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Incipit Vita Nova

by Illgod & Xplain D Don

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1.
Incipit Vita Nova 03:02
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[Verse One: Xplain D Don] Turn up your speakers, this is my moment of eureka Great minds think alike though fools seldom differ I'm by the river, ruminating about the thin line that separates the giver and the receiver The former is Allah, the latter is man The meditation is halal, the chakra and chants Pansophical at mad topicals The land's tropical, it scorches the passion of man Ideas appear like light bulbs for the right course It’s fly thoughts for the right Bros Blueprints mapped for different categories TEDx talks and I ain't pitching amphigories Mandatory is the application, for His admiration Brain clogs on a trip for emancipation Revaluation for your mind process To resurrect all the bones of the giant fossils [Verse Two: Xplain D Don] This be that solar powered brimstone energy rhyme From a soldier digging a trench behind enemy lines Bucking calibers till the territory's mine Issac Adaka Boro, trapped in a John F Kennedy's mind Reverse the history, just to prove that I'm a god I'll play Russian roulette with the motherfucking Lord Luggard Fill his revolver up with kitchen foil For all the years they gave our elders Bibles and mirrors to steal the oil Woman feels the pain, man tills the soil But I ain't to blame, na Garden of Eden e spoil I live by the laws of rebuild and destroy That's why these wack emcees, I'll be steady killing their joy Just a gentleman, stuck with a thick accent Not a womanizer, still a chick magnet The mind, it glistens like a bezle Never stop, never settle, hot like I share hell with the devil
2.
El Padre (Virtuoso Valverde) 02:39
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[Verse One: Xplain D Don] Virtuoso Valverde a.k.a. Fra Diavolo Brother to the Devil, P.H. City's Capo Clad in a majestic apparel Strapped with a pistol in my holster whenever it's time for battle Illgod, that's my war consigliere He murders the beat, on some Fraudi Honoravelli Simple minds can't over-stand that Give niggas mock executions before they get whacked Label me a loan shark, cannibalistic Shylock Craving the pound of flesh, over your azygos vein Pay dues to the tyrant king Since the day my moms water broke, I was made Fine boy, I got a temptress Miss out in Venice Takes a flight when in desperate need of the penis Xplain, emcee, Don Dada All these rapper cats, they softer than a sunflower [Verse Two: Xplain D Don] It's omerta I abide by, never did snitch Thoroughbred wise guy, I've never been pinched Extortion of the mind, when I'm writing these scripts Pay attention, y'all welcome to the rhyming district Behold the god, as I kicks it so descriptive Utilizing puns, steady switching the linguistics Far from your regular, mainstream misfit These bars and metaphors, they rock like Limp Bizkit Now peep this, I'm the baron, the landlord Rapper cats they full of make up like Lancome But me and Ill we take you back to the Golden Age Caliente sangre, we kick the Holy Grail I keeps it raw, in the same vein, I keeps it clean Commit a crime effortlessly then flee the scene The ghost, the king and everything in between The godfather, now bow down and kiss the ring
3.
Hippocampi (feat. Plasthic Slash) 03:21
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[Dante] Crusaders? Here? Why are you being punished? Our cause was holy We are absolved of sin [Francesco] The bishop lied, did he not, brother? [Dante] Francesco, not you too [Verse One: Plasthic Slash] The horseman that rides a hippocampus The worst plan's to force hands when I script on canvas Words paint the big picture and evokes emoticons Emcees, we smoke weak ones and choke demons till there's no response I want Hovi's position, Ada na good spouse But she longs for an ovipositor and a brood pouch Ha! You dudes forgot, my food for thought is flavory Street ichthyologist, apologies for the chicanery Blake Griffin, weightlifting then we rolling trees fast Abe Lincoln, shape shifting in geometry class Some go the dental way when instrumentals play Vast rhymes, I grasp minds with my prehensile tales Owing pals and going bald, he don't need ya balderdash He seen his future in a dibia's calabash Few years ago, he had a young nanny and his toys Now he's poised to take over from Don Wanny and his boys [Verse Two: Xplain] With Illgod in the lab, while he digs for samples Dropping incites from different angles Chopping giallo moods just to ignite your hippocampus The beats and rhymes potent like some lethal cancer A little anxious like street pranksters playing the role of hit-men placing bombs where are aristocrats are Went from rocking dance floors with Timbalands and Rockports To tactical weapons training, somewhere out in Rostov Truth be told, I'm really Samson with the short hair Blindfolded in a Philistines’ party saying the Lord's prayer But the Don stays low key like Thor’s sibling Pouring gin in the glass after much rinsing Xplain and Slash dropping classics, watch men come school you Preach the gospel to the masses like Desmond Tutu The high priest with a white hen performing chants and voodoo To take absolute control like a despot would do
