• Lyrics: play full screen play karaoke
• The Punisher - Rakim
• Documentary Of A Gangsta - Rakim
• The 18th Letter (Always And Forever) - Rakim
• The Saga Begins - Rakim
• Message In The Song - Rakim
• Remember That - Rakim
• Real Shit - Rakim
• Up Lift - Rakim
• Satisfaction Guaranteed - Rakim
• Stay A While - Rakim
• Bring It On - Rakim
• Outro (The 18th Letter) - Rakim
• New York (Ya Out There?) - Rakim
• When I Be on the Mic - Rakim
• Mystery (Who Is God) - Rakim
• Musical Massacre - Rakim
• Mahogany - Rakim
• Intro - Rakim
• Stay Awhile - Rakim
• R. A. K. I. M - Rakim
• Casualties Of War - Rakim
• Uplift - Rakim
• Strong Island - Rakim
• The Skit - (dialogue) * - Rakim
• Living For The City - Rakim
• Finest Ones - Rakim
• Flow Forever - Rakim
• All Night Long - Rakim
• I Ain't No Joke - Rakim
• Eric B is President - Rakim
• Of Fury - Rakim
• Follow The Leader - Rakim
• I Know You Got Soul - Rakim
• Heat It Up - Rakim
• Lyrics of Fury - Rakim
• How I Get Down - Rakim
• I Know - Rakim
• Show Me Love - Rakim
• My Melody - Rakim
• Waiting For the World to End - Rakim
• Let the Rhythm Hit Em - Rakim
• It's the R - Rakim
• Juice (Know the Ledge) * - Rakim
• When I'm Flowin - Rakim
• It's a Must - Rakim
• Paid in Full - Rakim
• Microphone Fiend - Rakim
• We'll Never Stop - Rakim
• It's Been A Long Time - Rakim
• Man Above - Rakim

Kill him again!
Try to identufy the man in front of ya
But it ain't the role, the gear, or the money, the
swift intellectionist with pleny, ya
bite, if it's dark I'll spark every one of ya,
I throw a mic in the crowd, it's a question,
I got the answer.it includes directions:
"Go manufacture a mask, show me after
a glass of a master that has to make musical massacre..."
Attack your wack 'till it's handicapped,
you'll never hold the mic again, try to hand it back,
cuz every rapper that comes, I cut off his thumbs,
put a record to his neck, if he swallows it hums!
Slice from ear to ear-so 'till can hear better,
Before he bleed to death, here, hear every letter!
and you can see quick and thick the blood can get
if you try to change the style or the subject;
as I get deep in the rhyme I'm becomin' a
emcee murderer... before I'm done, I'm a
prepare the chamber, the torture's comin' up,
Trip through the mind, at the end you'll find it's
the punisher...
Kill 'em again!
I hold the mic as hostage, emcees are ransome,
rhymes'll punish 'em cuz they don't undertsand 'em,
I heat up his brain, then explain then I hand him
a redhot microphone... that's how I planned 'em,
rhymes call information(?), unite midnught(?),
like a platoon putting bullet wounds in the mic,
if ya curse me, it ain't no mercy,
give him a autopsy, killed by a verse of me,
I took a kid and cut off his eyelid,
kill him slow so he could see what I did,
and if he don't understand what I said,
I'm pushing his eyeballs way to the back of his head
so he can see what he's getting into,
a part of the mind that he never been through,
a journey is coming cuz ya getting sent to
a place harder to find but it's all in the mental,
I ran a brainscan to locate his game plan,
when I'm through with his brain he ain't the same, man!
did he lose his mind or lost in his mind,
but this ain't the lost and found because ya can't find
your foundation; coasting, your mind is
drifting, in slow motion.frozen,
looks like another murder at the Mardi Gras, B!
Too late to send out a search party,
once ya out of ya head then ya can't get back,
I give 'em a map, but he still get trapped, so
prepare the chamber, the torture's coming up,
trip through the mind, at the end you'll find it's The Punisher...
Kill 'em again!
Dangerous rhymes (are) performed like surgery,
Cuts so deep you'll be bleeding burgundy,
My intellect wrecks and disconnects your cerebral cortex,
your cerebellum is next!
Your conscience becomes sub-conscious,
soon your response is nonsense...
the last words are blurred... mumbled then slurred,
then your verbs are no longer heard,
you get your lung fried so good you're tongue-tied,
he couldn't swing or hang so he hung 'till he died,
reincarnate him... and kill him again... again and again... again and again...
I leave him in the mausoleum so you can see him,
I got a dead-MC'ing museum,
when I create 'em, I cremate 'em and complicate 'em,
you can't save 'em... there's no ultamatum,
mic's lay around full of ashes, with the victim's name in slashes,
got a long list and I'm a get every one of ya...
Beware of The Punisher!
Then I'm a kill 'em again!

(Rakim)
Ay, yo this right here man, its like the documentary of a gangsta man, the rise and fall
Hook
(IQ)
How them boys gon' play me? They must be crazy, baby, oh you better pay me
(Rakim)
I aint playin wit yall
(IQ)
How them actors gon' act up, like I aint got back up, back up 'for you get smacked up
(Rakim)
Where my paper man?
(IQ)
Why they wanna play games with me? But they don't know that im crazy
(Rakim)
Don't make me kill someone.
(IQ)
I don't know what they thinking, they must've been drinkin.
(Rakim)
But what?
(IQ)
I'm that king pin
(Rakim)
He said slow papers, you're out oh.
It's like spittin', heresy is all about flow
Like he can't eat his cake and he starve when the count low
He call the lab the bakery, he all about dough
Stuffin' bread, his pockets is hungry
You talkin' nonsense, unless the topic is money
He call a hundred dollars a hunny, mommy's he call 'em dimes
So his mind's on his money, but mommy's is on his mind
Like a o.g. focused on the come-up,
Think he f-in around? He approachin' with the gun-up (bam)
Roll a blunt up and forget it happened
Stash the dollars, bag the product and get it crackin'
He get pies, he flippin' 'em tricks, he trickin' 'em
He call 'em heifers, he hugh heffin' 'em, he pimpin' 'em (where my money)
Fonzie, getting them ones for the connect
So have them ones correct when he come and collect (here he come)
Hook (IQ)
(Rakim)
That sound like blood money
And I ain't just talking double dubs and club money
I'm talking drug money, move out the hood money
Double up money, you could catch a slug money
This kid'll murder you, more than the business
If you livin' for revenue its principal never personal
Get rid of you if you blockin' the bigger picture
He on the block thinkin' a gwop is gettin' richer (get them ones)
He flipped some urban blue, played with them keys
For them c-notes, so he can handle the whole piano
Hammers unloadin' ammo, if his army ain't in harmony
He kill his own fam-o, like tony soprano
He's tryin' to take it from minor to major and grind for the caper
His mind is made up, he'll die for the paper
Crime is second nature when you love cash
Do 'em dirty, he turned the ave into a blood bath (here he come)
Hook (IQ)
(Rakim)
The heater bustin' mean the reaper comin'
Drug money keep him buggin' out the trees he puffin'
Streets is buzzin' bout the repercussion
But he so much in love with his bread, the beef is nothin' (ain't nothin' man)
He got medals for war, just like a veteran
But now he bringin' cheddar in, more than he ever been,
Banked up, he stepped his hustle - pimp, smoke, coke, crack
Heroin game up, American gangsta (uh huh)
Sleep with the fish while he ran the loot and
You like ballin? He like stealin' and shootin'
Comrades, customers, competition connect (don't matter)
Some hustlers is wishin' and plottin' the day of his death (bring it on man)
What's his focus? Keys is.
Even with karma catchin' up, it's hard to set him up, he always holdin' heaters (whoa)
But yo, they know his weakness, so they gave that bread to him
Somebody put a gun to his head, guess what he said to 'em?

What, uhh, yo
Just when things seemed the same, and the whole scene is lame
I come and reign with the unexplained for the brains till things change
They strain to slang sling, I'm trained to bring game
History that I arranged been regained by King James
Go to practice, with tactics, when the track hits, theatrics
Women that look like actress the status of Cleopatra's
Stacks of mathematics took the? ego-a-geatics?
As I find out, what the facts is, for geographic
No time to sip Mo's with hostess, never mind what the total gross is
I rip shows, stay focused, and split cheese, with soldiers
While you hit trees and coast I spit flows that be ferocious
And with these explosives, I split seas for Moses
Shine permanently only my mind's concernin me
Fire burns in me eternally time's eternity
Followers turn on me they'll be in a mental infirmary
Determinely advance technology better than Germany
Since the first days you know of, till the last days is over
I was always the flow-er, I made waves for Noah
From a compound, to the anatomy, to the breakdown of a atom
Some of my rap patterns, still surround Saturn
From the ancient Hieroglyphics, to graffiti painted pictures
I study I know the scriptures but nowaday ain't it vicious
Date back I go beyond check the holy Qu'ran
To speeches at the altar on, now we get our party on
So being benificent, I bless em with dialogue
They expectin, the next testament by the God
I blow em through battlezones with chrome for chaperone
Blast beats with saxophones one of the baddest rapper's known
Every country city and borough, sidestreet and ghetto
isle and alley and meadow theories ferile enough to echo
When it was one mass of land, with one nash' of man
And the whole mass was ran under one master plan
Since the world's metamorphis, and the plan is kept in orbit
Turntables we spin off but the needles never skip off it
Rhythms we expressin similar to our ancestors
It'll answer your questions if you understand the message
From the days of the slave choppers?, to the new age of prophets
As heavy as hip-hop is I'm always ready to drop it
from the mind which is one of Allah's best designs
And mines'll stand the test of time, when I rhyme
The 18th Letter, the prophesy professor
I stay clever, long as the planet stay together
Bring up praise from Mecca, make a phrase for the better
In new days to remember, always and forever
(repeat 2X)

Ghetto music
Here we go
And my name is Rakim
And my name is Rakim
And my name is Rakim
And my name is Rakim
And my name is Rakim, Rakim
Yo, the saga begins, my eyes is the photography lens
Properly push pens and show quality gems
The horrors be grim but yo maybe tomorrow we win
If we follow the trends and keep count of the dollars we spend
I want a mahogany Benz, I want lottery ends
I want property, friends, plus my hobby is skins
If I decide we in sin, then my prophecy ends
But the God'll begin, watchin' my odyssey spin
In the place where war be, based on a true story
Territory was made for me to pursue glory
Blast alone masses in zones have to be sewn
Every capacity blown, I'm internationally known, yo
So all hail the honorable, microphone phenomenal
Persona is unbombable, trust me son
I continue like a saga do, bringin' you the drama to
Allow you that the chronicle has just begun
The saga begins
The soul controller, Rakim
Set it off, yo, the saga begins
Still say a rhyme after the next one
The saga begins
The soul controller, Rakim
Set it off, yo, the saga begins
You know that I'm the soloist
Yo, my never endin' epic, got the world spinnin' hectic
I quickly spread it, till the whole city's infected
Suspense that I supply intensify
Then commence as my daily events go by
You get involved in this, paragraphologist
Narratin' novelist, market this, sound marvelous
I'm the star in this, which means the author's authentic
Most definite, every episode's a epidemic
So when you research, check it, here go the evidence
They represent with lyrical negligence for presidents
My science existed, without the fiction
Every inscription is a special edition
So all hail the honorable, microphone phenomenal
Persona is unbombable, trust me son
I continue like a saga do, bringin' you the drama to
Allow you that the chronicle has just begun
The saga begins
The soul controller, Rakim
Set it off, yo, the saga begins
Still say a rhyme after the next one
The saga begins
The soul controller, Rakim
Set it off, yo, the saga begins
You know that I'm the soloist
Yo, the legacy lives, let 'em see what the pedigree is
Mega-thesis, blessin' these kids with extra features
The depth's deep as the deepest sea is
Telepathy increases melody gets speakers, telekinesis
Ideas appear as clear as pictures in movie theaters
Lyrics you hear it, devestating the way you ear it
So stay tuned for sequels, part two's and more
So soon you and your peoples can bumrush the store
The names have changed the game remain the same
How one came to reign on his claim to fame
No stoppin' this I'm droppin' this with hip-hop in this
And when the topic is topicless, then I'm writin' the apocalypse
So all hail the honorable, microphone phenomenal
Persona is unbombable, trust me son
I continue like a saga do, bringin' you the drama to
Allow you that the chronicle has just begun
The saga begins
The soul controller, Rakim
Set it off, yo, the saga begins
Still say a rhyme after the next one
The saga begins
The soul controller, Rakim
Set it off, yo, the saga begins
You know that I'm the soloist
Rakim, set it off
Rakim, set it off
Rakim, set it off
You know that I'm the soloist
Rakim, set it off
Rakim, set it off
Rakim, set it off
You know that I'm the soloist

Ya'll know what my purpose is
I spit verses that lift curses off my dead president
worshipers
Back where the surface is gangsters and murderers
Making money made us merciless
It's the birth of the streets it's over they said
Rappers crossed over they dead
I spit my verse with technique till they know when they
ledge
First to compete then I'm over their heads
He too lyrical and too subliminal
Every day from spiritual too criminal
It's a message in the bottle open it
It's a lesson in survival cope with it
It don't make sense to die for the root of evil
It get too cerebral when that don't seem lethal
Either way is hell I can't save the world
But I can show them how to save themselves
From the
Evil things that people do sometimes legal dreams that
we pursue sometime we don't think that we can lose
sometimes
Call it - it's the root of evil we the proof some times
it's a plea from me to u
I seen through the eyes of the prophets
King tutankhamun
And martins and malcolms
And elijah mohameds
Wise with knowledge
Paid in full interest aside in the pockets
Just rise with the topics
Rise economics I show you that time is more valuable
than them diamonds in your watches
U grind where the block is you die for those dollars
Plus work for them too u know right where wallet is
Thugs is pitchin chicks is in the club stripping
Flippin drugs and pimpin hood is flood of grippin
Latin kings and black guerillas governments
In fact hopng we don't go at these go at these cracker
killers
It sound like a set up and we the victims
One out of a million will beat the system
Here and wish for flippin brinks is over with
Take your chips and go legit
From the
Evil things that people do sometimes illegal dreams
that we pursue sometime we don't think that we can lose
sometimes
Call it - it's the root of evil we the proof some times
it's a plea from me to u
To my g's on the block that do what they gotta do
Don't get me wrong I don't judge I'm not knockin you
Guess that's what not having a job will do
People starving gotta get their dollars too
Get that prop at night it's a lot of strife
My advice is don't get blinded by the lights
Drug money and blood money got a price
6 feet under or 25 to life
Do the crime and u might do the time you served it
What it's worth when you do a crime and get murdered
Time is precious it's time we earned
It's time to questioned your grind isn't working
It's time that we changed the game
We been waitin for change and exchange
Why play with death play it safe momma
And do your best to stay away

Remember that?
Turn the beat up, I get lost in the mind come across
the rhyme kick my feet up, then I find myself in time
I was on a train, destination Marley Marl's domain
I entertained things'll never be the same
DJ's are conveyed if the label OK it
Teddy Ted and Special K was the first ones to play it
On the radio, with the crazy flow
I pay dues until it pays me dough to do a show
When I'm at the helm I cover the whole realm
In control and leave your soul overwhelmed
Another influence of beats and instruments
Lyrics make it intricate and elements are tense
When you was playin Pac Man it was the jams I packed
Peeps would swarm when I was perform in, black I'm all that
Back before they turned hip-hop to rap
It always a place to party at, remember that?
I remember the spots that used to be hot
Just like the roof top, a place that only few can rock
on a wild ass block, yeah you find me there a lot
Until you hear gunshots, that's when the fun stops
Here come the cops, time to go home, get in order
Cause I'll be back in Manhattan if somethings happenin at the Latin Quarter
House of havoc when it came to fourteen carat
And if you had it yeah kids'd try to grab it
It's cool at the Red Parrot we was doin it there
I was the first one to rip it at the Union Square
Me and DJ Red Alert did work
A crazy concert, a lot of kids got hurt
I did encores at the Encore, they wanted more
I kicked a freestyle til I heard the crowd roar
Like the Funhouse, Bronx Center never endin black
Place to be was the Brooklyn Armory, remember that?
Remember that? (3X)
Open the door, let the crowds in, over twenty thousand
Wildin music's loud and microphone's growlin
Tickets are sold out, parties is packed and on tour
rippin basketball arenas back then
Even afterparties, posses of players and hotties
Everybody was Gotti, spreadin bucks like shotties
Spendin cash, to make a good time last
Thoughts that I had give me a blast of the past
Memories of unforgettable times on my mind
Dollar signs and melodies and incredible rhymes
The people I met, and the sets that got wrecked
All the mics I checked, most of all life's effects
And peace to all the people I grew up around
in the streets back when beats had a rougher sound
I used to be wild me and my crew sit back and we smile
Keep piles of pictures filed in case I go senile
Cause some things are just too good to be forgot
Like your neighborhood block or your favorite spot
Certain records always seem to make me reminisce
And when it hits, and then it clicks, remember this
My life flashed before me I'm there from the sounds
I hear pinpoint the year, it's perfectly clear
I like the way it went down and alla that, in fact
It mean a lot, cause you can't bring it back, remember that

