Mathematics Chords by Mos Def

[Start]

[Intro]
E                                   
Bookabookabookabookabookabooka Hahah
A        E         
You know ■ the deal
A7   A           
It's ■ just me yo
E                                      A                  
Beats by SuPrimo for all of my peoples negroes and latinos
    A               
And even the gringos


[Verse]
                                   E                  
Yo check it one for Charlie Hustle two for Steady Rock
A7                                           
Three for the fourth comin' live future shock
                     E         
It's five dimensions six senses
A                                  A7                           
Seven firmaments of heaven to hell eight million stories to tell
             E                       
Nine planets faithfully keep in orbit
     A7                                            
With the probable tenth the universe expands length
                    E                   
The body of my text poses extra strength
E                                                     
Powerliftin' powerless up out of this towerin' inferno
              E                          
My ink so hot it burn through the journal
A                                               
I'm blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle
                E7                      
Hiphop past all your tall social hurdles
     E                       A                     
Like the nationwide projects prisonindustry complex
                  E                         
Broken glass wall better keep your alarm set
A                                         
Streets too loud to ever hear freedom ring
                        E                      
Say evacuate your sleep it's dangerous to dream
                            E                  
But you chain cats get they chapow who dead now
                             E                 
Killin' fields need blood to graze the cash cow
                                      A         
It's a number game but shit don't add up somehow
                      E                        
Like I got sixteen to thirtytwo bars to rock it
    A7                                                      
But only fifteen percent of profits ever see my pockets like
                  E                              A7                 
Sixtynine billion in the last twenty years spent on national defense
    A7                           
But folks still live in fear like
                         E                                 
Nearly half of America's largest cities is onequarter black
                     E                       
That's why they gave Ricky Ross all the crack
                          E                  
Sixteen ounces to a pound twenty more to a ki
                                  A7                
A fiveminute sentence hearing and you no longer free
                    E               
Forty% of Americans own a cell phone
                                     A7                     
So they can hear everything that you say when you ain't home
                                  E                
I guess Michael Jackson was right You Are Not Alone
A                                                   
Rock your hardhat black 'cause you in the Terrordome
                    E                         
Full of hard niggas large niggas dice tumblers
                E                                
Young teens and prison greens facin' life numbers
                                    A7      
Crack mothers crack babies and AIDS patients
                             A7                                
Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation
                 E                         
This new math is whippin' motherfuckers ass
    A                                                  
You wanna know how to rhyme you better learn how to add
     A          
It's mathematics
E                 
The Mighty Mos Def
A7                     
It's simple mathematics
Gb7             
■   Check it out
Gb7                     
I revolve around science
                          Gb7 
What are we talking about here


[Chorus]
    E             
The Mighty Mos Def
A                      
It's simple mathematics
         A  
Check it out
Gb7                     
I revolve around science
     A                        
What are we talking about here
   A        
Do your math
            
Do your math
    Db              
One tttwo three four
Db                            
What are we talking about here


[Verse]
                              E                       
Yo it's one universal law but two sides to every story
A                                             
Three strikes and you be in for life manditory
                     E                  
Four MCs murdered in the last four years
                                       A                 
I ain't tryin' to be the fifth one the millennium is here
                            E                  A             
Yo it's six million ways to die from the seven deadly thrills
                       A                     
Eightyear olds gettin' found with nine mill's
                       A                       
It's ten pm where your seeds at What's the deal
                                A                     
He on the hill puffin' krill to keep they belly filled
                            E                                      
Light in the ass with heavy steel sights on the pretty shit in life
                      A                       
Young soldiers tryin' to earn they next stripe
                              E                     
When the average minimum wage is five point one five
    A                                                   
You best believe you gotta find a new grind to get cream
                            E                              A    
The white unemployment rate is nearly more than triple for black
                   A7                   
So frontliners got they gun in your back
                           E                            
Bubblin' crack jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty
                  E                  
And end up in the global jail economy
                     E                        
Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence
                    A7                       
Budget cutbacks but increased police presence
                        E                     
And even if you get out of prison still livin'
                                  A7               
Join the other five million under state supervision
                          E                        
This is business no faces just lines and statistics
                              A            
From your phone your zip code to SSI digits
                           E                     
The system break man child and women into figures
                       E                   
Two columns for who is and who ain't niggaz
                           E                       
Numbers is hardly real and they never have feelings
    A                                        
But you push too hard even numbers got limits
                            E                             
Why did one straw break the camel's back Here's the secret
                         A7                                 Gb7
The million other straws underneath it it's all mathematics ■  
           A   Gb7    
The Mighty Mos ■   Def


[End]
            E A7         
It's simple ■ mathematics
Gb7         
Check it out
A         E             
I revolve around science
            E                 
What are we talking about here
           N.C.   
The Mighty Mos Def
N.C.                   
It's simple mathematics