Laugh now, cry later: this is the karma.
Hip-hop never died, it’s just sick of the drama.
Cormega, “Journey,” Born and Raised, 2009
Posts Tagged With: new york
Lookin’ out at the world through my window pane,
Every day has many colors ‘cause the glass is stained.
Everything has changed but remains the same,
So once again the mirror raised.
And I see myself as clear as day,
And I am goin’ to the limits of my ultimate destiny,
Feeling as though somebody somewhere is testin’ me.
He who sees the end from the beginning of time
Looking forward through all the ages:
Is, was, and always shall be.
MCA, “B-Boy Bouillabaisse (A Year And A Day),” from Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, 1989. Rest in power, Adam Yauch (1964 – 2012).
Let me spell my name out for you, it’s Ricky:
R: Ravishing, I: Impress,
C: Courageous or Careless,
K: for the Kangols which I’ve got,
That I wear everyday and Y: Why not?
Slick Rick, “Mona Lisa,” The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, 1988
You could either ignore this advice, or take it from me:
Be too nice, and people take you for a dummy.
MF Doom, “Deep Fried Frenz,” MM.. Food, 2004
Put this in your CD-ROM:
www dot Canibus dot com.
You can find me on the Internet, talkin’ to chicks
That was sweatin’ me off the ‘Music Makes Me High’ remix.
I be talkin’ mad trash, tryin to get ’em to laugh.
See, if I click and drag long enough I’ll get the ass…
Canibus, “Making a Name For Ourselves,” from Common’s One Day It’ll All Make Sense, 1998
I wake you up and as I stare in your face, you seem stunned.
Remember me? The one you got your idea from?
Rakim, “I Ain’t No Joke,” from Eric B. and Rakim’s Paid In Full, 1987
Infrareds on little people standing with some big heads,
I was Captain Kirk, walkin’ with a black t-shirt.
LAPD, the nurse asked did my knee hurt?
I was in pain, little Martians tryin’ ta take my brain,
Hospitals came, detectives wrote down my name.
I was to blame, my life never been the same.
A true story; I tell ya, it’ll never bore me.
My classmate died, my other friend named Cory
Drinkin’ 40s, he jumped out the project window,
Stabbed himself with a yellow number 2 pencil.
Kool Keith, “Object Unknown,” from DJ Spooky featuring Kool Keith Object Unknown, 1998
Friends: how many have ‘em?
How long before they split like atoms?
Don’t ask me, but what I do stand behind
Is someone havin’ your back seems hard to find.
Posdnous, “The Book of Life,” from De La Soul’s Plug 1 and Plug 2, First Serve, 2012
Shorty, let me tell you about my only vice:
It has to do with lots of lovin’, and it ain’t nuttin’ nice.
Q-Tip, “Electric Relaxation,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, 1993
I don’t respect killers, I respect O.G. knowledge,
Codes of the streets got new rules, but no guidance.
Lessons, detrimental to a young disciple;
Folks, take care of your brothers, niggas do as I do.
Keep your enemies close, where they can see you.
It’s not your enemy who get you, it’s always your own people.
Nas, “In Between Us,” from Scarface’s The Fix, 2002
I am the manifestation of study,
NOT the manifestation of money.
Therefore, I advance through thought,
NOT what’s manufactured and bought.
KRS-One, “Original Lyrics,” from Boogie Down Productions’ Edutainment, 1990
…Cops just surrounding me with pistols everywhere.
They put me in the backseat of their car handcuffed,
Pushed out them chests like they’re big rough and tough.
A cop come and said ‘You’ll never sell your guns now.’
I said ‘It doesn’t matter, you’ll sell them anyhow.
You take the guns from me, you sell them for a fee;
Anyway you put it, they’ll get in the city!’
KRS-One, “100 Guns,” from Boogie Down Productions’ Edutainment, 1990
You pout like a trout in a drought…can’t get out.
You want to scream, but fish can’t shout.
MF Grimm, “King of New York,” Scars & Memories, 2005
Yo, where the teachers went, with all that pro-black shit?
Where all the conscious niggas, who used to chat like this?
See, I remember yesterday when y’all was Gods and Earths,
Egyptians and metaphysicists on the verge of giving birth
To Understanding, and planting seeds that grow.
Now everybody’s on that bullshit about killing and so.
Wise Intelligent, “Conscious Style,” The New World Order, 1996
I was always taught my do’s and don’ts:
For do’s I did, and for don’ts, I said I won’t.
GZA, “I Gotcha Back,” from the Fresh soundtrack, and also on Liquid Swords, 1994
A prejudiced man is of a devil mentality.
These are words of a wise man, wisdom;
Take a taste and erase the racism.
Kool G Rap, “Erase Racism,” from Kool G Rap and DJ Polo’s Wanted: Dead or Alive, 1990
I seen her in the subway, on my way to Brooklyn.
“Hello, good lookin, is this seat tooken?”On the A Train, pickin at her brain,
I couldn’t get her number, I couldn’t get her name.I said, “I still like your style and fashion,
But I hate your hot sadiddy attitude wit a passion.
Is it because brothers like to hawk a lot?
Is it because your sign don’t talk a lot?”She turned away, no play, I said, “OK,
You don’t really look good, I hope you have a bad day.”
Rakim, “What’s On Your Mind,” from Eric B. & Rakim’s Don’t Sweat the Technique, 1992
Don’t you like when the winter’s gone,
And all of a sudden it starts gettin’ warm?
The trees and the grass start lookin’ fresh,
And the sun and sky be lookin’ their best…
Biz Markie, “Spring Again,” The Biz Never Sleeps, 1989
Look: if I shoot you, I’m brainless,
But if you shoot me, then you’re famous.