Yeah
It's the paragraph ambassador
The wild style fashioner
It's the god Rakim, the master
Feel this
(1st verse)
This is that lost ass track off-the-rack kind of a track
You forced to rap, remember that? It's that
You know where I'm at, there go the gat
Pass me a bat, the kill-or-be-killed kind of attack
Steamin', speedin' navigatin' the map
Negotiating with a chick, she got her head on your lap, ya hand on your gat
Premeditated plan of attack, with two of your most deadliest mens in the back
Comb the block, stop in the zone that's hot
Get out like you own the spot, home or not
It's that no mood to play, move out the my way
Yo, I been whistlin' this tune from throughout the day
Hey, yo, this is that ol' y'all niggas don't wanna battle
Turn it up loud make the whole block rattle
Boom boom- this one is gettin' blazin' hot
Boom boom- make you bust another shot from the Glock
(Chorus)
From the streets below to everything above
To the heart that pumps Ra-kim Allah's blood
I swear I kick a hole in your speaker and pull the plug
You emcee's is playing tug-a-war with your tongues
From the streets beneath my feet to the sun
I'm number one and competition is still none
And I'm gonna keep kicking holes in your speakers and pullin' plugs
You emcee's is playing tug-a-war with your tongues
(2nd verse)
Here we come now
Turntable spin like a merry-go-round
Never slow down, depending on how good your stereo sounds
Set it, up in the hood where we go surround
Tearin' through towns, turn 'em into burial grounds
This is the track that made Theodore wanna scratch
The track that caused the first kid to spin on his back
And then we saw, kids spray-painting the wall
While some of y'all was waitin' for war breakin' the law
It's no antidote it's what you can't provoke
So just relax with your girls or your mans and smoke
And take a real hit, soon as it bang you feel quick
It's real thick, this is that ol' real shit
This is the description of designs for you to listen to
Reminiscin' the times and nothin' in particular
Keep you goin' just like a whole pot of coffee
Have you and your shorty doin' 80 in a 40
(Chorus)
From the streets below to everything above
To the heart that pumps Ra-kim Allah's blood
I swear I kick a hole in your speaker and pull the plug
You emcee's is playing tug-a-war with your tongues
From the streets beneath my feet to the sun
I'm number one and competition is still none
And I'm gonna keep kicking holes in your speakers and pullin' plugs
(3rd verse)
You know what this is
Yeah kid, give up your riches
Vicious, visions is not for motion pictures
Unstoppable, rollin' witcha sickest clique of niggas
Or witcha missus, gettin tropical kisses
Makin' faces, anticipatin' places her tongue hits
Suck her neck or just peck, better to funk it
The EP is in effect from dusk to sunset
She want a rim shot all over her drum set
Jump the bed rubbin' your head- it's rough sex
50 ways to keep a love wet
Down and up the steps with crazy positions left till she upset
"Damn, baby, you ain't come yet?"
Hell, no- doomstick big as a elbow
Gel soft, well blow, give him a minute, he'll grow
And all you gotta do is play the track again
I'm ready and revived, baby, back again
(Chorus)
From the streets below to everything above
To the heart that pumps Ra-kim Allah's blood
I swear I kick a hole in your speaker and pull the plug
You emcee's is playing tug-a-war with your tongues
From the streets beneath my feet to the sun
I'm number one and competition is still none
And I'm gonna keep kicking holes in your speakers and pullin' plugs
You emcee's is playing tug-a-war with your tongues
[Canibus]
Check it, Yo!
I'm faster than leopards running across the vast desert
in twenty-two yards per second to catch me to daily delicatessen
It takes me thirty minutes to eat'em, forty minutes to digest'em,
and fifty minutes for it to pass through my intestines
So ask yourself a question?(What question?)
Can the Canibus rhyme?
Is a fuckin porcupine half swine?
No time to make up your mind, you wanna run or die?
Clip you while you're running by, trip you up from behind
My rhymes, confuse niggas
Like somebody try to gang-bang
Wearin' a blue shirt and red pants, throwin' up signs with there left hand
Standin' out on the corner of wetlands with a confederate flag for a headband
God dam eggplants, niggas getting' me vexed man
Cause I'm surrounded by garbage like Fred Sav
And I can't seem to get away from it
I dreamed that I stabbed leviathan through the stomach, and ate from it
In my past life I slayed hundreds, and in the life before that
I played trumpets, to warn you that I was comin'
There's one billion ways to die, and I already tried
nine-hundred million nine hundred and ninety nine
When I aim and fire my rhymes, like a hundred cannon balls flying
Striking you one at a time, in a parallel line
While the art of emceeing is steady dieing
Canibus and Rakim Allah is still in there prime!
(Chorus)
From the streets below to everything above
To the heart that pumps Ra-kim Allah's blood
I swear I kick a hole in your speaker and pull the plug
You emcee's is playing tug-a-war with your tongues
From the streets beneath my feet to the sun
I'm number one and competition is still none
And I'm gonna keep kicking holes in your speakers and pullin' plugs

(1st verse)
Levantore!
Yeah, it's just ghetto, kid test the devil to hit the next level
Wish they was a rebel with cerebral metal
Inflex the bezzle with the peddle to the metal
In a thug's paradise where love have a price
So we love for life like thugs love the night
They sell drugs for ice for the Benz with bug lights
Some hug mics to the world, hung like parasites
The likes lethal, the mics lead you
A sneak preview, watch what we do and what the hood teach you
I still see through the eye of a needle
So I can watch people cause slug backwards is evil
(2nd verse)
Levantore!
Yo, what's this? Yo bust this. Yo it's time to up lift
They think all we do is bust clips and puff splifs
And plush whips and clutch chips and touch chicks
Flont rocks like Fort Knox and hog blocks
Taunt cops with more props and we want not
Panhandling with your mans and them
Scrambling, gambling, plans to win
While the cops clock em, thieves flock em
Women watch em, traders wanna top em
Ay yo what's the problem
Before the narcs knock em opposite playas plot to rob em
The ghetto got em, my man said it's rough at the bottom
(3rd verse)
Levantore!
Ghetto alert, let's do whatever work to get rid of the curse
We went from 1st to America's worst
On this competitive turf, now let's inherit the earth
There's more prize for one another, and call shots
12:00 til the next ball drop
All year around plus they shuffle non stop
You think it's rough at the bottom, it's even rougher on top
My peeps gonna have to reach and turn for me
And everybody's side of the street'll be celly
Ain't nothing funny, burn plenty and burn money
And earn money and watch the century turn 20
(4th verse)
Levantore!
We all should, from the woods to the big city and the small hood
Everybody should be welcome to the ball if we all could,
But we fall cause we brawl, yo it ain't all good
We need to play right, stay tight with ya air alight
Keep your game tight, no need to play trife
Get cheese from the daylight to the late night
And it's shouldn't take death to appreciate life
Before a lot parish, we got to cherish if Allah let us
Let's give prop and merits till the block flourish
In this metropolis, stay on top of this
You know what the prophet is, be prosperous
(5th verse)
Levantore!
Now we networking
Respect the next person, it'll be less hurting
Or left lurkin, while we kept our dreads working
Connect set for certain, total networking
Last chance to advance and stash grands
If you have plans to have fam and mad land
Own shine, condone crime or hold 9s
I know what the problem is, killing our own kind
To my flame throwers, train sober, remain soldiers
Stay sane so these pretty dames can hold us
Terror terrain rollers and Range Rovers so the train goers
Claim your fame, maintain, till your game's over
(6th verse)
Levantore!
Ghetto alert, let's do whatever work to get rid of the curse
We went from 1st to America's worst
On this competitive turf, now let's inherit the earth
There's more prize for one another, and call shots
12:00 til the next ball drop
All year around plus they shuffle non stop
You think it's rough at the bottom, it's even rougher on top
My peeps gonna have to reach and turn for me
And everybody's side of the street'll be celly
Ain't nothing funny, burn plenty and burn money
And earn money and watch the century turn 20
Levantore!

Uh....I got it good (Neyo)
I put product in the street that sell quicker than
weed, I spit it raw like I'm flippin a key
I got what y'all need (Satisfaction Guaranteed)
I got what y'all need (Satisfaction Guaranteed)
I got pure for the fiends give u more than a breeze,
thru ya blood stream quicker than D,
I got what y'all need (Satisfaction Guaranteed)
I got what y'all need (Satisfaction Guaranteed)
Uh, its what they been waitin for......
I put the whole world in a dope fiend and still leaning,
a many years away from the game they still fiendin
My hustle and flow, sound like C-notes,
smoke like a pound hit the town like key-notes
I bag it up and get it crackin in clubs,
go on tours like I'm trafficking drugs
(I got what y'all need)
Who want musical narcotics,
they all got it, bomb product will sure profit when y'all cop it
Any hood or any city I'm pumpin in,
any slum I'm in, my custom is come again
Spit flow by the boatload like a Columbian,
my shipments go out then bring the money in
Like supplies the product than do the pra bricks,
go out my way, so biters can't dupe what I spit
Like Freddy told Priest in that superfly flick,
playa u always got some superfly shhhhhh
Chorus
Uh, It ain't a city I ain't moving weed in,
the world wonder my product got em hallucinating
Droppin heaviest rhymes known,
to every minds flown, keep it poppin until its clockin in every time zone
Uh, time is money, my grind is hungry,
it's for my dudes and my dime honeys
(I got what y'all need)
Things run up in it mass where I been,
nothing get em high as a bag of Rakim
I'm red like Canadian, cuss wit a Opium touch a fat
piece of hash, seen soap with some dust
I got it so good, I got the whole hood smoking it,
coke cookers kill for the flow to cook coke in it
The new form of crack, turn fans to fanatics hip hop
hands to attacks fiends hit off that
DJ's cut it, let the streets step on that,
still a hundred percent pure King Heron's back
Chorus
I got a bout a million Mami's that call me they ex
love cuz I kept em ex thug and F'd up like sex drugs
They never come down futuristic high; I leave em,
spaced out so they can kiss the sky
Its like Budda, Mami's say, man is he blessed Pac to push a man in a vest
They won't relapse no indeed he's back, my rap flow natural aphrodisiac
I'm a key to a user, piano to a dealer,
liquor to a alcoholic to smokers a piff of chocolate
The gospel, for the ghetto so spit the gossip,
is he Moses to drugs, either way it's a profit
Call me your drug lord, spit commandments you hooked,
it's the King pin every day I get a book
Playing my surveillance tapes,
I'm hot on the streets, even cops on the beat they call copping the heat
Chorus 2X

Clark Kent bring it on
What you wanna say to make me stay a while?
What you wanna say to make me wanna stay?
What you wanna say to make me stay awhile?
What you wanna say to make me wanna stay?
Just me and my peeps we gettin' buzzed, lookin' for clubs
Misses with kisses and hugs, lookin' for love
She gotta be nice with hers, even with cookin' some grub
Once I'm in I meet her friends then I'm hookin' my thugs
We'll be blowin' hundreds, always knowin' where the fun is
Roadrunners findin' more spots than Columbus
Pocket full of phone numbers from some of the world wonders
I take my time and find where the right one is
Smooth as jazz but more than a half, ready for math
And on a steady path, like Betty Shabazz
And when I see the wiz I'ma step to my biz
And there she is, let's see if she pass the quiz
It's appropriate we go get soakin' wet
Toast, we met, become close associates
The place is ours by now I can embrace your style

[Intro]
Bring it on
Come on, bring it
[Verse 1]
Boom! My idea fill the room with light, soon as I write
Tunes are dynamite, scenery's out of sight
Show's tonight, I seal your doom tight
My platoon is right, puttin' bullet wounds in the mic
Once again it's the paragraph chemist
Inventors are finished, the experimentist
Rakim is the elementor, I invent more courses
The editor with thoughts of a sorcerer (bring it)
Act like you want it –
It isn't a man that'll take it from me, I hold the mic prisoner
Rescues that'll reach next crews, that speech
Unless you know how to teach, retreat to the beat
I swing it better than Tarzan

[interviewer, possibly harry allen]
What is, the one, main thing that you have
That you would want people to remember you by?
Or not one but the, those things that are dear to you
That you would, want to be remembered as
[rakim]
I guess I guess it's my words man, yaknahmean?
Just my words, and, if people remember my words they'll remember me forever
Y'know? God by nature mind raised in asia, y'know?
But umm... it's like y'know to live forever you you you gotta
Set y'know, not not set trends but you gotta
Apply yourself a certain way and you gotta do certain things y'know?
Maybe, maybe when I'm gone twenty years from now
Somebody might be tellin, tellin they little son
Oh yo you think shorty bad? yo I 'member this cat way back
In like nineteen-ninety. kid named rakim, bananas.
Youknowhati'msayin? if that can happen man, I'm aight man, y'know?
I got I got I got kids y'know? they gonna umm, finish this for
Me anyway yknahmsayin so regardless, y'know the legacy lives

(from the movie Wildstyle
If you was born in New york City let me hear say "You know that"!
YOU KNOW THAT
Aiyyo, once upon a rhyme where the scenery sets, you see stress
Streets a matter of life and death, no regrets
Life's a test, strife, wit special effects
Neighbourhood's full of reps, cities are projects
Where the young cadets get stripes from the vets
And comrades quest to be the next, to finess
Collect debts and select bets with death threats
Object - Chedder, better your total net
Where trends are set from ways to express the outfits
Friends get wet tryin' to make ends connect
Avenues to check, boulevards to sweat
The smell of gunsmoke more common than cigarettes
WE GOT clicks for wreck
WE LIKE Pits for pets
WE GOT Giants and Jets, the Knicks, Yanks and Mets
WE LIKE much respect and sex extra wet
And High-Tech dialect you ain't catch yet
(The Bronx
Ya out there?
No doubt
Brooklyn
ya out there)
(Rakim)
Aiyyo, we got blocks and glocks with
big shots with big knots and big props
yo this is where the bullshit stops
where herbs get got
if you snitch you get shot
we get down and leave the town in a state of shock
WE GOT dangerous hang out spots and slick cops
place called Riker's Island where kids get locked
a lotta gear to rock with blocks of clothes shops
styles are top notch, this is the place to buy
so bust the box the radio station is hot
ease your mind staring at skylines from rooftops
flip scripts for chips
and new Whips of the lot
quick to call a shot, pollitic with thick plots
And the Garden of Eden against the sea that we got
to make sure the core of the big apple don't rot
where seeings believing we be achieving a lot
since disc jocks created hip hop, check it out!
(Queens
ya out there?
no doubt
Manhatten
no doubt
New York city
Staten Island
New york new york
long Island
New york
ya out there)
(Rakim)
Aiyo, we got five bouroughs of ghettos
with amny places to meet, you get lost in city streets
the city that never sleeps
Mecca? Medina the population increase
the desert and the oasis, New York, the far east
with gods and Sheiks
pretty amazons for weeks
player dons that fleece the family's black sheep
icons that teach that we all act unique
we got stats to reach so we all have to eat
a mass of peeps, with they own masterpiece
the crafts elite, we going past the beat
the latest technique no other place get as deep
who parks release some of the worlds greatest athletes
DJs and MCs and graffiti artistes
who use walls and subway trains for marquees
we go back to b-boys, breakdancing, breakbeats
and it'll never cease and on that note

