I Do It For Hip Hop (feat. Nas & JAY-Z)

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

Yeah

Now this is what they call poetry in motion

My soul bleeds on the paper, heart screams with emotion

It's my daily devotion, that verses stay deeper than the ocean

So hip hop you owe me a promotion

Yeah, I do a little boasting and bragging

What's all the commotion and nagging about?

'Cause I'm still the champ in the South?

'Cause rappers get in the booth and I keep dragging 'em out?

Well they're fired, and the pink slips, I'm handing 'em out

'Cause this is, Theater of the Mind, consider it a sign

Of what's to come next, my money's just fine

Bank filled with dumb checks, terrorist threat flow

Proceed to drop bombs like Mr. Funk Flex

But I don't do it for the money, I do it from the heart

I'll do it with the beat box, I did it from the start

I do it for the DJs, I do it for the charts

The Van Gogh flow, Luda do it 'cause it's art

I do it for the fans, I do it on command

I do it for the front row, I do it for the stands

I spit it for the hood, I do it for the block

And since nine years old, I did it for hip hop, so

I don't do it for the cars and the fancy drops

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

And I don't do it for the chains and the flashing rocks

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

Uhh, uhh, uh

They say I'm so low key, I'm socially awkward

Only **** who really know me, who I talk with

They smile in the light, hate in the dark

You call it beef, to me, it's just a fucking walk in the park

'Cause you are who you are when nobody's looking

That's who you are, so when the cash and the cars is gone

The day after tomorrow, don't be asking to borrow

Ski mask it hard, like the way you rap in your bars

I can ride on you and whoever, devise new endeavors

I'm as live as a hive full of predators

Twenty thousand different species of bees

Some have poisonous stings, some just pollen they leave

It's like rap, some just buzz, some will attack

Compromise they own life, in fact

Sixteen years since my first sixteen

Pardon the rest of my ****

But I'm the best who ever did it

I don't do for the cars and the fancy drops

Uh, I do it for hip hop

Yeah, I do it for hip hop

Uh, I do it for hip hop

And I don't do it for the chains and the flashing rocks

(Why we do it kid?) I do it for hip hop

Yeah, I do it for hip hop

Uh, I do it for hip hop

Hip hop, it started out in the park

We used to do it to avoid the Narcs

I used to do it so the homeboy Clark

Could get the fuck off my back

While I knocked off these packs

I used to rap to impress my friends

To pass the time while I was getting it in

Just so happens, I'm so illegal with the pen

They ain't want me doing anything illegal again

I lost a lot of dogs to these streets

I got Grammy Awards on these beats

Thank God for Kool Herc

Without this shit, I probably would'a got murked

Shout out to Grandmaster Flash and to Caz

And even Jaz bum ass

Hip hop helped me wash my rocks

These other rappers couldn't wash my socks

That's why I took the number one slot

The realest shit in rap comes from my voice box

Lord knows when I was on my clock

I prolly never woulda stopped

Thank God for hip hop

I don't do it for them cars and the fancy drops

Uh, I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

And I don't do it for the chains and the flashing rocks

Come on, I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

Now this is what they call poetry in motion

Now this is what they call poetry in motion

Now this is what they call poetry in motion

I do it for the fans

Now this is what they call poetry in motion

I do it for the front row

I do it for the stands

I don't do it for them cars and the fancy drops

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

And I don't do it for the chains and the flashing rocks

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop

I do it for hip hop