Cover art for Powers That Be by Hieroglyphics

Powers That Be

Produced by

Oct. 7, 20031 viewer11.4K views

Powers That Be Lyrics

[Verse 1: Opio]
They say I'm like Bruce Willis: Unbreakable, Die Hard
True sickness with this mic on the tripod
But I'm not Chow Yun-fat
Dig, I'm still a pillar of stone
Flows enter your skulls
Mash on your whole militia like I'm Hannibal

Imagine: you the antelope and I'm the king of the jungle
Animal instinct, phenomenal stamina

Just think about a man on the brink of insanity
And it's me
You not a rapper, you a movie star
Checkin' who we are
Be the coup d'état, molotov cocktail
Charred and you'll get scarred and schooled regardless

I'm marvelous majestic; no retarded shit
All my power harnessin'
My spoken-word like a Voltron sword
And these poems pulse the arsenic
Every medley: deadly
Come and spar with us

[Verse 2: Tajai]
When the instrumental begins
The timid: they wince
They know when it's gonna commence
We 'bout to crush 'em
Reach out and touch 'em
Before they scream out
We gonna pull these things out and bust 'em
Rub 'em out like dry erase
Thug it out like the United Snakes (sssss)
It's us against the world
Fuck popular opinion!
They scoff, cause we was different
But we did it all for independence
Now we gon' off 'em with a vengeance

Hand 'em they heads
Paint the landscape ruby red
With the nerve and will of a bunch of determined killers
Who always make their marks, and never hesitate to spark
Strike first, take their hearts
With the right verse
Cause confusion
Never underestimate the power of illusion we usin'
Start a whole revolution of music, man, we do this
Shit, it's all we know
[Hook x4]
The powers that be
It's in you
It's in me
An emcee
That's all we know

[Verse 3: Del]
Whatever, I don't know why you even play yourself to that degree
You laugh at me?
Like I won't slap the teeth out your grill
That's how I feel
You out of order
You about a quarter inch away from fist in face
Your distant gaze makes me think your brain drifts away
To a land of wonder
Only to awaken by the sound of cannon thunder
All of those damn assumptions
You a sad sack, mad wack
Straight up and down ass-crack
And that's that!
Get a load of Del, I devise words well
I be spittin' globe
Let the mission unfold
Your tits are printed centerfold
Hate to diss ya, ho, but you're fictional
I'm just kinda different, yo; what I say is thought provoking
Not for joking
See, I know things they told kings
While your hoes cling to whatever the dough brings
[Hook]
The powers that be
It's in you
It's in me
An emcee
That's all we know

[Verse 4: Pep Love]
Hieroglyphics came triumphant, reign, uncontained
Runnin' through the plains of some hunted slaves
Emperors who were meant to be entered into the end of the world
As we spin to the heat of the sun's temperature; hot!
Distance measure how many flows I got
Persistent pressure as we get this cheddar
For the business and the betterment of my folks
All my green stars mount up
Ready let's go!
We sustained out of Earth cause we came outta her
The devils get slain when I sling slang
Hotter than a lot of lava from the Bay to the Bahamas
All the way to Cabo coppa
We parlé'in, clockin' dollars like Goodfellas
Suckas get jealous cause we make lettuce and we still rebelious
And the industry could never jail us
All my niggas free to be ourselves and our records still sell
This is hip-hop Olympics
Hieroglyphics, the Dream Team

Rappers livin' outta they means, tryin' to bling-bling
Get your fat chain stole
Get your whole crew exposed
We done had them hoes, dog
I'm magical and when I grab these flows
Out the hat, it blows 'em back to the last three rows
We mashin', massive action-packed shit
Hit 'em with a passion and that's it!
[Hook x4]
The powers that be
It's in you
It's in me
An emcee
That's all we know

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Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Has this ever song been used commercially?
Genius Answer

“Powers That Be” was featured in the teaser trailer for skateboarding game, Session.

Credits
Produced By
Performance Rights
Copyright ©
Phonographic Copyright ℗
Mixed At
Background Vocals
Engineer
Mastering Engineer
Keyboards
Recorded At
Hiero Studio
Release Date
October 7, 2003
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