This is the ballad of the black gold
They call it Texas tea
But it's bigger than a cowboy with a lasso
It's deeper than a black hole
Create monopolies
Except they collect a fee when you pass go

Crisis international
The government de facto
We got no control in this fiasco
Darker than the back roads
Bubble hotter than Tabasco
More than what you bargained for or asked for

You never see happy, hungry people that ain't rational
They blasting through the gates and they attack you at the capital
Run up in your palace, find the head of the states and crack a few
Get a taste of power then they become fascists too
The fiscal conservatives don't know what they purpose is
Money on the war then they cut the goods and services
Murderous, corporate monsters is breaking records
Exxon is at forty billion a year, they raking in record profits, stop it
How they banking while the auto industry is tanking?
Leadership is sinking, oil pollution in the water stanking
Loyalty to petroleum royalty spoiled the economy
We won't get it poppin' till we're oil-free
If you're oil-rich, then we invade it
They call it occupation, but we're losing jobs across the nation
Drill, baby, drill, while they make our soldiers kill
Baby, still, the desert where the blood and oil spill

This is the ballad of the black gold
They call it Texas tea
But it's bigger than a cowboy with a lasso
It's deeper than a black hole
Create monopolies
Except they collect a fee when you pass go

Crisis international
The government de facto
We got no control in this fiasco
Darker than the back roads
Bubble hotter than Tabasco
More than what you bargained for or asked for

Nigeria is celebrating fifty years of independence
They still feel the colonial effects of Great Britain's presence
Dictators quick to imitate the west
Got in bed with oil companies and now the place is a mess
Take a guess which ones came and violated
They oiled up the soil, the Ogoni people was almost annihilated
But still they never stayed silent
They was activists and poets using non-violent tactics
That was catalyst for soldiers to break into they crib
Take it from the kids and try to break 'em like a twig
And make examples of the leaders, executed Saro-Wiwa
Threw Fela's mom out the window right after they beat her
In an effort to defeat hope now the people's feet soaked in oil
So the youth is doing drive-bys through speed boats
They kidnap the workers, they blowing up the pipelines
You see the fires glowing in the nighttime, yo

This is the ballad of the black gold
They call it Texas tea
But it's bigger than a cowboy with a lasso
It's deeper than a black hole
Create monopolies
Except they collect a fee when you pass go

Crisis international
The government de facto
We got no control in this fiasco
Darker than the back roads
Bubble hotter than Tabasco
More than what you bargained for or asked for

History, a slippery creature
It's full of plot twists and surprise endings like a mystery feature
This oil shit is slicker than preachers
It make the problems in the region amplify like victory speeches
Poison the water and lead the boys to the slaughter
Go in somebody country and rearrange the order and destroy the borders
You see them dancing through the fields of fire
World domination their real desire
The devil is still a liar

This is the ballad of the black gold
They call it Texas tea
But it's bigger than a cowboy with a lasso
It's deeper than a black hole
Create monopolies
Except they collect a fee when you pass go

Crisis international
The government de facto
We got no control in this fiasco
Darker than the back roads
Bubble hotter than Tabasco
More than what you bargained for or asked for

This is the ballad of the black gold
They call it Texas tea
But it's bigger than a cowboy with a lasso
It's deeper than a black hole
Create monopolies
Except they collect a fee when you pass go

Crisis international
The government de facto
We got no control in this fiasco
Darker than the back roads
Bubble hotter than Tabasco
More than what you bargained for or asked for

Copyright: Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Writer(s): Jerline O. Shelton, Maurice D. David Commander, Talib Kweli, Tony Cottrell, Tony L. Cottrell