Habitat Lyrics - Black On Both Sides - Mos Def

[Chorus] 

We all got to have, a place where we come from 

This place that we come from is called home 

We set out on our travels, we do the best we can 

We travel this big earth as we roam 

We all got to have, a place where we come from 

This place that we come from is called home 

And even though we may love, this place on the map 

Said it ain't where ya from, it's where ya at 

I come up in the street around some real wild brothers 

With more than one name and more than one baby mother 

More than one chase, been on more than one run 

Got more than one enemy and more than one gun 

... 

While these cats that's less privileged is just more raw 

Less space cause the projects laced with more flaws 

Less sleep cause the nights ain't peace, it's more war 

The can is raw like thirsty, rainy season thunder claps 

On the block with your old pop pleading number act 

To the spot with the red top fiends is huddled at 

To the crib where the little kids spend their summers trapped 

With the jungle cats, lions and tigers, leopards and cheetahs 

For gazelle you get chased like a zebra, they blaze cheeba-cheeba 

And dominate the weaker on the street 

Hungry bellies only love what they eat and it's hard to compete 

When they smile with your heart in they teeth 

And the odds is stacked high beyond and beneath 

Son I been plenty places in my life and time 

And regardless where home is, son home is mine 

[Chorus] 

Some people live out in-New York City 

Some people live out in-Atlanta 

Some people got to live-Chicago 

Some people do live-Miami 

All my people at-California 

And other people got to live-London 

And everybody got to live in the whole big world 

Together just you and me 

When I think of home, my remembrance of my beginning 

Laundromat helping ma dukes fold the bed linen 

Chilling in front my building with my brother and them 

Spending nights in Bushwick with my cousins and them 

Wise town and Beat Street, federal relief 

Slowly melting in the morning grits we used to eat 

Sticking to your teeth and teeth is hard to keep 

With every flavor Now & Later only a dime apiece 

Old timers on the bench playing cards and things 

Telling tales about they used to be involved in things 

Start to drinking, talking loud, cussing up and showing out 

On the phone, call the cops, pick 'em up, move 'em out 

And it's all too common to start wildin' 

I'm a pirate on an island seeking treasure known as silence 

And it's hard to find 

Block parties in dark lobbies 

Funeral homes packed but only dark bodies 

I can't sleep hardly, stirred up like Bob Marley 

Marley Marl played the symphony, remember we recall 

Son I been to many places in my space and time 

And whatever my home is, son home is mine. 

[Chorus]