According to some of my kids, Weezy is the best rapper out right now. I’ll concede that he has some pretty decent lyrics, but he raps like he’s constipated. Not constipated with rhymes, just constipated. That’s a minor drawback for me. Comparing him, then, to Ice Cube, well, there is no comparison. Cube had the lyrics, the delivery, and the voice. Especially the voice. As one friend said to me, you could already hear the actor. On no song is this more evident than Once Upon A Time In The Projects. Far from just being a song, this could practically be a skit on a comedy show. The only thing that separates this from a Niggas Bleed-level of excellence is that this doesn’t have the hook at the end that just totally blows me out. The eye for detail here, though, is magnificent.
Once upon a time in the projects, yo
I damn near had to wreck a ho
I knocked on the door - “Who is it?”
It’s Ice Cube, come to pay a little visit to ya
And what’s up with the niggers in the parking lot
She said fuck em, cause they get sparked alot
I sat on the couch but it wasn’t stable
and then I put my Nikes on the coffee table
Her brother walked in he’s into gangbangin
cause he walked up and said “what set you claimin”
I don’t bang I write the good rhymes
The whole scenery reminded me of Good Times
I hate to feel bad but I’m in a rut
by a young nigga that needs to pull his pants up
Her mother came in with a joint in her mouth
and fired up the sess it was sess no doubt
She said please excuse my house and all that
I said yeah cause I was buzzed from the contact
Lookin at a fucked up black and white
her mom’s bitchin cause the county check wasn’t right
She had another brother that was three years old
and had a bad case of the runny nose
He asked me who I was then I had to pause
It smelled like he took a shit in his little drawers
I saw her sister that needs get her ass kicked
only thirteen and already pregnant
I grabbed the forty out the bag and took a swig
cause I was getting overwhelmed by BeBe Kids
They were runnin and playin and cursin and yellin
and tellin and look at this young punk bailin
I heard a knock on the door without the password
and her mom’s got the 12 guage Mossberg
The nigga said “yo, what’s for sale”
and the bitch came out with a bag of ya-yo
She made the drop and got the 20 dollars
from a smoked out fool with ring around the collar
The girl I was waiting for came out
I said BITCH I DIDN’T KNOW THIS WAS A CRACK HOUSE
I got my coat and SUDDENLY …
(police breaking into house annoucing themselves)
The cop busted in and had a Mac-10 pointed to my dome
and I said to myself once again it’s on
He threw me on the carpet no slap jumped back
stomped on my head and put his knee in my back
First he tried to wrap me up, slap me up, rough me up
They couldn’t do it so they cuffed me up
I said FUCK how much abuse can a nigga take
Hey yo officer you’re making a big mistake
Since I had on a shirt that said I was dope
He thought I was selling base and couldn’t hear my case
He said get out my face I musta had a grudge
His reply tell that bullshit to the judge
The girl I was with wasn’t sayin nothin
I said AIYYO BITCH you better tell em SOMETHIN
She started draggin and all of a sudden
we all got tossed in the patty wagon
Now I beat the rap but that ain’t the point
I had a warrant so I spent 2 weeks in the joint
Now the story you heard has one little object
DON’T FUCK WITH A BITCH FROM THE PROJECTS!
Quite simply one of the most powerful verses I’ve ever heard.
I don’t recall, ever graduatin at all
Sometimes I feel I’m just a disappointment to y’all
Every day, I just lay around then I can’t be found
Always asked to give me some livin life like a bum
Times is rough, my auntie got enough problems of her own
Nigga, you supposed to be grown
I agree, I try to be the man I’m ‘posed to be
But negativity is all you seem to ever see
I admit, I’ve done some dumb shit
And I’m probably gon do some mo’
You shouldn’t hold that against me though (Why not?)
Why not? My music’s all that I got
But some time must be ingested for this to be manifested
I know you know but I’m gon say this to you I…
Get high but I don’t get too high
So what’s the limit ‘posed to be?
That must be why you can’t get your ass up out the bed before three
You need to git up, git out, cut that bullshit out
Ain’t you sick and tired of having to do without
And what up with all these questions?
As act as though you know somethin I don’t. Do you have any suggestions?
Cuz every job I get is cruel and demeanin
Sick of takin trash out and toilet bowl cleanin
But I’m also sick and tired of strugglin
I never ever thought I’d have resort to drug smugglin
Naw, that ain’t what I’m about
Cee-lo will just continue travelin this route
Without any doubt or fear
I know the Lord ain’t brought me this far so he could drop me off here
Did I make myself clear?
Seven. Surprised I made it this long without mentioning this artist or this song, let alone this verse. But it’s fitting for the 7th run, since the number seven is oh-so-prominent in this verse. Sevens abound, but this was the first verse that I remember really knocking me out. I mean, I had heard other verses I liked, but this one right here? I was staggered.
