Author Archives: mike

Why do I need ID to get ID?
If I had ID, I wouldn’t need ID.

Mos Def, “The Questions,” from Common’s Like Water for Chocolate, 2000

Girls stick like Crazy Glue, they think they’re gettin’ dough;
But I treat hoes like drugs: I just say ‘No.’

Showbiz, “Diggin’ In The Crates,” from Showbiz & A.G.’s Soul Clap EP, 1991

You heard about, through word of mouth,
Big Bird is out, he’s in the house.
He’s turnin’ up, with Snuffleup,
They’re really gettin’ their hustle up.
They stick together like Velcro,
There Grover go, there’s Elmo.
And Cookie Monster there, look he likes
To take selfies with his cell phone.
They got a homegirl named Abby,
Her last name is Cadabby,
I showed her my report card,
She said, ‘Not too shabby!’
They got all types of cool kids there,
It’s lots of fun if you live there,
One thing I keep forgettin’ about Sesame Street…
How do you get there?

Black Thought, “Sesame Street Theme,” with Jimmy Fallon, Sesame Street Gang, and The Roots, 2013. Performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Every time I write these words they become a taboo,
Making sure my punctuation curve, every letter here’s true,
Living my life in the margin, and that metaphor was proof.

Kendrick Lamar, “Poetic Justice,” good kid, m.A.A.d city, 2012

Rhymes so def, rhymes rhymes galore,
Rhymes that you’ve never even heard before.
Now if you say you heard my rhyme, we gonna have to fight,
‘Cause I just made the muthafuckas up last night!

Run, “Here We Go (Live at the Funhouse),” from Run-DMC’s Run-DMC, 1984

A day to God is a thousand years,
Men walk around with a thousand fears.
The true joy of love brings a thousand tears,
In the world of desire, there’s a thousand snares.

RZA, “A Day to God is 1000 Years,” Birth of a Prince, 2003

If you go platinum, it’s got nothing to do with luck,
It just means that a million people are stupid as fuck.

Immortal Technique, “Industrial Revolution,” Revolutionary Vol. 2, 2003

The snake, the rat, the cat, the dog…
How you gonna see ‘em if you livin’ in the fog?

DMX, “Damien,” It’s Dark and Hell is Hot, 1998

Those who flashin’ don’t blast, they still buffoons,
Just blowin out hot air, they should fill balloons.
I’m like them shorties that could kill for goons,
They started hustlin’ in April to cop wheels in June.

Elzhi, “Mt. Everest,” from U-God’s The Keynote Speaker, 2013

He rolls down his window and he started to say:
‘It’s all about making that GTA.’

Eazy-E, “Boyz-N-The-Hood,” from N.W.A.’s N.W.A. & The Posse, 1987. Rockstar Games’ GTAV is out today, order your copy.

And as for the critics, tell me I don’t get it.
Everybody can tell you how to do it, they never did it.

Jay-Z, “Already Home,” The Blueprint 3, 2009

My days getting shorter, my nights getting longer,
My cell getting smaller, my son getting taller.
I exercise my mind, my body getting stronger,
But my blood getting colder, heart getting harder.
My chances for appeal getting slimmer,
My skin getting brighter, my hair getting thinner.
See, when you stressed out, you could age fast in here,
I done seen weak niggas not last a year.
So before lights out, I write my kids every night,
Kiss the stamp on the kite,
And say a prayer…I hope it lands safe in these flights,
I pray they sleep safe through the night.
Try to teach my son right, give him some jewels,
But it’s hard to raise my boy from this visiting room.
Many cells turned to prisoner’s tombs,
I just pray I don’t die in here,
And last night I almost cried a tear.

Beanie Sigel, “Have Mercy,” from Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II, 2009

When I get involved, I give it my heart,
I mean my mind, my soul, my body: I mean every part.
But if it doesn’t work out, yo, it just doesn’t.
It wasn’t meant to be, you know, it just wasn’t.

MC Lyte, “Paper Thin,” Lyte as a Rock, 1988

I’m a street genius with a unique penis,
Got fly chicks on my dick that don’t even speak English.

