Text: Brand Nubian. Concerto in X Minor.

Well, good evening my Nubian brothers and sisters
Tonight we got a really big show, really big show
Conducting his Concerto in X Minor
We have the brother, Derek X

His theme tonight will be on racism
In a New York, backdrop, Brother Derek X
Yes, yes, yes, thank you, thank you, thank you
And all a that

Yo, before I get this wrecked, I wanna give a strong shout
To all the positive brothers and sisters that's out there
And I just wanna let y'all know who I came down here with
I slid in here with Lord J and Alamo with the A
And I came to get wrecked like this

I'm kinda blessed, so I wrote this manifesto for life
Co-signed by the others with a knife
On the real tip, let's take a field trip from the ghetto
You pick the time and we'll meet in the meadow

To discuss racial issues and tension
New York's a powder keg, did I forget to mention?
Now, case in point y'all remember that Brooklyn Bridge joint
When things got wild an' willy?
Yeah, that day the Feds played the role of the bully

{Up against the car
Yo, I ain't even do nuttin', man
Aiyyo, shut up or you get smacked
Yo, why you pushin' me? Why you hittin' me, man?}

Now Huey Newton, was slain an' we all felt the pain
Of Yusef Hawkins an' they was mad but we was squakin'
They tried to show a false compassion
Yet at the rally, they tried to bash in our brains
Further addin' to the bloodstains

I was mad at this news an' so was my brothers
An' I wanted to get violent but I'm a lover of black mothers
An' black mothers need sons
Not children that's been killed by guns

It's just another form of slavery, a modern day lynchin'
The others get the world, the black man feels the tension
Inside, not out to hide, just provides us all the answer
I will stop racial injustice if I get the chance to

Now, the civilized man's main goal is to teach
An' I try to achieve this with verbal outreach
In my community an' all outlayin' counties
Spread the message of good with my 'Now Rule' mighty

Step up to the right, dispense an' be known
Remember what I said is to teach your own
At home first and as we disperse
I sparks your head like a cloudburst

Ya don't stop, ya don't quit
Derek X, I'm guaranteed to be the ultimate
Brother Derek X, I kicks the flavor

So bust that, I drop the stack from my almanac
It's all truth so it's got to be a shown fact
So keep on this is the dawn of the Capricorn Turtle
A rhyme that I kick is stored daily in my journal
Or my diary, when speakin' on the black man, I gets fiery

The record's in the record store, category's black war
Best you ever saw an' it comes in a three or a four pack
In a month or two I'll be back
To confer with you on both of my works

In my contract, I get crazy perks from Elektra
See me kick this rhyme an' I covered the whole spectra
This is the final verse, grand finale in Crescendo
Message substance of the X cannot be thrown out the window

Unseen, lean two years, past the teen
Never use makeup, got a natural sheen
It's like that, y'all, let's have a ball
I'm Derek X, about six feet tall

Yeah an' as I stop this wreck for one sec
I wanna give a shout to the Grand Puba
Also to club kid Marley Marl, Pete Rock from the Vernon
I wanna give a shout to Mike P
An' Cherokeem also in Tucson, Rich with the carry on

I wanna give a shout to all the Gods in Now Rule
Melacasis, Sea an' my man True Born
I wanna give a shout to Big Bob, Scooby Real
An' the whole Mob from the Stallion, Mark the Spark
An' I'm outta here