Stop raising your voice at me,
Stop messing around with my sanity,
Got me in a bubble, I can barely breathe…

- Truth Enola, “Voicetress,” 12”, 1999

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

Y’all really think Ms. Shakur, or Ms. Wallace,
Or Ms. Mizell from out in Hollis
Wouldn’t exchange the love and fame
Attached to their loved ones’ names
Just to have ‘em still alive in their arms?

- Posdnuos, “Rewind DJ, ” from Eslam Jawaad’s The Mammoth Tusk, 2009

Ayo, shout out to Mobb Deep, the Extra P
Busta Rhymes, De La, the J Beez, so don’t sleep

- Q-Tip, “Mind Power, ” A Tribe Called Quest’s Beats, Rhymes and Life, 1996

Though the meek shall inherit the earth, but don’t forget,
The poor are the ones who inherit the debt.

- Posdnuos, “The Grind Date,” from De La Soul’s The Grind Date, 2004

Five days you work, one whole day to play
Come on everybody, wear your rollerskates today
It’s Saturday…

- De La Soul, “A Roller Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays,’” De La Soul is Dead, 1991

Always exhale the facts, cause I don’t inhale lies.

- Dove, “The Bizness,” from De La Soul’s Stakes is High, 1996

De La Soul, from the soul, black medallions, no gold.

- Afrika Baby Bam, “Buddy”, from De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising, 1989

See them Cubans don’t care what y’all niggas do,
Colombians ain’t never ran with your crew.
Why you acting all spicy and sheisty?
The only Italians you knew was ICEEs.

- Dove, “Itsoweezee,” Stakes is High, 1996

Move over just a bit to the right of me,
For I cannot see
Where the booty is.

- Dres, “Fanatic of the B Word,” from De La Soul Is Dead, 1991

Of course it’s much greater than your Benz or your Lex
The engine to my comprehension is just too complex

- Dove, “The Bizness,” from De La Soul’s Stakes is High, 1996

If you got time to give, I got time to think…
See, it could all change in one eye blink.

- De La Soul, “Trouble in the Water,” from DJ Honda’s HII, 1998

I sit and think with a drink about how I’m gonna win…

- Common, “The Bizness”, from De La Soul’s Stakes is High, 1996