Big L, “Da Graveyard,” Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous, 1995

If I wasn’t in the rap game,
I’d probably have a key knee-deep in the crack game.
Because the streets is a short stop:
Either you’re slinging crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot.

The Notorious B.I.G., “Things Done Changed,” Ready to Die, 1994

Perm in your hair or even a curly weave,
Wichya New Edition Bobby Brown button on your sleeve.
I tell you come here, you say, ‘Meet me half way,’
Cause brothers been popping that game all day.

LL Cool J, “Around the Way Girl,” Mama Said Knock You Out, 1990

All I see is sissies in magazines smiling…
Whatever happened to wildin’ out and being violent?
Whatever happened to catching a good, old-fashioned, passionate ass whoopin’?
And getting your shoes, coat and your hat tooken?

Eminem, “Marshall Mathers,” The Marshall Mathers LP, 2000

My momma did her part,
But it ain’t her fault that I was born without a heart.
In other words: I’m heartless dude.
I don’t love me…how the fuck I’mma love you?

Scarface, “Born Killer,” Mr. Scarface is Back, 1991

My new shorty got a gymnastic back,
‘87 emerald green on a classic Jag.
She had the cleft palate, I ordered chef’s salad;
She had the club foot, with that little arm,
I couldn’t help but laugh…she ordered Chicken Parm.

Action Bronson, “NaNa,” from Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap, 2013

We live in a society created by an empire
That’s based on terror…welcome to the One World Era,
A complete interruption to your lil’ paltry-ass life,
That you thought you was livin, and what you been given.

Coolio, “The Park, from Slam The Soundtrack, 1998

Others tell like it is, while I tell it how I would like it to be.

Cee-Lo, “The World I Know,” from Slam The Soundtrack, 1998

This thing called rhymin’ is no different than coal minin’;
We both on assignment to unearth the diamond.

Mos Def, “Travellin’ Man,” from DJ Honda’s HII, 1998

They say that love is powerful as cough syrup and Styrofoam.
All I know is I fell asleep and woke up in that Monte Carlo
With the ugly Kardashian…
Lamar, oh, sorry. Yo, we done both set the bar low.

Eminem, “Berzerk,” The Marshall Mathers LP 2, 2013

Mark you for death, won’t even talk that East or West crap.
From Watts to Lefrak, it ain’t where ya from, it’s where’s your gat.

Big Pun, “You Ain’t a Killer,” Capital Punishment, 1998

Anything worth having is hard to keep,
I love you like my coffee, so hot and so sweet.
So, let’s stick it out so we never regret it,
I could forgive the past–but I never forget it.

Ghostface Killah, “You Know I’m No Good (Remix),” More Fish, 2006

I don’t understand the difficulty, people;
Love your brother, treat him as an equal.

Heavy D., “Self Destruction,” Stop The Violence All-Stars, 1989

Redman ready to rock rough rhymes,
Renegade rapper, rip when it’s rhyme time.
Punk push a pen and pencil when I’m pissed,
Pack pistol posse, flow some more pro shit.

Redman, “Hardcore,” from EPMD’s Business as Usual, 1990

Your whole appearance is a lie and it could never be true.
And if you really loved yourself, then you would try and be you.

Phife, “Butter,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, 1991

What is competition? I’m tryna raise the bar high,
Who tryna jump and get it? You better off tryna skydive
Out the exit window of 5 G5’s with 5 grand
With your granddad as the pilot he drunk as fuck tryna land
With the hand full of arthritis and popping prosthetic leg
Bumpin Pac in the cockpit so the shit that pops in his head
Is an option of violence, someone heard the stewardess said
That your parachute is a latex condom hooked to a thread.

Kendrick Lamar, “Control,” from Big Sean’s Hall of Fame, 2013

I’ve seen niggas transform like villain Decepticons,
Mollies’ll prolly turn these niggas to fuckin’ Lindsay Lohan.
A bunch of rich ass white girls lookin’ for parties,
Playin with Barbies, wreck the Porsche before you give ‘em the car key.