[dj premier scratches hook]
(hardcore... real ill niggas)
(i'm internationally known)
(when i be on the mic)
(hardcore... real ill niggas)
(i'm internationally known, yo)
(hardcore... real ill niggas)
(i'm internationally known)
(when i be on the mic)
(hardcore... real ill niggas)
(so all hail the honorable)
It's to my real ill niggas, heavyweight hitters
Dough getters, fifty ways to make figures
My niggas, that come on the spot to feel sisters
Like they hear real spitters and kids on the zigga-ziggas
When it's ugly, then the club is lovely
Thugs be sipping henessey and bubbly
To my comrades that keep it flaming hot
On dangerous blocks, claiming spots
Where the goal is to be one of the top-ranked soldiers
Forty-five holders, one of the high rollers
Get respect in the hood, credit is good
Knock it down lumberjack style, baby, extra wood
Rock it all night long, the bang-a-thon baby
Keep hanging on, we like it with the lights on
Don't have to blow twenty thou' to get to know honey's style
Show her the town, steal her heart, no money down
(hook)
How about some hardcore, yeah we like it raw for sure
Broads on the floor, wall to wall
There's more at the door, players ball to score
'cause this right here is for all of y'all
Rakim and primo, yo i got what you need bro
You go see a show, smoke an l, mean yo
And deejays play hits with hard bass kicks
And then they display tricks like the matrix
Make the record fly undetected by the naked eye
So just feel the vibe 'cause your ears never lie
Nowadays deejays bags of tricks, graphic
On some behind the back shit, catch it and scratch it
Classic, this kid got his craft mastered
Hands is mad quick like he mix with magic
Spin it back and forth and grab it, and know just where it is...
There it is
(hook)
To my elite peeps with the murderous mystiques
I hit the streets with beats and they critique for weeks
They be like how that kid ra reach the peak?
Pull out the heat and use my technique to speak
It's dangerous, sit calm and explain to kids
What part of the game this is and foreign languages
They hold ra's events in different continents
Put my lyrical contents in monuments
In ghetto garments, i rock a towel like a pharaoh
Mind travel, design style like apparel
My fashions last long as a lifetime
Cause i can see the future when the god write rhymes
They're mad cause i managed to reign so long
Like their chance to make money done came and gone
This is strictly for my listeners on the corners at night
And the sisters that be keeping this right, when i be on the mic

[Intro/Hook] (2x)
If you can see if you can solve the mystery
The answer revolves around your history
So carefully
I drop this degree
Scientifically and realistically (Who is God?)
[Verse 1]
In eternal blackness in the midst of the darkest night
Proteins and minerals exist within specks of light
Solids liquids and gases and sparks of light within
infinite lengths and widths and depths and heights
No beginning or ending, the seven dimensions
Enough space for more than a million words and inventions
To travel through time within enough room to be the womb
of the most high's great mind which he will soon make shine
With intelligent elements in sight that he will gather
In the realms of relativity electricity struck matter
Energies explode he below to keep releasin
Atoms by the millions, til the numbers increasin
Til it was burnin he kept returnin itself to the source
The hotter his thoughts it gave the center more force
He gave birth to the sun which would follow his laws
All caused by his mental intercourse, who is God?
[Hook]
[Verse 2]
He began to explain his craft, the master in the attic
He dealt with measurements his language, was mathematics
His theoretical wisdom of the numerical system
The complete number nine which means born or existed
He gave birth to all planets, inorganic, and organic
So you wouldn't take it for granted
They rotated they own distance around the sun
And fully submit to the existance of one
And each one was promised everlasting perfection
If each one keeps spinnin in the same direction
To the East, and each speak the motion of peace and harmony,
and each show devotion to teach
The universe is to come, the whole world must go according
Know your galaxies and mirages stars start fallin
So stay in your orbit maintain safe and sound
Like the planets each cipher remains perfectly round
[Hook]
[Verse 3]
From unconciousness, to conciousness
By knowledging his wisdom his response is this
A understanding, which is the best part
He picked the third planet where new forms of life would start
He pursued show and prove every move in order
Back to the source he let off his resources in the water
Climb his climax, where the climate is at, high degrees
See he start to breathe deep in the darkest seas
And the plan is, to lay in the clays to form land
And expand, usin the same clays to born man
In his own image our origin begins in the East
Culture rise to breed, with the powers of peace
Deal in equality nature's policy is to be God
Build or destroy positively born life like Allah
And each one was given everlasting perfection
If each one keep living in the same direction
And life was life, and love was love
We went according by the laws of the world above
They showed us physically, we could reach infinity
But mentally, through the century we lost our identity
Life start and ending, we got trife and started sinning
Lost touch with the beginning now ciphers stop spinnin
And what was once easy became confused and hard
Which brings us back, to the mystic question, who is God?
Sixty-six trillion years since his face was shown
When the seventh angel appears, the mystery will be known
Check Revelations and Genesis, St. Luke and John
It even tells us we are Gods in the Holy Qu'ran
Wisdom Strength and Beauty, one of the meanings of God
G.O.D. you and me Gomars O Dubar?
Knowledge Wisdom Understanding Sun Moon and Star
Man, Woman and Child, and so is Allah
[Hook] (2x)
[Outro]
Bear witness to Allah, gave birth to all
For Allah was all, and therefore, life itself
And the universe gave birth to man
The universe was man, and man was the universe
And the universe was always existed
And existance was life
And life is Allah
And Allah had no beginning because he is, what always was
Rakim
Allah, peace

How could I keep my composure
When all sorts of thoughts fought for exposure?
Release then veins in the brains increase
When I let off make a wish and blow the smoke off my piece
Unloadin unfold and the rhymes are explodin
And the mic that I'm holdin's golden
Cordless cause the wire caught fire like a fuse
Gunpowder and the slightest bruise is a friction
The outcome is there so listen
Here's the brief description
A boom then flame then smoke, ashes a dust to dust
Contact is compact when I bust
MC's are now in a massacre
A disaster a... master at fashion a beat to death
To a pulp, till it can't pump
Speakers aint sayin nothin
Now the ball can thump
As I'm lookin' I stand like great buildings in Brooklyn
Then the stage is took then
Havoc struck that could product a whole court
Keep in touch with the mic when you're holdin y'all
Sumpin and pumpin and slobbin and droolin
Nothin's pumpin, who do you think ya foolin?
Tommy Tucker, the neighborhood sucker
What you oughtta do.... is pick up a tempo
From what I invent, so hard not to bite, but you can't prevent so
You start to kidnap
I watch the kid rap
When he get off he know he shouldn't a did that
Minor, old-timer, weak-rhymer, stay-in-liner
You won't be inclined to go so yo
Maybe later, you're gonna be
But for now, you're almost one of me
Now the immature imitations taken from originations
Made by tracin and a little arrangin
So perform, If ya still aint warm maybe after
A roast by the host with the most it's a musical massacre
Never tired, don't even try it, keep quiet
Like a storm, you could rain...but a riot
Remains, the gangs power just like the towerin inferno
The beat's gonna burn so
Distance I kept, ou better watch your step
Volunteers go from here and get
Ya out of the flames
Appreciate the temperature change
Anywhere within the range of celcius
Fahrenheit on the mic, mic melts see it
Burns soon as it's felt see it's torchin, scorchin
Mic's pipin hot, steamin who's schemin now ya not
James Brown must a been dusted
Disgusted, now he can't be trusted
Embalmed with fluid
Static can cause an explosion, in fact impact's closin in
Time was up, so I don't need a time bomb
Beat gives me a heat-stroke when I rhyme calm
Pull out the tool, sometimes I wanna break fool
But I was cool, like one in the chamber
Lets play a game of rhymin roulette
And put me up to your brain and name a rhyme about ya clout
One mistake... ya out
If this imitation it can't be the same show
Maybe what you'll find somewhere over the rainbow
Courage, heart, brain, you need rhyme
Turn on your mic, snap your fingers three times
We gone, or the story won't end the same
And you'll feel the flame
The potion was weak, make another antidote
Whats the science? why can't ya quote?
Elements for musical intelligence
rhymes are irrelevant, no development
And that settles it
Go manufacture a match, send me after a blast
From the master that has to make musical massacre

Verse One:
Me and Eric B was coolin' at the Paladium
Seen a all-world covered girl, I said ";Hey lady I'm
Sorry if You're in a rush - Don't let me hold ya up
Or interveen or interrupt, but. . .
You got the look - I wanna get to know ya better
I had to let her know - but yo, I didn't sweat her
'Cause if you woulda seen what I was seein'
Almost looked Korean, but European.
When she spoke, her accent was self-explanatory -
Even her body language told the story
Her name was Mahogony - twin's name was Ebony
I said ";My name is Ra - and this is Eric B";
Since the music was loud, I said ";let's take a walk,
So we could talk and see New York.
Show time doesn't start until one o'clock
And once I entered your mind I wouldn't wanna stop
Caressin' ya thoughts till we was thinkin' the same
Calm ya nerves, massage ya brain
Each mic is a mineral, poetry's protein
Verse is a vitamin - Affects like Codine
So tell me how you feel and I'll reveal
A pill that'll heal ya pain - 'cause I'm real
She musta OD'd 'cause she couldn't resist
She spoke slowly when she told me this, she said
Chorus:
Over Me, She's goin' crazy
She'll rub me on my chest and call me Mr. Sexy
She said she'd have my kids and help me make my next G
Tell me I ain't finesse Mahogony . . .
Verse Two:
So I prescribed her, something to revive
And surprise her, she's liver and much more wiser
Than the light I shine when my brain cells spark,
Come to me so we can glow in the dark
And soon, you can represent the moon
As long as I keep ya in tune
I'll tell ya who ya are and why ya here
Take it in stride 'cause it might take a year
It's funny - how time flies when ya havin' fun
We got close and it was almost one
She kissed me slow, but you know how far a kiss can go
F*ck around and miss the show
So I told her to hold that thought real tight
We can finish where we left off later on tonite
Back to the scene of the crime on time
As they introduced the 'Fiend of the Rhyme'
She stood with a birds-eye view of me
Thinkin' of later on of what she would do to me
The back of the room I could see her eyes gloom
Patient, but hopin' that the show was over soon
As the place was ripped in half, she made her way to the front row
So I said ";let's go";
I packed my mic as they screamed for an encore
The speakers were blown, plus my mic was sore
Besides I got places to go, ladies to see
And she could tell me how crazy she was over me
We drove off - she said she liked the way that I performed
And couldn't wait to get 'soft and warm', I said,
";I've been watchin' you, watchin' me
Looks I received made it hard to MC
I can take a hint, so I knew that she
Wanted my ";Agony Agony Ag-on-y"; in her bod-y
Showed her some sights, then I took her to the Condo
She was pipin' hot, but I kept my calm So
She asked how come I don't smile
I said, ";Everything's fine, but I'm in a New York state of mind!";
As we reached the kingdom, she said bring some
Champagne, she'll entertain then sing some
Sentimental, songs real gentle,
It hit the spot and you know where it went to
As we embraced I felt her heart pumpin'
I knew she was in the mood for somethin'
So I laid on my back and relaxed
It wasn't the Perignon that made her collaspe
Over me
Chorus

[interviewer, possibly Harry Allen]
What are you giving them back?
[Rakim]
Umm, I think what I'm givin them back man is umm...
what they been waitin for yaknahmean? Umm...
SKILLS

Rakim... Clark Kent bring it on
What you wanna say to make me stay awhile
What you wanna say to make me wanna stay
(repeat 2X)
Just me and my peeps we gettin buzzed, lookin for clubs
Misses with kisses and hugs, lookin for love
She gotta be nice with hers, even with cookin some grub
Once I'm in I meet her friends, then I'm hookin my thugs
We'll be blowin hundreds, always knowin where the fun is
Roadrunners findin more spots than Columbus
Pocket full of phone numbers from some of the world wonders
I take my time, and find where the right one is
Smooth as jazz but more than a half, ready for math
And on a steady path, like Betty Shabazz
And when I see the wiz I'ma step to my biz
And there she is, let's see if she pass the quiz
It's appropriate we go get soakin wet
Toast, we met, become close associates
The place is ours by now I can embrace your style
So much flavor I can taste your smile, stay awhile
Why don't you, stay a little while
Stayyayyayyy, stay a little while, child
Baby, why don't you, stay a little while
Stayyayyyayy, ayyyayyy, stay a little while, child
Baby, why don't you
We on the low matin, infiltratin, negotiatin
We both be makin moves and dough, M.O.'s relatin
She ain't takin I want it but yo I know she waitin
I throw the bait in, and before you know we datin
I want the format, to the doormat
Contacts fast, callbacks and all that
Your deepest ecstasy see you wear accesory
Your secret recipes to your bear necessities
She real exotic body feel like Lucile Roberts
Name brand closets, culturized products
Claws like a scorpion caught me in deeper
But juice sweeter, enough to buy a two seater
Every mile I plan to have your mind beguiled
Til it informs me more than you would normally allow
Raised more than an eyebrow with a flagrant style
By now I can taste your smile, stay awhile
Chorus
Sometimes it's hard to fight it and not let her see me get excited
But she know I like it, she know the deal like a psychic
Mind is haunted, because I always find her on it
She know what I want, where I want, when I want it
Blowin up my Motorola, daddy you comin over?
She on the sofa, holdin a remote controller
Candles burnin lower, favorite dish gettin colder
She hot as solar, cause I told her I wanna hold her
But her mission she sittin in one position like Yoda
A TV show is on to top it off she dead sober
Then I open the door up, and kiss her on the shoulder
She say I'm rollin, like Mr. Lover Lover
We had a hard day, ready to parlay
My thirsts they obey everything that God say
Okay let's play awhile and I'll embrace your style
So much flavor I can taste your smile, stay awhile
Chorus w/ variations to end

Rak, Rak, Rak, Rak, Rak, Rak, Rak,
Intro X2
R
Rugged and rough thats how i do it
A
Allah, who i praise to the fullest
K
Keep it movin'
I
Stand alone
M
Its my crown, my world, my throne
Verse 1
Hey when Rak come along
its a rap ya'll relax
the alminac
just show me where the parties at
seminars and tracks
closed comas and cardiacs
broads and cats screamin "oh my god, hes back"
just amagine, i hit the lab and get it crackin
A thousand styles and one verse wearing the swiss patterns
chicks get stabbed in the back til they have spasms
known to spit a magnum or split a atom
who would of known that jesus would come back to the ghetto
on that level
like a black pharoah with packed metal
so black rebels, a black pedal
the pharoah with 5 bevels and take a word of rap
gettin bazaarre, oh hardcore
this is for yall, the crib or the par
playin when you get in the car
chill at the bar, spit somethen or split a cigar
get with yah dogs to bring along to the bar
Intro X2
Verse 2
I used to paint this flo' on nathan scrolls
then learned to make this doe with gangstas roll
think like the late great capone, but the bank is closed
these cats that think they ball but they aint this cold
im from new york city, even where pretty chicks act dark
niggas get clapped up, you stack up, they stick that up
put the strap up, you thought my name was kid, back up
big niggas, *spit* pick that up or lick that up
raised by gangsters and gamblers, hustlers, conartists, convicts, killers and dons
drug dealers, players and pimps, smooth talkers, stick up kids, thugs, real niggas and dogs
wanted by every soul and lay dead in the turf
cursed by every spirt and never made it to birth
since the moon seperated from earth
thats why they say thats why im the greatest that ever orcahstrated a verse
Intro X2
Verse 3
Hey yo
toast to that, its the cat that broke backs to a sold clap or smoke a track, how dope is that
pope will rap, wrote back the most slack
they know back before they turned coke to crack
to my dawgs hearin sirens on the firearms
i'll come, dyin wars and behind iron bars
the boulevard retire broads when i aint bob
try and rob my dialog, i am god
chicks moan to get next to my throne, sniff my cologne and get rak alone
sex pots at home, the tests gots to go
caress spots, dressed up, fed rocks to bone
hit the floors, its for 2003
hits galore, who rock a style as wild as me
rest assured when i rock dance crowds, they scream
bitch malore, i rock mine out rahim
Intro X4

Casualties of War!
Casualties of war; as I approach the barricade
Where's the enemy? Who do I invade?
Bullets of Teflon, bulletproof vest rip
Tear ya outta ya frame with a bag full of clips
Cause I got a family that waits for my return
To get back home is my main concern
I'ma get back to New York in one piece
but I'm bent in the sand that is hot as the city streets
Sky lights up like fireworks blind me
Bullets, whistlin over my head remind me...
President Bush said attack
Flashback to Nam, I might not make it back
Missile hits the area, screams wake me up
from a war of dreams, heat up the M-16
Basic training, trained for torture
Take no prisoners, and I just caught ya
Addicted to murder, send more bodybags
They can't identify em, leave the nametags
I get a rush when I see blood, dead bodies on the floor
CASUALTIES OF WAR! (4X)
Day divides the night and night divides the day
It's all hard work and no play
More than combat, it's far beyond that
Cause I got a kill or be killed kind of attack
Area's mapped out, there'll be no, Stratego
Me and my platoon make a boom wherever we go
But what are we here for? Who's on the other side of the wall?
Somebody give the President a call
But I hear warfare scream through the air
Back to the battlegrounds, it's war they declare
A Desert Storm: let's see who reigns supreme
Something like Monopoly: a government scheme
Go to the Army, be all you can be
Another dead soldier? Hell no, not me
So I start letting off ammunition in every direction
Allah is my only protection
But wait a minute, Saddam Hussein prays the same
and this is Asia, from where I came
I'm on the wrong side, so change the target
Shooting at the general; and where's the sergeant?
Blame it on John Hardy Hawkins for bringing me to America
Now it's mass hysteria
I get a rush when I see blood, dead bodies on the floor
CASUALTIES OF WAR! (4X)
The war is over, for now at least
Just because they lost it don't mean it's peace
It's a long way home, it's a lot to think about
Whole generation, left in doubt
Innocent families killed in the midst
It'll be more dead people after this
So I'm glad to be alive and walkin
Half of my platoon came home in coffins
Except the general, buried in the Storm
in bits and pieces no need to look for em
I played it slick and got away with it
Rigged it up so they would think they did it
Now I'm home on reserves and you can bet
when THEY call, I'm going AWOL
Cause it ain't no way I'm going back to war
when I don't know who or what I'm fighting for
So I wait for terrorists to attack
Every time a truck backfires I fire back
I look for shelter when a plane is over me
Remember Pearl Harbor? New York could be over, G
Kamikaze, strapped with bombs
No peace in the East, they want revenge for Saddam
Did I hear gunshots, or thunder?
No time to wonder, somebody's going under
Put on my fatigues and my camoflouge
Take control, cause I'm in charge
When I snapped out of it, it was blood, dead bodies on the floor

