Thin Red Line

88.5 Chicago. Yeah.
 I shoot the gift on the radio station
 88.5 WHPK was the only station that would fuck with rap
 88.5 Chicago. On the radio station.
 Takin' a train [repeat/fade]
 The thin red line is the thin spine
 I roll down the back of a city overgrown and overtaxed
 The wack stands of the rich pick a thin
 Pockets bare and scatter, the skeletons of cultures with no rent control
 Pattering feet of prostitutes and penny brown
 Children trades glass glades sweet for someone to pay or to listen
 I glisten like the question in the shorty's eyes
 Sleeping in the train-car at the Lawrence stop when I get in
 Making pillows out of bare arms while I'm posturing poems
 But I can't name these eyes or the idea of less than home
 Home be unfinished it that fate hasn't sown
 In the skirt of an evening over mornings waste blown
 I see the moon I see the go going by on stilts
 As mouths wilt and turn blinded to girls' eyes
 Fate's hands have holes, we hold hope by the collar
 Color red the closed eyes shut tight on the dollar
 Wills rock-heads to sleep, my eyes peal all the way
 To memorize a sleeping girl's face and bring it to PK
 Oh, shit I'm late I got a bus to make to take the 35th and State
 Get on the Dan Ryan red line and head downtown
 With head down experience life in surround sound
 Rhythematic speech occurs when the crowd's around
 Besides I'm still waiting on the train, plus I'm late already
 And how the fuck am I gonna get downtown and back to WHPK
 Man its already 8: 40, too much thinkin
 I gotta keep this freestyle steady, now freestyles over things
 Like this point to the fact that I'm sober
 I need weed, yo fuck the mission to the record store
 To put CD's on consignment just for fickle fans to not buy it,
 I thought they liked violence but anyway skip downtown
 I turn around I hear the train coming, head out now
 Train stop, hop in the backseat like a fuckin' taxi
 And I heard that DJ Nat be having fat sacs a weed
 Get off and catch the 55th and Garfield to University
 Hyde Park chill, I feel a dark chill when I hit the building
 Here with the intention to kill it
 Finally made it now where the hell is Qwel and Denizen?
 Reasons run thin by the end of the line
 But the signs can be read if you learn them in time [x2]
 Yo it's already Wednesday night, time for HPK's rap show
 But waitin' on sacs yo makes me late
 Fuck it gotta hit this open mic
 Hopin' to leave stress at the rest so I can flow tonight
 I grab my rhyme book and hit the elevator
 Lighter square freestyle the tale I'ma tell later
 Hike to the thin red line that's Sheridan
 By the time my name dries waitin' for the train here it is
 Amongst the chatter of workdays and old dreams
 The thin red line holds me to window seats
 The wind blows beats with sin don't sleep
 But neither can I with open mics on my mind
 My pen and pad describe 65-minute lifetimes
 From Sheridan to Hyde Park provides spark tight lines
 Who's these Typical Cats flexin' insane
 "It's the Q-W-A", "Denizen Kane"
 Good to see yall cats late again some typical shit
 For sure don't sweat it Denizen, yo it's cool that you made it in
 Yo my bad Denizen I had to catch some medicine
 Oh I feel the pharmacology, cats were just guessin' when
 We three breath these free prophecies
 Catch me settin' outer limits to these than HP
 To MC's that hate me probably cause they take themselves too seriously
 My fear is not being there you see to hear'em speak
 Fo sho you know these flea-bitten felines is found
 And the loose tooth get left in the booth
 That's my man Dan in a fine fickle fix of fellowship and fools frontin'
 Fact remains Benneton ads on crack make you move something
 Similar to Hi-Tek and Talib only at hi-speed, fools frontin'
 But the fact remains they still won't do nothing
 Who's bluffin', fuck that, I'm all concerned with whose cuttin'
 Yo fuck who's cuttin', yo it's cool if you two dudes is puffin', huh skid?
 Not to crush this fat rap oh shit check out this Typical Cat Nat scratch
 [DJ Natural cuts it up]