Day 3 of the break-up turned out to be my “story day.” For some reason, probably because my dumb ass decided to write about all this on HHL, everybody - family, friends and acquaintances - started calling me wanting to hear the story of my break-up. In the past 24 hours, I’ve probably told the story twenty times.

Therefore, break-up week track #3 is You Got Me from one of my top five albums ever, “Things Fall Apart” by the Roots. This track is a lyrical masterpiece telling the story of a relationship turned sour, and contains one of the most universal truths I learned during my break-up: that “on the topic of trust, it’s just a matter of fact/ that people bite back/”. Click below to listen to the track:

And follow along with the lyrics after the break.

[Chorus - Erykah Badu]
If you were worried ’bout where/
I been or who I saw or/
what club I went to with my homies/
Baby don’t worry you know that you got me/

[Verse 1 - Black Thought]
Somebody told me that this planet was small/
We used to live in the same building on the same floor/
And never met before/
Until I’m overseas on tour/
And peep this Ethiopian queen from Philly taking classes abroad/
She studying film and photo-flash focus record/
Said she working on a flick and could my click do the score/
She said she loved my show in Paris at Elysee Montmartre/
And that I stepped off the stage and took a piece of her heart/
we knew from the start/
That things fall apart/
And tend to shatter/
She like ‘that shit don’t matter’/
When I get home, get at her/
Through letter, phone, whatever/
Let’s link, let’s get together/
Shit you think not?/
Think that Thought went home and forgot?/
Time passed, we back in Philly now she up in my spot/
Telling me the things I’m telling her is making her hot/
Started building with her constantly ’round the clock/
Now she in my world like hip-hop/
And keep tellin me …

[Chorus - Erykah Badu]

[Verse 2 - Black Thought & Eve]
Yo, I’m the type that’s always catching a flight/
And sometimes I got to be out at the height of the night/
And that’s when she flip and get on some ‘ol ‘another lonely night?/
Seems like I’m on the side, you only loving your mic/
I know you gotta get that paper daddy keep that shit tight/
But yo I need some sort of love in my life/
You dig me?/
While politicing with my sister from New York City/
She said she know this ball player and he think I’m pretty/
Sike, I’m playin boo/
You know it’s just with you I’m staying boo/
And when cats be popping game, I don’t hear what they saying boo/
When you out there in the world, I’m still your girl/
With all my classes I don’t have the time for life’s thrills/
So when you sweating on stage think of me when you rhyme/
And don’t be listening to your homies they be leading you blind’/
So what you sayin I can trust you?/
Is you crazy, you my king for real/
But sometimes relationships get ill/
No doubt …

[Chorus - Erykah Badu]

[Verse 3 - Black Thought]
That snake could be that chick and that rat could be that cool cat/
That’s whispering ’she trying to play you for the fool Black’/
If something’s on your chest then let it be known/
See I’m not your every five minutes all on the phone/
And on the topic of trust, it’s just a matter of fact/
That people bite back/
And fracture what’s intact/
And they’ll forever be/
I ain’t on some ‘oh I’m a celebrity’/
I deal with the real, so if it’s artificial let it be/
I seen people caught in love like whirlwinds/
Listening to their squads and listening to girlfriends/
That’s exactly the point where their whole world ends/
Lies come in/
That’s where that drama begins/
And she like …

[Chorus - Erykah Badu]