Heard

Yo, you know like I know what it means to be heard
And seen undisturbed
Rock live, hear the crowd sing the words
Paint your passion in the verse 'til it hurts
Appease the avid searchers
Rap blogs debate the craft of your work
Watch the birth of an album sold

Want the platinum, the fact that cats on that
Spike Lee, we gotta have it
Anita songs of such rapture

Sweet as young laughter

Swinging they arms as my song charms their ghetto blaster
Come on, brag about your talent
To the pastor, to the mailman, whoever half-latted
Half-embarrassed, tell 'em

That your songs on the radio
Story long, play me close
And they got your girl on daily, bro
Taste this crazy, yo, starting on a sticky note
In the inner crowd as I sailed in the stranger's throat
A face exposed, somebody claimed you wrote their favorite quote
And they felt the pain you wove in these rhymes you make a flow
Word

How you listen to the radio?
The radio, ra-ra-radio
How you listen to the radio?
Claim, c-c-claim hip-hop is dead
How you listen to the, how you listen to the
The radio, ra-ra-radio
How you listen to the, the radio?
Listen to the radio, claim hip-hop is dead

Yo, you know like I know what it means to be heard

If not my history shows a trail of silence
Confiscation of words
Violence against stories born never told
What happens? Do they dry up
Like the dreams in that old used phone?

I reminisce on how it all started out
Used to beg for a crowd
Thought I was wack before I opened my mouth
Somebody said, "God bless the female child
Who got her own load, this shit sound foul"

We sing along to the song, yo
Love hip-hop, super seeds of love that don't drop
But us drop, feel like the world ain't 'bout the world, watch
Share the stories too deep for those
Who rather listen as we sliding down poles
For the camera exposed
Grin, my mouth closed
Moan for the answer, show 'em who the poor phony dancer
Get your hands up

'Cause your narrative deserves a platform and a turn
To know what it feels like to be heard

How you listen to the radio?
The radio, ra-ra-radio
How you listen to the radio?
Claim, c-c-claim hip-hop is dead
How you listen to the, how you listen to the
The radio, ra-ra-radio
How you listen to the, the radio?
Listen to the radio, claim hip-hop is dead

Tell me, what does it mean to be heard and seen?
Y'all notice me
Unwrap my voice, hear what's sown in between
Hopes and dreams, frustrated, my pen a pistol waving
Nobody move, I blast off on your pages
Came a long way from singing in cold old plantations
To that church girl on air flow

Up in the basement, vivid imagination
Run wild, heart racing
Dream of rocking the mic like Shante and Daddy Kane did
Drape in full size, young mind trapped in amazement
See the crowd, smell the sweat of the dance floor and the pavement
Feel that bass kick as my ride starts to fade quick
Bass sound just a radiator vibrating from the line
Of the people who ride to buy slavery

Mass hangers, Reaganomics of the '80s
With that saying, "Fuck all your naysayers"

Me and these rhymes, we gon' make it heard