I Am Hip Hop

Wassup, y'all?

This Asheru

'08 'til infinity

I'm out here in Paris right now

Well, it's a beautiful day, man

Made me think about how dope hip-hop is

That we can get together and do things like this

Across the pond, you know what I mean?

Sharper than your cutting edge

Quicker than your stunner, gah

You can't see him, so when I saw

You oughta run, run, run

The faceless, nameless, invisible man

Master builder with state-of-the-art plans

Plus a list of demands for you to follow

I really can list up is hard for you to swallow

Last of a dyin' breed, soon to be extinct

'Cause we man-up, stand up and sing what people think

Use words like the colours on my palate

Keep my mind like smackin' on a mallet

And hold court with the populous

Metropolitan man of the metropolis

If anything, it's obvious

That I'm a man of many passions

Many talents, I wear

Many hats, many pairs of New Balance

I travel many places, right

Many shows, many ladies scream, "Ow"

Many fellas yell, "Ho"

You don't understand, I am hip-hop

And everything I do, I breathe beat-box

I am rock and roll

A child of blues and soul

So fluently, yes I'm just doin' me

And you don't understand

This my everyday

The way I think, dress and act, it's the things I say

This ain't poppin' top 40

It's hip-hop, shorty

So fluently, yes I'm just doin' me, me

Intellectual me in there

I'm filled with ideas like gems, that're so rare

A diamond so clear you can see your reflection

Let me light your path, you point out the delection

And I can take you there, not a problem

It's hard to find a dope MC, **** are starvin'

Yet I'm the food that they need in the worst way

Like Jesus breakin' fast on the forty-first day

Here's for all you fakin' and frontin'

Dime-a-dozen rap dudes that ain't sayin' nothin'

Yo, you better learn survival of the fittest

Only the strong survive, the weak just bear witness

Come and take it from the sidelines

Couldn't play the game 'cause you couldn't follow the guidelines

And then you say: "What is this?"

Guerilla-ass game boy, I handle my business

You don't understand, I am hip-hop

And everything I do, I breathe beat-box

I am rock and roll

A child of blues and soul

So fluently, yes I'm just doin' me

And you don't understand

This my everyday

The way I think, dress and act, it's the things I say

This ain't poppin' top 40

It's hip-hop, shorty

So fluently, yes I'm just doin' me, me

Passport pro

Airport aficionado

Ora oracato

Time travellin', round unravellin'

My autobiography, my everyday happenin's

My exhale, stresser, deeply breathe life in

Whole, done the show solo with no hype men

I get so hyped when a new song is typed

And the trio eight hundred, my fingers are grease lightnin'

The rap game is truly triflin'

To possibly not be heard is truly frightenin'

Sometimes when I think these whack dudes just might win

I calm the ****, stick the fork and knife in

So why all attention in the drama's hackin' in

I shine so bright, you're forced to let the light in

Black man in America, no hyphen

With no bleach, no sweeten, and no whitenin'

You don't understand, I am hip-hop

And everything I do, I breathe beat-box

I am rock and roll

A child of blues and soul

So fluently, yes I'm just doin' me

And you don't understand

This my everyday

The way I think, dress and act, it's the things I say

This ain't poppin' top 40

It's hip-hop, shorty

So fluently, yes I'm just doin' me, me

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh

JS, with the Jazz Liberatorz

You know what I'm sayin'

This joint right here takin' me back

To the '80s with my grand-dad

And his Lincoln Continental stretched out piece

Leather seats, ridin', listenin' to that Miles Davis jazz

You know what I'm sayin'

I wanna give a special shout-out to all the dudes out there

Puttin' out good music, you know what I'm sayin'

Like Lone Catalysts and Jazz Libs

You know what I'm sayin'

My man 88-Keys, he puts it down

My man Geology, he definitely does the thing

So Scientific, always bringin' the hotness

You know what I'm sayin'

Pa Contin and Nat Dante Mood

Definitely Talib Kweli

DJ High Tek bangin' 'em

Mally Mall

Pete Rock, definitely

DJ Premier

Uh, holdin' it down all day

Declaime, you know what I'm sayin'

West coast love, yeah, yeah

Madlib, oh no

Them is all my cast

Bringin' you good music

You know what I'm sayin'

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Can't forget my man Mos Def the mighty, damn

Yeah, legend in the game, uh, yeah, yeah

KRS, Rock Coon, Big Daddy Kane

All the legends