[Verse 1: Common]
   It's funk to rhythm and punk to rock
   loud like shot that come from a glock
   Pick up your mind, run from the spot
   Revolution jumping in the parking lot
   Shit is so hot that the sun watch
   Children by the window with the gun cocked
   they could get robbed and stop the luck (?)
   Monkeys dance around for MTV spots
   I lock into a....
   rock into a rhythm of street and ancient wisdom
   Experiment in stereo loud so crank the system
   For the humble on the path I paint a vision
   How far will a nigga go just for attention
   And to be remembered, you forgot the mission
   Listen!
  
   [Chorus: Laetitia Sadier]
   All traces of life
   in our gats we carry
   that's used to dress humanity
   (Common: it's a New Wave, Come on!)
  
   [Sung in French]
   All traces of life
   in our gats we carry
   that's used to dress humanity
   (Common: it's a New Wave, Dig it!)
  
   [Sung in French]
   This life is precious
   it's goddamn? marvelous
   before it ever ends
   (Common: it's a New Wave, Come on!)
  
   This life is precious
   it's goddamn? marvelous
   before it ever ends
   (Common: Come on! Come on!)
  
   [Verse 2: Common]
   I lay terror in this era like Che Guevera
   for the people to make or wait it's better
   in a room called real I stay forever
   Everyday I lose something I gain forever
   Meditate on how I can change the weather
   My brainstorm for some it's like (?) umbrella
   where bullets and lies both spray together
   My mind scream like Al Green "Let's Stay Together"
   How could a nigga be so scared of change
   That's what you hustle for, for the currency exchange
   Ya'll rich, we could beef curry in the game
   out your mouth, ain't nobody hurrying my name
   You seen what happened when the Com go BANG
   Wouldn't have a shot, even at a gun range
   Seen hype become fame against the grain become main-stream
   It all seems mundane in the scope of thangs
  
   [Chorus]
  
   [Verse 3: Common]
   From a land of shit talk, boy stars and pitch forks
   didn't really see white until I went North
   Getting bent on backyards, wishing in the air for a black god
   Where people fix cars and clap hard
   and look to the stars for rap jobs
   I walk through the black fog with reflectors on my boots
   smelling war near, I'm connected with the troops
   that master anger and ain't afraid to shoot
   through poured liquor fallen angels they salute (Whew! Whew!)
   Feel the wind blow
   A new wave- people with their hair trimmed low
   It's two ways living in this world of techno
   This age can't really save the ghetto
   I pause for the rebels who rock heavy metals
   and tell them that they're pharoh so let go
   Come on!
  
   [Chorus]