Wise Up Common & Pete Rock

[Chorus: MC Shan]
(Huh) Why don't you wise up, show all the people?
(Huh) Why don't you wise up, show all the people?
(Huh) Why don't you wise up, show all the people?
(Huh) Wise up, show all the people in the place
(Huh) Why don't you wise up, show all the people?
(Huh) Why don't you wise up, show all the people?
Why-why don't you wise up, show all the people?
(Huh) Wise up, show all the people in the place

[Verse 1: Common]
Three wise men came to visit where I've been
Thеy brought gifts with the southside blend
Onе had Hennessy—the other, a book of street ministry
The third gave a mirror and told me to remember me (Huh)
Assemblies of similes and metaphors
Analogies that's analog
The reservoirs I come from, niggas got the dog in 'em (Woof)
They become gods, no longer wit' hog in 'em (Huh)
I saw venom in the eyes of a snake
The Solomon for common men, I wise up the place
Like a prize in a race, that boy hold the metal
By the scars on his face, I could tell he know the ghetto (Huh)
Where we both tryna get to, it ain't coincidental
His is on the streets, mines is over instrumentals
The Lord sent my mental to be more than sentimental
The ventricles that I vent through are temples of what I been through