Remember hip hop?

Do you really?

How could I forget?

Remember, one two

Keep it simple, I try to do that

But when I keep it simple it sounds like something's lacking

So I go back and listen to the track and do a few subtractions

Grab my pad and pen, write a new line, add it in, hmmmmm

I can't say that again, I already rhymed this word with that word

So this time I gotta find a new way to flip it

Is it that serious? I don't know

But I'm not trying to kick a bunch of freestyle flows

I'm trying to grow as an artist

Charisma and swagger, catch you off guard, I don't look like a rapper

Take my picture, I'm not trying to look hard

I never been behind bars or tagged train yards

With a marker or spray can in hand

I'm an emcee y'all, I am who I am

To whom it may concern

Remember back in the day

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I'm doing way back

This goes out to anybody

Lets give back

Microphone check, one two, what is this

It's friends vs. business and friends come first

I never thought this music would be lucrative

I didn't know if I was stupid or intuitive

Crazy, a little bit but maybe he's brilliant

Drawing the blueprint to build this as a little kid

When I was fifteen hip hop was a dream

Nobody voted for me to be the prom king or class president

I was a west coast resident

Moved to the east, hip hop was more prevalent

Living in New Jersey my junior year

High school drop-out, my future's unclear

Timberland boots yo, I couldn't play ball

I was at the record store, never catch me at the mall

Saving lunch money to buy fresh cassettes

That's why I stayed hungry to make the next step

No more nonsense, I'm taking rappers hostage

Sit them in seminars, teach them how to prosper

Throw away money on cars and jewelry

Whips and chains, that's appropriate slang

We become slaves to the idiosyncrasies

Of rap songs that they play on the radio frequencies

We all desire a higher position

Selfish ambition, it's a critical condition

You're not giving yourself a chance

Like jumping out a plane wearing parachute pants

It's all the right words with the wrong emphasis

Ignorance attacks, we become our own nemesis

I tell it how it is, remember how it was?

When I started rapping I did it for the love

No matter where you're from, wherever you're at

And wherever you go, yo, remember your path