars for rap jobs
I walk through the black fog with reflectors on my boots
smelling war near, I'm connected with the troops
that master anger and ain't afraid to shoot
through poured liquor fallen angels they salute (Whew! Whew!)
Feel the wind blow
A new wave- people with their hair trimmed low
It's two ways living in this world of techno
This age can't really save the ghetto
I pause for the rebels who rock heavy metals
and tell them that they're pharoh so let go
Come on!

[Chorus]

I Got A Right Ta lyrics - Common

[Common]
Yeah! Hah! Yeah, we got, come on
Y'all cats know the abstract nigga with the attitude
Pass the booze, and let's build on it
I'm rolling in a Cadillac with the grill fronted
I ain't even smoke no mo' but I feel blunted
Yo I'm tokin on the freedom
Stepping to the A.M., cats be tokin in the P.M.
Tell the players I'm the G.M.
Told my team let me get my plays straight, I'ma feed them
They need me like I need them
See the streets is bleedin
Had to meet with my mind and ? to be defined and
Stay on my climb
I'm grind - ing, 'til I get blue balls
Everyday, same shit new star
Don't make me act like where I come from because he grew tall
There's a place that to run from it if you neu - tral
Hustlers and vogues, customers and smokes
I kiss the sky feeling high off the stuff that I wrote

[Chorus (x2)]
I want to ride in my car, smoke my weed
Keep my head high, let the chrome spin
I got the right to feel hood
I got the right to feel high
I got the right to feel hood
I got the right to feel high

[Common]
I'm the only cat in hip hop that can go into a thrift shop
Connect, get up to the ghetto and get props
If you gonna get that kick-a-box
Make sure that ? not
If you gonna get that glock don't be scared to big shot
Hip Hop is changin, y'all want me to stay the same?
Sorta like Barkley on how I see the game
I recognize game like a scout
Ayo, I'm bound to wreck your lady as I turn your lady out
I ain't about that
Messing with no other man's women
Because of jealousy then a man go under
Understand a man and his mental
Listening to Joan Mitchell
With the fan and the window
Can it be so simple then?
I rock Rockports, you rock Timberlands
I want a Rover, but I'm thinking long range
I ain't switch over, I just made my own lane

[Chorus]

[Common]
Like a pimp to a hoe I connect to the track
I feel it in my neck and my back
A thug came to me, said it changed his life
Said the love of his life, he used to bang to the light
I'm trying to do better
I ain't claiming Mister Right
I'm a grown man, I'm too old to fist-fight
I stay on point like trick dice
Tweeking like the sound man who need to switch mike
Sounding bitch like
I know the block is hot, but we just can't get ice
When our children's children sit nice?
I sing the song to make the fiend's strong
King Kong ain't got shit on me
I train days to rip emcees, I'm peaking
But I still gotta get that cheese
You on some monkey ball damn chimpanzees
Mobbin through the Chi-Town to feel the breeze yo

[Chorus]

Between Me, You & Liberation lyrics - Common (feat. Cee-Lo)

[First Verse]
She rested her head upon my chest
Sensed liberation in between breaths
Wonder if sex is what she found it in
Peace, found it laying down with men
Wasn't there to judge her, many ways I loved her
It was more than bodies we shared with each other
We laid under the cover of friends
A place where many lovers began
I began, to feel her body shake in my hand
Body language, it's so hard trying to understand
Usually after sex, it's a good feel
Took by silence, emotion stood still
I could feel, her tears spill, from her grille
Hurt from before that began to build
She told me hold me, a story she assembled it
Tellin' it, trying not to remember it
It was a story of innocence taken
Thought she could redeem, through love makin'
When she was eight she was raped by her father
And tried to escape through multiple sex partners
Felt pitiful, she had only learned,
To love through the physical, inside it burned
My heart turned, I thought of what this man did
She forgave him, she grew to understand it
Her soul was tired and never really rested
Only with men through aggression
Said it was a blessing and it happened for a reason
By speaking it, she found freedom
Between me and you [echo]

[Chorus - Cee-Lo]
Sometimes I wish a, careless whisper
Serenade her, without speaking a word
Because of you I'm stronger, I'm afraid no longer
I feel so alive in me, you have liberated me

[Second Verse]
She laid, I watched her breathe
Happy to be here, not afraid to leave
I couldn't conceive her not being here
Death in her face her not having fear
Less than a year she was diagnosed with it
Memories of that year, so close and vivid
Happiness, would only visit, once in a while
To watch an adult, becoming a child
Somehow, I knew she'd make it
The life of one so given early would God take it?
Hurt she placed in, hope and prayer
Hurt she placed in chemo and lost hair
I stare with my eyes closed
Wonder when the body leave does the mind go
Watchin' Jordan became less important
Seeing this disease eat away my aunt's organs
According to doctors theres no cure
We went through doubt, and cases of insure
Wish I knew then how to heal with herbs
Knew a part of her I could heal with words
But the Creator was sending for her
What seemed like the end was the beginning for her
Like that, she didn't want us to remember her
No more medication did she want us to give to her
It spread from her liver to her lungs to her last breath
Only to be freed through death
Between me and you [echo]

[Chorus]

