EPMD in effect, I’m clockin’ mad green
Like Kermit the Frog, sloppy like Boss Hog,
Girl was runnin’ wild…ate her like a corn dog.
Parrish Smith, “Chill,” from EPMD’s Business Never Personal, 1992
Tag: east coast
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It’s ninety-six degrees in the shade…
Before I catch blood on my blade.Keith Murray, “Hostile,” from Erick Sermon’s No Pressure, 1993 -
On the square…I’m not riffin’ like Andy Griffith,
Just fed up, goin’ head up, with competition.Positive K, “Step Up Front,” 12", 1988. Legendary television actor Andy Griffith died of natural causes today at the age of 86. -
If you ain’t never been to the ghetto,
Don’t ever come to the ghetto,
‘Cause you wouldn’t understand the ghetto,
So stay the fuck out of the ghetto.Treach, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright (Ghetto Bastard),” from Naughty By Nature’s Naughty By Nature, 1991 -
Keep my planets in orbit,
Never forfeit or quit,
Move forward…
I talk with the awkward slang,
I walk with the Wu-Tang.RZA, “Tragedy,” from Rhyme & Reason soundtrack, 1997 -
This generation lacks true knowledge of how the past has trapped you with psychological lassos over Adam’s apples.
Reks, “Unlearn,” REBELutionary, 2012 -
The D’s for doin it all of the time.
M is for the rhymes, that are all mine,
C’s for cool, cool as can be,
And why you wear those glasses? So I can see!D.M.C., “Here We Go,” Run-D.M.C., 1983 -
Bass! How low can you go?
Death row…what a brother know.
Once again, back is the incredible,
The rhyme animal, the uncannable “D!”
Public Enemy Number One.
Five-O said, “Freeze!” and I got numb.
Can I tell ‘em that I really never had a gun?
But it’s the wax that the Terminator X spun.Chuck D., “Bring the Noise,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988 -
When you say you love me, it doesn’t matter.
It goes into my head as just chit-chatter.
You may think it’s egotistical or just worry-free,
But what you say, I take none of it seriously.MC Lyte, “Paper Thin,” Lyte as a Rock, 1988 -
So concisely, musically we are the herb
So sit back and light me.
Inhale…
My style’s kinda fat, reminiscent of a whale.Q-Tip, “Sucka Nigga,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, 1993 (via egotripland) -
Ayo, the arm bone connected to the hand bone,
Nigga, the hand bone connected to the damn chrome!Sean P, “Don’t You Cross the Line,” from Boot Camp Clik’s The Last Stand, 2006 -
You know the wisdom is reflected in the knowledge when it’s manifested;
If not fed in due time, the mind is anorexic.Cormega, “American Beauty,” The Realness, 2001 -
So you think that hip-hop had its start out in Queensbridge?
If you popped that junk up in the Bronx, you might not live!KRS-One, “South Bronx,” from Boogie Down Productions’ Criminal Minded, 1987 -
A rap villain: chillin’ and I don’t give a fuck about a killin’ cause I’m still in effect when you’re illin’.
Kool G. Rap, “Jive Talk,” from Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo’s Wanted: Dead or Alive, 1990 -
Fake MC’s – they always act hard
But won’t walk the streets without their bodyguards.Guru, “Suckas Need Bodyguards,” from Gang Starr’s Hard To Earn, 1994 -
The principles of true hip-hop have been forsaken,
It’s all contractual and about money makin’.Black Thought, “What They Do,” from The Roots’ Illadelph Halflife, 1996 -
Back in the days when I was a teenager,
Before I had status, and before I had a pager,
You could find The Abstract, listening to hip-hop,
My pops used to say it reminded him of be-bop.
I said, ‘Well daddy don’t you know that things go in cycles.
The way that Bobby Brown is just ampin’ like Michael.
It’s all expected, things are for the lookin’,
If you got the money, Quest is for the bookin’.Q-Tip, “Excursions,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, 1991 -
Rebel, renegade, must stay paid.
KRS-One, “I’m Still #1,” from Boogie Down Productions’ By Any Means Necessary, 1990 -
Niggas is decaf, I stick ‘em for the C.R.E.A.M.
Method Man, “Bring the Pain,” Tical, 1994 -
Rappers can’t sleep, need sleepin’,
B.I.G. keep creepin’,
Bullets heat-seekin’,
Casualties need treatin’,
Dumb rappers need teachin’.Notorious B.I.G., “Unbelievable,” Ready To Die, 1994 -
Deja vu, tell you what I’m gonna do,
When they reminisce over you, my God.CL Smooth, “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.),” from Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s Mecca and the Soul Brother, 1992 -
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 -
God works in different ways and it shows…
And everybody knows, love comes and goes.Ed O.G., “Love Comes and Goes,” from Ed O.G. and Da Bulldogs’ Roxbury 02119, 1993 -
There oughta be laws against you yappin’ your jaws.
Guru, “Take it Personal,” from Gang Starr’s Daily Operation, 1992 -
I own the night…the heat’s my receipt.