What’s a nigga to do?
Jay-Z, “Streets Is Watching,” In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, 1997
The poor get worked, the rich get richer,
The world gets worse, do you get the picture?
The poor gets dead, the rich get depressed,
The ugly get mad, the pretty get stressed.
The ugly get violent, the pretty get gone,
The old get stiff, the young get stepped on.Whoever told you that “it was all good” lied,
So throw your fists up if you not satisfied.
J-Live, “Satisfied,” All of the Above, 2002
Truth had me up against the ropes
And semi-conscious without no boxing skills.
Pharoahe Monch, “The Truth,” Internal Affairs, 1999
Brothers ain’t half-steppin…they’re walking backwards.
A.G., “Back to Back Rhyming,” from Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth’s Funky Technician, 1990
This country of ours was built on violence;
If your ass got in the way, you was killed in silence.
And these been the ways since back in the days:
Just ask the Indians or the African slaves.
Masta Ace, “The Ways,” A Long Hot Summer, 2004
Some girls barely speak, but always askin’ for a dollar.
Big L, “No Endz, No Skinz,” Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, 1995
I call wild niggas together like Cyrus,
And knock off more birds than the West Nile Virus.
Freddie Foxxx, “I Come to War,” 12", 2001
Lyrics are weak, like clock radio speakers.
GZA, “Liquid Swords,” Liquid Swords, 1995
…And Sunday’s the one day I rest, give thanks, and bless.
Special Ed, “Ready 2 Attack,” Legal, 1990
Educated: no. Stupid: yes.
And when I say “stupid,” I mean stupid fresh.
King Ad Rock, “Hey Ladies,” from Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, 1989
New York, New York, big city of dreams,
Where there’s nothing but foreign cars, bitches, and triple beams.
Fat Joe, “All Luv,” from D.I.T.C.’s All Luv 12", 1998
How can polar bears swing on vines with the gorillas?
Brother J, “Grand Verbalizer,” from X-Clan’s To the East, Blackwards, 1990
I like ‘em brown, yellow, Puerto Rican or Haitian.
Phife, “Electric Relaxation,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, 1993
We speak the love language, they speak from pain and anguish.
Some don’t love theyselves, so they perception is tainted.
Talib Kweli, “Love Language,” from Reflection Eternal’s Train of Thought, 2000
Too many MC’s take that word ‘emcee’ lightly;
They can’t Move a Crowd, not even slightly.
KRS-One, “MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know,” KRS-One, 1995
I got styles sick as hell, sicker than sickle cell anemia,
Slaughter your circulatory like leukemia.
AZ, “Rather Unique,” Doe or Die, 1995
Ain’t no love lost, cause there was never none there.
Billy Danze, “Hood Music,” from Memphis Bleek’s M.A.D.E., 2003
I’d rather die enormous than live dormant.
Jay-Z, “Can I Live,” Reasonable Doubt, 1996
Flawless victory, y’all niggas can’t do shit to me:
Physically, lyrically, hypothetically, realistically.
Big Pun, “Beware,” Capital Punishment, 1998
Fuck Batman and Robin: I’m robbin’ with a bat, man.
Rock, “Gunz ‘N Onez (Iz U Wit Me),” from Heltah Skeltah’s Magnum Force, 1998
When I hit the skins they all say, ‘Damn Kane…
You knock out the Bush like a presidential campaign!’
Big Daddy Kane, “How U Get a Record Deal?” Looks Like a Job For…, 1993
The mind tricks the body,
Body thinks the mind is crazy…
Buckshot Shorty, “How Many MC’s…,” from Black Moon’s Enta Da Stage, 1993
I don’t feel pain cause it’s all in the mind,
And what’s mines is mines and yours is mine!
Sticky Fingaz, “Throw Ya Gunz,” from Onyx’s Bacdafucup, 1993
I never ever ran from the Ku Klux Klan, and I shouldn’t have to run from a black man.
Kool Moe Dee, “Self-Destruction,” from Stop the Violence All-Stars’ Self Destruction, 1989
I find it’s distressin’, there’s never no in-between:
We either niggaz or kings,
We either bitches or queens.
The deadly ritual seems immersed in the perverse,
Full of short attention spans, short tempers, and short skirts.
Mos Def, “Thieves in the Night,” from Black Star’s Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star, 1998
When I need bread, I grab the toaster and stick niggas for they crumbs.
Akinyele, “The Robbery Song,” Put It in Your Mouth EP, 1996
They say jealousy is a serious disease.
So I’mma say a prayer for you dudes,
Hope you motherfuckers get well soon.
Lil Fame, “Hard NIggaz,” from M.O.P.’s Sparta, 2011
You got a man? That’s somethin we will talk about.
He’s smart enough to have ya, but dumb enough to let ya out.
LL Cool J, “Mr. Goodbar,” Mama Said Knock You Out, 1990
Pull down the shades on the windows of your soul,
And gaze into your mind and watch the wisdom unfold…
Beanie Sigel, “Hypnotic,” from Memphis Bleek’s M.A.D.E., 2003
I guess I was a combination of House of Pain and Bobby Brown:
I was humpin’ around and jumpin’ around!
Notorious B.I.G., “Dead Wrong,” Born Again, 1999
If you can’t respect that, your whole perspective is wack.
Maybe you’ll love me when I fade to black.
Jay-Z, “December 4th,” The Black Album, 2003
Dwellin’ in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled.
Or caught by the devil’s lasso…shit is a hassle.
Nas, “The World Is Yours,” Illmatic, 1994