4.
Don't Touch The Garment 03:21
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[Dante] Tell me more about your life on Earth Great poet I know your deeds, but not the man you were [Virgil] Publius Vergilius Maro was my name I was the son of a commoner, and though I died a dozen years Before the birth of Christ, I foretold his coming in my works [Verse One: Xplain D Don] Don't touch the garment or you'll ruin the embalming of the god Tutankhamen Like the soot did the environment I spew vicious vomit Rebuke thee Iblis as you slither through the garden Serpentus I stay guarded I pray often, Bible verses and talisman, I'm brain storming A witch doctor reading Psalms, plus I take offerings Give charities to depraved orphans Stay proactive never play possum So tread wisely, these kingly robes is what I stay cut from I'm waving cards at guns and grenade auctions Remain cautious, (yo) or catch the Wreck of Hesperus For testing us, artisans carving out your grave sculptures This is Armageddon music, Dies Irae Captives out of Babylon singing amazing grace Hoping every oppressor on the way stays erased today So their kids have a place to play Word [Hook: Illgod] The garment stays royal, till we're in deep in the soil The garment stays royal, till we're in deep in the soil I say the garment stays royal, till we're in deep in the soil The garment stays royal, till we transcend all the way from the heaven to the soil [Verse Two: Xplain D Don] Don't touch the garment or you'll ruin the hem I'm shrewd with the bread, like I was of a Jewish descent Accost a snitch with a silver 30, I’m moving stealthily Picked his pocket and made sure every last penny of Judas is spent Approach me wrongly, you would be dead Hoipolloi covering nostrils, talking softly how putrid the smell Went through fiery furnaces, I'm used to this hell where Lucifer dwells Third eye behind my head so every Brutus is dispelled I linked up with P.T.F. and made moves at The Dell Drowned my woes with the booze and the herb Then proceed to spit the same blasphemy that had the disciples of Jesus impaled This is Armageddon music, Dies Irae Captives out of Babylon singing amazing grace Hoping every oppressor on the way stays erased today So their kids have a place to play [Hook: Illgod] The garment stays royal, till we're in deep in the soil The garment stays royal, till we're in deep in the soil The garment stays royal, till we're in deep in the soil The garment stays royal, till we transcend all the way from the heavens to the soil
5.
Coital Flow (feat. Bix F) 02:42
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[Verse One: Bix F] Like Ramadan or Lenting season I’m a Ruff Ryder, Xplain be gently pleasing I ain’t Marvin Gaye, not one for sexual healing A quickie is what I need, right now I’m Bentley dreaming Your walls feel like a prison, I’m here for just this evening Hell yeah Of course, I’m leaving or my girl’s gone catch me creeping Woah You can get a man for the night But while I’m here, I’ll give you a time of your life Get them legs open, I’m the man with the best stroking Grab tight on them sheets, baby biting your lips, with them thighs and your hips Moving nonstop to the motion Moaning while I pipe your physique No slow love, I’m quicker Stroke sounding like a mixture of Bone Thugs and Twista Leave the clit with sours and blisters So long, my sister Reach forward to kiss her She said, “Next time…” [Verse Two: Xplain D Don] (Take it slow) like a heartbeat on codeine Lick the clit till pussy’s wet then I go in Stroking on the couch with my finger in her butt hole Foaming at the mouth, arms twitching going gungho Xplain D Don, see I’ve never been a rug-rat Bedmatics lessons, anytime she come class Very kind teacher, leave bananas in her lunch pack Helps her dentition so I’m bussing on a gun flap Good guys finish last, never in a hurry Bound to leave her toes curling and eyes blurry But first, I’mma spark this blunt straight out the lithosphere Then caress those thighs, thicker than Gibsco bread Aphrodite, proclaimed her the god of sex I blow her back out then leave her to convalesce Uh Love sessions at a snail pace Trying to put in time for the mistakes made
6.
No Love Pt. 1 (feat. Being & Tulip) 03:38
