Intro (spoken):
Come on...yeah
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who been ridin' with me so far
It's been a long journey
But they say your life's path is not about the destination, it's all about the journey
I appreciate y'all

Chorus:
It's my blood, sweat, tears, years of struggle, love, hate, fear
New York City, you can make it here you can make it anywhere
I came prepared for the rain, hail, sleet, snow
Whatever the weather, we ride, let my people go
To the place where knowledge is born
We walk into the third eye of the storm, check it out

Verse 1:
Futuristic lyricist, straight from the renaissance
Top of the supper chain, rap's upper echelons
My people sufferin', slave to another chain
This voyage is maiden, like my mother other name
Is this your first trip to hell? We venture capitalists
If it's a product, then we got it for sale
When I first started to spell, my words fell into rhymes
Turned into songs, everything else fell into line
I painted pictures you could see, the people bleed in my bars
When I was a teen I was mean, about to reach for the stars
So if I fell, I fell right in the cloud, tighten the valve
n____s is watered down, used to be no bitin' allowed
Now they gangstas, no cryin' allowed
You probably see a fight on the stage before you see a fight in the crowd
I send this out to my people facin' the storm, homey we ridin' it out
You inspire what I'm writin' about

Chorus:
It's my blood, sweat, tears, years of struggle, love, hate, fear
New York City, you can make it here you can make it anywhere
I came prepared for the rain, hail, sleet, snow
Whatever the weather, we ride, let my people go
To the place where knowledge is born
We walk into the third eye of the storm, check it out

Scratching:
It's the third eye of the storm
It's the third eye of the storm
It's the third eye of the storm
It's the third eye of the storm

Check it out (ha, ha, ha, ha)
Check it out (ha, ha, ha, ha)
Check it out (ha, ha, ha)

We ain't f___in around (uh uh)

Verse 2:
I'm not a judge, but I'm handin' out sentences
For political prisoners, and regular inmates with no visitors
n____s in the street outside the reach of the ministers
Not those that say "spiritual," but actual partitioners
Rap listeners who be openin' Black businesses
This underground s___ with samples that lack clearances
Once you get past appearances, you can tell whose s___ is fake
Or whose s___ is based on past experience
You really been to war hand to hand like crack sales
Building man to man, they tryna kill off the black male
Females left to raise up her son, from the day he was one
Til he twenty and he raise up a gun
And get to blazin' for his place in the sun
The smoke grazin' his lung, young in his years and he facin' a ton
None of his peers wanna share the role of child care provider
But they'll hit a n____ blunt and share saliva
You ain't a rider and you hustlin' backwards
Too many equate success with imitating these crackers
So our kids lookin' up to drug dealers and rappers
We takin' all the work away from the Black actors
Revelation is first and Armageddon is after
Tsunamis and hurricanes, natural disasters
The fast food culture, speed is always a factor
Instant gratification, they want the catch faster

Chorus:
It's my blood, sweat, tears, years of struggle, love, hate, fear
New York City, you can make it here you can make it anywhere
I came prepared for the rain, hail, sleet, snow
Whatever the weather, we ride, let my people go
To the place where knowledge is born
We walk into the third eye of the storm, check it out

Scratching:
It's the third eye of the storm
It's the third eye of the storm
It's the third eye of the storm
It's the place where knowledge is born

Check it out (ha, ha, ha, ha)
Check it out (ha, ha, ha, ha)
Check it out (ha, ha, ha)

Talib Kweli
That's what it is, break it down

Scratching:
Paranorm, I perform through a storm

See also:
JustSomeLyrics
26
26.21
Pato Fu Nada Pra Mim Lyrics
Randy Crawford When I Get Over You Lyrics