renaissance 20
1-2, 1-2, girl you could hear me?
1-2, turn me up
I've been a threat since Benetton, Gazelles and Ballys
The icon and graffiti in the Brooklyn alley
Touch hearts of the pharaohs in the Egypt valley
My engineer can't see me 'cause the booth is cloudy
Still rowdy even though we in BMs and Audis
Looking like black Saudis in black Denalis
I'ma terrorist attack when I get on the track
If I'm ridin' shotgun, I need one in my lap
I adapt to any habitat, a BK desert rat
It's war, then we sendin' back bodies and gats
Put up your white flag homie, it get worse than Iraq
We know the CIA game was to frame us with crack
So each bar is more dope, heroin in my pen
Got 'em mobbin', back robbin', head noddin' again
Who you shit on to get on top could make it pop in the end
Who's a flop and what's hot got you locked in the gym
Tell Jacob I spit jewels, I could drop him a gem
And if he lookin' for a diamond I could hook 'em with Timb'
I'm Hip Hop before Sugar Hill signed a deal
Before Studio 54 poppin' pills
It was real when Kool Herc worked the wheels of steel
Now we bring the game back into a New York feel
I'm Hip Hop before Sugarhill signed a deal
Before Studio 54 poppin' pills
I'm Hip Hop (since EPMD - "You Gots to Chill")
I'm Hip Hop (since Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill)
I'm Christopher Wallace with street knowledge, apostle of the projects
Sneaker boxes with the g-packs stuffed in a G's closet
I'm tenement buildings, cement streets
I'm British Walkers, I'm scuff marks on your brand new Ellesse
5% Nation of Godbodies, greeting with peace
I'm raw like Kane, my lyrics are formed in solid rock
Spit it hotter than '86 on drug infested blocks
Last photo of Pac before his Beamer got shot
I'm the Queens, one man Supreme Team, triple beam dream
Microphone cream fiend, top five dead or alive
I'm so amazing, 2-5 costra nostra
Heart of this culture, the game ain't over
I'm the truce troop war reporter, legal life stick you
Against All Odds, not the ordinary shit you used to
I'm C-Murder before the life sentence
Predicate felons, homicide chasin' niggas; hoppin' over benches
I'm Hip Hop before Sugar Hill signed a deal
Before Studio 54 poppin' pills
It was real when Kool Herc worked the wheels of steel
Now we bring the game back into a New York feel
I'm Hip Hop
The best, oh yes, I guess, suggest the rest ya fess
I'm Tribe Quest, I'm Moe Dee 'Wild West'
Treach, Naughty, Jazz Jeff, Slick Rick, I'm Doug Fresh
I'm Def, I'm Canibus before he met Wyclef
Original, I don't bite, I don't need nobody to ghostwrite
Kool G Rap strike the mic, I recite the type of hype that you like
I'm Sweetback, I'm Uptown Saturday Night
I'm Black Caesar, I'm Rudy Ray Moore, Dolemite
I'm an assassin rappin'
I'm Grand Wizzard Theodore when he invented scratchin'
I'm Wu-Tang Killa Bee, epitome of Public Enemy
Gambling, hustling like Smoothe and Trigger be bitter, b
Bums diggedy-diggedy, Das literally
I'm Pun in the middle of Little Italy, didn't do diddly
Didn't he listen to me, I'm all good, I'm hood
I'm Ice Cube before he turned soft and went Hollywood
I'm Poetic from Gravediggaz, I'm ODB
I'm HeadQCourterz, I'm Ted Demme, I'm Paul C
If I ain't better than Big, I'm the closest
I'm Richard Pryor before multiple sclerosis
I'm beef, I'm gold teeth, peace
Mantronix, Stetasonic, Symbolic, Bambaataa, Soul Sonic
I'm Dre 'the Chronic', Melodic with logic Islamic
A poverty prophet, economy robbery, cock it
I probably properly drop it, it gotta be honesty
Opposite a novelty, 'Rockit', I Herbie Hancock-it
I'm Onyx Throwin' Ya Gun, I'm Funky 4 + 1