Mos Def - Mathematics

[Intro:]
Bucka-bucka-bucka-bucka-bucka-bucka, ha ha!
You know the deal. It's just me, though!
Beats by Su-Primo for all of my people, negroes and latinos,
And even the gringos.

[Verse 1:]
Yo, check it!
1 for Charlie Hustle, 2 for Steady Rock,
3 for the forthcoming live future shock,
It's 5 dimensions, 6 senses,
7 firmaments of heaven and hell, 8 million stories to tell,
9 planets faithfully keep in orbit with the probable 10th,
The universe expands length,
The body of my text possess extra strength,
Power-lift the powerless up out of this towering inferno.
My ink so hot, it burn through the journal,
I'm blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle,
Hip-hop passed all your tall social hurdles
Like the nationwide project-prison-industry complex.
Working-class poor, better keep your alarm set,
Streets too loud to ever hear freedom ring,
Say evacuate your sleep, it's dangerous to dream.
For cha-ching cats get the cha-pow! You dead now.
Killing fields need blood to graze the cash cow,
It's a numbers game, but shit don't add up somehow.
Like I got 16 to 32 bars to rock it,
But only 15% of profits ever see my pockets;
Like 69 billion in the last 20 years
Spent on national defense, but folks still live in fear, like
Nearly half of America's largest cities is one-quarter black,
That's why they gave Ricky Ross all the crack.
16 ounces to a pound, 20 more to a ki,
A 5 minute sentence hearing and you're no longer free,
40% of Americans own a cell phone
So they can hear everything that you say when you ain't home.
I guess Michael Jackson was right: "You Are Not Alone",
Rock your hardhat, black, ‘cause you in the Terrordome
Full of hard niggas, large niggas, dice-tumblers,
Young teens and prison greens facin' life numbers.
Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients,
Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation,
This new math is whippin' mothafuckas' ass,
You wanna know how to rhyme, you better learn how to add.
It's mathematics.

[Hook:]
The mighty Mos Def.
It's simple mathematics.
Check it out.
I revolve around science.
What are we talking about there?
The mighty Mos Def.
It's simple mathematics.
Check it out.
I revolve around science.
What are we talking about there?
Do your math.
Do your math.
1, 2, 3, 4.
What are we talking about here?

[Verse 2:]
It's one universal law but 2 sides to every story,
3 strikes and you be in for life, mandatory,
4 MC's murdered in the last 4 years,
I ain't tryna be the fifth one, the millennium is here,
Yo, it's 6 million ways to die from the 7 deadly thrills,
8-year-olds gettin' found with 9 mills.
It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal?
He on the hill pumping krill to keep they belly filled.
Light in the ass with heavy steel, sights on the pretty shit in life,
Young soldiers tryna to earn their next stripe
When the average minimum wage is $5.15,
You best believe you've got to find a new grind to get cream.
The white unemployment rate? It's nearly more than triple for black,
Some front-liners got their gun in your back,
Bubbling crack, jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty
And end up in the global jail economy.
Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence,
Budget cutbacks, but increased police presence,
And even if you get out of prison still living,
Join the other 5 million under state supervision.
This is business: no faces, just lines and statistics
From your phone, your zip code to SSI digits,
The system break man, child, and women into figures,
2 columns for "who is" and "who ain't niggas".
Numbers is hard and real, and they never have feelings,
But you push too hard, even numbers got limits,
Why did one straw break the camel's back?
Here's the secret –
The million other straws underneath it,
It's all mathematics.

[Hook:]
The mighty Mos Def.
It's simple mathematics.
Check it out.
I revolve around science.
What are we talking about there?
The mighty Mos Def.
It's simple mathematics.
Check it out.
I revolve around science.
What are we talking about there?
Do your math.
Do your math.
1, 2, 3, 4.
What are we talking about here?