Da Mystery of Chessboxin has been mentioned already a few times, but the opener bears mention:
Raw imma give it to ya, with no trivia
raw like cocaine straight from Bolivia
my hip hop will rock and shock the nation
like the Emancipation Proclamation
Good one
Torching and crakin’ and rhymin’ and stealin’
Robbin’ and raping - busting two in the ceiling
I’m wheeling’ - I’m dealin’ - I’m drinking, not thinking
Never cower, never shower - and I’m always stinking
Yo ho ho and a pint of Brass Monkey
And when my girlie shakes her hips - she sure gets funky
Skirt chasing, free basing - killing every village
We drink and rob and rhyme and pillage
I’ve been drinking my rum - a Def son of a gun
I fought the law and I cold won
Black Beard’s weak - Moby Dick’s on the tick
‘Cause I pull out the jammy and squeeze off six
My pistol is loaded - I shot Betty Crocker
Deliver Colonel Sanders down to Davey Jones’ locker
Rhymin’ and stealin’ in a drunken state
And I’ll be rockin’ my rhymes all the way to Hell’s gate
Rig, I was going to post that exact phrase, but for some reason forgot to. What a coincidence that out of his entire, awesome catalog, we would both think to post those two lines.
Cluricaun, I just reading that verse from chessboxin’ makes me immediately start bopping my head and reciting the rest from memory.
Biggirl, I just realized that my post may have seemed like I was nitpicking your memory of the lyrics; I was actually trying to playfully show you that I remember that song by heart too, and loved it. I was being playful. I am trying not to dick ride you too hard, but I didn’t know you were a hip hop fan, and for some reason it makes me happy.
The tool spinners
Cooking the full dinner
Killing the first born of lyrical Yul Brynners
– Jurassic 5, “Concrete Schoolyard”
I took no offense. I really do remember lyrics wrong all the time. For the longest I wondered if Willem DeFoe was gonna sue Nelly for Ride Wit Me. You know for:
If you wanna go and take a ride with me
Between Willem DeFoe and the Goldies. . .
If you wanna go and get high with me
Smoke an “L” in the back of the Benzee"
I don’t know a lot of rap, so I must say this thread has been very interesting and entertaining.
The best lyrical geniuses I know do their thing in Spanish, with Puerto Rican slang, so half the time I don’t even know what the fuck they’re on about (I’ve been comforted by the fact that some Puerto Ricans I know admit they don’t know what the fuck Calle 13 is on about.) But these are some of the best they offer that I reasonably understand, in a song whose title literally translates to ‘‘Without Chorus’’ and is essentially a brilliant few minutes of Calle 13 being amazing in a song they don’t even take very seriously.
My shitty non-native translation:
With your lyrics you think you’re so fine
And you spoke so beautifully to the public
Like the pink panther
You didn’t say anything
‘‘It’s that we the hip-hoppers are indoctrinated philanthropists
of cultural poetry only authorized to be understood by the educated.’’
Educated in what, in what?
You also eat steak
And have cornflakes with pancakes for breakfast
But I sing for the people, for all the world
So that those at home understand me
Popular pop for every race
For the mezcolanza, for the reggaetón, for the salsa
This is done with bread and dough
Rinsed with grease, direct to your stomach
Ok, and I have to include this one, because it’s funny. The premise of the song is hitting on an American girl in a club:
Who cares if you like Green Day?
Who cares if you like Coldplay?
This is direct, without stopping, one-way
I swear to you by law
Here all the Puerto Rican women know karate
She cooks with tomato sauce
Wets her rice with a little avocado
In order to produce a 14-carat ass
They lose a lot in translation, but these guys just blow my mind with their ability to be funny and smart and musical all at once.
Some of my favorites are from the great muMs da Schemer.
Somewhat in the vein of the last posted song… :eek: damn.
This song makes me uncomfortable and angry and sad and it made me think a whole lot. I can’t bring myself to listen to it for entertainment but it is so honest I keep remembering it. The “n word” is so vilified that I don’t know if I should even post this but censoring it would be ridiculous… I’m not sure if it’s a clever turn of phrase in the typical way but it is well written and well rapped so here you go!
A nigga write nigga in a lyric, expect the white boy to omit it,
The white boy spit it like he spit it,
Recite it to his friends who, by the way, ain’t niggas,
And say nigga, nigga, nigga, my favorite rapper did it,
And non-nigga friends got it with him,
Incorporate this lyric to their everyday living,
Until a black friend kinda hear it, just a tidbit,
He thinks Aw, forget it, its so insignificant and little,
The white boy sees this as a clearance, now its
Nigga, nigga, nigga, every single day,
And that little nigga nigga, thinks its okay,
And he’s the only nigga in this particular grade,
And it begins to phase him more each day,
The things they say went a little too far,
He couldn’t tell the difference between an a or er,
So they just keep going, saying nigga in his face,
There’s nothing he can do, he let it get away
Wale - the Kramer (it opens with that horrible racist rant by the title character)
In a less serious vein… the entirety of Lupe Fiasco’s “And He Gets the Girl.” Awesome.
Heh, I hate to sound like a nerd, but me too. 36 Chambers is one of my favorite albums of all time, in any genre, and that’s one of my favorite songs on it.
I agree actually with you guys as well. 36 Chambers is one of those CLASSIC albums for me, regardless of genre…
I’m very happy to see ICP getting some love in this thread.
Also from “Neden Game”:
Violent J: I walked into a barn and there he was
Standing up on a bucket
Trying to fuck it
It was a big fuckin’ smell ass farm llama!
Shaggy 2 Dope: Damn dog, are you gonna dis your momma?