Kendrick Lamar, “Control,” from Big Sean’s Hall of Fame, 2013

Bummy nigga famous, straight from the bottom,
Broke niggas hate it, still never robbed ‘em.
Guns in the basement, out they have a problem,
Kush be my fragrance, we love marijuana.

ScHoolboy Q, “Collard Greens,” Oxymoron, 2013

I got a girl and she treat me fine,
But the homies all think that I’m losin’ my mind.
I’m trippin’ and I know it cause I’m all nerved up,
Cause everytime I go to sleep, I see this big ol’ butt.
See, I ain’t never gave no chick 4 stars,
But she treat me so good that she be drivin my car.
And every day it get better, I can’t lie,
Went to the house and she made me some hot potato pie.
All my friends be sayin, “She ain’t nothin but a scrub!”
But she make me feel high like I’m hooked on drugs.
So I give her what she need, and what’s done is done,
But I’m a special kind of fool but ayo, it don’t bother me none.
I can’t help myself, I know that I’m trippin’,
But she got it goin’ on like Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Pimp C, “Use Me Up,” from UGK’s Too Hard to Swallow, 1992

It seem like everybody dress tight now,
And I just want my credit.

Kanye West, “Gifted,” from N.A.S.A.’s The Spirit of Apollo, 2009

What you base your happiness around?
Material, women, and large paper?
That means you inferior, not major.

Nas, “No Idea’s Original,” The Lost Tapes, 2002

You can’t take the heat, get ya ass out the kitchen
Matter fact, take ya ass back in there and wash the dishes.

Royce Da 5’9", “Deadly Melody,” from Black Milk’s Album of the Year, 2010

About those other Jennys I reckoned with,
Lost them all like a homework excuse.
This time, the Magic Number is two,
Cause it takes two, not three, to seduce.
My destiny of love is brought to an apex,
Sex is a mere molecule.
In this world of love that I have for you
It’s true…Eye know I love you better.

Dove/Trugoy, “Eye Know,” from De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising, 1989. This landmark album was released 25 years ago today. More De La Soul quotes…

Food for thought, so get a buffet plate.
The lyrics are so fat you might gain weight.

Doodlebug, “Where I’m From,” from Digable Planets’ Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space, 1993

I wish I didn’t get searched when I come through customs.
I wish Christians stop beefin’ with Muslims,
Wish the poor didn’t have to take welfare,
Wish America had universal health care…
Cause ain’t no help here.

Edo G., “Wishing,” My Own Worst Enemy, 2004

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

Trapped on a planet of pain and perpetrators
That you call ‘Earth,’ but I call ‘Hell’s Equator.’

MF Grimm, “Emotions,” Scars & Memories, 2005

The mind is a terrible thing to waste.
I show love cause it’s a terrible thing to hate.

Guru, “Peace of Mine,” from Gang Starr’s The Ownerz, 2003

The first lady in my life, but now you’re gone,
I learned through the years to keep carrying on.
Your picture brings me tears and memories,
The way things could be…and they should be, but they’re not.

Afrika Baby Bam, “All I Think About Is You,” from Jungle Brothers’ J. Beez Wit The Remedy, 1993

Guns and the sneakers made Jada.
The bitches and the reefer came later
With the money and the haters.

Jadakiss, “Jada’s Got a Gun,” Kiss the Game Goodbye, 2001

Don’t sell yourself to fall in love,
With those things you do…

J Dilla, “Fall in Love,” from Slum Village’s Fantastic Vol 2., 2000

I circumnavigate the globe with a one-liner like latitude.

Ras Kass, “Riiiot!” from Chino XL’s Here to Save You All, 1996

I live by the beat like you live check to check.
If you don’t move your feet then I don’t eat,
So we like neck to neck.

André Benjamin, “Elevators (Me & You),” from Outkast’s ATLiens, 1996

To all the seeds that follow me,
Protect your essence.
Born with less, but you still precious,
Just smile for me now.

