i think to myself

Listen.. people be asking me all the time, "Yo Mos, what's gettin' ready to happen with Hip-Hop?"

I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with Hip-Hop? Whatever's happening with us"

If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out. If we doing alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doing alright.

People talk about Hip-Hop like it's some giant livin' in the hillside comin' down to visit the townspeople.

We ARE Hip-Hop. Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop. So Hip-Hop is going where we going.

So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is going, ask yourself, "Where am I going? How am I doing?"

'Til you get a clear idea. So.. if Hip-Hop is about the people and the Hip-Hop won't get better until the people get better, then how do people get better? Well, from my understanding people get better when they start to understand that, they are valuable...

"Fear Not Of Man" - Mos Def