Keep bustin about where you rest, and what you own, and what you drive.
So the day some niggaz come for you, I’m really not surprised.

Xzibit, “Three Card Molly,” 40 Dayz & 40 Nightz, 1999

Now we feel the good vibrations…
So many females, so much inspiration.

Opio, “‘93 Til Infinity,” from Souls of Mischief’s ’93 Til Infinity, 1993

I cannot stand no wack MC.
So step back if you please,
And don’t test me, you’re history.

Del the Funky Homosapien, “Wack M.C.’s,” No Need for Alarm, 1993

God damn! Drug dealers dealin’ to the kiddies,
Livin’ in the city ain’t no pity on the itty-bitty.
We try to cry, but still they all die,
I try to speak to the youth, and the truth is: they all high.

2Pac, “Wassup Wit The Luv?,” from Digital Underground’s The Body-Hat Syndrome, 1993

It don’t make sense: either you a soldier from the start,
Or a actor with a record deal tryin’ to play the part.

Xzibit, “Paparazzi,” At the Speed of Life, 1996

We don’t just say “No”, we too busy sayin’ “Yeah!”
To drinkin’ straight out the eight bottle…
Do I look like a muthafuckin’ role model?!

Ice Cube, “Gangsta Gangsta,” from N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton, 1988

Kendrick Lamar • “FEEL.” • 2017

I feel like friends been overrated,
I feel like the family been faking,
I feel like the feelings are changing,
Feel like my daughter compromised and jaded,
Feel like you wanna scrutinize how I made it.

Kendrick Lamar, “FEEL.,” DAMN, 2017

Kendrick Lamar • “Sherane” • 2012

It’s deep-rooted, the music of being young and dumb,
It’s never muted, in fact, it’s much louder where I’m from.

Kendrick Lamar, “Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter,” good kid, m.A.A.d city, 2012

Dr. Dre (N.W.A.) • “Express Yourself” • 1988

I’m expressin’ with my full capabilities,
And now I’m livin in correctional facilities.
Cause some don’t agree with how I do this,
I get straight and meditate like a Buddhist.

Dr. Dre, “Express Yourself,” from N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton, 1988

Snoop Dogg • “Revolution” • 2016

Huey, Malcolm and Martin, those are my peers,
They been doin’ niggas like this for over hundreds of years.
Poppin’ us, fear, now it’s time for us to clap back,
But this time we gon’ bust…step the fuck back.

– Snoop Dogg, “Revolution,” COOLAID, 2016

MURS • “18 w/a Bullet” • 2002

See my life is like a song, I just don’t know the words,

So as I try to hum along people say that I’m disturbed.

Stare and call me a loon, say I’m singin’ out of tune,

But my musics’ got direction so I know what I’m doin’.

Don’t know where I’m goin’ but I got to keep movin’,

Even if my next step is obscured by the present…

Gotta find the next rung on the stairway to heaven.

– MURS, “18 w/a Bullet,” …The End of the Beginning, 2002.

I dispense dope sentences without a prescription.
Prefixes asphyxiate bitches who flips linguistics,
Representin the West, relevant to relentless sentences.
If renegade rebels resent this wicked syntax,
Revert to revolution Ras reverse, reverberates,
Revolvin with written retalliation, rate repetitious.

Ras Kass, “Etc.,” Soul on Ice, 1996. More from Ras Kass…

My first offense was possession of weed,
Now I’m in the major leagues, and
That muthafucka Bill Clinton is a son of a bitch;
Had the nerve to throw out the first pitch.
I’m just tryin’ to get rich like Trump,
The home run king is now in a slump…pass me a hunk.
How the fuck can I stay out the Pen,
When its 1-2-3 strikes, you in?

Ice Cube, “Three Strikes You In,” War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc), 1998. More from O’Shea…

We live for they amusement like they view us from behind the glass.
No matter what we grow into, we never gonna escape our past.
So in this cage they made for me, exactly where you’ll find me at;
Whether it’s my time to leave or not, I’ll never turn my back.

Vince Staples, “Like It Is,” Summertime ‘06, 2015. More from Vince Staples…

Always knew that I would clock G’s,
But welcome to McDonald’s: May I take your order, please?
Gotta serve ya food that might give you cancer,
Cuz my son doesn’t take no for an answer.
Now I pay taxes that you never give me back;
What about diapers, bottles, and Similac?
Do I have to sell me a whole lotta crack
For decent shelter and clothes on my back?

Ice Cube, “A Bird in the Hand,” Death Certificate, 1991. More from Cube…

Why they hate us? Why they want to rape us for our culture?
They greet, defeat us, bleed us, then they leave us for the vultures.
They break the brilliant off with millions, tryna to break their focus;
More tan the man, the more alone and hopeless.

Vince Staples, “C.N.B.,” Summertime ‘06, 2015

They say the richest 400 Americans make more
Than the other 180 million combined,
And if that sounds fair, then you’re out of your mind.
So fuck a Republican, I’m out on my grind,
Cause being poor, being black, and Latino’s a crime.
That’s why we use the underworld to survive,
And I hate to admit I connive, but I’m alive cause I strive.
Make a dollar out a nickel and dime
I’m a hustler, I’m a hustler…
I could sell pussy to prostitutes, you a customer.

Ras Kass, “Stone Cold Hustler,” from Semi Hendrix’s Breakfast at Banksy’s, 2015. More from Ras Kass…

Cause when I was low, you was there for me,
And never left me alone because you cared for me.
And I could see you coming home after work late:
You’re in the kitchen trying to fix us a hot plate.
You just working with the scraps you was given,
And Mama made miracles every Thanksgivin’.

2Pac, “Dear Mama,” Me Against the World, 1995. More from 2Pac…

Now I’m a veteran, spit a 16 sixteen ways,
Sixteen in a clip, spit it 16 ways.
I know six teens, pull up to a sweet sixteen and spray.
I’m like sixteen Jays, but the beat I can manage,
So every Sweet 16 is like Duke and Kansas.

Game, “The Documentary 2,” The Documentary 2, 2015

Before you try to fuck with Ren,
I’ll put two in your ass and you’ll be shittin’ a size 10.

MC Ren, “Real Niggaz,” from N.W.A.’s 100 Miles and Runnin’, 1990.

Everybody want to talk about who this and who that,
Who the realest and who wack, or who white or who black.
Critics want to mention that they miss when hip hop was rappin’…
Motherfucker, if you did, then Killer Mike’d be platinum.

Kendrick Lamar, “Hood Politics,” To Pimp a Butterfly, 2015. More from Kendrick…

I never had real friends ‘til now…
I never had to steal ends cause that’s foul.
I walk the streets with the baseball bat feelin’ secure,
But I try not to incite fights–that’s immature.

Del the Funky Homosapien, “Eye Examination,” from the Dr. Bombay 12″, 1992. More from D-E-L…

Now there she goes again, the dopest Ethiopian,
And now the world around me be gets movin in slow motion
Whenever she happens to walk by, why does the apple of my eye
Overlook and disregard my feelings no matter how much I try?

Fat Lip, “Passin’ Me By,” from The Pharcyde’s Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, 1992