2Pac, “Smile,” from Scarface’s The Untouchable, 1997

I’m surrounded by psychopathic little fellas,
Ghetto dwellas, with ammunition in their cellas,
And no remorse in their hearts
When the shit starts it don’t end…
Until somebody’s gone with the wind.

Masta Ace, “Maintain,” Sittin on Chrome EP, 1995

Life can change your directions, even when you ain’t planned it.
All you can do is handle it, worst thing you can do is panic.

T.I., “No Matter What,” The Paper Trail, 2008

I wanna just take this time out to be perfectly honest;
Cause there’s a lotta shit I keep bottled that hurts deep inside of my soul,
And just know that I grow colder the older I grow.
This boulder on my shoulder gets heavy and harder to hold,
And this load is like the weight of the world and I think my neck is breaking,
Should I just give up or try to live up to these expectations?

Eminem, “Hailie’s Song,” The Eminem Show, 2002

I don’t mind you talkin shit, just keep it in the first person.

El-P, “89.9 Detrimental,” from Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus, 1997

Know the shit I don’t write be the illest shit that’s ever been recited in the game,
Word to the hyphen in my name!

Jay Z, “The Watcher 2,” The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, 2002. Jay Z dropped the hyphen today.

I got mouths to feed,
Unnecessary beef is more cows to breed.

GZA, “4th Chamber,” Liquid Swords, 1995

Rappers act so wild, and love to profile,
Frontin’ hard, but ain’t got no style.

Big Daddy Kane, “Smooth Operator,” It’s a Big Daddy Thing, 1989

Consider me the entity within the industry without a history of spitting the epitome of stupidity.

Talib Kweli, “Definition,” from Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, 1998

In time, you’ll see a thin line between friend and rival.
Between you and me: stupidity and men’s bravado.

Ka, “Iron Age,” Grief Pedigree, 2012

No matter what the name, we’re all the same pieces in one big chess game.

Chuck D., “Rebel Without a Pause,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

Burn, Hollywood, burn, I smell a riot goin’ on,
First they’re guilty, now they’re gone!

Chuck D., “Burn, Hollywood, Burn,” from Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, 1990

Nowadays, the game is all bugged out,
Phony, like back when Hammer tried to come thugged out.

MF Doom, “Foolish,“ from MF Grimm’s Downfall of Ibliys: A Ghetto Opera, 2002

If you love someone, you should say it often,
You never know when they’ll be layin’ in a coffin.
Wake up, it’s important that you know that
No one on Earth is promised tomorrow.

MC Lyte, “Poor Georgie,” Act Like You Know, 1991

Her dreams hold Versace,
She fall for Armani…
Only deal with rich niggas,
Fuck you and Mitt Romney.

Kendrick Lamar, “Memories Back Then,” Grand Hustle Presents: Hustle Gang, 2013

Lyrically, I’m supposed to represent;
I’m not only the client, I’m the player president.

The Notorious B.I.G., “One More Chance (Remix),” 12", 1995

I’m only trying to show you how black niggas live,
But you don’t want your little ones acting like this.
Lil Amy told Becky, Becky told Jenny,
And now they all know the skinny.
Lil Joey got his durag on,
Driving down the street blasting Tupac’s song.

Jay-Z, “Hell Yeah (Pimp the System) (Remix)”, from Revolutionary But Gangsta, 2004

Feds still lurking,
They see I’m still putting work in.
Cause somewhere in America…
Miley Cyrus is still twerkin’.

Jay-Z, “Somewhere In America,” Magna Carta Holy Grail, 2013

I been in the game for 10 years making rap tunes…
Ever since honeys was wearing Sassoons.

Dr. Dre, “California Love,” from 2Pac’s All Eyez on Me, 1996

It’s the principle of it, I get a rush when I bust
Some dope lines oral, that maybe somebody’ll quote.
That’s what I consider real in this field of music,
Instead of puttin’ brain cells to work, they abuse it.
Non-conceptual, non-exceptional,
Everybody’s either crime-related or sexual.
For those who pose lyrical, but really ain’t true, I feel:
Their time’s limited, hard rocks too.