(1st verse)
Levantore!
Yeah, it's just ghetto, kid test the devil to hit the next level
Wish they was a rebel with cerebral metal
Inflex the bezzle with the peddle to the metal
In a thug's paradise where love have a price
So we love for life like thugs love the night
They sell drugs for ice for the Benz with bug lights
Some hug mics to the world, hung like parasites
The likes lethal, the mics lead you
A sneak preview, watch what we do and what the hood teach you
I still see through the eye of a needle
So I can watch people cause slug backwards is evil
(2nd verse)
Levantore!
Yo, what's this? Yo bust this. Yo it's time to up lift
They think all we do is bust clips and puff splifs
And plush whips and clutch chips and touch chicks
Flont rocks like Fort Knox and hog blocks
Taunt cops with more props and we want not
Panhandling with your mans and them
Scrambling, gambling, plans to win
While the cops clock em, thieves flock em
Women watch em, traders wanna top em
Ay yo what's the problem
Before the narcs knock em opposite playas plot to rob em
The ghetto got em, my man said it's rough at the bottom
(3rd verse)
Levantore!
Ghetto alert, let's do whatever work to get rid of the curse
We went from 1st to America's worst
On this competitive turf, now let's inherit the earth
There's more prize for one another, and call shots
12: 00 til the next ball drop
All year around plus they shuffle non stop
You think it's rough at the bottom, it's even rougher on top
My peeps gonna have to reach and turn for me
And everybody's side of the street'll be celly
Ain't nothing funny, burn plenty and burn money
And earn money and watch the century turn 20
(4th verse)
Levantore!
We all should, from the woods to the big city and the small hood
Everybody should be welcome to the ball if we all could,
But we fall cause we brawl, yo it ain't all good
We need to play right, stay tight with ya air alight
Keep your game tight, no need to play trife
Get cheese from the daylight to the late night
And it's shouldn't take death to appreciate life
Before a lot parish, we got to cherish if Allah let us
Let's give prop and merits till the block flourish
In this metropolis, stay on top of this
You know what the prophet is, be prosperous
(5th verse)
Levantore!
Now we networking
Respect the next person, it'll be less hurting
Or left lurkin, while we kept our dreads working
Connect set for certain, total networking
Last chance to advance and stash grands
If you have plans to have fam and mad land
Own shine, condone crime or hold 9s
I know what the problem is, killing our own kind
To my flame throwers, train sober, remain soldiers
Stay sane so these pretty dames can hold us
Terror terrain rollers and Range Rovers so the train goers
Claim your fame, maintain, till your game's over
(6th verse)
Levantore!
Ghetto alert, let's do whatever work to get rid of the curse
We went from 1st to America's worst
On this competitive turf, now let's inherit the earth
There's more prize for one another, and call shots
12: 00 til the next ball drop
All year around plus they shuffle non stop
You think it's rough at the bottom, it's even rougher on top
My peeps gonna have to reach and turn for me
And everybody's side of the street'll be celly
Ain't nothing funny, burn plenty and burn money
And earn money and watch the century turn 20

[rakim]
one two.
Yeah. uhh. yeah.
"rough enough to break new york from long island" -> my melody
yeah it's the god baby.
long island's own.
barbarian of the microphone.
"rough enough to break new york from long island" -> my melody
it's for y'all niggaz
And the streets just a couple of miles east of mecca
where peeps touch nuttin but style heat and cheddar
compete witcha livelihood to eat better
and ain't nuttin sweet but the ladies who speak wetta
with a torn smile, tryin to get my song on file
it's on now, the whole town done gone wild
kick rhymes off my heartbeat as a unborn child
then developed a strong style on long isle
won't be long now, i started rhymin young
i designed for fun, knowin my time would come
i started, payin dues djin with crews
learnin the inner city rules, conveyin the news
soon as the jam start the man's art'll jam parks
slam so hard it remains a landmark
the rhyme that i'm stylin, smooth as a violin
but "rough enough to break new york from long island" -> my melody
{*dj cuts and scratches "rough enough to break new york from long island"*}
Like any g.o.d., loose on a spree for new degrees
things to do and see until nuttin is new to me
a true mc usually be into a breeze
and i can still see new york city through the trees
my advance slams put you outside lookin in
or the other way around, that depends, look again
took a pen so you could zero in on my book of gems
it extends from the hamptons to brook-lyn
through every hoodie in town, to learn the boogie down
til every dj around, wanted to put me down
rhymes got rougher til i was ready to blast off
and harass all from suffolk county to nassau
where we keep the money pilin, keep the honies smilin
keep the heater just in case kids start whylin
the rhyme that i'm stylin, smooth as a violin
"rough enough to break new york from long island" -> my melody
{*dj cuts and scratches "rough enough to break new york from long island"*}
{*dj cuts and scratches "rough enough to break new york from long island"*}
Grew up in wyndanch, formerly known as crime-danch
me and my mans we travel lands to find jams
where violence usually ends in sirens
by all means, we all fiend for finance
we make cash on the street called straight path
we take class, build with the gods with great math
everyday true to the street, and never fronted
along the way, learned from the best that ever done it
bein exposed to life's highs and lows
got my flows ready for shows, i'm ready for the pros
i put it on a tape and then the city i tested
then on the radio the r's requested
now the whole world's whylin, all the girls smilin
you know, it's on, soon as they let the crowd in
the rhyme that i'm stylin, smooth as a violin
"rough enough to break new york from long island" -> my melody
Word up. i wanna give a big up to long island. stompin grounds. f'real
{*dj cuts and scratches "rough enough to break new york from long island"*}
crime-danch. one love baby. word up.
{*dj cuts and scratches "rough enough to break new york from long island"*}
i wanna give a crazy shout out to all the dj's back in the day
who used to let me smoke they microphones, yaknahmean?
big up to dj maniac, dj teddy tuff, and dj cool breeze
{*dj cuts and scratches "rough enough to break new york from long island"*}
word up

* track #3
It feel good, ya knahmean?
To uhh, come back and and get embraced
That's that's like the best part y'know?
Bein bein gone for a while y'know
Walk through the streets
'Yo Ra yo when you comin out, you gotta come out'
this and that
Y'know, so y'know I always want to come back
Had little setbacks, but umm
To comeback and get embraced man, that's the best part

In the city where life is animated with colors
Contaminated with aggravated brothers, who knows where the love is?
Growing up swinging, through my upbringing
My limits is the sky from the all eye seeing
Of so-called realities filled with technicalities
I watch my steps, stay on my p's and check my casualties
Not to get played, equipped with all the tricks of the trade
I even learned from the mistakes that the next man made
I know to choose and pick the people I grow up around
I know to grow and get to know the town up and down
But there's no instructions, so many directions
A lot of crooks look to get hooked with connections
Some thought they knew all adolescence could teach
They graduated from school but fail life in the streets
Your pops taught you to strive and stay a live, no ditty
It's easy to die when you're living for the city
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yeah that's how I'm living
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yep that's how I'm living
I grow according to my environmental habitat
I hang where everything seem to happen at
I seen it all, and I've been doing that since I was small
Catch a flashback y'all, if I can recall
The days on the corner we watched the world go by
Or nights that wasn't right like when a good friend dies
I quest for the best for prepare for the worst
Never scared but I cared if I'm blessed or I'm cursed
Yes I fear no man but Allah
I'm Gomar Oras Dubar
Which is God so It's hard to see Ra
I do what I gotta do, with or without a clue
Run through any obstacle including you
Cause I ain't got to bust you, cause I got the muscle
A push any clown that tries to slow down my hustle
I gotta get by, but there's no time for pity
It's easy to die when you're living for the city
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yeah that's how I'm living
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yep that's how I'm living
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yep that's how I'm living
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yeah that's how I'm living
I'm in a zone everywhere I seem to roam is home
A rolling stone, I hold my own just like a microphone
I stay in tune, travel in harmony and set the tone
Being young but I'm grown and well-known
Try to take me out New York but you can't take New York out of me
Cause that's the only way that I know how to be
My neighbors is jealous they label us drug sellers
We may be hood dwellers, we're just a bunch of goodfellas
Cause we run wild with a passion, my style and my fashion
Is getting, kid, I'm making cash and crashing
Parties that everybody's talking about, we turn it out
I'm just a native New Yorker with clout
I know my way around any borough and any town
I make a lot of ground and I'm hard to be found
I get down to the nitty gritty, wake up with something pretty
It gets me through another day living for the city
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yeah that's how I'm living
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yep that's how I'm living
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yep that's how I'm living
That's how I'm living (x3)
Yeah that's how I'm living

Where the ladies at?
Clarkworld baby
Uh, uh
(4x)
It's the R baby
It's the god baby
(1st verse)
I got rhymes I love to bust looking for a club to rush
It's like thugs will rush the illustrious
We all love to touch the voluptuous
It's a must that we lust, plus we love to crush
Women pose, from timberland's to feminine clothes
Check there portfolios and put'em in centerfolds
Pen explode, draw crowds respond re-el
I stay calm as hell surrounded by bombshells
Careful as I get near'em, stand near and compare'em
Or all girl heirem, I'm the man with the serum
Assets, probably dressed but still bear'em
It seem like they wear'em, just for me to tear'em
In quakes I see more things shake then spring break
It's like a dream state, perfect shape same date
You got a lot to give and look how hot it is, you so provocative
and it's your prerogative. Baby bounce.
(Chorus)
Ladies, nothing but the finest ones
The lavishist ones, the ain't hard to findest ones
From the boldest to the shy-ist ones
Which city got the livest ones
New York, L.A., Atlanta, V.A., Miami, D.C., tell me!
(2nd verse)
Bon Jour, baby here go my brochure
Give me a phone call, I'll show you the whole store
It's so raw, I'll have your world in all
You wanna know how much the whole package go for?
My spectactale, like a festival, it's majestical, special guest for you
Ready to party hard the party's in yards to the mardygraud
Rap say on's, please give you a body massage
Rock jams, have you hot in your pants and nasty
Forbidden dance with me? Or tickle your there see
Let Ra take you on a ron day vue
Couple of days will do if it's o.k. with you
Deserted isle style middle of winter with no bed
I'll comfort you like you were Jennifer Lopez
You get what you deserve if I said we swerve
I'll hit more than nerve and that's my every word. Baby bounce.
(Chorus)
Ladies, nothing but the finest ones
The lavishist ones, the ain't hard to findest ones
From the boldest to the shy-ist ones
Which city got the livest ones
Houston, Philly
Ladies, nothing but the finest ones
The lavishist ones, the ain't hard to findest ones
From the boldest to the shy-ist ones
Which city got the livest ones
(3rd verse)
Baby you wake up the next day laungary negligee
Give you a sex ex-ray before we catch the rays
Let's blaze a lot more games left to play
While you still amazed from yesterday's escapades
Steadily show my pedigree so thoroughly to the b-o-n-e like chemotherapy
Sex and triple x you ready to wed next, relax baby you need plenty of bed rest
You've been a passenger of a high speed crash with a wild style fashioner
Dark skinned ambassador, chiropractor with a passion
for smashin' your ass like a cardiovascular massacre.
You've be through shock heading at your cu-wop
Body'so hot, you need a shot from your new doc.
With better cures where's it sore I'll wetter more.
And let it pour from her to head to her peticular's, baby bounce.
(Chorus)
Ladies, nothing but the finest ones
The lavishist ones, the ain't hard to findest ones
From the boldest to the shy-ist ones
Which city got the livest ones
Detroit, San Fran
Ladies, nothing but the finest ones
The lavishist ones, the ain't hard to findest ones
From the boldest to the shy-ist ones
Which city got the livest ones
Chi-Town, Boston
(Chorus)
Ladies, nothing but the finest ones
The lavishist ones, the ain't hard to findest ones
From the boldest to the shy-ist ones
Which city got the livest ones
Cleveland, B-More
Ladies, nothing but the finest ones
The lavishist ones, the ain't hard to findest ones
From the boldest to the shy-ist ones
Which city got the livest ones
Orlando, N.O.
What! Brooklyn, uptown, Queens, Bronx, L.I., Staten Island,
N.J., What! Connecticut, can't forget y'all,
Girls everywhere, ha ha
Girls, girls, girls, girls
Uh,Uh hu
Dedicated to the ladies from Rakim the god
and Clark the world, you heard! What!

Aiyyo. what's goin on?
The Mic Lebanon Teflon Don.
I'm back baby
The year of the 9's
and I'ma have to make these motherfuckers a offer they can't refuse
Y'know?
Ha, what's goin on? Yo c'mon, you know it's on
I wrote a song, test my flow on the Autobahn
Make sure the force is right, I floss all night
Get off the mic it'll smoke like an exhaust pipe
Keep em in the lie-bury, studyin my theory
Ra theory get translated in Swahili
From the lands as far as Zanzibar
they understand the R, the man Allah
It's obvious why the copiers, they copy this
soon as my data processes Y2K they floppy disk
Now who the hottest is? How can it not be this?
Baby who the cockiest? Papi is? Gracias
Aiyyo, this be so, magnifico
Even my, typical, style difficult
Make a crowd go wild when I rip a show
Better stand back, this'll blow, you didn't know?
They show me love when I'm come through
Yo any club that I come to
I hit a microphone check one two
and they know what I wanna do, flow forever
You ever witness rapport like this before?
It's cause y'all kiss the floor, say this my Lord
It's the chosen one, with the golden tongue
Flow for the old and young when I'm holdin one
In the front row sitty, we show no pity
where kids get jiggy and girls are so pretty
The Wanderer, back from Casablanca
to stomp all, what next for Ra the Conqueror
So let's go, the best show will explode
No dress codes, they just pose in they best clothes
Girls get exposed when I show my rap expo
Will there be a next episode? I guess so
Those that halved out, wanted to have clout
What they mad about? Must be a cash route
MC's switch they style from they last bout
and I bet soon as they hear this they spaz out
They show me love when I'm come through
Yo any club that I come to
I hit a microphone check one two
and they know what I wanna do, flow forever
They show me love when I'm come through
Yo any club that I come to
I hit a microphone check one two
and they know what I wanna do, flow forever
Wherever Rakim go, it's the God temple
It's simple, my M.O., no problemo
Been all over the map, even know where Hell is at
I did the welcome mat, and then welcome back
My flow is raw, they treat me like Mr. Know-it-All
They want me to show em all my brand new protocol
Excuse-a-moi, I make a move for Ra
You ain't soupin Ra, save the hoop-a-la
Let me find out you rhymed out designed out
Pullin dimes out then climb out, for time out
I'm at the free throw, playin ball, or cee-lo, I keep dough
Reloaded like Carlito, incognito
I be so, low key, women get nosy
I do a show they wanna go see to get to know me
in the front row seat they cosy
thinkin I'm givin them the bo-bo-bee until they O.D.
They show me love when I'm come through
Yo any club that I come to
I hit a microphone check one two
and they know what I wanna do, flow forever
They show me love when I'm come through
Yo any club that I come to
I hit a microphone check one two
and they know what I wanna do, flow forever
They show me love when I'm come through
Yo any club that I come to
I hit a microphone check one two
and they know what I wanna do, flow forever
They show me love when I'm come through
Yo any club that I come to
I hit a microphone check one two

