[Intro: Kanye West]
Uh, we got the black elite in the house tonight.
Rosewood!
I feel like I'm at the NAACP or something right now.
Essence Festival.
Q-Tip on the beat too.
[Hook: Kanye West]
My chain heavy, yeah, yeah, my chain heavy,
My chain heavy, my chain too heavy.
My chain heavy, yeah, yeah, my chain heavy,
My chain heavy, my chain too heavy.
[Verse 1: Kanye West]
They tryna tell me my chain broke the levee,
Maybe ‘cause it's flooded?
Why you walk around with a baby cross's, cousin?
My teeth already white, y'all gon' make me floss with nothing.
My teeth real diamonds, what's the cause of the frontin',
Why y'all got all caps on?
Don Cheadle time, get extra black on ‘em,
Burn, Hollywood, burn!
Take too long for niggas to get they turn,
Probably be cremated before I get my earn.
They tryna tell me that aliens built the Pyramids,
I swear life's a bitch on a period!
For every inch they cut the nose off the Sphinx
I make my jeweler add a few more links,
You can look at me tell, I don't give a fuck what nobody thinks,
And my face always lookin' like somebody stinks.
[Hook]
[Bridge: Kanye West]
Here we go, like we should,
Feel the sweat on your face.
Here we go, like we should,
Feel the sweat on your face.
Alright, okay!
Here we go, like we should,
Like we should, like we should,
Like we should.
[Verse 2: Kanye West]
Question: what color was the skin of the man who beared the cross?
No matter how many lashes, they couldn't beat it off.
How many Cassius will we see in one lifetime?
That's why it's Miles Davis, Kobe, it's Mike time.
I keep that GOAT book on the ottoman
And wrote hooks about slaves that was slaughtered in the 1800's,
Y'all forget that I got called ‘nigga'
On Twitter so many times, yo, I lived that.
Now I'm just tryna find where to raise my kids at,
‘Cause they don't want niggas next to where they crib at,
Hey, realtor, I'm lookin' for a nice park,
Twelve noon, she said my family gon' make it too dark.
This is the flow that solar eclipses,
So hopefully one day that real soul will eclipse
The bullshit they got us listenin' to in this existence,
Don't give up now, just a little more persistence.
I am the day Ice Cube met Michael Jackson,
Keep him away, huh? Something might happen.
This is the makin' of a masterpiece,
So we broke out the chains and told the master ‘Peace!'
[Hook]
[Bridge]
[Verse 3: Talib Kweli]
Some wear a suit and tie, they don't wanna remain average,
Some wear a suit and tie like a chain and a straitjacket,
My chain heavy; stop in that traffic, coppers harass us
Then DA attack us, want us in chains like B.A. Baracus,
So no major factor in my decision to be a rapper
Was rebellion; bein' anti-establishment was attractive
To a black kid from Brooklyn, flames got the things cooking,
Land of the juks where them lames get them chains tooken.
It ain't lookin' good for you if you're a tourist here,
Sometimes I rhymes the sort of frequency that only purists hear,
A couple rappers tried to beef with me, nobody scared,
Niggas was so fuckin' corny that nobody cared.
Why I gotta battle rappers? I debate scholars,
Question: do it gotta make sense if it make dollars?
Sick visions is livin' inside of brains,
It's like we sadomasochistic, addicted to whips and chains.
Figuratively, quite literally, clinically insane,
Spit flames and then visit the higher plane,
Try in vain to ignore it, don't buy the chain if you can't afford it,
‘Ye, them load of whores by the boards,
Trust.
[Verse 4: Consequence]
That old ball and chain had me chained up for weeks
So, of course, I'm off the chain as soon as I hit the streets,
And now when we link, she sayin', the game's over,
I drove her crazy, and she became a chain smoker.
Now the new dude, she's sayin' that can stay over,
Should be a chain who goes by the name of Choker,
That's what he did when she told him he should play the sofa,
So the chains on the door, I'm on the way over.
Now when I came over his only response was,
‘You must be the owner of a chain of restaurants
‘Cause I'ma eat your food for that chain that I wore,
‘Cause you be runnin' around like the chain make the man!'
So it's obvious the he don't know the chain of command,
‘Cause my chain commands that kind of respect,
And it's so chunky that it's a pain in the neck,
But it came with a check, I remember on chainin' day,
It spoke for itself, and this is what the chain would say,
“Them chain snatchers are hopin' that you ain't ready,
So don't get distracted keep your aim steady
Or there'll be a chain reaction since my chain's heavy.'
[Hook]
[Bridge]