Ka, “Cold Facts,” Grief Pedigree, 2012 -
Niggas running around fantasizing like they’re Peter Pan…
Your life’s a scam and I’mma fuck it up like Neverland.MF Grimm, “Fame,” The Hunt for the Gingerbread Man, 2007 -
Your mom’s in our business…she’s in our business…
Can’t you see, girl, that your mom’s trying to end this?K-Solo, “Your Mom’s In My Business,” Tell the World My Name, 1990 -
What’s the remedy? Suckaz better get their own identity,
And to the enemy, you better roll like there’s ten of me.A.G., “Next Level,” from Show and A.G.’s Goodfellas, 1995 -
Laugh now, cry later: this is the karma.
Hip-hop never died, it’s just sick of the drama.Cormega, “Journey,” Born and Raised, 2009 -
Lookin’ out at the world through my window pane,
Every day has many colors ‘cause the glass is stained.
Everything has changed but remains the same,
So once again the mirror raised.
And I see myself as clear as day,
And I am goin’ to the limits of my ultimate destiny,
Feeling as though somebody somewhere is testin’ me.
He who sees the end from the beginning of time
Looking forward through all the ages:
Is, was, and always shall be.MCA, “B-Boy Bouillabaisse (A Year And A Day),” from Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, 1989. Rest in power, Adam Yauch (1964 – 2012). -
Let me spell my name out for you, it’s Ricky:
R: Ravishing, I: Impress,
C: Courageous or Careless,
K: for the Kangols which I’ve got,
That I wear everyday and Y: Why not?Slick Rick, “Mona Lisa,” The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, 1988 -
Put this in your CD-ROM:
www dot Canibus dot com.
You can find me on the Internet, talkin’ to chicks
That was sweatin’ me off the ‘Music Makes Me High’ remix.
I be talkin’ mad trash, tryin to get ’em to laugh.
See, if I click and drag long enough I’ll get the ass…Canibus, “Making a Name For Ourselves,” from Common’s One Day It’ll All Make Sense, 1998 -
I’m not sayin I’m a pothead, cause I’m not.
I’m just sayin that I smoke a lot.Keith Murray, “High as Hell,” It’s a Beautiful Thing, 1999 -
And how ‘bout the non-blunt rollin’ females
That always fucks it up ’cause they don’t wanna break their Lee nails?Redman, “How to Roll a Blunt,” Whut, Thee Album?, 1992 -
Infrareds on little people standing with some big heads,
I was Captain Kirk, walkin’ with a black t-shirt.
LAPD, the nurse asked did my knee hurt?
I was in pain, little Martians tryin’ ta take my brain,
Hospitals came, detectives wrote down my name.
I was to blame, my life never been the same.
A true story; I tell ya, it’ll never bore me.
My classmate died, my other friend named Cory
Drinkin’ 40s, he jumped out the project window,
Stabbed himself with a yellow number 2 pencil.Kool Keith, “Object Unknown,” from DJ Spooky featuring Kool Keith Object Unknown, 1998 -
Destiny made a mistake and gave my fate to someone else.
Joe Budden, “Going Thru the Motions,” Mood Muzik: The Box Set, 2012 -
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 -
Shorty, let me tell you about my only vice:
It has to do with lots of lovin’, and it ain’t nuttin’ nice.Q-Tip, “Electric Relaxation,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, 1993 -
I’m like an eclipse on a Friday the 13th,
With black cats and Haley’s Comet,
Blazin’ blunts in my driveway…Redman, “Cosmic Slop,” Dare Iz a Darkside, 1994 -
I am the manifestation of study,
NOT the manifestation of money.
Therefore, I advance through thought,
NOT what’s manufactured and bought.KRS-One, “Original Lyrics,” from Boogie Down Productions’ Edutainment, 1990 -
…Cops just surrounding me with pistols everywhere.
They put me in the backseat of their car handcuffed,
Pushed out them chests like they’re big rough and tough.
A cop come and said ‘You’ll never sell your guns now.’
I said ‘It doesn’t matter, you’ll sell them anyhow.
You take the guns from me, you sell them for a fee;
Anyway you put it, they’ll get in the city!’KRS-One, “100 Guns,” from Boogie Down Productions’ Edutainment, 1990 -
She’s not impressed by your fancy car.
She got a body so she’s snotty and she don’t care who you are.
So don’t get mad and dis her reputation
Callin’ her a floozy, any conversation.
Mad grammar, backstabber, girls they wanna be her.
But like Stevie Wonder, none of y’all can see her!Positive K, “A Flower Grows in Brooklyn,” The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills, 1992 -
Don’t you like when the winter’s gone,
And all of a sudden it starts gettin’ warm?
The trees and the grass start lookin’ fresh,
And the sun and sky be lookin’ their best…Biz Markie, “Spring Again,” The Biz Never Sleeps, 1989 -
Look: if I shoot you, I’m brainless,
But if you shoot me, then you’re famous.
What’s a nigga to do?Jay-Z, “Streets Is Watching,” In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, 1997 -
Brothers ain’t half-steppin…they’re walking backwards.
A.G., “Back to Back Rhyming,” from Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth’s Funky Technician, 1990 -
This country of ours was built on violence;
If your ass got in the way, you was killed in silence.
And these been the ways since back in the days:
Just ask the Indians or the African slaves.Masta Ace, “The Ways,” A Long Hot Summer, 2004