If sleep is the cousin of death, then death is the cousin of sadness;
Murder’s the cousin of madness, love is the cousin of that bitch.
Ill Bill, “Secrets Worth Dying For,” from DJ Muggs & Ill Bill’s Kill Devil Hills, 2010
My Mind on My Money…
Wear this tee while you are rolling down the street, smokin indo, and/or sippin on gin & juice. Or just to work, school, wherever.
Shop NowI never sleep, ‘cause sleep is the cousin of death.
Nas, “N.Y. State of Mind,” Illmatic, 1994
I start to think, and then I sink
Into the paper…like I was ink.
When I’m writing I’m trapped in between the lines,
I escape when I finish the rhyme…
I got soul.
Rakim, “I Know I Got Soul”, Paid in Full, 1987
Brain cells are lit, ideas start to hit,
Next the formation of words that fit.
At the table I sit, making it legit,
And when my pen hits the paper…ahhhh shit!
Big Daddy Kane, “Ain’t No Half Steppin’,” Long Live The Kane, 1988
Let’s pretend we’re both guns, and make this shit erratic:
I’ll be the revolver, you can play the automatic.
Automatic flip scripts, revolver show loyalty.
Each gun is die-able, but only one’s reliable.
You shoot fast, but in the end you jam,
Then I click back, and turn your brains into spam.
MF Grimm, “Crumb Snatchers,” Scars & Memories, 2005
You gotta understand: I’m a man with needs that needs fulfilling.
And if you ain’t with it, somebody else is willing.
Lord Jamar, “Love Me or Leave Me Alone,” from Brand Nubian’s In God We Trust, 1993
I got the gangsta in me, plus I’m not friendly
To a bitch-ass whose mouth runs more laps than the Indy.
Redman, “Nuthin’ But the Gangsta,” from MC Eiht’s We Come Strapped, 1994
You download it for free, we get charged back for it.
I know you’re saying, “They won’t know, they won’t miss it,
Besides, I ain’t a thief, they won’t pay me a visit.”
So, if I come to your job, take your corn on the cob,
And take a couple kernels off it, that would be alright with you?
Andre 3000, “What a Job,” from Devin the Dude’s Waitin to Inhale, 2007
Cats be talkin’, “Bobby I ain’t feelin’ ya.”
But I bet if I was peelin’ your cap back with a two-shot Dillinger
Hot lead released from my cylinder,
You’d be talkin’ ‘bout, “Bobby I’m feelin’ ya!”
RZA, “W.W.T. (Worldwide Thugs),” 2001
The world is kinda cold and the rhythm is my blanket.
Q-Tip, “Verses from the Abstract,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, 1991
Crews talk shit, but in my face they kiss my ass.
A-Plus, “93 Til Infinity,” from Souls of Mischief’s 93 Til Infinity, 1993
Flip the flyer attire females desire,
Baby you can step to this if you admire
The extraordinary dapper rapper…
Keep tabs on your main squeeze before I tap her.
Opio, “93 Til Infinity,” from Souls of Mischief’s 93 Til Infinity, 1993
Life’s not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman…
You only call her a bitch because she won’t let you get that pussy.
Maybe she didn’t feel y’all shared any similar interests,
Or maybe you’re just an asshole who couldn’t sweet talk the princess.
Aesop Rock, “Daylight,” Daylight EP, 2002
I been drunk most my life, don’t ask me why.
Through ninth grade, I ain’t go to high school,
…I went to school high.
Styles P, “Recognize,” from The LOX We Are The Streets, 2000
I hate The Police so much I’d probably assassinate Sting,
My System of a Down Rages Against the Machine.
Tie you up in a Slipknot and hold Alice In Chains inside her dreams.
Chino XL, “90 Bars of Intervention,” RICANStruction, 2012
You used to be fly, but you crashed your plane.
One Be Lo, “Used 2 Be Fly,” S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M., 2005
You thought your shit was fly, but the flight was delayed.
J-Live, “Braggin’ Writes,” The Best Part, 2001
Life is like a box of chocolates, you fill your body with toxins,
And amoxicillin and penicillin to cure your illness.
But in realness? These medical companies will get you monthly
Prescribing me pills that make me ill, just to comfort me.
Termanology, “100 More Jewelz,” G.O.Y.A. (Gunz Or Yay Available), 2013
I’d count my blessings, but I suck at math.
Eminem, “So Far…,” The Marshall Mathers LP 2, 2013
I show more blind rage than Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles wrestling in a steel cage.
Chino XL, “Freestyle Rhymes,” Here to Save You All, 1996 (via rapquote)
Maybe I need somebody that could save me
From the parts of myself that keep making me crazy.
Slug, “If I Was Santa Claus,” Lucy Ford: The Atmopshere EPs, 2001
This year Halloween fell on a weekend
Me and Geto Boys are trick-or-treatin’
Robbin’ little kids for bags…
Bushwick Bill, “Mind Playing Tricks On Me”, from Geto Boys’ We Can’t Be Stopped, 1991
Dutch in my ear, Olde E in my palm,
I Freddy Krueger your face, Michael Myers your moms.
You botherin mine? That’s when I’m sparkin the nine.
Sean Price, “King Kong,” Jesus Price Superstar, 2007
Believers of Jesus be denouncing Satan on every level,
But every Halloween they’re dressin’ like devils.
KRS-One, “Higher Level,” Return of the Boom Bap, 1993
I’m so Rakim and Eric. B, bitches check out my melody.
I might Slick Rick on a fella…catch me a felony.
I might Shyne Po a ho…POW! Catch me a case.
Producto must have rolled the L because this blunt feels laced.