I’m not a regular competitor, first rhyme editor
Melody arranger, poet, et cetera
Extra events, the grand finale like bonus
I am the man they call the microphonist
With wisdom which means wise words bein spoken
Too many at one time watch the mic start smokin
I came to express the rap I manifest
Stand in my way and I’ll lead a ??? words protest
MC’s that wanna beat this they’re gonna
Be dissed if they don’t get from in fronta
All they can go get is me a glass of Moet
A hard time, sip your juice and watch a smooth poet
I take 7 MC’s put em in a line
And add 7 more brothas who think they can rhyme
Well, it’ll take 7 more before I go for mine
And that’s 21 MC’s ate up at the same time
Easy does it, do it easy, that’s what I’m doin
No fessin, no messin around, no chewin
No robbin, no buyin, bitin, why bother
This slob’ll stop tryin fightin to follow
My unusual style will confuse you a while
If I was water, I flow in the Nile
So many rhymes you won’t have time to go for yours
Just because of a cause I have to pause
Right after tonight is when I prepare
To catch another sucka duck MC out there
Cos my strategy has to be tragedy, catastrophe
And after this you’ll call me your majesty
My melody…
My Melody - Eric B. & Rakim
I’m in the process of coming up with a list of remixes that totally crushed the album version. I can think of a few off the top of my head, one of which will only be on the list because a good friend of mine believes it to be so, but Give The People by EPMD is number one on the list. The album version, which basically jacks the track of “Give The People What They Want” by the O’Jays, is alright…it’s serviceable, but nothin spectacular. Especially being on the album, Business As Usual. But the Erick and Parrish mix, which is the version you hear on the video? Vintage Erick Sermon. Which means you hear UFO by LSG. Way, way, in the cut, under it all is the guitar lick from AWB’s School Boy Crush. And this time, they only used the best part of “Give The People.” This is what a remix is supposed to do — even without doing anything to the lyrics.
Speaking of which, Parrish’s first verse here strikes me as being particularly appropriate now.
As airwaves collapse rap shows at a standstill
Some racial circuits the frequencies can’t handle
The funk tracks produced by me and the E-D
But it’s a fat jam, that will never win a grammy
Unless we sellout and kill the black movement dead
Which means swallow our pride and become flunkies instead
And stop the rap about freedom, thoughts of a black president
And rap about a black crack, the mayor in our residence
Give me a break brothers, it’s time to take a stand
And kill that no sir, yes sir, and thank you ma’am
Cuz the word ‘if’ is a luxury a black man can’t afford
That’s why poverty’s on the rise and we still ignored
And it’s a setback and yet the clock still ticks
And if we let it, rap would be run by politics
I read it somewhere that every man’s created equal
But not in this day and age, maybe in the sequel
Which means next time, so observe these rhymes
And take a stand and go for yours cause I’m going for mine
That’s why I
Rage on Batman and Robin from Snoop’s Paid The Cost To Be The Bo$$
Yeah, when it’s beef in Gotham City I, gots to flip and
Hit ‘em with the POW! BAM! BIFF! Whoa
Pick up your lips, don’t trip, tie your shoelace
When I spit, I split it, turn Harvey Dent into Two-Face
Robin, I’m more than a sidekick, I’m more like the livest
They wanna go head up and collide
And like collision, hope your moms made provisions
See you ain’t got no wins baby, not even a smidgen
Mad hostility dealt, now I’ma really be felt
Switch on my utility belt, make yo’ facility melt
I go Mad on yo’ Hatter, watch yo’ whole shit splatter
Get, wicked on yo’ case like Detective Vanatter
So the, sayin goes, if you snooze you lose
Trust you do, me and Batman the Dynamic Two!
Gettin wicked on your case like Detective Vanatter? Really? I never copped her album, but on guest appearances? Rage was murder.
As I said some time ago, my two favorite emcees are Redman and Posdnuos. I ran a Redman verse not too long ago, so it’s time to rep for Pos. Only thing is, it’s so hard to pick just one. Plug 1 is to me what 2Pac is to a thug. If I made records, he is what I imagine I would sound like, both topically and in terms of the literal rhymes. Take this little piece from Down Syndrome, for instance. “just a form of protozoa tryin to cross them seas?” Are you serious?
I’m Plug One-of-a-kind, for you people’s delight
And for you sucker MC’s, step to your knees
Ain’t no second thoughts and all your thoughts are from Orion
I can tell that you a devil by them rhymes you’re designin
Your play doggin tactics can’t fuck with my facets
Just because you talk all that glock shit don’t mean you can rock shit!
Your identity’s on freeze
Just a form of protozoa tryin to cross them seas
