Common, The Last Poets - The Corner

[Verse 1: Common]
Memories on the corners with the Fo's and the Mo's,
Walk to the store for the rose, talkin' straightforward to hoes,
Got uncles that smoke, and some put blow up they nose
To cope with the lows, the wind is cold and it blows.
In their socks and their soles, niggas holdin' they rolls,
Corners leave souls opened and closed, hopin' for more,
With nowhere to go, niggas rollin' in droves,
They shoot the wrong way, ‘cause they ain't knowin' their goals.
The streets ain't safe, ‘cause they ain't knowin' the code,
By the foes I was told, either focus or fold,
Got cousins with flows, hope they open some doors,
So we can cop clothes and roll in a Rolls.
Now I roll in a Olds with windows that don't roll
Down the roads, where cars get broken and stole,
These are the stories told by Stony and Cottage Grove,
The world is cold, the block is hot as a stove
On the corners.

[Chorus: Kanye West]
I wish I could give you this feeling!
I wish I could give this feeling, uh-huh, uh-huh-huh,
On the corners niggas rob or kill
And dyin' just to make a living, huh!

[Umar bin Hassan:]
We overstated, we underrated, we educated.
The corner was our time when time stood still, and
Gators and snakeskins in
Yellow and pink and collared blue
Profiles glorifying them.

[Verse 2: Common]
Street lights and deep nights, cats tryna eat right,
Ridin' no-seat-bikes with work to feed hypes,
So they can get sweet Nike's, they head and they feet right,
Desires of street life, cars and weed types.
It's hard to breathe nights, days are thief-like,
The beasts roam the streets, the police is Greek-like,
Game at its peak, we speak and believe hype,
Bang in the streets hats cocked left or deep right.
It's steep life comin' up where niggas is sheep-like,
Rappers and hoopers, we strive to be like,
G's with three stripes, seeds that need light,
Cheese and recite, needs and be strife.
The corner, where struggle and greed fight,
We write songs about wrong ‘cause it's hard to see right,
Look to the sky, hopin' it will bleed light,
Reality's a bitch, and I heard that she bites.
The corner.

[Chorus: Kanye West]
I wish I could give you this feeling!
I wish I could give this feeling, uh-huh, uh-huh-huh,
On the corners niggas rob or kill
And dyin' just to make a living, huh!

[Umar bin Hassan:]
The corner was our magic, our music, our politics.
Fires raised as tribal dances and war cries
Broke out on different corners.
Power to the people!
Black power!
Black is beautiful!

[Verse 3: Common]
Black church services, murderers, Arabs servin' burgers
As cats with gold permanents move they bags as herbalists,
The dirt isn't just fertile, it's people workin' and earnin' this,
The curb-getters go where the cash flow and the current is.
It's so hot that niggas burn to live,
The furnace is, where the money movin', the determined live,
We talk shit, play lotto, and buy German beers,
It's so black, packed with action that's affirmative.
The corners.

[Chorus: Kanye West]
I wish I could give you this feeling!
I wish I could give this feeling, uh-huh, uh-huh-huh,
On the corners niggas rob or kill
And dyin' just to make a living, huh!

[Umar bin Hassan:]
The corner was our Rock of Gibraltar, our Stonehenge,
Our Taj Mahal, our monument,
Our testimonial to freedom, to peace, and to love!
Down on the corner.