From “Down With the Clown”
What if I grew another fuckin’ head
And his name was Violent… Ed
And he’d headbutt me every time I cussed
I would need two microphones when I bust
Would you show me love even with another head?
Or would you be like “Fuck you and Ed!”
From “Southwest Voodoo”
A non-believer once started to laugh
So I launched a fireball up his punk ass
Then everybody heard him squeal
“This voodoo shit’s for real!”
From the Dark Lotus album “Tales from the Lotus Pod”:
I could have cocaine cum
with a crack pipe dick
and I couldn’t get a basehead
to buff my shit
How about some old school Snoop Dogg?
I ain’t holding nuthin’ back
And muthafucka I got five on that twenty sack
Lil Wayne has a bunch. From “The Carter”:
I’m the boss of my own shit
I’m my own clique
I would say fuck ya
But go and get your own dick
From “The Carter II”:
Career crook get ya career took
I’m back like a brassiere hook
Some classic Digital Underground from “Sons of the P”:
“Figure this too the bitch is down for my dirty drawers
Find another ho to go for yours.”
He said “But I like her”
I said “You must be a rookie
Now figure this three…”
He cut me off and stepped to Cookie
Said “How do you feel about this my dear?”
I said “Nigga you don’t check my bitch like I ain’t standing here!
Now I told you that the woman sells pussy for me
You and her ain’t the two and we ain’t the three
And most of all nigga I ain’t the one…
Now back the fuck up off me son!”
I’m violent Jay
and I’m back like vertebrae.
Unfortunately I am absolutely horrible at remembering lyrics (unless I hear the tune at the same time), so this post is more for inspiration. Good lyricists have been mentioned already (36 Chambers is playing on my technics right now), but surely we are missing someone. KRS-One, Rakim (already mentioned by Nzinga, Masta Ace, Q-Tip, Kool Keith, The Pharcyde are all worthy of mention in a thread like this.
And what about Jeru the Damaja (from Mental Stamina):
“Challenge my verbal gymnastics
Vanacrobatics
Vocabulary calisthenics
Can’t understand the mathematics are esoteric
Watch the style but also peep the lyrics, my lightning, my thunder
Way back I stomped out Her-cu-les
But now I stomp out MC’s
Can’t chill, because the Sun don’t freeze
Heavy metal, hard like titanium
Alchemist, I turn wax into platinum”
Remembered another one from the track If you Mustby Del tha Funkee Homosapien
Nigga check yourself, respect yourself
And wash your motherfuckin’ body ‘fore your sweatshirt melt
I got a Faygo in the fridge but it tastes ill,
'cause it’s flatter than a bitch on a big wheel
I never thought I’d meet someone who likes both ICP and Lil Wayne.
**Atmosphere **isn’t bad either. Lyrics below are from the song “Fuck You Lucy.”
She say that she still wants a friendship
She can’t live her life without me as a friend
I can’t figure out why I give a damn to what she wants
I don’t understand the now before the then
Most of this garbage I write that these people seem to like
Is about you and how I let you infect my life
And if they got to know you, I doubt that they would see it
They’d wonder what I showed you how you could leave it
A friend in Chicago said that I should stay persistent
If I stay around I’m bound to break resistance
Fuck you Lucy for defining my existence
Fuck you and your differences
Young MC - He’s got Know How!
I got juice like the president, I’m makin’ rappers hesitant
Invite me to your house and I’ll be chillin’ like a resident
Yes, cuz I’m that type of man
Cuz I make myself at home no matter where I am
I got it rollin’ like thunder, makin’ y’all wonder
Why I’m on top with all the other rappers under
I make no errors, mistakes or blunders
It’s like a wedding, let no man put asunder
My name is Young MC, I like to rock mic well
Cuz when I get up on the mic I just release my spell
It’s no hocus-pocus, I’ll just get you into focus
And swarm all over you just like a horde of locusts
Smooth operator, female persuader
Spot a fly girl and in a week I’m gonna date her
I got the kind of style for the here and the now
And I can do it cuz I got know-how, you know what I’m sayin’?
Class!
Lloyd Banks - Some Random Freestyle:
“I got your bitch blowing on me like nintendo games”
40 Cal - “Guerrilla Truck Music”
“I rock an iceberg chain, it’s colder than cold
the only time I tuck it in is when I go to parole
cause when my PO see it, she know that its dough
she want to see my pay stubs and go to my home
i tell her
this construction loot
the way i move bricks and stomp niggas out with construction boots
and the Union is Local 40
you the posterchild so hang up my poster for me”
Jadakiss - Random Freestyle
“Ayo
them thugs should warned you
when them bullets is in you it feels like the iron is plugged up and is on you
niggas got they eyes on me
and I aint talking bout the BM when I say I got 7 45’s on me
a couple of chains
a couple of watches
moved up from the top 5
a couple of notches
a couple of L’s
a couple of Ox’s
put a couple of your loved ones up in them boxes
whole front row in black dresses and mock necks
after that they gone throw a party and pop X”
Oh, and this one: it’s Styles P describing robbing your house while you’re away and your girl is at home. Disgusting, but clever
Styles P ft Jadakiss - I Got Money
“My little man want to fuck her, then cum in her asshole
and I’m thinkin
‘why I even give a gun to this rascal’
now, you don’t want to know that type of hassle
I know you’re the king but I done run up in your castle
you know Ima load um up
point um out
Ill hold um up
like a newborn baby
I’ll fuck around and throw um up”
I think it’s the “you don’t want to know that type of hassle” line that kills me. He’s saying that you think you got problems, shit, he’s gotta keep these crazy ass dudes in line. Also, describing a psychopathic rapist as a “rascal” gets me too.
Funny stuff.