(paint spraying)
♪ Beneath the flickering lamp post we dance ♪
♪ Managing to keep the kick of the amp closer than ♪
♪ What some refer to as the spiritual Santos ♪
♪ That spanned days of Dapper Dan through June Ambrose ♪
♪ The band made us clap our hands ♪
♪ What came after was the scratch from the grand wizards ♪
♪ And grand masters ♪
♪ One topic of discussion was whose hands were faster ♪
♪ Than a six train where the illest tags were plastered ♪
♪ The pillars of a village at the origin of it ♪
♪ Came to occupy the space of our eternal beloved ♪
♪ This culture we constructed ♪
♪ Was determined to thug it, and kept it rugged ♪
♪ While the proverbial gates got flooded ♪
♪ Cold blooded, no budget ♪
♪ But we became raw to end the gang wars ♪
♪ What we started this thing for ♪
♪ So were we kings or pursuing visions of grandeur ♪
♪ When through the rhythm is was true religion we came for ♪
♪ When Sylvia Robinson became a hip hop mogul ♪
♪ Who could've known we'd ever reach ♪
♪ The tip top total or how ♪
♪ One common cause could become so noble ♪
♪ That we be going exit through the gift shop global ♪
♪ That gift that kept givin' us light ♪
♪ And keeps givin' advice ♪
♪ Took on a life of its own and keeps livin' ♪
♪ We found strength in numbers ♪
♪ Many of whom were women like Sha-Rock ♪
♪ And them who were there ♪
♪ From the beginnin' is all rocks ♪
♪ They could never be kept in a vault ♪
♪ There'd be no Kim or Nicki Minaj ♪
♪ Without Pepper and Salt ♪
♪ I hope Cardi B and Megan ♪
♪ Thank Latifah and Light and L Boogie ♪
♪ Super heroes who were eager to fight ♪
♪ Before out entire lives became computerized ♪
♪ We were back spinnin' in shell toes ♪
♪ And Puma Clydes as we watched ♪
♪ Some of our stars continue to rise ♪
♪ Up to Jupiter and Mars ♪
♪ We learned to utilize our credentials ♪
♪ And how to maximize the potential ♪
♪ To build brands ♪
♪ Laying a proper ground work's essential to go ♪
♪ From Public Enemy to Tribe Called Quest ♪
♪ To Jay-Z, Diddy, Pharrell, Drake, or Kanye West ♪
♪ To where our world could be as free as Ron Artest ♪
♪ In a place where no one else has got to sign our checks ♪
♪ We made fortunes out of fame ♪
♪ Light Run and DMC ♪
♪ When we came in the door like Ra and Eric B ♪
♪ To make somethin' outta nothin' ♪
♪ And it's come to define a legacy more meaningful ♪
♪ Than just a moment in time ♪
♪ The kind of brilliance we reveal instead of holdin' inside ♪
♪ Ordained by God's the only way we know to describe ♪
♪ If you rollin' let's ride you're welcome to get in the car ♪
♪ Be whoever you need to be but don't forget who you are ♪
♪ You are a north star as black as my thoughts are ♪
♪ It's true that back in the day they used to report ♪
♪ How you were too black ♪
♪ Or too Latin, too tapped in, too from the hood ♪
♪ But ever since we conquered Hollywood ♪
♪ It's been all good ♪
♪ And it don't even really feel like it take long ♪
♪ To get from a pay phone to Twitter ♪
♪ You stay strong and diligent ♪
♪ Great songs created the safe zone ♪
♪ That Diddy's citizens rep in the name of they place zone ♪
♪ They fit a set, it ain't where you ain't from ♪
♪ It ain't where you was headed it's where you at ♪
♪ From here lookin' back ♪
♪ I say we did it, we made it, they hate it ♪
♪ And said we were over and gone ♪
♪ I feel it's the move to say we proved all of them wrong ♪
♪ You got your money right, mind right ♪
♪ We been in the limelight ♪
♪ It's the joint till you on point all the time ♪
♪ Fight, thug life, fan life, jet life, tramp life ♪
♪ Do it for the Gram, SoundCloud, Bandcamp life ♪
♪ Can't stop, won't stop, body rock ♪
♪ Don't knock us, bolt lock, clock hangin' 'round the neck ♪
♪ Show shot, tour stop, next joint to drop ♪
♪ Gonna be more hot, pure pot ♪
♪ Walk me to see if the corner store got the boogie down ♪
♪ Break down, face down, take down ♪
♪ H Brown, H Town bass, Harlem Shake down, Cape Town ♪
♪ Till the details of our escape down ♪
♪ We was hungry but it's more than enough ♪
♪ On the plate now ♪
♪ Eight mile, Rosecrans, Ten Toes, both hands ♪
♪ Peach Tree to Ninth Ward ♪
♪ In and out the psych ward ♪
♪ COs and POs and OGs and GOs ♪
♪ The rights of passage that's passed down ♪
♪ From the Greoles ♪
♪ In search of caption hear in the absence of egos ♪
♪ Extraordinary ethos take off from the Migos ♪
♪ We rose to become entire ecosystems ♪
♪ It's wild to think about how long the people ♪
♪ Have listened now ♪
♪ Fifty years down line we could spark this ♪
♪ My eternal beloved hip hop is where our hearts live ♪
♪ And that's word, I'm not the herb ♪
♪ Understand what I'm saying, saying ♪
♪ Saying, saying, saying ♪ (paint spraying)