I'm back, the God remains still at the end
They sabotage the game, still I'm a win
Rakim Allah's the name, and with a pen
No one can dodge the rain, kill 'em again
In a club or the streets I swerve, cool in the cut
Looking to see what occurs, crusin' the truck
Shorty got deadly curves, soothin' her up
If I must explain with words, I smooth as a fuck
The world's most greatest hip-hop's elite
You obsolete, you cannot compete, drop the beat
Keep ya ear to the ground when I rock the street
Cock the heat, we deep papi, got to eat
So cut on the mic and spit, I much rougher
Plenty of ice and a whip, plus a crusher
Because I don't like to stick or bust a brother
Long as they never forget I'm a ill muther fucker
So if you love to get your party on
And you feel that your game is strong
And you get mad when the broads is gone
You like it all night long
And when they love it when the place is warm
And they go out for their favorite song
They hate when the player game is wrong
They like it all night long
My caliber's out rated
Yeah player, so why hate it
My rhyme through out of control, when I say it
Spit back with a rap or gat, can I spray it
How can I say it? I leave it de-hydrated
I take aim, and he keep the place flamin'
Till the place cave in, aye yo this ain't a safe haven
[Incomprehensible]
The best is yet to come, so they stay in
They keep the music loud, the lights is low
The kid with a different style, I like to flow
It's time to move the crowd, tonight's the show
See what it's all about, they like to go
Get Henny and Mo and Cris, the clothes, the platinum, gold, the wrist
Plenty of doe, and chicks who pose for flicks
Women who love roll their hips, when I'm holding this
So if you love to get your party on
And you feel that your game is strong
And you get mad when the broads is gone
You like it all night long
And when they love it when the place is warm
And they go out for their favorite song
They hate when the player game is wrong
They like it all night long
My mic's equipped with a microchip, with a million Meg's
Bite this I might flip, spread a billion plagues
Put medicine in it before I kill ya dead
You can get away, if you can fill your legs
Could you walk? No, at least you thought though
Auto fours blow a hole in your torso
Damage his brain with more flow until he talk slow
Try to say something now? I thought so
I leave Emcee's bleeding, while I'm fleeing across sea-in
Start breeding, double my Swiss cheese in Sweden
Free on the weekend, come back, see if he breathing
They breathing, somebody left his brains beat in
A deadly attack is rare, style will be raw
Be ready to rap you'll hear, as wild as before
If I bust a gat in the air, watch the galaxy fall
And the world will be splat on the floor, that'll be all
So if you love to get your party on
And you feel that your game is strong
And you get mad when the broads is gone
You like it all night long
And when they love it when the place is warm
And they go out for their favorite song
They hate when the player game is wrong
They like it all night long
So if you love to get your party on
And you feel that your game is strong
And you get mad when the broads is gone
You like it all night long
And when they love it when the place is warm
And they go out for their favorite song
They hate when the player game is wrong
They like it all night long
So if you love to get your party on
And you feel that your game is strong
And you get mad when the broads is gone
You like it all night long
And when they love it when the place is warm
And they go out for their favorite song
They hate when the player game is wrong
They like it all night long
So if you love to get your party on
And you feel that your game is strong
And you get mad when the broads is gone
You like it all night long
And when they love it when the place is warm
And they go out for their favorite song

I ain't no joke, I use to let the mic smoke
Now I slam it when I'm done and make sure it's broke
When I'm gone, I wrote this song 'cuz I won't let
Nobody press up and mess up, to seen, I set
I like to stand in a crowd and watch the people wonder damn
But think about it then you'll understand
I'm just a addict, addicted to music
Maybe it's a habit, I gotta use it
Even if it's jazz or the quiet storm
I hook a beat up, convert it in a hip-hop form
Write a rhyme in graffiti, in every show you see me
In deep concentration 'cuz I'm no comedian
Jokers are wild, if you wanna be tame
I treat you like a child then you're gonna be named
Another enemy, not even a friend of me
'Cuz you'll get fried in the end then you pretend to be
Competing, 'cuz I just put your mind on pause
And I can beat you when you compare my rhyme wit yours
I wake you up and as I stare in your face you seem stun
Remember me, the one you got your idea from
But soon you start to suffer but you only get rougher
When you start to stutter that's when you had enough of
Biting it, I make you choke, you can't provoke
You can't cope, you should have broke, 'cuz I ain't no joke
I got a question, it's serious as cancer
Who can keep the average dancer?
Hyper as a heart attack, nobody smilin'
'Cuz you're expressing the rhyme that I'm stylin'
This is what we all sit down to write
You can't make it so you take it home, break it and bite
Use pieces and bits of all the hip-hop hits
Get the style down pat, then it's time to swit
Put my tape on pause and add some more to yours
Then you figure, you're ready for the neighborhood chores
The E M C E E, don't even try to be
When you come up to speak, don't even lie to me
You like to exaggerate, dream and imaginate
Then change the rhyme around, that can aggravate me
So when you see me come up, freeze
Or you'll be one of those seven MC's
They think that I'm a new jack but only if they knew that
They who think wrong are they who can't do that
Style that I'm doin', they might ruin
Patterns of paragraphs based on you and
Your offbeat DJ, if anything he play
Sound familiar, I'll wait till E say
Play 'em, so I'ma have to dis and broke
You could get a smack for this, I ain't no joke
I hold the microphone like a grudge
B'll hold the record so the needle don't budge
I hold a conversation 'cuz when I invent
I nominated my DJ the president
When I'm, see I'll, people freestyle, goin' steadily
So pucker up and whistle my melody
But whatever you do, don't miss one
They'll be another rough rhyme after this one
Before you know it, you're followin' and fiendin'
Waiting for the punchline to get the meanin'
Like before, the morale of my story, I'm tellin'
Nobody beats the R so stop yellin'
Save it, put it in your pocket for later
'Cuz I'm moving the crowd and be a record fader
No interruptions and the mic is broke
When I'm gone, then you can joke
'Cuz everything is real on a serious tip
Keep playin' and I varies it quick
And take you for a walk through hell
Feed your dome then watch your eyeballs swell
Guide you out of triple stage darkness
When it get dark again then I'ma spark this microphone
'Cuz the heat is on, you see smoke

I came in the door, i said it before
I never let the mic magnatize me no more
But it's biting me, fighting me, inviting me to rhyme
I can't hold it back, I'm looking for the line,
Taking off my coat, clearing my throat
My rhyme will be kicking it until I hit my last note
My mind'll range to find all kinds of ideas
Self-esteem makes it seem like a thought took years to build
But still say a rhyme after the next one
Prepared, never scared, I'll just bless one
And you know that I'm the soloist
So Eric B, make 'em clap to this
I don't bug out or chill or be acting ill
No tricks in '86, it's time to build
Eric B easy on the cut, no mistakes allowed
Cuz to me, MC means move the crowd
I made it easy to dance to this
But can you detect what's coming next from the flex of the wrist
Saying indeed that I precede cuz my man made a mix
If he bleed he won't need no band-aid to fix
If they can get some around until there's no rhymes left
I hurry up because the cut will make 'em bleed to death
But he's kicking it because it ain't no half stepping
The party is live, the rhyme can't be kept in-
Side, it needs erupting just like a volcano
It ain't the everyday style of the same old rhyme
Because I'm better then the rest of them
Eric B is on the cut and my name is Rakim
Go get a girl and get soft and warm,
Don't get excited, you've been invited to a quiet storm
But now it's out of hand cuz you told me you hate me
And then you ask what have I done lately
First you said all you want is love and affection
Let me be your angel and I'll be your protection
Take you out, buy you all kinds of things
I must of got you too hot and burned off your wings
You caught an attitude, you need food to eat up
I'm scheming like I'm dreaming on a couch wit my feet up
You scream I'm lazy, you must be crazy
Thought I was a donut, you tried to glaze me

Verse one:
I'm rated "R"...this is a warning, ya better void,
Poets are paranoid, DJ's D-stroyed,
Cuz I came back to attack others in spite-
Strike like lightnin', It's quite frightenin'!
But don't be afraid in the dark, in a park,
Not a scream or a cry, or a bark, more like a spark;
Ya tremble like a alcoholic, muscles tighten up,
What's that, lighten up! You see a sight but,
Suddenly you feel like your in a horror flick,
You grab your heart then wish for tomorrow quick!
Music's the clue, when I come your warned,
Apocolypse Now, when I'm done, ya gone!
Haven't you ever heard of a MC-murderer?
This is the death penalty,and I'm servin' a
death wish, so come on, step to this
hysterical idea for a lyrical professionist!
Friday the thirteenth, walking down Elm Street,
you come in my realm ya get beat!
This is off limits, so your visions are blurry,
All ya see is the meters at a volume,
pumping Lyrics of Fury!
it's a ....furified freestyle!
Terror in the styles, never error-files,
indeed I'm known-your exiled!
For those that oppose to be level or next to this...
I ain't a devil and this ain't the Exorcist!
worse than a nightmare, you don't have to sleep a wink,
the pain's a migraine every time ya think,
Flashbacks interfere, ya start to hear:
The R-A-K-I-M in your ear;
Then the beat is hysterical,
that makes Eric go get a ax and chops the wack,
soon the lyrical format is superior,
faces of death remain,
MC's decaying, cuz they never stayed,
the scene of a crime every night at the show,
the fiend of a rhyme on the mic that you know,
It's only one capable, breaks-the unbreakable,
melodies-unmakable, pattern-unecscapable,
a horn if want the style I posses,
I bless the child, the earth, the gods and bomb the
rest,
for those that envy a MC it can be,
hazardous to your health so be friendly,
a matter of life and death, just like a ethch-a-sketch,
shake 'till your clear, make it disappear, make the
next,
after the ceremony, let the rhyme rest in peace,
if not, my soul'll release!
the scene is recreated, reincarnated, updated, I'm glad
you made it,
cuz your about to see a disasterous sight,
a performance never again performed on a mic:
Lyrics of fury!
a furified freestyle!
the "R" is in the house-too much tension!
Make sure the system's loud when I mention
Phrases that's fearsome...
You want to hear some, sounds that not only pounds but
plays your eardrums;
I sit back and observe the whole scenery,
then nonchalantly tell you what it mean to me,
strictly business I'm quickly in this mood,
and I don't care if the whole crowd's a witness!
I'm a tear you apart but I'm a spare you a heart,
program into the speed of the rhyme, prepare to start,
rhythm's out of the radius, insane as the craziest
musical madness MC ever made, see it's
now an emergency, open-heart surgery...
open your mind, you will find every word'll be
furier than ever, I remain the furture,
battle's tempting...whatever suits ya!
For words the sentence, there's no resemblance,
you think you're ruffer, then suffer the consequences!
I'm never dying-terrifying results,
I wake ya with hundreds of thousands of volts,
mic-to-mouth resuscitation, rhythm with radiation,
novicane ease the pain it might save him,
if not, Eric B.'s the judge, the crowd's the jury...
How do I plead to homicide?
Lyrics of Fury!

Verse One:
Follow me into a solo
Get in the flow - and you can picture like a photo
Music mixed mellow maintains to make
Melodies for MC's motivates the breaks
I'm everlastin, I can go on for days and days
With rhyme displays that engrave deep as X-rays
I can take a phrase that's rarely heard, FLIP IT
Now it's a daily word
I can get iller than 'Nam, a killin bomb
But no alarm - Rakim will remain calm
Self-esteem make me super superb and supreme
But for a microphone still I fiend
This was a tape I wasn't supposed to break
I was supposed to wait, but let's motivate
I want to see who can keep followin and swallowin
Takin the making, bitin it and borrowin
Brothers tried and others died to get the formula
But I'ma let ya sweat - you still ain't warm
You a step away from frozen, stiff as if ya posin
Dig into my brain as the rhyme gets chosen
So follow me and were ya thinkin' you were first?
Let's travel at magnificent speeds around the Universe
What could ya say as the Earth gets further and further away
Planets are small as balls of clay
Astray into the Milky Way - world's outasight
Far as the eye can see - not even a satellite
Now stop and turn around and look
As ya stare in the darkness, ya knowledge is took!
So keep starin soon ya suddenly see a star
You better follow it cause it's the R
This is a lesson if ya guessin and if ya borrowin
Hurry hurry step right up and keep followin
The Leader
Verse Two:
This is a lifetime mission, vision of prison
Aight listen
In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
Am I Eternal? Or an eternalist?
I'm about to flow long as I can possibly go
Keep ya movin cause the crowd said so
Dance - cuts rip ya pants
Eric B on the blades, bleedin to death - call the ambulance
Pull out my weapon and start to squeeze
A magnum as a microphone murderin' MC's
Let's quote a rhyme from a record I wrote
(follow the leader) Yeah - dope
Cause everytime I stop it seems ya stuck
Soon as ya try to step off ya self-destruct
I came to overcome before I'm gone
By showin and provin and lettin knowledge be born
Then after that I'll live forever - you disagree?
You say never? Then follow me!
From century to century you'll remember me
In history - not a mystery or a memory
God by nature, mind raised in Asia
Since you was tricked, I have to raise ya
From the cradle to the grave, but remember
You're not a slave
Cause we was put here to be much more than that
But we couldn't see it because our mind was trapped
But I'm here to break away the chains, take away the pains
Remake the brains, reveal my name
I guess nobody told you a little knowledge is dangerous
It can't be mixed, diluted; it can't be changed or switched
Here's a lesson if ya guessing and borrowing
Hurry hurry, step right up and keep following
The leader
Verse Three:
A furified freestyle, lyrics of fury
My third eye makes me shine like jewelry
You're just a rent-a-rapper, your rhymes are minute-maid
I'll be here when it fade to watch you flip like a renegade
I can't wait to break and eliminate
On every traitor or snake - so stay awake
and follow and follow, because the tempo's a trail
The stage is a cage, the mic is a third rail
I'm Rakim the Fiend of a Microphone
I'm not HIM, so leave my mic alone
Soon as the beat is felt, I'm ready to go
So fasten your seatbelt, cause I'm about to flow
No need to speed slow down to let the leader lead
Word to daddy, indeed!
The R's a rollin stone, so I'm rollin
Directions is told, then the rhymes are stolen
Stop buggin', a brother said, dig em, I never dug 'em
He couldn't follow the leader long enough so I drug 'em
into danger zone, he should arrange his own
Face it, it's basic, erase it, change ya tone
There's one R in the alphabet
It's a one-letter word and it's about to get
More complex from one rhyme to the next
Eric B be easy on the flex
I've been from state to state, followers tailgate
Keep comin but you came too late, but I'll wait
So back up, regroup, get a grip, come equipped
You're the next contestant - clap ya hands, you won a trip!
The price is right - don't make a deal too soon
How many notes could you name this tune?
Follow the Leader is the title, theme, task
Now ya know, you don't have to ask
Rap is Rhythm And Poetry, cuts create sound effects
You might catch up if you follow the records E. wrecks
Until then keep eatin and swallowin
You better take a deep breath and keep followin

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you
Without a strong rhyme to step to
Think of how many weak shows you slept through
Time's up, I'm sorry I kept you
Thinking of this, you keep repeating you miss
The rhymes from the microphone soloist
And you sit by the radio, hand on the dial, soon
As you hear it, pump up the volume
Dance wit the speaker 'till you hear it blow,
Then plug in the headphone 'cause here it go
It's a 4 letter word when it's heard, it control
your body to dance (You got it) soul,
Ditects the tempo like a red alert
Reaches your reflex, so let it work
When this is playing, you can't get stuck wit
The steps, so get set and I'm a still come up wit
A gift to be swift, follow the leader, the rhyme will go
Def wit the record that was mixed a long time ago
It can be done but only I can do it
For those that can dance and clap your hands to it
I start to think and then I sink
Into the paper like I was ink
When I'm writing, I'm trapped in between the lines,
I escape when I finish the rhyme...
I got soul
You got it (4x)
I know you got soul
Picture a mic, the stage is empty
A beat like this might tempt me
To pose, show my rings and my fat gold chain
Grab the mic like I'm on Soul Train
But I'll wait 'cause I mastered this
Let the others go first so the brothers don't miss
Eric B. break the sticks (you got it)
Rakim will begin when you make the mix
I'll experiment like a scientist
You wanna rhyme, you gotta sign my list
'Cause I'm a manifest and bless the mic I hold
You want it next? then you gotta have soul
'Cause if you ain't got it, I'm a make an encore
Take the mic, make the people respond for
The R, 'cause that's the way it'll have to be
If you wanna get on after me
Think about it, wait, erase your rhyme
Forget it and don't waste your time
'Cause I'll be in the crowd if you ain't controlling it
Drop the mic, you shouldn't be holding it
This is how it should be done
This style is identical to none
Some try to make it sound like this but you're getting me
So upset that I'm wet 'cause you're sweating me
I drip steam like a microphone fiend
Eager to MC is my theme
I get hype when I hear a drum roll
Rakim is on the mic and you know I got soul
You got it (5x)
I got soul (you got it) that's why I came
To teach those who can't say my name
First of all, I'm the soloist, the soul controller
Rakim gets stronger as I get older
Constant elevation causes expansion
I write my rhyme while I cool in my mansion
Then put it on tape and in the city I test it
Then on the radio the R's requested
You listen to it, the concept might break you
'Cause almost anyone can relate to...
Whoever's out of hand, I'm give him handles
Light 'em up, blow 'em out like candles
Or should I just let him melt?
Then give him a hand so they can see how it felt
I'm not bold just cuz I rock gold
Rakim is on the mic and you know I got soul
You got it (4x)
Now I'm a stop to see what you got
Get off the mic before I get too hot
I want to see which posse can dance the best
It should be easy 'cause the beat is fresh
Now if your from Uptown, Brooklyn- bound,
The Bronx, Queens, or Long Island Sound,
Even other states come right and exact,
It ain't where you're from, it's where you're at
Since you came here, you have to show and prove
And do that dance until it don't move
'Cause all you need is soul self-esteem will release,
The rest is up to you, Rakim 'll say peace

