Rakim - New York (Ya Out There?) lyrics

If you was born in New York City
Let me hear say "You know that"!
YOU KNOW THAT

A yo, once upon a rhyme
Where the scenery sets, you see stress
Street's a matter of life and death
No regrets life's a test
It's trife with special effects
Neighborhood's full of reps
Cities are projects
Where the young cadets get
Stripes from the vets
And comrades to quest to be
The next to finesse
Collect debts and select bets
With death threats
Object cheddar better your total net
Where trends are set from ways
To express the outfit's
Friends get wet tryin' to make ends connect
Avenues to check, boulevards to sweat
The smell of gunsmoke's more
Common than cigarettes
(WE GOT) cliques for wreck
(WE LIKE) Pit's for pets
(WE GOT) Giants and Jets, the Knicks
Yanks and Mets
(WE LIKE) much respect, the sex extra wet
And high-tech dialect you ain't catch yet
The Bronx ya out there?
No doubt! Brooklyn
Ya out there?

A yo, we got blocks and blocks
Of big shots with big knots and big props
Yo, this is where the bullshit stops
Where herbs get got
If you snitch, you get shot we get down
And leave the town in a state of shock
(WE GOT) dangerous hang-out spots
And slick cops
Place called Rikers Island where
Kids get locked a lotta gear to rock with
Blocks of clothes shops
Styles are top notch
This is the place to watch
So blast the box, the radio station is hot
Ease your mind starin' at
Skylines from rooftops
Flip scripts for chips
And new whips off the lot
Quick to call a shot
Politic' with thick plots
And the Garden of Eden against
The sea that we got to make sure the core of
The Big Apple don't rot
Where seeing's believin'
We be achievin' a lot
Where disc-jocks created Hip-Hop
Check it out!

(Queens - ya out there? no doubt
Manhattan - no doubt
New York city, Staten Island
New York, New York, Long Island
New York - ya out there?)

A yo, we got five boroughs of ghettos
With many places to meet
You get lost in busy streets
The city that never sleeps
Mecca, Pelan, Medina, the population increase
The desert and the oasis, New York
The far east with Gods and sheiks
Pretty Amazons for weeks
Player dons that fleece
The family's black sheep
Icons that teach but we all act unique
We got stats to reach, so we all have to eat
A mass of peeps, with they own masterpiece
The crafts' elite, we be goin' past the peak
The latest technique no other
Place get as deep who parks release some of
The world's greatest athletes
DJ's and MC's and graffiti artistes
Who use walls and subway trains for marquees
We go back to b-boys, breakdancin'
Breakbeats and it'll never cease!
And on that note, we say peace