verse 1
I used to wanna rock the mic like mc lyte
and say that salt n pepa nice what my mic sounds like
I used to write to beats rhymes and life tribe tracks
Trapper keeper kept the rhymes organized in my back pack
pen in my pockets, old school mixtapes stayed in my walkman
recognized the samples, from the soul joint played in the days I was crawlin
and to the boom bap I was raised into walkin

hat to the back, one overall strap
on the tlc tip with the condom eye patch
I catch the rhyme scheme studying the greats
Freestyle to the beats/ boogie down to the breaks
Whether doin the butt or the humpty hump
Or writin fresh on my knock off reebok pumps
Just a youngen in the culture that the people called a gimmic
A trendy epidemic we’d be through with in a minute

Hook
And as a shorty i was in it just to mimic
Did the knowledge gained the wisdom got addicted and committed
Joined the lineage of poets, activists and musicians
To the rhythm are!
Now that im grown a little bit I represent it
Stay attentive to the culture and the conflicts that’s within it
Good and bad I don’t defend it, live and give it to descendents
Let em know that they are!
{sample says} young gifted black

Verse 2
my generation is the ripening fruit
Picked for the feast to give the people all a bite of the truth
cores carrying the seeds that will enliven in the youth
And then return to dirt to strengthen up and widen the roots
That been growin since the 60s
sprouts germinated during great migrations at the turn of the century
strange fruit harvest, rotten,
and bloody bodies hangin from the branches had the soil all sodden
trod into our souls by the word of the authors
and spread through the songs that were heard from the marchers
blues from the jook plus the gospel from the churches
made the music for the movement that was more than lip service
inspiration for the living and the mourning for the murdered
made its way through the airwaves and everybody heard it
till the system tried to crush it pushed it underneath the surface
where it bubbled underground and in the 80s it erupted

Bridge
the fashion and the function
the flashin and the stuntin
the taking what they said we couldn’t have but always wanted
from nothing to abundant
the styles that we come up with
the voice of revolution and conspicuous consumption
the window to our world that everybody used to peek in
the mirror of our selves and the conditions that we be in
like the old slave hymns with hidden messages of freedom
backspun and cross faded so we could receive em

Hook…
And as a shorty i was in it just to mimic
Did the knowledge gained the wisdom got addicted and committed
Joined the lineage of poets, activists and musicians
To the rhythm are!
Now that im grown a little bit I represent it
Stay attentive to the culture and the conflicts that’s within it
Good and bad I don’t defend it, live it give it to descendents
Let em know that they are!
{samples says} young gifted black