[Verse 1: Common] Memories on corners with the fours & the moors [pronounced foes and moes] Walk to the store for the rose talking straightforward to hoes Got uncles that smoke it some put blow up they nose To cope with they lows the wind is cold & it blows In they socks & they souls niggaz holding they rolls Corners leave souls opened & closed hoping for more With nowhere to go rolling in droves They shoot the wrong way cause they ain't knowing they goal The streets ain't safe cause they ain't knowing the code By the fours I was told either focus or fold Got cousins with flows hope they open some doors So we can cop clothes & roll in a Rolls Now I roll in a \"Olds\" with windows that don't roll Down the roads where cars get broke in & stole These are the stories told by Stony & Cottage Grove The world is cold the block is hot as a stove On the corners
[Hook: Kanye West] I wish I could give ya this feeling I wish I could give ya this feeling On the corners, niggas robbing, killing, dying Just to make a living (huh)
[Spoken: The Last Poets] We underrated, we educated The corner was our time when times stood still And gators and snakes gangs and yellow and pink And colored blue profiles glorifying that
[Verse 2: Common] Streetlights & deepnights cats trying to eat right Riding no seat bikes with work to feed hypes So they can keep sweet Nikes they head & they feet right Desires of streetlife cars & weed types It's hard to breath nights days are thief like The beast roam the streets the police is Greeklike Game at it's peak we speak & believe hype Bang in the streets hats cocked left or deep right Its steep life coming up where sheeplike Rappers & hoopers we strive to be like G's with 3 stripes seeds that need light Cheese & weaves tight needs & thieves strike The corner where struggle & greed fight We write songs about wrong cause it's hard to see right Look to the sky hoping it will bleed light Reality's and I heard that she bites The corner
[Hook]
[Spoken: The Last Poets] The corner was our magic, our music, our politics Fires raised as tribal dancers and war cries that broke out on different corners Power to the people, black power, black is beautiful
[Verse 3: Common] Black church services, murderers, Arabs serving burger its Cats with gold permanents move they bags as herbalist The dirt isn't just fertile its people working & earning this The curb-getters go where the cash flow & the current is It's so hot that burn to live the furnace is Where the money move & the determined live We talk play lotto & buy german beers It's so black packed with action that's affirmative The corners
[Hook]
[Spoken: The Last Poets] 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...