You say one for the trouble, two for the time Come on y'all let's rock this! You say one for the trouble, two for the time Come on!
Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape Now let it fall... (Huh!) My restlessness is my nemesis It's hard to really chill and sit still Committed to page, I write rhymes Sometimes won't finish for days
Scrutinize my literature, from the large to the miniature I mathematically add-minister Subtract the whack Selector, wheel it back, I'm feeling that
(Ha ha ha) From the core to the perimeter black You know the motto Stay fluid even in staccato (Mos Def) full-blooded, full throttle Breathe deep inside the trunk hollow There's the hum, young man where you from Brooklyn number one
Native son, speaking in the native tongue I got my eyes on tomorrow (there it is) While you still try to follow where it is I'm on the Ave where it lives and dies
Violently, silently Shine so vibrantly that eyes squint to catch a glimpse Embrace the bass with my dark ink fingertips Used to speak the King's English But caught a rash on my lips
So now my chat just like dis Long range from the base-line (switch) Move like an apparition Float to the ground with ammunition (chi-chi-chi-POW)
Move from the gate, voice cued on your tape Putting food on your plate Many crews can relate Who choosing your fate (yo) We went from picking cotton To chain gang line chopping To Be-Bopping To Hip-Hopping
Blues people got the blue chip stock option Invisible man, got the whole world watching (Where ya at) I'm high, low, East, West All over your map I'm getting big props, with this thing called hip hop
Where you can either get paid or get shot When your product in stock The fair-weather friends flock When your chart position drop Then the phone calls
Chill for a minute Let's see who else tops Snatch your shelf spot Don't gas yourself ock The industry just a better built cellblock A long way from the shell tops And the bells that L rocked (rock, rock, rock, rock)
Hip Hop is prosecution evidence The out of court settlement Ad space for liquor Sick without benefits (huh!)
Luxury tenements choking the skyline It's low life getting tree-top high Here there's a back water remedy Bitter intent to memory A class E felony
Facing the death penalty (huh!) Stimulant and sedative, original repetitive Violently competitive, a school unaccredited The break beats you get broken with On time and inappropriate Hip Hop went from selling crack to smoking it
Medicine for loneliness Remind me of Thelonius and Dizzy Propers to B-Boys getting busy The war-time snap shot The working man's jack-pot A two dollar snack box Sold beneath the crack spot
Olympic sponsor of the black glock Gold medallist in the back shot From the sovereign state of the have-nots Where farmers have trouble with cash crops (woooo)
It's all city like phase two Hip Hop will simply amaze you Craze you, pay you Do whatever you say do But black, it can't save you
