Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap Page #2

Was rocking on the radio

Before whitney,

mariah and j-lo and janet

Before bam &

the soulsonic force rocked the planet

Before these are

the breaks

Before hard times

Before the sugarhill gang

And before super rhymes

Before reaganomics

Before rappers got shot

in their stomachs

Before you found

hip-hop in comics

Before gs,

before weed was trees

Before going raw dog

gave you a deadly disease

Before haters,

before thugs and perpetrators

Before the alphas

and before the betas

Before beepers

and cellphones

And retro gods

and fed-ex

Food stamps and metro cards

Before cops was 5-o,

or gats was answers

Before all the b-boys

turned into break dancers

Before legs was crazy

or outturned to swayze

When my man said,

"it's hot, humid, and hazy"

Before all the bull,

and by no means get it twisted

See my name is hip-hop,

and I have always existed

See, I'm a bronx nigga

And I don't

beg your pardon

Never saw the 13

when hip-hop was startin'

I helped lay the cement,

and when the concrete hardened

I watched hip-hop grow

out the car creepers

I deal it in

around the world

Son, as well the 'hood

Helped put the bx

on the map

Repped as well as I could

I ain't visiting no b*tch

I got keys,

I'm a resident

I ain't no client

I'm the motherfucking

president

43rd precinct,

south view of the 'hood

They say

our corner's got it cozy

'Cause we

gettin' it good

You see,

we live by the water

Where niggas be fishing

Same area they bury ya

And niggas be missing

A few blocks

from the bruckner

Not far from the deegan

And not far away from

the cross bronx expressway

I ain't hard to find

I'm right by the zoo

By the gorilla cage

Holla at a nigga, ooh-ooh

Ain't where you from,

it's where you at...

Hip-hop is not

made up from scratch.

The music and the foundation

of the music of hip-hop

comes from records that we

found in our parents' crates,

you know what I mean?

Old funk and soul grooves.

We've given new life

to artists like

james brown and isaac hayes

and sly and the family stone

and george clinton

and parliament and funkadelic,

and so many other groups,

because we rapping

over they beats, okay?

So hip-hop

didn't invent anything,

but hip-hop

reinvented everything.

Lyrics is what rap

is all about,

though being lyrical

and being able to flow

and have the type

of rhymes and raps

that paint pictures

for people.

I be that stage nigga

I don't know

how to age, nigga

I'm the first cat that put

the pen to the page, nigga

I'm the key

to the cage, nigga

That brown

and beige nigga

I'm the off-the-chain

Meat rat meter

engage nigga

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