Back to Basics

[Verse 1: Kanye West]
Uh, uh, let's take it back to basics
When shit gets worse, we converse
How we need a new balance
Before the lines get crossed like Asics
Just look at what we got, if we don't shoot the Reeboks
This is a beat that no flow can detox, so the respect is due
Like my Louie bag, I don't wanna have to check you
I'm Chi as Buck-Fiftys and Pelle Pelle leathers
Some say my beats made the Bulls play better
I say, black on black is the hate that hate made
Sara Lee with the dough, I'm talkin' bout the cake maid
McDonald's with the flow, served over a billion
You've seen the video, words over the building
Uh, I wish I could give you this feeling
I wish I could give you this feeling
And when the Workout Plan ain't work out, man
Me and Common is back on the corners again
On the corner

[Verse 2: Common]
Uh, yeah, uh, yeah, uh-uh, uh-uh
I open my eyes, the corner is like African tribes
The black is subsidized, the black enterprise, the passion arise
The youth fantasize, who got some cash in they eyes
If youth dies, mamas askin' rationalize
Tryna build a spot where ghetto bastards could rise
The ghetto has been bastardized by those that capitalize
Wonder if it's a plan that the master devised
To bring his people to a land where the blacks are despised?
On the corner