[Intro]
We getting' ready, to start the set
[Verse 1: Gift of Gab]
It's clockwork, got work
Put it in like doctors with awkwardness
Mopped your whole flock and walked toward ya
Scattered all up on the chalkboard
Socrates self is thoughtless
From farmers to Metropolis
I get these process all twisted
Form mental visual optics
My job description rock wiz
Clock ticks, I'm toxic giving oxygen to the thoughtless
Intoxicant knocking the planet off its axis
Like oxes [?]
Boxing compin' up out though
Peepin it loose
Seeped in to you
Begin in to the outro...
MC is what I be about though
The freshest with or without though
I can outflow any little doubt your little mouth throw out so
Take it out though, so I'm a gardener
I'm a chef eatin' all you carnivores
I'm an ancient Zen master philosophic thought
Comin' like the Art of War
Handyman with lyrical hardware
And my house ain't made a ginger
But it's made of an array of pages that'll slay ya like a ninja
Unemployed, no, I got work
And my job description: a rap technician
From sunup to sundown
And it's clockwork
[Hook]
Do you understand?
Every beat he make
Which sucker DJ's persist to take
You understand?
Lyrics that I write
When put to his music sound out of sight
You understand?
Master of scratch
And if the needle was to slip it's the needle he'll catch
You understand?
The way he rock
Which is 24-oh-7 around the clock
[Verse 2: Gift of Gab]
Grabbin' the mic and unravelin' with
The force of a javelin hit
Travelin Gift of Gab and I'm it
MCs are havin a fit
A man and a myth with a hat of magical tricks
Stored in my cabina-net
Jammin' and rippin' the average listener
Cramming in it like a sandwich
A bit at a time
This critical rhyming individual shine your pitiful kind
It's little so little that I will belittle your mind
Nigero tearin' yo ego and spiritual flows
Divine imperial
Signed and delivered, so take time rewind and give it all
Your undivided attention
Divide is in division
Subtraction and addition
See I'm like a mathematician
Egyptologist wisdom
Hip-hop holy man submerging you all in my baptism
Security guard of the rap prison
Slap rhythms into newborns
And birth rap ism into blunts from sacks hittin'
Get 'em off and make fat dividends
Now that's livin'
See I got work
And my job description: a rap technician
From sunup to sundown
And it's clockwork
[Hook]
Do you understand?
Every beat he make
Which sucker DJ's persist to take
You understand?
Lyrics that I write
When put to his music sound out of sight
You understand?
Master of scratch
And if the needle was to slip it's the needle he'll catch
You understand?
The way he rock
Which is 24-oh-7 around the clock
[Verse 3: Gift of Gab]
Do I have to give up my signature?
To get ya to figure out
I'm walking the path that Allah had planted
Or Jah, whoever you give your shout to
If your doubts
Rip you out your physical, watch your spiritual drift up out
Floatin' up on your way to infinity, kiss the clouds
Just about
When you get to the point where the alien ships are out
Tell 'em I sent you to help ya and give ya directions
Wherever you're going so that you don't miss the route
See, I send you traveling far
Unadulterated cleverness
And you'll never catch a flaw
I'm a hip-hop astrologist
And my raps a shooting star
I'm a bartender all into your mental
Sittin' at the bar ventures, force injure
More injure pretenders the inventor of plenty other dozens
Your loving buzzin' at your door like Jehovah witnesses in the fall
If I was your landlord you wouldn't need to pay the rent at all
Just give me applause whenever I floss, that'll be the only cost
See my occupation: a rap technician
From sunup to sundown
And it's clockwork and it don't stop
[Hook]
Do you understand?
Every beat he make
Which sucker DJ's persist to take
You understand?
Lyrics that I write
When put to his music sound out of sight
You understand?
Master of scratch
And if the needle was to slip it's the needle he'll catch
You understand?
The way he rock
Which is 24-oh-7 around the clock
Clockwork was written by Gift of Gab & Chief Xcel.
Clockwork was produced by Chief Xcel.
Blackalicious released Clockwork on Fri Apr 30 1999.