[Third Verse]
He spoke with his eyes, tear-filled
A lump in his throat, his fear built
My whole life it was in steel
This ain't the way that men feel
A feeling, he said he wish he could kill
A feeling, not even time could heal
This is how real life's supposed to be?
For it to happen to someone close to me?
So far we'd come, for him to tell me
As he did, insecurity held me
I felt like he failed me
To the spirit, yelled help me
I'd known him for like what seemed forever
About going pro we dreamed together
Never knew it would turn out like this
For so long he tried to fight this
Now there was no way for him to ignore it
His parents found out and hated him for it
How could I judge him? Had to accept him if I truly loved him
No longer he said had he hated himself
Through sexuality he liberated himself
Between me and you [echo]

[Chorus]

Liberation...
Peace

I Am Music lyrics - Common (feat. Jill Scott)

[Chorus: Jill Scott]
Can you speak your words of bedtime
I was just saying to myself the other day
Most of believing the magician
But you're bewitching
Because of this I must say
I (I)
I (oh I)
I
Appreciate what you give to me
Yeah (I)
I (oh I)
I
Appreciate what you give to me

[Verse 1: Common]
People say I got soul look at all the records I hold
The lives I've affected, connect and control
With me in your basement, your mama got blown
I provide the vibe to keep the strippers on poles
Through me the black experience is glorious told
From a school that's old bold, so I rock gold
And platinum, so cats I hold notes and cash for them
On streets I rap for them, in ghettos I blast for them
Mash with them, at the party and all
Peep the universal language that's embodying all
Put the Billie Holiday, Bob Marley in y'all
Y'all feel most high when I be in y'all
System, with the rhythm I up jump the boogie
Shame I rely on record labels to push me
Since the bush, I been y'all way to escape
Through eight-tracks wax CDs and tapes
I am music

[Chorus]

[Verse 2]
You can feel me all over alive, I help culture survive, I opened the eyes of many
Styles y'all wrote in the skies, with your lows and highs, open your mind to hear me
In the streets I beat cops and obsolete
On every station it's hot you can't stop my heat
I taught J and Dre how to rock the beat
On what's going on today yo, I gots to speak
I take the stand, yo you could feel me bam
Whether in Larry Graham or Steely Dan
Live I be killing it man
For how long I survived yo I'm realer than man
Got a soft side but I'm still a man
For me women cry and children dance, I'm trying to eat
I could'a got a mil and ran
But like Sly for the fam still I stand
I am music

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
I been here since the beginning
Beginning of time yo beginning of time
Deep in the mind of the ancient ones
Everybody love me like they do the sun
I shine at times yo at times I'm dark
You can't categorize me, my mind's a art
Inside my heart, it ain't about climbing charts
I'm the one you roll with when your ride is smart
The change that came, the change that comes
I change with chords and I kick it with drums
Get blow with horns and did it on the one
Riffed for guitars, for the Lord I sung
Spun around the world at parties and weddings
Wherever I go I create the setting
You know me from lessons or your pops collections
Whether whole or half stepping I'm a blessing
Yo I am music

[Chorus 2X]

"Like Water For Chocolate" (2000)

Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela) lyrics - Common (feat. Vinia Mojica, Roy Hargrove, Femi Kuti)

[Vinia Mojica]
[Singing in Spanish]

[Common]
What what, we do this time
Rock rock....
Yes, let this music travel through you
Talk about feelings, yeah yo
Yo wassup world?
Yo what's happening?
It's the C-double-O and I'm back again
Take this back and then, tell a friend
Spaces and places you been, time travelin [echoes]
Time travelin *echoes*
Yo, I was a piano player in my last lifetime
Now I write rhymes, sip white wine and let my light shine
Out the dark space, with the world on my mind like Scarface
though my sex drive like a car chase
More than a uhh, it's the piece of mind I chase
Stakes are high, like my uncle is
We both got problems, he never confronted his
Under the bridge I wrote, some shit to stay afloat
And paint a picture, raw like the first coat
Send my old man a note to keep his phone on
My little cuz'll know cheap tricks are homegrown
Travel to a place sweeter than home, listenin to Nina Simone
Repeat this psalm, to the sky I'm keepin my palms
Facin the east, actions macin the beast
Embracin the streets, my god caught a case cuz he beat
His lady down, it's two-thou
That ain't the way we lay it down
Souls get, found and lost at the roads they cross
Many paid dues, but few knew the costs
I ran through the Moss like Randy
Touchindown wit God, close friends, and family
Recognize the voice in the wilderness
Com Sense, '92 and I'm still in this

Time travelin, took my time in hand
My rhyme learn and plan
Jealousy, money and pride can burn a man
Some walk but never learn to stand
Still, afraid to expand what they feel
I'm dealin wit, wakes, marriages
ATM's, Ericsson's
Loud niggas that whisper carelessness
If we livin in Revelation
Why should the people of the sun have to run?
Come to Esau in a year, he'll have freedom
He ask why I hadn't been to see him
Really, I ain't have a good reason
He said, "Rah, give back what you receivin"
In a race against time, I was caught
In the same game as you, but long live the sport
It's time travelin
It's the C-double-O and I'm back again
Take this back and then, tell a friend
Spaces and places you been
Time travelin [fades out] time travelin....

Time travelin [echoes]
Time travelin [echoes]
Yeah, yo wassup world, yo what's happening?
It's the C-double-O and I'm back again
Take this back and then, tell a friend
Spaces and places you been
Time travelin [echoes]