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[Intro] The storm has lost forever rage While passion inflames the heart [Sampled Chorus] [Verse One: Being] It's the lyrical mystic, kicking cryptic hieroglyphics Every script is dripping with physics No love for the realest niggas I let you niggas figure, stuck on a glacier A long way from home I’m all alone zoned out to tones of mother nature I jumped the day job, waiting patiently for the undertakers The thunder maker, kill every conversation as the ancient beings coronate ya The intellectual sapient takes the throne of Persia On the road to Asia, smoking acacia puffing blue smoke Possession is just a long stick and some few clothes ‘Cause this life truly, truly was a cruel joke Very, very few folks ever go through broke to woke to provoked I invoke the ghosts of the Popes bringing hope to Muslims and Christians So respect, ‘cause the Imam is risen [Sampled Chorus] [Verse Two: Tulip] I’m a stand-up nigga, what the fuck nigga Stand up nigga, I’m the law killer Waived by the rest of y’all niggas The eagle done land to nest all y’all niggas Fresh gang from the ghetto, na him we be We dey sell yarns like tomato, the industry We don’t care now from the get go, begin dey speak Kill the beat, sicker than ill, fetish is real The boy fly already, got no more room left That dope kaya ready, omo na chew best Swimming in my ocean of thoughts I’m getting dazed by the haze and it’s potent of course And I can understand what my niggas lurking Purple haze in my brain, I’m the king with no reign Levitate with the pain, I’m the script with no reel I’m the king with no queen, I play the illest for real [Sampled Chorus] [Verse Three: Xplain D Don] I’m never on a codeine diet You can catch me in the lab steady decoding science Rolling papers by Bob Marley filled with potent hybrid Stoned in Zion, mind probably old as Mayans Murder gods with my hands in a bowl like Pilate Or play the role of Barabbas, I’m a rogue and tyrant (Yo) There’s no love in the heart of the city A shogun, I tote guns, I got accomplices with me Tulip and Eye Arm, that’s truly cat’s pajamas Quick to turn some live crews into a bunch of dark cadavers Abracadabra, disappear to a lost mountain Spit till I’m thirsty then replenish from a cursed fountain Been a Don never ass-licked for incentives It’s strictly beer-bongs and hashish in the trenches I’ll probably earn cash from this talent that I’m blessed with When it’s all said and done, it’s simply panem et circences [Sampled Chorus till fade]
7.
Avid's Lament (No Love Pt. 2) [feat. Avid the Lyrikal] 01:21
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[Avid the Lyrikal]: It’s all one big illusion, delusion of minds Confusing this for something you’re used to, my people are blind My people dying from ignorance, mister President lied Think he behind all the killings, maybe he’s on a Jihad Pardon my negative vibe, maybe I’m rotting inside You’re out here popping champagne, I can’t even get me a job Look at the skills that I’ve got, maybe I’ll make it abroad But I no get visa, so I got with Illgod That’s how I pour out my pain Take it all out on the violins, snare and the bass Being born in this crooked environment sealed my fate How can I have faith in a country that wants to annihilate us I swear the government hate us, ah Pussy, money and politricks, listen I’m no economist But the economy is gone to shit I should write me an article on this shit and then publish it in the papers The hate you gave us, we took it and admonish it
8.
Verbs & Pronouns (Interlude) [feat. Timi Kei] 02:09
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[Verse One: Timi Kei] Listen Used to be amateurs but we pros now Known for dopeness in the city like we sold blaow Profound with the words and they love how We accentuate the verbs and the pronouns C’mon, say we accentuate the verbs and the pronouns [Hook: Timi Kei] And the flows’ known now as the most dope sound And I’m most so proud of what we attained Did it for the love, not what we could gain Every time we show up they screaming our names say Xplain now Ay, ay and say Timi Kei Flow now Listen Let me get it again And the flows’ known now as the most dope sound And I’m most so proud of what we attained Did it for the love, not what we could gain Every time we show up they screaming our names say Timi Kei And I came with the don, mister Xplain [Verse Two: Xplain D Don] They say life is a test, well I'm an invigilator I could tell you the story about Ndidi Jacobs How the docs had to bring in the defibrillators To resuscitate her from the shock she got deep during labor Her man at sea, only sis living in Lagos And to make matters worse she had beef with the neighbors A fiend for the vapors, even in her third trimester Was always there for her when she needed kind gestures The doc said it was fetal distress The C-Section was fruitful and she needed some rest Baby was healthy looking cuddly in the nursery While moms stay sedated after the surgery I paid the bills then I bid them farewell Tip the nurse on side beg dem make she feed them well well Said I was gonna be back by tomorrow And at the end of the day…
