"Meta-Historical" lyrics - KRS-ONE

[Intro: KRS-One]
Back to the class. Word up
Ya'll know you're going through chambers now. Haha
Check this out...

[Verse 1: KRS-One]
Did you know that Ronald Reagan was a deejay?
And Napoleon in Egypt wrote graffiti?
Did you know that history is just a replay
And you affect it by what you do and what we say?
Did you know that history is just a memory
And we are the present memories of future centuries?
You gotta know your history, the what and the how
And be aware, you're making history right now
So since history is a record of past events
Let's give the future something it can respect

(Uh, meta-historical
Listen, listen
Meta-historical)

[Verse 2: KRS-One]
History is a record of past events
That tries to make sense of the past with past evidence
The life of a free man makes history in many ways
But history makes the life of a slave
History is an art, not a fact
And the historian, no matter how scholarly, is never exact
We are living in an omni-event -
Keep in mind everybody's doing everything at the same time
The activity of the whole globe could never be recorded:
Our linear vision is too distorted
We think in terms of A, then B, then C, then D, then so on
We say "this began here, that ended there"
So our conversations can have something to grow on
But in reality the omni-event has no beginning or end that you can detect
We make beginnings and endings in mass confusion
So we can talk about the things we're doing
But this is all an illusion
We see reality according to the symbols we're using
Can words exist without letters?
Can birds fly without feathers?
Who changes? We or the weather?
These words are forever, so I'm calling these oratoricals
Meta-historical

(Uh..
Meta-historical
Beyond history
Look)

[Verse 3: KRS-One]
Meta-historical, I got so much more for you
Hip hop is a culture; rap's not all we do
When The Teacher's calling you to higher order, you
Try to slaughter your own foundation
What's wrong with you?
We got so much more to do
You order your history; history don't order you!
Here's what we ought to do - I'm talking to you:
Let's do this different from how these others do
History documents its society - the physical society - not what's inside of me
So my history will lie to me
'Cause it's based on physical space, not my psychology
I got a new philosophy: it's called hip hop and it needs a new methodology
Now follow me...
History documents what's physically there
Or what's physically here
But hip hop is not here or there, it's not physical
Hip hop is a shared idea;
We all share it. From different dimensions, we all hear it
But hip hop is all spirit
So let's get down with what the truth is
They're not recording hip hop; they're recording what produces
Winners and losers, CDs and tours
That's not hip hop; that's rap music folklore
That's why these rappers are no more -
'Cause they followed no principles, traditions, and no laws
That's why the future remembers me, KRS, rhyming for the century

(Uh...
Meta-historical
Meta-historical)