Canibus - The Ghost of Hip Hop's Past lyrics

Wake up, what is the date? 1988
Hip-Hop is barely exposed to
The emotion and hate
I hibernate, rhymin' from space
My first album ten years late
I tried to take it to a positive place
But it was like a communist state
I tried to escape
My label shot me in the back
As I was climbin' the gate
I woke up, now I'm awake
I found democracy to be fake
Hip-Hop sucks, who made it this way?
I was a teenager when Hip-Hop saved the day
Paychecks paid the way, not radio play
Some artists had knowledge of self
That little bit of honesty helped
Violent lyrics promoted positive guilt
So even when you thought the message
Was negative it promoted positive health
It was about the rhymes, not wealth


It was about our culture
Not about what the culture could sell
It was a path to enlightenment, not Hell
We amused ourselves and this
Confused everybody else
I memorized "Rock the Bells"
I memorized "Tales from the Crack Side"
I used to rock gazelles
EPMD, "You Gots to Chill"
Doug E fresh, Slick Rick, Pete Rock
"Mistadobalina" was Del
Cold Crush Crew, Melle Mel
Sugar Hill, Salt-n-Pepa
Sweet Tee pretty as hell
Shante dimple on her face, pretty as well
I used to wanna smell the pale Roxanne's tail
Technics 1200, beat it like an SB-12
Lord Finesse the punchline king
Heavy D was doing his own thing
Dio and McGruff used to hold things
Biz Mark's big ass gold chain
One day I think I saw the
Jungle Brothers dancing on Soul Train
Marley Marl, Craig G, Master Ace
Big Daddy Kane
Kool G Rap put me under his wing
On the road to lyricism, with Rakim and them
Some real lyricists
Eric B was sick with the zigga-ziggas
I know I'm trippin', it's been a minute
So many brothers and sisters it's hard
To remember who did it
Memories disappear like Whodini
My friends disappeared faster than my budget
When my producer was greedy

I've been eatin emcees
You still don't believe
Brand of wool, brown teeth
Red blood leak from Black Sheep
Whenever the horns blow it gets deep
Digging In The Crates for my
Niggas in the street diamond D had the "Best
Kept Secret" for weeks
D-Nice said, "Bis, you a beast", Redman said
"Peace" def Jam said I couldn't compete
Killah Priest spit "Heavy Mental" before
"Heavy Mental" was released
Acapella, no instrumental beat
My Girbauds would hang low, no crease
Timbs on the feet, Cold Cheeks had a Lex
Tom Leek had the MPV, J Rav had the Jeep
Clark Kent had the Tahoe
Charles bought a 46 because of Jay-Z
The program director's name from
Hot 97 was Tracy tragedy Khadafi
Queens' first intelligent Prodigy
Probably the first Arab Nazi
K-9 Posse chew you up like
Blue chunk chopped meat mC N-IN-E
"This is the way we walk in New York"
"Throw Ya Gunz" in the air
If you ready for war
Throw your hands the air if
You ready for more
If I don't like the way you look
I'mma tear your face off
The Undergod, underground lord
When it comes to "100 Bars" you
Niggas know who to ask for!
I woke up in the mornin', on a regular day
I knew my nigga K-Solo would be around my way
I washed off my Thor hammer
The trigger mechanism lubricate
It was time to destroy the place
He kept sayin' if I spit my rhymes on the mic
In no time, I would be back in the limelight
I said, "Solo, nowadays I don't feel rap
Cause it ain't like it used to be
The shit is whack"
He said, "No 'Bis, trust Wolfgang
Cause I know my shit
You already know the flows I spit"
We love Hip-Hop
We gotta pay homage to the shit
I love Hip-Hop