9.
Thou Great Poets 02:43
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[Verse One: Xplain D Don] It been cold when I wake up this evening I had to throw my hood on like a Jacobin pigeon Approach the lab with a beggars deceit But the way I decimate beats, beggars belief Illgod, you see these cats is never gone fear us Till we're loading up these cartridges in lethal gun levers They're dancing with their hearses like Ghanaian pallbearers While I convalesce in moist beach with Maria Contreras Foreign mistress, sunblock with a parasol Tiny necklace but it's still 20 karat gold Nike swim shorts, towel is Egyptian cotton Parfums de Marly, sniffing crushes from your distant cousin Potpourri make my audio smooth After sessions of hot eba and primordial soup Rainy day up in the crib, love in Tokyo moves I smooch the breast then solidify the opiotus (And I'm gone) [Verse Two: Illgod] Cut from a different cloth, no wolf's fleecier Amid sheep, we're misfits tailored in cloaks creepier A turncoat - I pilloried throats of frivolous folks for what they're fashioned in Shriveled up robes, chitoniskos, we tuck a cartridge in A coat of arms, the whole nine yards, we're packing em Leaning a bayonet at your abdomen like javelins Trick up my sleeves are cards that are suited to read Mansignor, I'll soup a man like I'm Christopher Reeve Dweeb! Do keep being a fan, plus up the habit You follow suit? I sewn in one piece, don't touch the garment Or I'll squeeze it A crease so exquisite when I press release If you ain't die, then you'll best stitch it I'm dressed distinct in a djellaba, pulling a thread of bars Cuz, I knitted em to stellar yarns We walk by the strand, trying to escape the seam To keep it neat, eyes on how a nigga put by the slip Piece!
10.
King Jaja Bars 03:19
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[Hook: Xplain D Don] They say I'm a king, yea I move like a don Rhymes galore, it's smooth like velour But still it's like a lion how I roar Now call me the Amayanabo They say I'm a king, yea I move like a don nigga Rhymes galore, it's smooth like velour But still it's like a lion how I roar Now pronounce me the Amayanabo [Verse 1: Xplain D Don] Sunday morning Cookey's compound, I'm getting turnt Nickname the weed Usher Raymond, just let it burn Sip the wine, bite the flesh off the chicken bone Proceed to spitting poems with my cousin Livingstone Then we take a little walk to John Africa To sip on some of that ekpetesi that's gon' damage ya Politicking over war-canoe houses; While we be steady scoping on these broads in their blouses I'm talking damsels like Linda Jaja Even teenagers and cougars dey dig am scatter Alcohol in the system, we drink and stagger Your favorite rapper ain't got bars, now give am charger Me, I dominate beats like Jojo did the oil trade Now pay heed to what the son of the soil says Opobo boy spitting rhymes, no comparison Red robe, looking resplendent like Dandison [Hook: Xplain D Don] They say I'm a king, yea I move like a don Rhymes galore, it's smooth like velour But still it's like a lion how I roar Now call me the Amayanabo They say I'm a king, yea I move like a don Rhymes galore, it's smooth like velour But still it's like a lion how I roar Now pronounce me the Amayanabo [Verse 2: Xplain D Don] It's New Year's day so we rocking with Ogelemkpa Clutching on some Gordon gin, hoping that it stays intact Bare chested, wrapper tied with the tribal paint All black vans masked with the wire tape Amayanabo o kuru ke though? Bobos no want hear unless them see their names for payroll I guess it's time to constitute a nuisance Even elderly niggas dey showcase youthful exuberance I'm talking rival clashes with Ofornogu While trying not to step foot on the Onu-Obu Music being supplied by Ibiwangi And other rugged brothers who profit off militancy Little kids they stay tossing bangers And geriatric folks they spit and curse with anger I try to marinate all in the feeling Spark the herb and watch as Nwaotam pirouettes up on a ceiling

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A new life begins.

Inspired by The Divine Comedy and La Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri.

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released December 29, 2020

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Illgod Lagos, Nigeria

MC/emcee and beat-maker from PH, Nigeria.

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