Common, The Last Poets - The Corner

[00:14.93] Memories on corners with the fo's and the mo's [00:17.80] Walk to the store for the rose, talking straightforward to hoes [00:21.36] Got uncles that smoke, and some put blow up they nose [00:23.99] To cope with the lows, the wind is cold and it blows [00:27.37] In they socks and their soles, niggas holding they rolls [00:30.59] Corners leave souls opened and closed, hoping for mo' [00:33.74] With nowhere to go, niggas rolling in droves [00:36.40] They shoot the wrong way, 'cause they ain't knowin' their goals [00:39.42] The streets ain't safe 'cause they ain't knowing the code [00:42.79] By the foes I was told, either focus or fold [00:45.81] Got cousins with flows, hope they open some doors [00:48.72] So we can cop clothes and roll in a Rolls [00:51.80] Now I roll in a Olds, with windows that don't roll [00:55.03] Down the roads where cars get broken and stole [00:57.65] These are the stories told by Stony and Cottage Grove [01:00.90] The world is cold, the block is hot as a stove [01:04.12] On the corners [01:05.03] I wish I could give you this feeling [01:07.36] I wish I could give this feeling, uh-uh [01:10.42] Uh-uh-ugh, on the corners, niggas robbing, killing [01:13.66] Dying, just to make a living, huh? [01:15.80] We overstated, we underrated, we educated [01:19.09] The corner was our time when time stood still and [01:22.85] Gators and snakeskins in [01:24.68] Yellow and pink and collared blue [01:26.69] Profiles glorifying them [01:28.55] Street lights and deep nights, cats trying to eat right [01:32.04] Riding no-seat-bikes, with work to feed hypes [01:34.84] So they can keep sweet Nike's, they head and they feet right [01:38.04] Desires of street life, cars and weed types [01:41.14] It's hard to breathe nights, days are thief-like [01:44.18] The beasts roam the streets, the police is Greek-like [01:47.44] Game at its peak, we speak and believe hype [01:50.51] Bang in the streets hats cocked left or deep right [01:53.47] It's steep life, coming up where niggas is sheep-like [01:56.62] Rappers and hoopers, we strive to be like [01:59.62] G's with three stripes, seeds that need light [02:02.74] Cheese and recite, needs and BE strife [02:05.66] The corner, where struggle and greed fight [02:08.17] We write songs about wrong 'cause it's hard to see right [02:11.99] Look to the sky, hoping it will bleed light [02:14.98] Reality's a bitch, and I heard that she bites [02:18.02] The corner [02:18.72] I wish I could give you this feeling [02:21.08] I wish I could give this feeling, uh-uh [02:24.08] Uh-uh-ugh, on the corners, niggas robbing, killing [02:27.30] Dying, just to make a living, huh? [02:30.50] The corner was our magic, our music, our politics [02:34.06] Fires raised as tribal dances and war cries [02:37.63] Broke out on different corners [02:39.37] Power to the people [02:40.52] Black power [02:41.35] Black is beautiful [02:42.05] Black church services, murderers, Arabs serving burgers [02:45.38] As cats with gold permanents, move they bags as herbalists [02:48.57] The dirt isn't just fertile, it's people working and earning this [02:51.66] The curb getters go where the cash flow and the current is [02:55.27] It's so hot that niggas burn to live [02:57.86] The furnace is, where the money moving, the determined live [03:01.22] We talk shit, play lotto, and buy German beers [03:04.41] It's so black packed with action that's affirmative [03:07.05] The corners [03:07.84] I wish I could give you this feeling [03:10.18] I wish I could give this feeling, uh-uh [03:13.25] Uh-uh-ugh, on the corners, niggas robbing, killing [03:16.39] Dying, just to make a living, huh? [03:18.52] The corner was our Rock of Gibraltar, our Stonehenge [03:22.78] Our Taj Mahal, our monument [03:25.23] Our testimonial to freedom, to peace, and to love [03:30.58] Down on the corner [03:32.15]