[Alicia Keys:]
C‘mon!
[music begins]
[Mos Def:]
Yes yes yes...
Uh, a yes yes y‘all (freak freak y‘all)
A-freak freak y‘all!
Freak freak y‘all - fifteen!
(Ohh!) A yes yes y‘all
[Put them hands in the air, y‘all!]
[Yo, now put them hands in the air y‘all]
Waddup, Brook-LYYYYYYYYYYYYYN!!
[Common:]
And just clap your hands y‘all
A freak freak y‘all - and ya don‘t stop
A to the beat y‘all - and ya don‘t stop
A freak freak y‘all - and ya don‘t stop
A to the beat (y‘alllllllllll!!!)
[Common:]
Yo, mad love for the culture
Since the days of Adidas and hip-hop posters
Now I host with Mos and just to boast to brag
a bit about it, ‘cause I cain‘t live without it
Seen her on the streets when I was like ten
Especially‘s of a lagged and young black man
Do backspins in backyards cause we rap harder
People that lack [?], now we black stars
Gift from God - they said we must be crazy
Now they sayin Common, Nasir, and Jay-Z
Leaders of tomorrow, follow the steps of
Africans rap in the ghettos makin it spressed up
Yo we bring the light, we do it tonight
Alicia Keys and Mos Def bring it right
We come down and bam, and rock who I am
Com Sense, yo; I‘m wit the fam, yo
[Chorus x2: sung in tune of Brand Nubian‘s "Love it or Leave It Alone"]
You gotta love it, or leave it alone
You gotta love it, or leave it alone
You gotta love it, or leave it alone
You gotta love it, or leave it alone
[Mos Def:]
(Mos Def) Yo, peep it out while I tell you like this
A fresh to the soil, be sure you don‘t miss
It‘s the, true for ya, true feature
I could go on for days about it screamin "Alicia!"
Walkin down the block with brother Com Sense
Comrade Com Sense, so what the heck so I -
show this fresh girl that you always sure
Before and then my heart should be adored and
cain‘t front, another ignore
It‘s Aquarius love and highly secure
Daje Mahal, and really gettin in
and fantasize of my life for a one or two winners
And my man Com Sense just stopped and said
"Yo stop frontin‘ and use your head!"
A-said "Yo stop frontin‘ and use your head!"
A-said "Yo stop frontin‘ and use your FUCKIN head.." (OHHHHH!!)
[Chorus x2: with ad-libs]
[Alicia Keys: interlude]
Right about now, I wanna thank everybody for comin out
and rockin with me tonight
I wanna give a big-up, to my man Mos Def
My man Common Sense, my man Krucial
My man Ills, the whole M.B.K. fam
The whole Krucial Keys fam, and MTV
And everybody out th-ere say "yeah!!" [crowd cheers]
Yeah!
Said everybody out th-ere say "yeah!!"
(YEEEEEAHHH)
C‘mon, and alright
I need y‘all to give it up, for Pablo on percussion
for Paul John on drums, Onree Gill on M.D.
Anaysha, Sara, Jermaine, AND, Denise on backgrounds
Steve on the bass, oh
Artie on the gee-tar (yaaaay), Jeff‘s on the horns (oh)
AYE-YAY-YAY, and the string quartets
Ray Chew and, the Crunks
Oh, oh (one-two), you know
[Chorus x2: with ad-libs and variations]