(Take that microphone from that kid and heat it up)
I keep the mic hot, I heat it up kid
I keep the mic hot, I heat it up (x2)
Mic check y'all
Then throw it to the floor
The crowd wanted more so I came in the door
The great Rakim, papermates to the pen
Knowledge is born and the light strikes again
Elements burst and gave birth to the first
Get the pen from the nurse and hook the mic up first
When it absolutely positively has to be there on time
I deliver a rhyme
The heckler of hip hop, hop to this one
I got more kid, they hate to miss one
Style got jazz and the crowd's out of control
Cause I've got the mic and I've got the soul
New York's own microphone technician
Thoughts'll give 'em visions
Style'll make you listen
Devastates the ear, my opponents can't see me
I gave 'em directions, but wrote it in graffiti
But they wanna know my m.o. ease back though
They want the exact flow, then study my steelo
Sketch the skit, but they still can't see what I did
I heat the mic up kid
I keep the mic hot, I heat it up kid
I keep the mic hot, I heat it up (x4)
Then I explode with a song with a original form
Or I'll perform it at high mode, they want the code
Destroyed the blueprints and documents and hits
Crews been, um, looking for clues ever since
Beats start brewing up, rhymes is rough
Stages and microphones self-destruct
And when you thought you had the format down pat
You get kicked back to the doormat with that
Cause I've got a high tech style with know-how
Select the file watch the crowd go wild
Bad beats to bless the females' finesse
Points shot stress causing cardiac arrest
Mics too hot for you to told in your hands
Now they sell 'em with fifteen fans and mic stands
Mine still overheats, if you touch it you can see what I did
I heat the mic up kid
I keep the mic hot, I heat it up kid
I keep the mic hot, I heat it up (x4)
If his opponents'll run a rap, tell 'em ease back
I've got a knapsack with hip hop attacks
Stacks of artifacts, formats in the act
Tracks after macs, and you can't relax
Rakim's equipped with penmanship
Left my penmate, I could graduate from Penn State
I could take any trade and make a high grade
Even get extra credit when the rhyme's displayed
As soon as I manifest, they cheat off my test
Surround my desk and then stress the progress
But they miss the point, forget the skit
I'll bust your lip if you rip the script
Brother's ain't cool and I'mma smoke up the room
And I've got a crew called the last platoon
Figure it out kid, problems coming
Emcees are running cause I'm the gunman
Extremely dangerous I bust rhymes into the crowd
And watch 'em all scream out loud
Aw man, and then I slam like a batteram
Ra got the plan with your favorite jam
I keep the mic hot, I heat it up kid
I keep the mic hot, I heat it up (x4)
The last platoon
Rakim
You know what I mean?

Verse one:
I'm rated ";R";...this is a warning, ya better void,
Poets are paranoid, DJ's D-stroyed,
Cuz I came back to attack others in spite-
Strike like lightnin', It's quite frightenin'!
But don't be afraid in the dark, in a park,
Not a scream or a cry, or a bark, more like a spark;
Ya tremble like a alcoholic, muscles tighten up,
What's that, lighten up! You see a sight but,
Suddenly you feel like your in a horror flick,
You grab your heart then wish for tomorrow quick!
Music's the clue, when I come your warned,
Apocolypse Now, when I'm done, ya gone!
Haven't you ever heard of a MC-murderer?
This is the death penalty,and I'm servin' a
death wish, so come on, step to this
hysterical idea for a lyrical professionist!
Friday the thirteenth, walking down Elm Street,
you come in my realm ya get beat!
This is off limits, so your visions are blurry,
All ya see is the meters at a volume,
pumping Lyrics of Fury!
it's a ....fearified freestyle!
Terror in the styles, never error-files,
indeed I'm known-your exiled!
For those that oppose to be level or next to this...
I ain't a devil and this ain't the Exorcist!
worse than a nightmare, you don't have to sleep a wink,
the pain's a migraine every time ya think,
Flashbacks interfere, ya start to hear:
The R-A-K-I-M in your ear;
Then the beat is hysterical,
that makes Eric go get a ax and chops the wack,
soon the lyrical format is superior,
faces of death remain,
MC's decaying, cuz they never stayed,
the scene of a crime every night at the show,
the fiend of a rhyme on the mic that you know,
It's only one capable, breaks-the unbreakable,
melodies-unmakable, pattern-unecscapable,
a horn if want the style I posses,
I bless the child, the earth, the gods and bomb the rest,
for those that envy a MC it can be,
hazardous to your health so be friendly,
a matter of life and death, just like a ethch-a-sketch,
shake 'till your clear, make it disappear, make the next,
after the ceremony, let the rhyme rest in peace,
if not, my soul'll release!
the scene is recreated, reincarnated, updated, I'm glad you made it,
cuz your about to see a disasterous sight,
a performance never again performed on a mic:
Lyrics of fury!
a fearified freestyle!
the ";R"; is in the house-too much tension!
Make sure the system's loud when I mention
Phrases that's fearsome...
You want to hear some sounds that not only pounds but please your eardrums;
I sit back and observe the whole scenery,
then nonchalantly tell you what it mean to me,
strictly business I'm quickly in this mood,
and I don't care if the whole crowd's a witness!
I'm a tear you apart but I'm a spare you a heart,
program into the speed of the rhyme, prepare to start,
rhythm's out of the radius, insane as the craziest
musical madness MC ever made, see it's
now an emergency, open-heart surgery...
open your mind, you will find every word'll be
furier than ever, I remain the furture,
battle's tempting...whatever suits ya!
For words the sentence, there's no resemblance,
you think you're ruffer, then suffer the consequences!
I'm never dying-terrifying results,
I wake ya with hundreds of thousands of volts,
mic-to-mouth resuscitation, rhythm with radiation,
novicane ease the pain it might save him,
if not, Eric B.'s the judge, the crowd's the jury...
How do I plead to homicide?
Lyrics of Fury!
they're getting furier! a fearified freestyle!

[Rakim]
Before the dough came, my whole aim, was blow like propane
Control the whole domain, and then show no shame
Make rappers go? and they so lame, playin with no game
Put em on the lil plane til they can't claim no fame
I got, the range, better, stay in the slow lane
I make the flow change from hurricanes to a slow rain
Your thoughts are so plane, I rearrange your whole frame
until my whole name grow out your brain like Rogaine
Letter by letter, I put words together
Once merged, apart never, they be heard forever
and then I grab a pen and stab him in his abdomen
and smash him in, throw his mic like a javelin
Then I explain verses, that remain on the surface
At times it get deep, but I never defeat the purpose
Never go out, to go the dough route, forever hold out
I never sold out, for any amount, no doubt
Chorus: Rakim (repeat 2X)
That's how I get down, so tell me how you like that
I hit the town, hold it down on a tight track
I start a party now - everybody like rap
Haters are mad cause they gave the R the mic back
[Rakim]
I like to hang where e'rythang seem to happen at (y'know?)
It's Ra's habitat, I'm like that czar Arafat
And yes I have a gat, snap like a Israeli
A terrorist I never miss blowin up kids daily
I step to writers, and let my virus hurt the closest
I'm sick as hepatitis and worse than tuberculosis
Pull out a pen, like a grenade, and drop it quick
I strike again and I'ma get paid, exotic shit
You know the God ra be, hot as the Mojave
Swing like King Usabi, my posse be kamikaze
On the corners like I'm homeless and I, don't know where home is
The bonus, is where the next open microphone is
Me and my team, vision like a radar screen
Intervene and yo, cut the mic off, cause Ra fiend
to show the whole world some of the things I seen
then blow it up, like Edi Amin, yaknahmean?
Chorus
[Rakim]
I do a thang thang, I write the songs they sing
Make sure that they swing, from New York to Beijing
Put your thoughts in the sling and your brain is gangrene
Pull in the ring, repeatin and sayin the same thing
Xerox, zero, no match, you ditto
copy machine, couldn't reprint my?
My new style, that I produce now's beyond two-thou'
I knew how, since a juvenile, to make a ka-pow
When the night's fallin, I can hear the mic callin
I like ballin, I cut back like Mic Jordan
This is for y'all while I'm spittin literatures
Lyrics'll ball like Allen Iverson dribble the ball
They hopeless - whoever approaches my high explosives
My vision sadicious, and freestyle's ferocious
I wrote this, words flew over my head like a locust
I turned the beat up, sat back, and stayed focused

Aye yo, who's the most explosive one yet?
The a roundest one left
Who flows express to them rhythm drum set ain't done yet?
Flow like a trumpet to your eardrum are deaf
Who pose a threat?
Yo, who's more ferocious, none yet
To the night damn set mic trends and life ends
In sight, I see the whole world through a tight lens
Rhymes I write wins and kept a white Benz
Spend G's like hundreds and hundreds like tens
I get paid, Black, but laid back with mild manners
When I flip it's the opposite of dark Bruce Banner
Out the lab with soul and melodies in your ear
And just when it all seem clear I disappear
All you gotta do is holler
Reappear like vol-la the street scholar
I'm 40 deep like Ali Baba
Give the mamas somethin' to talk about in the beauty parlor
Keep it hot like lava, yeah
It's Rakim Allah
I know you find it hard to believe that
I am the genie of the mic an
I can do anything you wish but
Right now I'm commandin' you to dance
Ready to dance y'all, my magic carpet's the dance floor
Last chance y'all even if you can't ball
What part don't you understand? Your wish is my command
And I'm a rock a jam by popular demand
You gone love this, it's marvelous, baby
It gotta thug's twist, it start to get crazy
It's off the meat rack, I can't keep my peeps back
I speak raps and I freak tracks for these cats
I got a fetish for puttin' together words and letters
It ain't all about the cheddars and y'all know where my head is
Ghetto scriptures for my little brothers and sisters
And still get vicious for the thugs and the Misses
What I don't do is talk about the same old thing
When I come through, I drop it, and they gone swing
I bring the ladies joy until' they make crazy noise
'Cuz the beat's bangin', I'm born to blaze, baby boy
I know, you find it hard to believe that
I am the genie of the mic an
I can do anything you wish but
Right now I'm commanding you to dance
I know, you find it hard to believe that
I am the genie of the mic an
I can do anything you wish but
Right now I'm commanding you to dance
The editor-forever more the predator, I said it all
I spread a war, like never before
Spit lead at yours like a ghetto Braud raw at a?
She'll never pause with raw metaphors, I set it off
But I just begun the best is yet to come
Blessed with a majestic tongue since I was young
But I was stressed for funds and obsessed with guns
Test the one, let Allah protect your son
'Cause somethin' musical magician, the ageiathic author
The microphone magician when I have a magic marker, a mentor
You can explore, every sentence is a tour
The inventor is more than adventure
You'll be blown away and a zone to play
It's so ill, I still grab the microphone and say
One of my own displays like I'm known to blaze
And I bet rhyme pays until I'm old and gray
I know you find it hard to believe that
I am the genie of the mic an
I can do anything you wish but
Right now I'm commanding you to dance
I know you find it hard to believe that
I am the genie of the mic an
I can do anything you wish but
Right now I'm commanding you to dance
I know you find it hard to believe that
I am the genie of the mic an
I can do anything you wish but
Right now I'm commanding you to dance
I know you find it hard to believe that
I am the genie of the mic an
I can do anything you wish but

Yeah... check it out... show me love
Promise you won't do me wrong (for sure)
If i turn you on (yeah)
Promise you'll stay all night long (on on)
Makin love til dawn
Yo it's time to bring the day in fresh out the crib sauteein
Around the way in swerve on surveyin
That's when i saw her the kind you wanna see more of
The sexy aura it made it hard to ignore her
Expression her posession of property skyrocket
I'm investin in her presence and in time it profits
I take a acre for you, fertilize the soil
And make it boil, til it produce black oil
The shorty sweet as, the flavor of forty divas
Photos and features, worth more than mona lisa's
It's lady lucious, tender touches my blood rushes
Smiles and blushes, on billboards and buses
And me, i'm just a bronze skinned calm gentleman
Slim fit and open arms mellow wit a don's grin
Ghetto disciplined, could be your confidant beyond friend
It's one of allah's men, rakim, show me love
Promise you won't do me wrong (uh)
If i turn you on (go ahead, uh)
Promise you'll stay all night long (uh, yeah)
Makin love til dawn (turn me on love)
Promise you won't do me wrong (mmm)
If i turn you on (mmm, mmm, yeah)
Promise you'll stay all night long
So we can get it on (check it out)
I'm in effect mode, i keep the ep sewed
When you express your finesse to your dress code
Every step's a pose, you've been blessed and it shows
My interest grows, the effervesce explodes
Because this chick's, characteristics, mystic
Hips are thick, just a little bit of lipstick
Can't resist it, description egyptian smile
Queen of the nile, that means she dipped in style
She re-mind of nefretiti, yes indeed-y
But it's hard to get it like hieroglyphic graffiti
Studied her exhibits and checked her colorful curves
Intellect with swerves i coulda wrecked my nerves
That's my word, diggin her enigma that exist
In a sister, carefully wrapped in her figure
We connect like a collision and hug, just to knowledge
Her wisdom, speed up my metabolism, show me love
Promise you won't do me wrong
If i turn you on (uh, yeah)
Promise you'll stay all night long (yeah)
Makin love til dawn (check it out)
Promise you won't do me wrong (go ahead, go ahead)
If i turn you on (yeah, yeah)
Promise you'll stay all night long
So we can get it on
Your m.o. is hard not to notice, so my motives
Is to stay focused, body moves like aerobics
Attractions, vibes i caught came from your ways
And actions but mindframe hard to explain
No actin or mindgames, but thinkin of what can happen
Is migraines, the x-rated though remains
We relaxin, and you naggin me for the agony
To your anatomy, by the fractions
Your measurements, the pleasure's in every inch of your temple
I travel twenty-three million miles of your mental
Chemistry, between you and me, in harmony
Causin angles to meet, like trigonometry
Or pyramids, that's where your deepest, treasures are hid
Then it gets, odiferous, cause i know where it is
I mastered that, cause it's easy when you react
The all-natural aphrodisiac, show me love
Promise you won't do me wrong
If i turn you on (yeah)
Promise you'll stay all night long (go ahead, go ahead)
Making love til dawn (uh)
Promise you won't do me wrong (straight up)
If i turn you on (go ahead, uh)
Promise you'll stay all night long (yeah)
So we can get it on (show me love)
Promise you won't do me wrong
If i turn you on
Promise you'll stay all night long
Making love til dawn
Promise you won't do me wrong (uh, yeah)
If i turn you on (check it out, uh)
Promise you'll stay all night long (and you don't stop)
So we can get it on (uh)
Promise you won't do me wrong
If i turn you on
Promise you'll stay all night long

