Common - I Am Music

(feat. Jill Scott)

[Chorus: Jill Scott]

Can you speak your words of bedtime
I was just saying to myself the other day
Most of believing the magician
But you're bewitching
Because of this I must say
I (I)
I (oh I)
I
Appreciate what you give to me
Yeah (I)
I (oh I)
I
Appreciate what you give to me

[Verse 1: Common]

People say I got soul look at all the records I hold
The lives I've affected, connect and control
With me in your basement, your mama got blown
I provide the vibe to keep the strippers on poles
Through me the black experience is glorious told
From a school that's old bold, so I rock gold
And platinum, so cats I hold notes and cash for them
On streets I rap for them, in ghettos I blast for them
Mash with them, at the party and all
Peep the universal language that's embodying all
Put the Billie Holiday, Bob Marley in y'all
Y'all feel most high when I be in y'all
System, with the rhythm I up jump the boogie
Shame I rely on record labels to push me
Since the bush, I been y'all way to escape
Through eight-tracks wax CDs and tapes
I am music

[Chorus]

[Verse 2]

You can feel me all over alive, I help culture survive, I opened the eyes of
many
Styles y'all wrote in the skies, with your lows and highs, open your mind to
hear me

In the streets I beat cops and obsolete
On every station it's hot you can't stop my heat
I taught J and Dre how to rock the beat
On what's going on today yo, I gots to speak
I take the stand, yo you could feel me bam
Whether in Larry Graham or Steely Dan
Live I be killing it man
For how long I survived yo I'm realer than man
Got a soft side but I'm still a man
For me women cry and children dance, I'm trying to eat
I could'a got a mil and ran
But like Sly for the fam still I stand
I am music

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]

I been here since the beginning
Beginning of time yo beginning of time
Deep in the mind of the ancient ones
Everybody love me like they do the sun
I shine at times yo at times I'm dark
You can't categorize me, my mind's a art
Inside my heart, it ain't about climbing charts
I'm the one you roll with when your ride is smart
The change that came, the change that comes
I change with chords and I kick it with drums
Get blow with horns and did it on the one
Riffed for guitars, for the Lord I sung
Spun around the world at parties and weddings
Wherever I go I create the setting
You know me from lessons or your pops collections
Whether whole or half stepping I'm a blessing
Yo I am music

[Chorus x2]