Killer Mike, “Twin Hype Back,” Run the Jewels, 2013
Feeling mad hostile, wearing Aéropostale,
Flowing like Christ when I speaks the gospel.
RZA, “Protect Ya Neck,” Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, 1993
Time flies, dreams die, people lose faith,
Tryna hide behind a lie with a straight face.
Xzibit, “Legends Never Die,” from Serial Killers Vol 1., 2013
If we gotta dumb down our style and ABC it, then so be it,
Cause nowadays these kids just don’t give a shit ‘bout lyrics.
All they wanna hear is a beat and that’s it,
Long as they can go to the club and get blitzed,
Pick up some chicks and get some digits.
And the DJs playing them hits, “Oh, this my jam, this my shit!”
We don’t know a word to a verse, all we know is the chorus,
Cause the chorus repeats the same four words for us.
Eminem, “Syllables," 2010
What’s better than tripping is falling in love.
What’s better than Letterman, Leno, Fallon, and all the above?
What’s better than popping bottles trying to ball in the club?
Is the first caveman pops with his son, ball and a club.
What’s better than paper is balling it up.
What’s better than followers is actually falling in love.
What’s better than frolicking, follies, fallin in mud?
Rolling in green pastures, wandering, following love.
What’s better than eating is feeding your fam.
What’s better than meetings is missing meetings to meet with your fam.
What’s better than leaning and needing your Xan?
Is hitting your zan dreaming a dream could mean leaving the land.
What’s better than yelling is hollering love.
What’s better than rhymes, nickles, dimes, dollars, and dubs?
Is dialing up your darling just for calling her up.
There ain’t nothing better than falling in love.
Chance the Rapper, “Interlude (That’s Love),” Acid Rap, 2013
War’s extremely serious and it saddens me.
Masta Killa, “Assassination Day,” from Ghostface Killah’s Ironman, 1995
It’s all love, but love’s got a thin line
And Pun’s got a big nine,
Respect crime…but not when it reflect mine.
Big Pun, “Off the Books,” from The Beatnuts’ Stone Crazy, 1997
People who go out and try to be a rebel at night,
Try to make up for the fact that they settled in life.
Immortal Technique, “Crimes of the Heart”, The 3rd World, 2008
Commentating, illustrating, description-giving
Adjective expert. Analyzing, surmising,
Musical, myth-seeking people of the universe…
This is yours!
T La Rock & Jazzy Jay, “It’s Yours,” 1987
We ain’t speak, clicking heat is our Morse code.
Ka, “Jungle,” Night’s Gambit, 2013
I make niggas eat dirt and fart dust,
Then give you a $80 gift certificate to Pussies “Я” Us.
Ludacris, “Mouthing Off,” Back for the First Time, 2000
I never fronted, you can get it if you want it…
Won’t say I’m the best, but I’m not that far from it.
Lord Finesse, “Gameplan,” The Awakening, 1996
Listenin to nothin, takin no suggestions,
All destructive criticisms that can’t improve on perfection.
MF Doom is Viktor Vaughn, “The Drop,” Vaudeville Villain, 2003
A letter to you suckers,
Each and every one of you duck muthafuckas…
Your girl puckers her lips, so I stuck her.
Kool G. Rap, “Jive Talk,” from Kool G. Rap and DJ Polo’s Wanted: Dead or Alive, 1990
You lose money chasing women;
Never lose women chasing money.
Nas, “Ghetto Rich (Remix),” Rich Boy’s self-titled album, 2007
Bitch is in the back looking righteous
In a tight dress…I think I might just
Hit her with a little Biggie 101:
How to tote a gun,
And have fun with Jamaican rum.
The Notorious B.I.G., “Party and Bullshit,” from Who’s The Man? soundtrack, 1993
Be a king? Think not.
Why be a king when you can be a God?
Eminem, “Rap God,” The Marshall Mathers LP 2, 2013
This game is lame, the music comes second
So you can save that stupidness for all them artists you checkin.
Popularity don’t last long, I’m in it for classics,
Cause the other side of the biz is fake and it’s plastic.
Craig G., “Classic Personified,” Ramblings of an Angry Old Man, 2012
When you feeding on hate, you empty, my nigga. It shows.
Rick Ross, “Hold On,” from Pusha T’s My Name is My Name, 2013
Make a radio hit: heads criticize it.
Underground classic? Nobody buys it.
So, rap is fucked…
And everything blowing up sounds redundant,
But money talks and bullshit does 9 flat in the 100.
Ras Kass, “Reelishymn,” Soul On Ice, 1996
Pain is joy when it cries, it’s my smile in disguise.
Pusha T, “Pain,” My Name is My Name, 2013
Dial the seven digits, call up Bridgette,
Her man’s a midget.
Plus she got friends, yo, I can dig it.
Opio, “‘93 Til Infinity,” from Souls of Mischief’s ‘93 Til Infinity, 1993
We missed a lot of church, so the music is our confessional.
Big Boi, “Aquemini,” from Outkast’s Aquemini, 1998
I’ve been layin’, waiting for your next mistake,
I put in work, and watch my status escalate.
Guru, “Work,” from Gang Starr’s Moment of Truth, 1998
How you know where I’m at when you haven’t been where I’ve been?
Understand where I’m coming from?
B-Real, “How I Could Just Kill A Man,” from Cypress Hill’s Cypress Hill, 1991
Nothing’s been the same since they dropped ‘Control’
And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes.
Ha-ha! Joke’s on you, high-five, I’m bulletproof,
Your shit’ll never penetrate.
Pin the tail on the donkey, boy you been a fake.
Kendrick Lamar, BET Cypher, 2013.