Verse One:
Turn up the bass, check out my melody, hand out a cigar
I'm letting knowledge be born, and my name's the R
A-K-I-M not like the rest of them, I'm not on a list
That's what I'm saying, I drop science like a scientist
My melody's in a code, the very next episode
Has the mic often distorting, ready to explode
I keep the mic in Fahrenheit, freeze MC's and make em colder
The listener's system is kicking like solar
As I memorize, advertise, like a poet
Keep you going when I'm flowing, smooth enough, you know it
But rough that's why the middle of my story I tell E.B.
Nobody beats the "R", check out 'My Melody'
Verse Two:
So what if I'm a 'Microphone Fiend' addicted soon as I sing
One of these for MC's so they don't have to scream
I couldn't wait to take the mic, flow into it to test
Then let 'My Melody' play, and then the record suggest
That I'm dropping bombs, but I stay peace and calm
Any MC that disagree with me just wave your arm
And I'll break, when I'm through breaking I'll leave you broke
Drop the mic when I'm finished and watch it smoke
So stand back, you wanna rap? All of that can wait
I won't push, I won't beat around the bush
I wanna break upon those who are not supposed to
You might try but you can't get close to
Because I'm number one, competition is none
I'm measured with the heat that's made by Sun
Whether playing ball or bobbing in the hall
I just writing my name in graffiti on the wall
You shouldn't have told me you said you control me
So now a contest is what you owe me
Pull out your money, pull out your cut
Pull up a chair, and I'ma tear shit up
My name is Rakim Allah, and R & A stands for "Ra"
Switch it around, but still comes out "R"
So easily will I e-m-c-e-e
My repetition of words is "check out my melody"
Some bass and treble is moist, scratching and cutting a voice
And when it's mine that's when the rhyme is always choice
I wouldn't have came and said my name around the same weak shit
Putting blurs and slurs and words that don't fit
In a rhyme, why waste time on the microphone
I take this more serious than just a poem
Rocking party to party, backyard to yard
Now tear it up, y'all, and bless the mic for the gods
Verse Three:
The rhyme is rugged, at the same time sharp
I can swing off anything even a string of a harp
Just turn it on and start rocking, mind no introduction
Til I finish dropping science, no interruption
When I approach I exercise like a coach
Using a melody and add numerous notes
With the mic and the R-a-k-i-m
It's a task, like a match I will strike again
Rhymes are poetically kept and alphabetically stepped
Put in a order to pursue with the momentum except
I say one rhyme and I order a longer rhyme shorter
A pause, but don't stop the tape recorder
Verse Four:
I'm not a regular competitor, first rhyme editor
Melody arranger, poet, etcetera
Extra events, the grand finale like bonus
I am the man they call the microphonist
With wisdom which means wise words being spoken
Too many at one time watch the mic start smoking
I came to express the rap I manifest
Stand in my way and I'll lead a ___ words protest
MC's that wanna be dissed they're gonna
Be dissed if they don't get from in fronta
All they can go get is me a glass of Moet
A hard time, sip your juice and watch a smooth poet
I take seven MC's put em in a line
And add seven more brothers who think they can rhyme
Well, it'll take seven more before I go for mine
And that's 21 MC's ate up at the same time
Easy does it, do it easy, that's what I'm doing
No fessing, no messing around, no chewing
No robbing, no buying, biting, why borrow
This slob'll stop trying fighting to follow
My unusual style will confuse you a while
If I was water, I flow in the Nile
So many rhymes you won't have time to go for yours
Just because of a cause I have to pause
Right after tonight is when I prepare
To catch another sucker duck MC out there
Cos my strategy has to be tragedy, catastrophe
And after this you'll call me your majesty
My melody...
Verse Five:
Marley Marl synthesized it, I memorize it
Eric B made a cut and advertised it
My melody's created for MC's in the place
Who try to listen cos I'm dissing?
? Take off your necklace, you try to detect my pace?
? Now? you're? buggin? over? off my rhyme like bass
The melody that I'm styling, smooth as a violin
Rough enough to break New York from Long Island
My wisdom is swift, no matter if
My momentum is slow, MC's still stand stiff
I'm genuine like leather, don't try to be clever
MC's you'll beat the "R", I'll say "Oh never"

Yeah, it's the god Rakim
Word up, I'm blazin' this out to all my comrades
Ya na mean? From the slums of New York
To the gutters all over the world, this is for y'all
Through my travels, I try to take righteous steps
Because right or left could mean life or death
No matter how trife it get, my sights is set
But it's twice the threat when the night is death
My mental windows refuse to close, they get exposed
To the neighborhood info where the poison wind blows
A deadly plague spreadin' negativity, viciously
Unto every city be in ghetto misery
Don't let it get to me, the writer be left to die
But it get mesmerize if it catch your eye
Shines enormous, from pure revered Kool's and garments
But it's torment, jealousy drug wars or warring
Tallying, slowly turnin' into barbarians
More scary when the whole boulevard's carryin'
Livin' in the world of sin, my ghetto girls and men
Waiting for the world to end
Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel
In case you didn't know
Never movin' backwards
Complicated
Know what I mean
Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel
In case you didn't know
Never movin' backwards
Complicated
Know what I mean
I see destruction, even little kids trust none
They bust guns, that's what they get a rush from
When I see 'em, we build and have a real discussion
"Yo Ra, what's the jewel of the day? What's up, son?"
"You got ambition?" Shorty said, "Man listen
I got demands for livin', can't stand division
Make grands on my mission, till everything glisten
Women in the expedition, no plans for prison
In a vision the city get, 2 milleni G
Sittin' in my MSC sippin' Hennesy
Gettin' high and watch life pass me by
So I asked him," Why?"
Wit a fast reply he said, "I'm livin' just to die without any feelings
So I wait here for my Maker till it's time to go
Wit this dime I know, wit all of her girls and all of my mens
Waitin' for the world to end"
Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel
In case you didn't know
Never movin' backwards
Complicated
Know what I mean
Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel
In case you didn't know
Never movin' backwards
Complicated
Know what I mean
Shorty was taught to keep his head to the sky and never cry
But the streets left him to die, now it's death in his eye
Livin' a sin of hitmen, a sinister grin
From beginning to end, in it to win
Evil rebels, doin' what we doin' in the ghetto
Thinkin' if we was thorough we can deceive the devil
You can't win, your life be end, try again
Shorty said, "Why we born again to die again?"
That's what I said when I realized I had a gift
To uplift and be one of Allah's advocates
Teach the youth and speak the truth
Show 'em what peace can do when ill reach for you
And my reward won't be jewels or cheese, it's even better
I can be one of the greatest MC's ever
If I tell 'em they intelligent women and great men
And live, stop waitin' for the world to end
Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel
In case you didn't know
Never movin' backwards
Complicated
Know what I mean
Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel
In case you didn't know
Never movin' backwards
Complicated
Know what I mean
I'm ragin', rippin' up the stage an'
Don't it sound amazin', know what I mean
Don't it sound amazin', know what I mean

I'm the arsenal
I got artillery, lyrics of ammo
Rounds of rhythm
Then I'm 'a give 'em piano
Bring a bullet-proof vest
Nothin' to ricochet
ready to aim at the brain
~Now what the trigger say
Tempos triflin'
Felt like a rifle
Massage 'n' melodies
Might go right through
Simultaneously like an Uzi
Nothin' can bruise me
Lyrics let up when lady say don't lose me
So re-load quickly
And you better hit me
While I'm lettin' this fifi get wit me
You steppin' with .007
Better make it snappy
No time to do your hair, baby
Brothers are bustin' at me
Beats and bullets pass me
None on target
They want the R hit
But wtch the god get
Quicker, the tongue is the trigger
'Cause I'm real fast
Let off some rhythm at 'em
Let 'em feel the blast
Penetrate at a crazy rate
This ain't no .38
Hit 'em at point blank range
And watch 'em radiate
Runnin' out of ammunition
I'm done wit' em
You ask me how I did 'em
I let the rhythm hit 'em
I push a power that's punishable
Better be a prisoner
The hit man is the
Brother wit' charisma
Showing you that I have
Powerful paragraphs
Followers will become leaders
But without a path
Ya mentally paralyzed
Crippled ya third eye
Rhymes are blurred
Then it occurred that you heard I
Reduced the friction with crucifixion
Let loose the mix then
Boost the piston
Eric hit 'em with' some of that
Cut like a lumberjack
And me gettin' hit back
It won't be none of that
I'm untouchable
You see me in 3-D
When I let the rhythm hit another M.C.
Lyrics made of lead
Enters your head
Then eruptions of a mass production
Will spread when
Music is louder
Full of gunpower
Microphone machinery
When I see a crowd of
Party people pumpin'
Their fist like this
Ya hide in the back
Thinkin' that I might miss
But the R is accurate
Plus I'm packed up with
Educated punch lines that
I have to hit
Whatever I aim at
I line 'em up
Ya body is weak, feel with pain
That time is up
You been hit with somethin'
Different, isn't it?
Rakim is gonna radiate and nothing's equivalent
Nothin' can harm me
Why try to bar me
You couldn't come around THE RA with aN army
You'll get wrecked by the architect
So respect 'em
I disconnect 'em, soon as I inject 'em
With radiation
Put 'em by the basement
Bust his chest open
Bash his face in
Let it split 'im
Since he brought his main man wit' 'im
He ask me how I did 'im
I let the rhythm hit 'im
Let it hit 'im
Dance floor's dangerous
Packed in like a briefcase
Rhyth with ral rough rhyme
Beats with deep bass
Girls with tight pants
Maybe they might dance
Tonight if the Rs on the mike
There's a slight chance
The crowd is crucial
M.C.'s grounds are neutral
Now that you're here let me introduce you
Get ready
I'm hard read like graffiti but steady
Science I drop is real heavy
Radiant energy, that'll be the penalty
Touch the third rail on the pain of remedy
The prescription's one every hour
Now it's a HABIT
Ya need another hit from the freestyle fanatic
Attention: follow directions real close
Keep out of reach of children
Beware of overdose
Too many milligram
NO ONE made a iller jam
My rhyme is the rhythm of thoughts
That kill a man
Ideas for the ear to fear
Might split 'im
He'll never forget 'im
He'll rest in peace wit' 'em
At least when he left he'll know what hit 'im
The last breath of the words of death
Was the rhythm
Now throw you hands in the air and yo, go
Rakim will do the rest of this slow
If I speed they know you'll blow the hell up
If I slow up, THEY'LL catch up, hell no
Wicked as I kicked it
Don't need to remix it
'Cause I prefixed it
Reversed and switched it
To perform to perfection
Section for section
Rhymes keep connectin'
Ya guessin' what's next an'
Blood pressure rises, ya damn near lost it
Ya hit the ground burnin' and woke up frostbit'
'Cause when I explained ya can't complain for pain
Travel through the brain hit a vein
Then remain, let it radiate
Vibes will vibrate
Why did you violate
Now I'm 'a have to let the style brak
Moans now the tone is ingrown
After this here's thrown, gimme another microphone
Before I get that fifi I met
Whisper I wanna reach HER intellect
Kiss her 'cause I wanna give her the most respect
So I shine and let the write reflect
Hold 'er, mold 'er, make 'er feel older
Lay her on my shoulder
EEverything I told her
Makes her feel secure whenever I'm wit' 'er
And you know how I did 'er

(1st verse)
Aye yo it's Mr. Low-key you need to go see
the host by far a mostly o.t., with a brand new show but
you know how the flow be.
Cause when I swerve, you observe it closely
if you smoke trees, smoke more than an o-z.
Mix any kind of dope with me, you o-d.
You get the c-d, l-p c.o.d.
Poetry cause you to fully load the V.
Drop place to place be crazy over me.
Even different nationalities, over seas.
However do a don't emcee, you know me. G-o-d.
She know she d-o-e, so show me.
Even with no jewelry she call me goldie,
like a Jacuzzi she overheat an o-g.
Like sushi swimin' in a open sea. I'm comin'.
(Instrumental Chorus)
(2nd verse)
She said it's the same since I came and rained it's still hard.
You can stimulate the brain, feel the god.
It's hard to go against the grain, it's real large.
Drive'em insane leave dames in silk bras.
Plus real cups spill, spill that bars.
What's the deal kids with Hennessey grills they feel charged.
And you know what time it is? It's still Ra's.
When I do a show real far they steal cars.
Stages of battle field reveal your scars.
Train hard, cause this is a game with ill squads.
Play with pain and gain a couple of yards.
And if you know the dreal, you can deal the cards.
And appeal to broads with jobs and ov-e-ods.
Body parts like buns of steel and spa's.
Then we can kick tha blahzay blah, smoke a cigar.
While I get ma-na-massage.
I'm comin'.
(Instrumental Chorus)
(3rd verse)
From the inner city to the suburbs, the street poet.
The most jiggiest kid with words, and peeps know it.
They've read about it and heard, plus t.v. show it.
So how do I reserve my swerve? I low pro it.
Now there eager to know just how deep the flow get.
I don't know yet, sometime the flow be so wet.
Spit a tech that will effect quicker than moet.
Or high as anything you smoke yet, go ahead roll it.
Any microphone I hold, my heat blow it.
My emo is make more doe till I can't fold it.
Anything I see or touch, I wanna own it.
Drop a jewel in baby girl ear, now she my co-ed.
I re-load and she keep the candy coated,
and when she know she can't control it.
She tell me she about to blow at any moment.

* - originally appeared on the juice sndtrk
Sip the juice cuz I got enough to go around,
And the thought takes place uptown
I grew up on the sidewalk where I learned street talk,
And then taught to hawk new york-
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, recoupe, and lay around.
Time to bulid my juice back up-
Props back up, suckers get smacked up
Don't doubt the clout, you know what I'm about
Knocking niggaz off, knocking niggaz out
Shaking em up, waking em up
Raking em up, breaking em up...
Standing on shaky grounds too close to the edge
Let's see if I know the ledge
Corners' trifling 'cause shorty's here
I get cock-d liffin' forty's of beer;
Here's a sip for the crew that's deceased,
If I get revenge, then they rest in peace.
Somebody's got to suffer, I just might spare one-
And give a brother a fair one!
Stay alert and on p's.
And I do work with these- like hercules,
Switch to southpaw, split your right jaw
'cause I don't like y'all, I'm hype when night fall.
Smooth but I move like an army
Bulletproof down in case brothers try to bomb me,
Putting brothers to rest like elliot ness
'cause I don't like stress
Streets ain't a place for innocent bystanders to stand
Nutting's gonna stop the plan
I'll chill like pacino, kill like deniro
Black gambino, die like a hero
Living on shaky grounds too close to the edge
Let's see if I know the ledge!
Shells lay around on the battleground
Dead bodies are found throughout the town.
Tried to put shame in my game to make a name, I'm a
Put it on a bullet, put it in your brain.
Rip the block like a buckshot,
Who cares where it goes, just keep the casket closed,
No remorse when a life is lost
I paid my dues- paid the cost!
...and my pockets are still fat,
Wherever I'm at, I get the welcome mat.
Even if my crew steep with one deep
I attract attention, people like to peep
So come say hi to the badguy
Don't say goodbye, I don't plan to die!
'cause I get loose and I got troops
And crazy juice!
In control of many like ayatollah khomeini
Hang out wit smith and wesson, don't try to play me.
I'm at war alot, like anwar sadat.
But no warning shot, my gun is warm alot.
When I cook beef, the smoke will never clear,
Areas in fear but this here's a fear!
Living life too close to the edge
Hoping that I know the ledge...
A brand new morn, no time to yawn
Shower's on, power's on
Late for school, I catch the train
Girls sip cristal and whisper my name
I push up like an exercise,
Check the intellect and inspect the thighs
Select the best one, pull her to the side
Keep her occupied for the rest of the ride
Read my resume she's know I'm 'ready cool
Just meet me after school,
We can moan and groan until your mom come home,
And you be calling me al dope capone.
Sweatin' me, she didn't want to let me loose-
Come get me, that's if you want to sip the juice
Cause the streets await me, so I take my gun off safety
Cause alot of niggaz hate me
Coming out of the building, they set me up
Sprayed wit automatics, they wet me up
In a puddle of blood, I lay close to the edge

