Lyrics Long Time - The Roots

Oh
It's been a long, Long Time
Since I been back around the way
It's been a Long Time
Let it spin, let it spin, let it spin
Since I been back around your way
It's been a Long Time
Long Time, Long Time.
Yeah, Struck by the luck of the draw
Real life preservation what I'm hustlin' for
My name Black Thought the definition of raw
I was born in South Philly on a cement floor
We had nothin' at all, I had to knuckle and brawl
They swore I'd fall or be another brick in the wall
Another life full of love that lost
That's silly, this Philly
Y'all really ain't stoppin' the boy
With the pen like Willy on top of the hall
Pure soul what the city most popular for
Hear the tones that will ease you
Smooth as Bunny Sigler's soundtrack
Keepin' your head boppin' and all
And it's somethin' in the water though
/Where I come from
They used to sing it on the corner yo
Where I come from
Makin' somethin' outta nothin'
Because everybody 50 cents away from a quarter
Where I come from
Yeah, the streets ain't timid but I feel at home in it
Gotta see a couple people I ain't got at in a minute
Yeah, you can take a brother outta South Philly
Can't take it out of him really
I forever represent it and it's
Oh
It's been a long, Long Time
Since I been back around the way
It's been a Long Time
Let it spin, let it spin, let it spin
Since I been back around your way
It's been a Long Time
Long Time, Long Time.
Live and direct, I don't need no mic check
Remember mommy told me Peedi you ain't write that
It started in the bathroom takin' a dump
Listenin' to Ultramagnetic, Ego trippin' you won't
Pressure my word, I'm the urban vision of you chump
Stomped on a different ground, sound second to none
Synthesizers tweet to improvise your feet
I calculated every lyric to arrive on beat
It's free, come get high on me
Before a 9 millimeter shell hit my pelle pelle in the P
Yeah, it's somethin' in the water though
Where I come from
They used to sing it on the corner though
Where I come from
Makin' somethin' out of nothin'
Because everybody 50 cents from a quarter
Where I come from
It's just a natural reaction for crack to make it happen
Let the pen ink sink into the paper of the pad
Think back, hen I was younger
Ghetto could have took me under
Young Peedi can't mess with North Philly
Never had, you don't know about me
You ain't stroll my streets
I look familiar, I feel ya
Long time no see
Oh
It's been a long, Long Time
Since I been back around the way
It's been a Long Time
Let it spin, let it spin, let it spin
Since I been back around your way
It's been a Long Time
Long Time, Long Time.
Uh, clap somethin' but whatever you clap
Clap to the record spinnin' while I'm takin' you back
To the top paper era, baby dig on that
Picture the pool room where the money getters was at
And street people with the feathers in the cap of their bossolino
Pullin' paper in as if it's a small casino
I was a young boy sweepin' the floors and runnin' to stores
But all those old heads would talk to me though
About the way to clutch the Eagle on a buck and tuck
And if I'm down how to get back up, just survival kid
And it's the struggle worldwide, I'm positive
Shit the ghetto might as well be the Gaza Strip
You know where all of the monsters is
You don't see no consciousness
Street walkers
I'm comin' back to where the core of the problem is
We on the job again, y'all know what time it is
Oh
It's been a long, Long Time
Since I been back around the way
It's been a Long Time
Let it spin, let it spin, let it spin
Since I been back around your way
It's been a Long Time
Long Time, Long Time.