[Talib Kweli]
Yeah, Kweli
Ye-ye-ye-ye-ye yeah get back
Classic Brooklyn, let's go
We sell crack to our own, nigga I'm back in the zone
My passionate poems got the feds tapping my phones
It's like Timothy McVeigh, they say I'm acting alone
I got a whole team that'll put a gat to your dome
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Yo this remix is hot, we're only dealing with the live hip hop
Yo get by, get back nigga (Roc)
[Jay-Z]
Just to get by
Nigga I sold coke, nigga I pushed lah
Carried a four five
Claimed I was ready to die
Promised never to cry
Held it all inside
Reality was too much to take so I
Kept my mind fly
Slimmed for most of mine
Soon as I closed my eyes
Then I woke up behind
Nigga either I throw it up, these nines
Or blow up with rhymes
The best flow of mines is like blow up on lines of coke up
And your folks think Hov' just wrote stuff to rhyme
Nah, I'm a poster for what happened seeing your moms
Doing five dollars worth to work just to get a dime
So pardon my disposition
Why should I listen to a system that never listened to me?
Picture me working McDonald's (uh uh)
I'd rather pull a mac on you
Sorry Ms. Jackson but I'm packing
[Hook: Talib Kweli + background singers]
This morning I woke up
Feeling brand new and I, I jumped up
Feeling my highs and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smoking and stop drinking
But I've been thinking I got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get (by), just to get
(everybody gets your hands in the sky, it go)
[background singers]
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah dah
Bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah daaah
[Talib Kweli]
Just to get by, just to get by
Just to get by
(...hands in the sky, it go)
[background singers]
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah dah
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah daaah
[Talib Kweli]
Just to get by, just to get by
(Talib Kweli) Just to get by
We keep it gangster, stay 'for shizzle', 'for sheezy'
Desensitize to the violence on the TV during the war
Killing each other is easy, there's war and liquor for fallen niggas
Believe me, it's ghetto libations seen it all before
Just to get by, my people we get fly
My people we get high, filling cigars with the lah
Nigga come on, even Jesus was stoned before receiving the throne
I said to rest in peace to Nina Simone
[Busta Rhymes]
Back in the days we was used to doing the shit
I can't call it all in the streets
We was hustling fiends that asked for it
I guess I was used to just standing on corners
Waiting for paper bags with bundles of crack
Hoping the week was good so I could get money back
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
When I was stressed I possessed a side of my strength
That made me angry and bleed
With the frustration having me smoking Newports and weed
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
Those be the times when I try to rely
On my niggas and street motherfuckers
And reach out to wife and then I place a call on my mother
To get by, just to get by, just to get by, just to get by
(Hey yo mom pick up the phone, I g- I gotta to talk to you ma)
If you was five percent instead of acting stupid and guessing
You had to go and study your lessons
And know your math in the building recession to get by
[Hook: Talib Kweli + background singers]
This morning I woke up
Feeling brand new and I, I jumped up
Feeling my highs and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smoking and stop drinking
But I been thinkin I got my reasons
Just to get (get), just to get (get)
Just to get (get), just to get (get buh buh buh bye bye)
[background singers repeat in the background]
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah dah
bah dah bah dah, bah dah bah daaah
[Talib Kweli]
Some people try to be fly
They fake and they lie
They snakes'll see the hate in their eyes
Look at the sky to survive
People try to get by
Fighting force, slice of the pie
Trying to eat and be high
How you know you really alive if you don't reach for the sky?
Your eyes keep on the prize
What you seek and you'll find
Who's the realest niggas? that we let people decide
Who keeping it live?
Brooklyn got the key to the ride, c'mon
Some people try to be fly
They fake and they lie
They snakes'll see the hate in their eyes
Look at the sky to survive
People try to get by
Fighting force, slice of the pie
Trying to eat and be high
How you know you really alive if you don't reach for the sky?
Your eyes keep on the prize
What you seek and you'll find
Who's the realest niggas? that we let people decide
Who keeping it live?
Brooklyn got the key to the ride, c'mon