Yes, yes, y'all, check it out y'all
Yes, yes, y'all, check it out y'all
Yo, I find a show rhyme 'til it's time to go
I'm designed to blow my mind's inclined to flow
Yo, my MO makin' all kind of dough
From the info that Rakim show, you know
Yo, I find a show rhyme 'til it's time to go
I'm designed to blow my mind's inclined to flow
Yo, my MO makin' all kind of dough
From the info that Rakim show, you know
Yes, yes, y'all, I still fiend by any means to flow
And I go through extremes, don't intervene
My adventures show like a three dimensional screen
'Cause I mention many things and I'm presentin' many scenes
Guess, I'm telegraphic, motions energetic
Better tell em forget it, cause I'm telekinetic
Crowds is screamin', I choke the mic and keep squeezin'
Styles seemin' like I used a thousand words without breathin '
Bustin' techs like Russian Roulette, I doubt you win
Freestyles like hand grenades without the pin
Composin', then leave the mic full of corrosion
Don't test this or best to expects this explosion
At shows I spit flows with seven deadly venoms
Killin' syllables with poisonous synonyms in 'em
Ideas is blowin', mics is blowin' from what I'm showin'
See it, I keep it goin' when I'm flowin'
I find a show rhyme 'til it's time to go
I'm designed to blow my mind's inclined to flow
Yo, my MO makin' all kind of dough
From the info that Rakim show, you know
When I'm flowin', theoretically speakin' like a drummer
I take you through the streets to the parks in the summer
Or illustrate a time and place you never been in
And make you focus on the future after seein' the beginning
And my style wilds like Miles on the trumpet
Volume dial was kind of low, need to pump it
Up another notch turn the dial 'til it stops
More watts you got, more things to watch
Third eye's wide open, you're focused on the theory
Keep scopin' 'til you hear me, words is spoken clearly
It's no smokescreens on the scenes that I'm showin'
Man, I keep it goin', damn, I keep it flowin'
I find a show rhyme 'til it's time to go
I'm designed to blow my mind's inclined to flow
Yo, my MO makin' all kind of dough
From the info that Rakim show, you know
I find a show rhyme 'til it's time to go
I'm designed to blow my mind's inclined to flow
Yo, my MO makin' all kind of dough
From the info that Rakim show, you know
Two pages cause panic, freestyles is frantic
Thoughts is organic, flow is aerodynamic
Mic is volcanic, rhymes spread across the planet
I send out the scribe now the vibes gigantic
Now I'm internationally known, mental capacities blown
I hope your microphone's accident prone
Raw footage is shown but only showin' scenes of my own
Leavin' your peripheral vision in a zone
But not the twilight, from the insight that I write
And recite in my mic'll be bright 'cause I like
The night glowin', it's out of sight when I'm showin'
Man, I keep it goin', damn, I keep it flowin'
I find a show rhyme 'til it's time to go
I'm designed to blow my mind's inclined to flow
Yo, my MO makin' all kind of dough
From the info that Rakim show, you know
I find a show rhyme 'til it's time to go
I'm designed to blow my mind's inclined to flow
Yo, my MO makin' all kind of dough
From the info that Rakim show, you know
Accurate tactics make 'em clap to this
When I move the crowd, my rhythm still don't miss
Breeze through melodies 'cause it's been a long time
My lyrics is fury and rappers hate to hear me rhyme
Every antidote that I quote is no joke
Nobody's smilin' in the ghetto from the notes I wrote
My high techniques wreck and disrespect beats
Have you follow in the leader, up and down the streets?
So kick along as I rip a song with pull
As the rhyme goes on I get paid in full
It's Rakim, I'm indicatin' rhymes for the showin'
Check it out y'all, I keep it goin' when I'm flowin'
I find a show rhyme 'til it's time to go
I'm designed to blow my mind's inclined to flow
Yo, my MO makin' all kind of dough
From the info that Rakim show, you know
I find a show rhyme 'til it's time to go
I'm designed to blow my mind's inclined to flow
Yo, my MO makin' all kind of dough
From the info that Rakim show, you know
Straight up, Rakim Allah
The fiend of the microphone still flowin'
You know, one love to [Incomprehensible]
Comin' through your livin' room soon, straight up
[Incomprehensible] one love, the whole tri-state
One love, Rakim Allah, baby, you know

If I lay low and let the day go, it'll slow my payroll
Aye yo, I'm a terrorize charge and slay shows
Ra slay flows go as far as the Barbados
On the turntable, sound like tornadoes
My style is performed like tropical storms
You're not to get on, the whole spot will get torn
I keep the metropolitan hollerin' and bring the dollars in
Keep the models followin', wise as king Solomon
Come slow through the jungle like an animal
Invade any land, I go like General Hannibal
From Long Island to Queens light up the New York scenes
All the way to New Orleans and everything in between
Left to go, bless a show in Mexico
Next thing I know it's extra cold, I see Eskimo's
It's time to rock, get it hot soon as I get in there
Spit in they ear, so flow they froze and I disappear
It's a must that I bust any mic that you hand to me
It's inherited, it runs in the family
It's a must that I bust any mic that you hand to me
It's inherited, it runs in the family
They said I was ahead of my time or either here before
To see the idea clear it takes a year or more
Now times that by the years, I reign straight seven
No hear for four years, still multiplied by eleven
The silence's a set back make 'em regret that
One way to get back is violence and wet cats
But hold your head black or I'll never rap again
Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in
Now that was two years ago and if cats start interfering'
Then I'ma go back to the gat and racketeerin'
My sabotage is camouflage and espionage
You ain't havin' Ra so don't test the God
I'm takin' all orders, I can't afford extorter's
I hit 'em in the head with a hundred dollars in quarters
So warn a friend, tell 'em it's on again
If it's a freestyle bust in a park I want in
It's a must that I bust any mic that you hand to me
It's inherited, it runs in the family
It's a must that I bust any mic that you hand to me
It's inherited, it runs in the family
I managed to get paid for a decade, now add three years on to that
Perform with a knack, yes I was born to rap
The mic, Lebanon Teflon don is back
I strike with better bombs and armed to attack
So reload the van, go ahead, let 'em in
Every tour's a war and I'm on the road again
Surprise a town, the place it's live and loud
We vibin' now, I go wild and dive in the crowd
Never hit the ground, they catch me and carry me around
Then put me right back on stage to shut it down
From New York to Cali, Japan and I-tali
I'm known as the microphone Muhammad Ali
I'm worldwide, my brothers be biggin' me up
Keep the girls occupied lovin', diggin' me what
Ain't around, when I come to town they mad glad
Like Saddam, they even say I'm the bomb in Baghdad
It's a must that I bust any mic that you hand to me
It's inherited, it runs in the family
It's a must that I bust any mic that you hand to me
It's inherited, it runs in the family
It's a must that I bust any mic that you hand to me
It's inherited, it runs in the family
It's a must that I bust any mic that you hand to me

Yo Rakim, what's up?
Yo, I'm doing the knowledge, E., man I'm trying to get paid in full
Well, check this out, since Norby Walters is our agency, right?
True
Kara Lewis is our agent, word up
Zakia and 4th and Broadway is our record company, indeed
Okay, so who we rollin' with then? We rollin' with Rush
Of Rushtown Management
Check this out, since we talking over
This def beat right here that I put together
I wanna hear some of them def rhymes, you know what I'm sayin'?
And together, we can get paid in full
Thinkin' of a master plan
'Cuz ain't nuthin' but sweat inside my hand
So I dig into my pocket, all my money is spent
So I dig deeper but still comin' up with lint
So I start my mission, leave my residence
Thinkin' how could I get some dead presidents
I need money, I used to be a stick-up kid
So I think of all the devious things I did
I used to roll up, this is a hold up, ain't nuthin' funny
Stop smiling, be still, don't nuthin' move but the money
But now I learned to earn 'cuz I'm righteous
I feel great, so maybe I might just
Search for a nine to five, if I strive
Then maybe I'll stay alive
So I walk up the street whistlin' this
Feelin' out of place 'cuz, man, do I miss
A pen and a paper, a stereo, a tape of
Me and Eric B, and a nice big plate of
Fish, which is my favorite dish
But without no money it's still a wish
'Cuz I don't like to dream about gettin' paid
So I dig into the books of the rhymes that I made
So now to test to see if I got pull
Hit the studio, 'cuz I'm paid in full
Rakim, check this out, yo
You go to your girl house and I'll go to mine
'Cause my girl is definitely mad
'Cause it took us too long to do this album
Yo, I hear what you're saying
So let's just pump the music up
And count our money
Yo, well check this out, yo Eli
Turn down the bass down
And let the beat just keep on rockin'
And we outta here
Yo, what happened to peace?

I was a fiend before I became a teen
I melted microphone instead of cones of ice cream
Music orientated so when hip-hop was originated
Fitted like pieces of puzzles, complicated
'Cause I grabbed the mic and try to say, " Yes y'all!"
They tried to take it, and say that I'm too small
Cool, 'Cause I don't get upset
I kick a hole in the speaker, pull the plug, then I jet
Back to the lab ...without a mic to grab
So then I add all the rhymes I had
One after the other one, then I make another one
To dis the opposite then ask if the brother's done
I get a craving like I fiend for nicotine
But I don't need a cigarette, know what I mean?
I'm raging, ripping up the stage and
Don't it sound amazing 'cause every rhyme is made and
Thought of, Cuz it's sort of... an addiction,
Magnatized by the mixing
Vocals, vocabulary, your verses, you're stuck in
The mic is a drano, volcanoes erupting,
Rhymes overflowing, gradually growing
Everything is written in code, so it can coin-
cide, my thoughts to guide,
48 tracks to slide
The invincible, microphone fiend Rakim
Spread the word, 'cause I'm in
E-F-F-E-C-T
A smooth operator operating correctly,
But back to the problem, I gotta habit,
You can't solve it, silly rabbit
The prescription is a hypertone that's thorough when
I fiend for a microphone like herion
Soon as the bass kicks, I need a fix
Gimme a stage and a mic and a mix
And I'll put you in a mood or is it a state of
unawareness? Beware, it's the reanamator!
A menace to a microphone, a lethal weapon
An assasinator, if the people ain't stepping
You see a part of me that you never seen
When I'm fiending for a microphone, I'm the microphone fiend...
(Verse 2:)
After 12, I'm worse that a Gremlin
Feed me Hip-hop and I start trembling
The thrill of suspense is intense, your horrified
But this ain't the cinemas of "Tales From the Darkside",
By any means neccesary, this is what has to be done
Make way 'cause here I come...
My DJ cuts material...
Grand imperial.
It's a must that I bust any mic you're hand to me,
It's inherited, it's runs in the family
I wrote the rhyme that broke the bull's back,
If that don't slow 'em up, I carry a full pack.
Now I don't want to have to let off, you should of kept off
You didn't keep the stage warm, step off!
Ladies and Gentleman, You're about to see
A pasttime hobby about to be
Take it to the maximum, I can't relax see, I'm
Hype as a hyperchrondriac 'cause the rap be one-
Hell of a antidote, something you can't smoke
More than dope, you're trying to move away but you can't, you're broke
More than cracked up, you should have backed up
For those who act up need to be more than smacked up
Any entertainer, I got a torture chamber
One on one and I'm the remainder!
So close your eyes and hold your breath,
And I'm a hit'cha wit the blow of death
Before you go, you'll remember you seen
The fiend of a microphone, I'm the microphone fiend

yeah
(it don't stop)
yeah
check it out
(it don't stop)
come on
we love to flirt
to chase the skirts
get to know who we are
girls in the park
'cause when we in the club
we keep it extra hot
they love the whips the chicks
the neighborhood superstars
boys on the block
thugs in the hood we don't never stop
never stop
i go where the masses go
we all act natural
think rational
those ____ some blow(?)
cats have to know
master your craft
stash your dough
stay on the low
but never be the last to know
the next level or plateau be international
the grass'll grow
you know
cash'll flow
ask a pro
do the math
get it fast or slow
your girl's passin gold like a fashion show
the sun'll shine
make it feel like the summertime
shorty's runnin' blind
lookin like they just done a crime
click's want they pockets thick
cop a ___
proper chick
street scholarships
politic your dollars quick(?)
____ we __
'cause we was the first in the pack
they say " herb's a trap"
now it's worse than that
so i observe the __
let my words attack
until it ___ the rap
until the earth collapsed
-Chorus-
you know it seem like life's just begun
my lust is young
i wanna find me a lovely hon
crush me one
bust a _
mouth to mouth resuscitation
let her hug
and when i'm done
tongue touch me 'til i'm numb
but first the outcome is income and then some
get enough to run and spend some for fun
then me and my thugs
we come in the club
we swung lovely
watch how big the buzz be
trust me son
every ghetto got game in it
fame in it
we remain in it
waitin for the main event
like the days on the corner
we watch the world go by
on the nights that wasn't right
like when a good friend died
yo the street's got a deadly hum
like a drug
we gotta find a way to fill the neighborhood with love
from the park to the block
to your favorite spot
it don't stop
-Chorus-
i spend the prowl(?)
i been on since a child
it don't make sense to browse
it's intensive now
women in crowds
i search for the gem in the ___
who stay original
even when the friends around
since her style
always commands a smile
and her femme fatale
cause men to growl
i take precedent of principle(?)
then arouse(?)
still the treasure is rakim
the smooth criminal
damn, it's on
keep my hands on
this amazon
legs for marathons
voice like sarah vaughan
precise, alright
i like when her ___ entice
with a spice of life
flow times twice as nice
and when she go shop
the show stop
shock the whole block
she so hot
i clothes shop
put it on lock
body that won't drop
bounce like hip-hop
it don't stop

Rakim the microphone soloist
Follow procedures the crowd couldn't wait to see this
Nobody been this long awaited since Jesus
Who wouldn't believe this I heard the word on the street is
I'm still one of the deepest on the mic since Adidas
They said I changed the times from the rhymes that I thought of
So I made some more to put the New World in Order
With Mathematics, put your status above the average
And help you rappers, make paragraphs with graphics
'Cause new days is dawnin', new ways of peformin'
Brain stormin', I write and watch the night turn to mornin'
On and on and, I got the whole world respondin'
Rock, I keep it hot and blow the spot without warnin'
The Emperor, well known for, inventin' a sentence
Full of adventure, turnin' up the temperature
Rush with adrenaline, how long has it been again
To be in the state of min'd that Rakim is in?
Rakim, the microphone soloist
When I'm out proppin', either, hangin' or shoppin'
People see me stop and ask me when the album droppin'
The wait is over, information like a soldier
Like I told ya, greater stronger, now that I'm older
I broke the, code of silence with overloads of talents
My only challenge, is not to explode in violence
I'm Asiatic, and blazin' microphones a habit
At least once durin' the course of a day, it's automatic
In ghetto apparel, mind of a Egyptian Pharaoh
Far from shallow, thoughts travel like an arrow
Allah's monotony, so far they can't stop me
You know, Ra want property like Mumar Khadafi
More thoughts than Bibles, recital, taught disciples
A sawed off mic, so words scatter like a rifle
Thoughts that's trifle, I'm bustin' these for you
Aiyyo, technical difficulties is through
Rakim, the microphone soloist
Rakim, the microphone soloist
Rakim, the microphone soloist
When I float at night, I show 'em new heights, I go to write
They know I strike with new prototypes to blow the mic
Critics and biters, don't know where my source of light is
Still leave authors and writers with arthritis
Cursed kids like the Pyramids when they found the style
First to ever let a rhyme flow down the Nile
The rebirth of hip-hop'll be dropped now
'Cause the crowd didn't hear the original in a while
So be alarmed, what you 'bout to see is the bomb
Like, 3-D in' 'Nam, vivid like CD-Rom
Info kept like "Internet.com"
My notebook's my bond like the Holy Quran
Since I came in the door, said it before
But no I ain't down with Eric B no more
At night the open mic be invitin' me to rhyme
So yo I'm online, it's been a long time
Rakim, the microphone soloist

The man above been talking to me
He said he understands my view
He's always walking with me
Cause he sees what I've been through
When the world starts kicking me around
All in my face, make me want to put 'em down
Trying to earn, trying to learn, trying to love like a man
Sometimes it feels like it's out of my hands-
I'm from the hood that's forever sinning
Where life is took for granted here so death is winning
Nothing but blues around, feels like we're losing out
Times that spent in this environment confuse a child
As a juvenile I ran wild I ran out of blessings
Been in and out of prison as an adolescent
My goal was getting it, til something said to turn my life around
Redirect my hustle, and go legitimate
Til I get corporate and invest fortunes
With exec bosses sitting behind a desk at the office
I'm left jobless, nobody hiring ex-convicts
That don't mean I'm less conscious
It's so hard when they close doors
And when you looking like a so-called hip hoppa you get nada
Stereotyped, scarred for life stigmata
But still a kid's gotta get a dolla
I tackle choices every day that's hopeless
I hear a voice saying "stay focused"
Fast money, cars, and broads will mislead you
Love backwards here is evol but it's legal
Multi-task I make a fortune faster
Keep rhymin til I'm climbing up the corporate ladder
In my community, you've gotta go out of your way if you're out to get paid
Than back up and wait for opportunity
I try not to blame society
I eat my pride cause I know deep inside it's me
But not entirely, when a man try to live righteously
And propriety turn to anxiety
I thought I paid back the system when I stayed in prison
Left the stripes, see what success is like
But the way they set the price
You spent your childhood in the wild hood
You're in debt for life
I figured out what was talking with me
When I do right I feel him walking with me
So I'm adamant, some call it arrogance
I can cope it cause I know I'm broke for having sense
But my back's against the wall, it's getting rough to get a buck
In a job with a minimum wage won't get enough
Faced with giving up, and my lady friend's beefing,
Ends ain't meeting, we just an argument away from splitting up
It gets lonely, my fam disowned me
Called me the black sheep cause I act street
Yea it's that deep, I tried to change clicks
Homies flipped on me cause I don't hang; we have beef
But I'm at peace so that cease, at least
I ain't got no ties on my Porsche ride
And no time for no crime, knowing that the most high
Is watching with a close eye
They say I'm from the hood