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

It’s ninety-six degrees in the shade…
Before I catch blood on my blade.
I’m not sayin I’m a pothead, cause I’m not.
I’m just sayin that I smoke a lot.
Do some good to the ghetto, Mr. Kris Kringle.
Come and stay awhile, kick it with God’s Angels.
Take and acknowledge my wisdom and understand
That Santa Claus is a black man.
Got more milky syllables than alphabet cereals.
I’ve been to college, but to be truthfully frank:
Weed is knowledge, cause it makes me think.
Y’all mythological niggas is comical,
The astronomical is comin’ thru like tha flu bombin’ you…
And embalmin’ in your crew, too.
With the musical, mystical, magical, you know how I do.