O.C., “Time’s Up,” Word…Life, 1994

I drop styles on ears…the public bite ‘em.
Not many went to school, so the dummies wouldn’t write ’em.
They say, “Yo Keith! You’re Kool, you usin’ big words!”
I went to college, I’m even more stupid, herb.

Kool Keith, “Raise It Up,” from Ultramagnetic M.C.’s The Four Horsemen, 1993

Ooh! Jesus Christ had dreads, so shake ‘em.
I ain’t got none, but I’m planning on growing some.
Imagine all the Hebrews going dumb…
Dancing on top of chariots and turning tight ones.

E-40, “Tell Me When to Go,” My Ghetto Report Card, 2006

We made plans, but we’ll never be able to fulfill ‘em.
This is shit we put together since we was little…
Every time we had dreams, you found a way you could kill ’em.

Kurupt, “Keep it Moving,” from Hi-Tek’s Hi-Teknology 2: The Chip, 2006

Payback’s a bitch, that’s why I never borrow;
And if push comes to shove, I’d do a stickup tomorrow.

Daddy-O, “Inner City Boundaries,” from Freestyle Fellowship’s Innercity Griots, 1993

They claim we’re products from the bottom of Hell,
But the black is back, and it’s bound to sell.
Picture us coolin’ out on the Fourth of July…
And if you heard we were celebratin’, that’s a worldwide lie.

Flavor Flav, “Louder than a Bomb,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

My heart is ‘We Are the World,’ my penis is P.E.
But my balls are Avatar, you could see ’em in 3D.

Pharoahe Monch, “Let U Live,” from Consequence’s Movies on Demand, 2010

I’m down for you, so ride with me.
My enemies your enemies,
Cause you ain’t ever had a friend like me.

2Pac, “Never Had a Friend Like Me,” from Gridlock’d Soundtrack, 1997

Everything will eventually come to an end,
So try to savor the moment, cause time flies, don’t it?
The beauty of life, you gotta make it last for the better,
Cause nothin’ lasts forever.

Nas, “Nothing Lasts Forever,” The Lost Tapes, 2002

I ain’t goin out like a spineless jellyfish.
Some say life is a bitch…
Ask that punk who dug his own ditch.

B-Real, “Hand on the Pump,” Cypress Hill’s Cypress Hill, 1991

Who’s that peeking in my window?
Pow.
Nobody now.

Goodie Mob, “Cell Therapy,” Soul Food, 1995

I know you think my life is good ‘cause my diamond piece,
But my life been good since I started finding peace.

Nas, “Loco-Motive,” Life Is Good, 2012

Raise your right palm: We do solemnly swear
To stack more dough more calmly this year.

MF Doom, “Get ‘Er Done,” from Jake One’s White Van Music, 2008

It’s drones over Brooklyn, you blink, you could get tooken,
And now you’re understanding the definition of ‘Crooklyn.’
Pigs on parade, but bacon fryin’ and cookin’,
Cause kids’ tired of dyin’ and walkin’ round like they shooken.

Killer Mike, “DDFH,” from El-P + Killer Mike’s Run The Jewels, 2013

…About those other Jennys I reckoned with
Lost them all like a homework excuse.
This time the Magic Number is Two,
‘Cause it takes two, not three, to seduce.

Dove, “Eye Know,” from De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising, 1989

Comin’ from the school of hard knocks,
Some perpetrate…they drink Clorox.
Attack the black, cause I know they lack exact
The cold facts, and still they try to Xerox.

Chuck D., “Don’t Believe the Hype,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Million’s To Hold Us Back, 1988

We fight every night, now that’s not kosher.
I reminisce with bliss of when we was closer,
And wake up to be greeted by an argument again,
…You act like you’re ten.
So immature, I try to concentrate on a cure,
And keep lookin’ at the front door.

Large Professor, “Looking at the Front Door,” from Main Source’s Breaking Atoms, 1991

I drink twenty forties, smoke forty blunts,
Say a hundred rhymes, and not sound like you once.

