What'd you do last night
  "we did umm, two whole cars
  It was me, dez, and main three right?
  And on the first car in small letters it said
  'all you see is..' and then you know
  Big, big, you know some block silver letters
  That said '..crime in the city' right?"
  "it just took up the whole car?"
  "yeah yeah, it was a whole car and shit..."
  
  [spanish speaking woman] escuchela.. la ciudad respirando
  (translation of spanish: listen to it.. the city breathing)
  
  * woman repeats 3x *
  
  [spanish speaking woman] escuchela..
  
  [mos def]
  The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis
  Shinin, like who on top of this?
  People was hustlin, arguin and bustlin
  Gangstaz of gotham hardcore hustlin
  I'm wrestlin with words and ideas
  My ears is picky, seekin what will transmit
  The scribes can apply to transcript, yo
  This ain't no time where the usual is suitable
  Tonight alive, let's describe the inscrutable
  The indisputable, we new york the narcotic
  Strength in metal and fiber optics
  Where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips
  For profits, thirsty criminals take pockets
  Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin class watches
  Skyscrapers is collosus, the cost of living
  Is preposterous, stay alive, you play or die, no options
  No batman and robin, can't tell between
  The cops and the robbers, they both partners, they all heartless
  With no conscience, back streets stay darkened
  Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened
  My eagle talons stay sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin
  You either make a way or stay sobbin, the shiny apple
  Is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat
  You could lose your teeth, many crews retreat
  Nightly news repeat, who got shot down and locked down
  Spotlight to savages, nasdaq averages
  My narrative, rose to explain this existance
  Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance
  
  So much on my mind that it can't recline
  Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
  Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
  Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
  Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
  I can't take it y'all, i can feel the city breathin
  Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
  Sigh before we die like the last train leaving
  
  [talib kweli]
  Breathin in deep city breaths, sittin on shitty steps
  We stoop to new lows, hell froze the night the city slept
  The beast crept through concrete jungles
  Communicatin with one another
  And ghetto birds where waters fall
  From the hydrants to the gutters
  The beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin
  You on the wrong side of the track, lookin visibly shaken
  Taken them plungers, plungin to death that's painted by the numbers
  With crime unapplied pressure, cats is playin god
  But havin children by a lesser baby mother but fuck it
  We played against each other like puppets, swearin you got pull
  When the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes
  Gettin knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise
  Look in the skies for god, what you see besides the smog
  Is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene
  Thoughts that people put in the air
  Places where you could get murdered over a glare
  But everything is fair
  It's a paradox we call reality
  So keepin it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality
  Killers born naturally like, micky and mallory
  Not knowing the ways'll get you capped like an nba salary
  Some cats be emceeing to illustrate what we be seeing
  Hard to be a spiritual being when shit is shakin what you believe in
  For trees to grow in brooklyn, seeds need to be planted
  I'm asking if y'all feel me and the crowd left me stranded
  My blood pressure boiled and rose, cause new york niggaz
  Actin spoiled at shows, to the winners the spoils go
  I take the l, transfer to the 2, head to the gates
  New york life type trife the roman empire state
  
  [mos def and crew]
  So much on my mind i just can't recline
  Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
  Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
  Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
  Yo don't the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
  I can't take it y'all, i can feel the city breathin
  Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
  Sigh before we die like the last train leaving
  
  [spanish speaking woman] escuchela.. respirando ??
  
  [common]
  Yo...on the amen, corner i stood lookin at my former hood
  Felt the spirit in the wind, knew my friend was gone for good
  Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, i couldn't mask it
  Mixin down emotions, struggle i hadn't mastered
  I coreograph seven steps to heaven
  And hell, waiting to exhale and make the bread leavened
  Veteran of a cold war it's chica-i-go for
  What i know or, what's known
  So some days i take the bus home, just to touch home
  From the crib i spend months gone
  Sat by the window with a clutched dome listenin to shorties cuss long
  Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong
  Tried to call, or at least beep the lord, but didn't have a touch-tone
  It's a dog-eat-dog world, you gotta mush on
  Some of this land i must own
  Outta the city, they want us gone
  Tearin down the 'jects creatin plush homes
  My circumstance is between cabrini and love jones
  Surrounded by hate, yet i love home
  Ask my god how he thought travellin the world sound
  Found it hard to imagine he hadn't been past downtown
  It's deep, i heard the city breathe in its sleep
  Of reality i touch, but for me it's hard to keep
  Deep, i heard my man breathe in his sleep
  Of reality i touch, but for me it's hard to keep
  
  [mos def and crew]
  So much on my mind i just can't recline
  Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
  Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
  Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
  Yo how the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
  I can't take it y'all, i can feel the city breathing
  Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
  Kiss the ide's goodbye, i'm on the last train leaving