Excellent, 2017 - Sho Baraka, Amisho Baraka Lewis

Yeah

Trap, trap jazz

Hold up, I know you don’t want no problems now

Break it down, there’s no way you can keep us out

Excellence, you know we about our excellence

Oh lord, oh lord run it back again

Hat on top 'cause we think excellent

Frames on straight 'cause I see excellent

Dressed for success 'cause I be excellent

Everything we do, everything we do

Excellent

TSB 'cause we live excellent

Art on high 'cause we make excellent

We thank God 'cause He be excellent

Everything we do, everything we do

Ooh!

Bars like Attica

Rap Benjamin Banneker

Building up communities, here to raise the standard up

Excellence

Yeah that new Peter and Paul

Gordon Parks, off the charts

It’s Kobe without a ball

(Excellence)

Booker T, giving knowledge for cheap

Smart and cool, that’s a college degree

Excellent like building strong families through years of oppression

There is no recession when all you know is the Great Depression

Reading Phillis Wheatley I’m tryna avoid the greedy

Mother Teresa in sneakers, tryna serve the needy

Cool in school, FAMU & Tuskegee

New school educators — Dhati and Thabiti

Focused like Moses but I’m feeling ill-equipped

I’m praying for a rod and the Red Sea to split

A crew to hold me up and a pharaoh to beef wit'

Just point me to the promise, I’m exiting Egypt

Hold up, I know you don’t want no problems now

Break it down, there’s no way you can keep us out

Excellence, you know we about our excellence

Oh lord, oh lord run it back again

Excellence

Hat on top 'cause we think excellent

Frames on straight 'cause I see excellent

Dressed for success 'cause I be excellent

Everything we do, everything we do

Excellent

We problem solvers they are problem starters

Excellent

We lay down our life, come visit the martyrs

I’d rather better judgement than a bigger budget

I guess massive money make you jokers coon in public

Annie Malone and Bethune, we excellent educators

Serena with nothing but love, we still serve the haters

Feeling old, gimme soul, rap Leon Bridges

When I commit to drop these hits, y’all gon' need some stitches

Excellent

Fight for justice from creation to the tomb

I know Black lives matter, and they should matter in the womb

(Talk to 'em Sho!)

I don’t do a lot of talking

Most of you who claim you woke are really sleep walking

Praying for the strength so I can fight for the people

Only thing I’m afraid of is God and my ego

Following false heroes, giving my vote to Nero

If they Marshall Law I’m playing Danny DeVito

Hold up, I know you don’t want no problems now (problems now)

Break it down, there’s no way you can keep us out (keep us out)

Excellence, you know we about our excellence

Oh lord, oh lord

Excellent

Hat on top 'cause we think excellent

Frames on straight 'cause I see excellent

Dressed for success 'cause I be excellent

Everything we do, everything we do

Excellent it’s when information turns into wisdom

Excellent like the peace that came with Mandela out the prison

Excellent it’s knowing I’m not defined by the wealth and stuff

Get the rich, line 'em up, they’ll tell you money is not enough

Forgive us Lord 'cause we want love without truth

The world is spiritually poor 'cause we want heaven without you

It’s malpractice, we want healing without patience

We don’t want a heart transplant, we want facelifts

I was poetic so they forgave my poor ethics

A misogynistic skeptic with methods of good aesthetics

I was so dirty, unworthy and insufficient

I don’t worry, he loves me when when I’m inconsistent

Commitment greater than talent, service over status

Passion over tactics, I don’t drive your bandwagon

I keep grinding until they name a climate after me

Until it’s common knowledge you jokers shouldn’t be rhyming after me

I’m wired to be inspired by the lovers and the haters

I take it to different levels like I’m rapping on elevators

If you reaching for the top you better learn to survive

You can either fall or fly when you reaching for the sky

Fly excellent

Or fall excellent

But never quit

Never quit