Dres, “Roll  Wit Tha Flava,” from Flavor Unit’s Roll Wit Tha Flava, 1993

How you picture tomorrow with the wrong frame of mind?
How you picture love, if you were blind?

Blu, “My Hoe,” from Statik Selektah’s Extended Play, 2013

Woke up quick, at about noon.
Just thought that I had to be in Compton soon.
I gotta get drunk before the day begins,
Before my mother starts bitchin bout my friends.

Eazy-E, “Boyz-N-The-Hood (remix),” Eazy Duz It, 1988

You dudes is noodles, I got more ziti to bake.
You dudes is cake, I keep two biscuits on the waist.
Razor blades under the tongue, I will eat your face,
Appetite for destruction, I am starvin’ today.
Got a money hungry lawyer that’ll eat the case,
And that’s just food for thought, don’t let it go to waste.

Jay-Z, “U Don’t Know (Remix),” The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, 2002

In this life ain’t no happy endings;
Only pure beginnings followed by years of sinning and fake repentance.

J. Cole, “Runaway,” Born Sinner, 2013

‘What you doing in the club on a Thursday?’
She say she only here for her girl birthday…
They ordered champagne but still look thirsty,
Rock Forever 21 but just turned 30.

Kanye West, “Bound 2,” Yeezus, 2013

You and your friends…always together,
No time for the B-I-G, so I’m O-U-T.
The sex was great, but the headaches I can’t take.
I think I made a very big mistake.

Notorious B.I.G., “Buddy X (Remix),” from Neneh Cherry’s Homebrew, 1992

It’s been a long time…I shouldn’t have left you
Without a strong rhyme to step to.

Rakim, “I Know You Got Soul,” from Eric B. and Rakim’s Paid In Full, 1987

Be a father, if not, why bother, son?
A boy can make ‘em, but a man can raise one.
If you did it, admit it and stick with it.

Ed O.G., “Be a Father to Your Child,” from Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs’s Life of a Kid in the Ghetto, 1991

All right, stop whatcha doin, cause I’m about to ruin
The image and the style that you’re used to.

Shock G. aka Humpty Hump, “The Humpty Dance,” from Digital Underground’s Sex Packets, 1990

It’s a beautiful day, and everybody’s feelin’ wonderful,
The ladies is out, lookin’ fly, dressed comfortable.
I love to wake up, and feel the breeze through my window,
Slip on fatigues, grab a dutch, and roll some indo.

Dead Prez, “Happiness,” Let’s Get Free, 2000

I go to Queens for queens to get the crew from Brooklyn,
Make money in Manhattan and never been tooken.
Go Uptown and the Bronx to boogie down,
Get strong on the Island, recoup, and lay around.

Rakim, “Juice (Know the Ledge),” from Eric B. & Rakim’s Don’t Sweat the Technique, 1992

I’ma say this shit now and never again:
We ain’t buddies, we ain’t partners and we damn sure ain’t friends.
The games you playin, you get killed like that,
Actin like you all hard, you ain’t built like that.

50 Cent, “Life’s on the Line,” Guess Who’s Back, 2002

Bitch, you ain’t got nothin on the rich,
Every other day my whole dress code switch.

Cappadonna, “Winter Warz,” from Ghostface Killah’s Ironman, 1996

It was magic, I felt the bond between us.
She was a jelly to my peanuts, Mars to Venus,
The Earth to my sun, moon and stars,
We added up mathematically…
It’s like I had a bad habit, B!

Ghostface Killah, “The Center of Attraction,” Twelve Reasons to Die, 2013

The last batter to hit, blast shattered your hip,
Smash any splitter or fastball—that’ll be it.

Pharoahe Monch, “The Next Shit,” Internal Affairs, 1999

The rap era’s outta control,
Brothers’ sellin their soul to go gold…
Going, going, gone, another rapper sold!

Parrish Smith, “Crossover,” EPMD’s Business Never Personal, 1993