Some don’t love theyselves, so they perception is tainted.
- Talib Kweli, “Love Language,” from Reflection Eternal’s Train of Thought, 2000
I live right around the corner from West Hell,
Two blocks from South Shit, and once in a jail cell.
- Treach, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright (Ghetto Bastard),” from Naughty By Nature’s Naughty By Nature, 1991
They can’t Move a Crowd, not even slightly.
- KRS-One, “MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know,” KRS-One, 1995
Slaughter your circulatory like leukemia.
- AZ, “Rather Unique,” Doe or Die, 1995
- Billy Danze, “Hood Music,” from Memphis Bleek’s M.A.D.E., 2003
- Jay-Z, “Can I Live,” Reasonable Doubt, 1996
Physically, lyrically, hypothetically, realistically.
- Big Pun, “Beware,” Capital Punishment, 1998
And all I wanted was somebody to listen to my demo.
- Erick Sermon, “Please Listen to My Demo,” from EPMD’s Unfinished Business, 1989
- Rock, “Gunz ‘N Onez (Iz U Wit Me),” from Heltah Skeltah’s Magnum Force, 1998
Still wack if it came out my mouth and I spit it.
- Redman, “Pick It Up,” Muddy Waters, 1996
You knock out the Bush like a presidential campaign!’
- Big Daddy Kane, “How U Get a Record Deal?” Looks Like a Job For…, 1993
Body thinks the mind is crazy…
- Buckshot Shorty, “How Many MC’s…,” from Black Moon’s Enta Da Stage, 1993
And what’s mines is mines and yours is mine!
- Sticky Fingaz, “Throw Ya Gunz,” from Onyx’s Bacdafucup, 1993
- Kool Moe Dee, “Self-Destruction,” from Stop the Violence All-Stars’ Self Destruction, 1989
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
