Lyrics
In the beginning I was just a kid, listenin' to Slick RickMaestro Fresh Wes, Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh PrinceI would rewrite the lyrics and recite 'em to my best friendsBut I was just a copycat and this was just a hobby thatWould probably pass after I'd exhausted all my sloppy rapsAnd got the laughs I was after, typical little bastardPrivileged middle-class mischievous little rascalWith a ticket to sit in the back row at a rap showI listened to Fat Joe, Method Man, and B. I. G.And imagined livin' as a V. I. P.Though I didn't have a plan, just a fantasyBut I could still pass exams with ease and plant treesTo get cash for books, tuition fees, and rap CDsAnd I had a chance to read classic Greek tragediesI've always been addicted to wordsSo I just immersed myself in English LiteratureBut I was immature, and these were fickle timesBetween classes I would listen to rhymes and findMy lips whispering lines as if in the backgroundThen at nineteen I wrote my first original rap down
I go back to the Genesis Eden GardenWhen I was a teen in love with freestylin'That's when I learned techniques for rhymin'And started redesignin'
I can still feel that prickle of initial excitementI figured, "It's official y'all; this is enlightenment!"I pictured myself cypherin' with the likes of Big PunWhippin' punks into submission with a flip of the tongueI did it for fun; I was ambitious and irreverentI figured I was clever enough to get the betterOf any competitor, 'cause I was verbally first rateMy early verses were based on discursive wordplayWith no breaks, no separated parts, no bars, no hooksJust page after page past the margins of notebooksSo far so good; I built my skills graduallyAnd kept on track with the bachelor's degreeActually, I considered droppin' out to get respectBut I figured more options would mean less regretsAnd besides, some rappers were comin' differentlyI discovered Blackalicious and Talib KweliMCs who could rip the beat descriptivelyAnd then in my second season I had this epiphany"Rap is poetry!" and ever since I've represented itOpenly through my position as an academic
I go back to the Genesis Eden GardenWhen I was a teen in love with freestylin'That's when I learned techniques for rhymin'And started redesignin'
So the next semester I convinced my teachersThat hip-hop lyrics would be my thesis researchI thought I would be the first to study it in depthReality check; the library indexAlready had a long list of hip-hop scholarshipSteps that I followed in; David Foster Wallace andTricia Rose and Brian Cross got acknowledgementsAnd props; they taught me hip-hop historyAnd I started to approach this culture realisticallyAnd the next step for me in this MC trajectoryWas for me to freestyle obsessivelyOn road trips I was a motor-mouth motoristI learned to flow sick on a solo tipRockin' Dr. Dre beats - XxplosiveI was blowin' doors open; people started listenin'Hip-hop for me was a form of disciplineBorn Again on the discman, studyin' flowsWhadaya know? When I was just twenty years old I hit the tracks runnin' my mouth like a bloody noseAnd took my first steps down this long dusty road
Baba Brinkman
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