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To my donuts, I'm shooting J Dillas and what Black Thought (Ft. Rapsody) – Dostoyevsky

The J Dilla “donuts” line was crazy. She just got a super-unique flow. The way she comprises these multisyllabic patterns is ill.

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added at June 25th, 2018 15:29
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I fell in love with the game and never look back
My foundation and frame, they never shook that The Roots – Champion

The moment I fell in love with hip-hop and the game was in the 3rd grade when I was about 9 or 10 years old. It was the first time I did a talent show. I sung an El DeBarge song. I won and caught the bug after that.

The next year was the first year that I rapped at the talent show. So I had a group called The Crash Crew that consisted of me, my homie Walik and Beanie Sigel. I was in the 4th grade and Beans was in the 3rd grade. Then we had two break dancers and a human beatbox.

The thing is I was suspended from school a few days before the talent show. I was still allowed to be in the audience at the time of the show, but I wasn’t supposed to perform.

I was in the audience and I saw Beans and Walik up there killing it and I had a rush of adrenaline. I was already in trouble so I just jumped on stage and killed it.

I was in a lot more trouble after that.

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added at June 10th, 2016 20:49
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Been trailblazing my name into the book that
Represent all the champs who had a chance and took that The Roots – Champion

The obvious wordplay on the surface is in regards to the Portland Trailblazers being an NBA team. They aren’t in the 2016 NBA Finals, but there is a book that represents the stuff of legends.

People who persevered, who had a chance and took it, people who were fearless in their actions and victorious because of that.

What these bars represent is the calculated risk that I take. It’s not for nil. At the end of the day when you go through the history of the art and the craft— everybody can’t be in the book. But I feel like what I’m doing is trying to secure my space across the board so my contribution is never forgotten.

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added at June 10th, 2016 20:45
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Nah, you work hard 'til you're better off
24/7, 365, never off
Look at me, I'm nocturnal, I don't sleep
My eyes heavy, bags and crow's feet The Roots – Champion

I’m literally working four different jobs in a day, between “Fallon,” The Roots, our NBA campaign, doing press and all this other stuff. I just understand that hard work ethic. But I also understand how hard work pays off.

Sometimes I run into folks who are like, “Oh man, I’m exhausted. I worked for an hour and a half today.”

I work 16 and 17 hour work days.

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added at June 10th, 2016 20:37
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When something's telling me to stop, I never do that in the name of love
Until I've given it my all and it just ain't enough The Roots – Champion

The first 4 or 6 bars of my verse is from a song that originally wrote six years ago for a project I was doing with Danger Mouse. It was for a record called “Stop.” The album was going to be called Dangerous Thoughts, but it never came out.

I was drawing on the idea of perseverance. These are lyrics that I wrote years ago, but when I’m writing a song, I’m writing for it to become timeless.

Because the original record was called “Stop” and it had the word “stop” in the beat, the first thing that came to my mind was “Stop In The Name Of Love.”

Some people may stop in the name of love, but that is something that I would never do, not even in the name of love.

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added at June 10th, 2016 20:18
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F036f992b459f498fece5882423cf477

18,490

8 years

U the goat tariq 😇 😍😍😍😍😍😍 behind Blu of course 💀

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64aee8c536c7e3ee32ec9ccf1097288f

2,047

8 years

Nothing doper than an artist straight up telling you “Yo this is what this means!

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Yo, Tariq (What's up?), how your microphone sound? The Roots (Ft. Yasiin Bey) – Double Trouble

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added at December 27th, 2012 01:20
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29d446a8fb7556fd9493bfd8ba69b1aa

203

2 years

excellent

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The long walk will burn your bare heels
So throw on your boots
The game camouflaged like army suits
But I can see it more clear cause I came with the Coup in here
Ring the alarm and form the troops The Coup (Ft. Black Thought & Talib Kweli) – My Favorite Mutiny

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added at December 27th, 2012 01:02
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Tveug5nbwq8

145

6 years

Classic Black Thought lyrical complexity here. The army imagery (“long walk” recalls marching, “boots,” “camouflaged like army suits,” “form the troops”) is rich enough, but then there’s also the little contrast between camouflage (hiddenness) and clarity nestled inside the larger section (“the game camouflaged like army suits/ But I can see it more clear cause I came with the Coup in here”)

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Tveug5nbwq8

145

6 years

Nice internal rhyme (“see it more CLEAR cause I came with the Coup in HERE”)

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Default_avatar_100

3

4 years

Another layer of the lyrics is ‘Long walk to freedom’, title of Mandela’s autobiography

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Deadly rhymes, here's the solution Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Men at Work

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added at December 26th, 2012 23:45
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1358289760_110338_the-wonder-of-stevie-front[1]

317

11 years

Black Thought with the GOAT explanation.

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Nann nigga competition, gotta battle myself Talib Kweli (Ft. Black Thought, Kanye West & Pharoahe Monch) – Guerrilla Monsoon Rap

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added at December 26th, 2012 22:15
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With this jazz shit, I hit your jaw
Dice Raw, get up on the mic, my young poor The Roots (Ft. Dice Raw) – The Lesson, Pt. 1

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added at December 26th, 2012 21:41
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