“Then I take a thought around the world twice
From knowledge the form BACK TO KNOWLEDGE PRECISE
Across the desert, that’s HOT AS THE ARABIAN
But they couldn’t cave me in ’cause I’m the Asian
Reaching for the city OF Mecca, visit Medina
Visions of Neffertiti then I seen her,
Mind keeps traveling, I’ll be back after I
Stop and think about the brothers and sisters in Africa
Return the thought through the eye of a needle
For miles I thought and I just fought the people
Under the dark skies on a dark side
Not only there but right here’s an apartheid
So now is the time for us to react
Take a trip through the mind and when you get back
Understand you’re third eye seen all of that
It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at
Even the (ghetto)
Even the (ghetto)
No more props, I want property
In every borough, nobody’s stopping me
Because I’m thorough, rhymes I write give me real estate
for me to own
Wherever I bless a microphone
007 is back and relaxing
On POINT N’ reactin’ and ready for action
I’m so low key that you might not see me
Incognito and taking it easy
Quiet, it’s kept on a hush hush
In front of a crowd, I get loud, there’s a bumrush
Be calm, keep a low pro, and play the background
HOPING’ the wack rapper will put the mic back down
So rip it, break it in half, go head and slam it
‘Cause when it’s time to build, I’m a mechanic
I’m bonding and mending, attaching and blending
So many solos, there is no ending
People in my neighborhood, they know I’m good
From London to Hollywood, wherever I stood
Footprints remain on stage ever since
As I walk the street, I leave fossils and dents
When I had sex, I left my name on necks
My trademark was left throughout the projects
I used to get rich when I played ce-lo
When I rolled 4, 5, 6, they go we know
So I collect my cash then slide
I got my back, my gun’s on my side
It shouldn’t have to be like that
I guess it ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at
Even the (ghetto)
I’m from the (ghetto)
Word up, peace”
Eric B. & Rakim (Eric Barrier, William Griffin) - In The Ghetto
“No more props, I want property / In every borough, nobody’s stopping me” … Yo, Rakim’s flow is so ahead of his time it’s not funny.
This has to be one of the fiercest lyrical tyraids from any emcee. Rakim just put it down on every level. Every once in awhile you hear something this hot. Luckily for me, I was not only into Hip Hop but mature enough to understand the message.
One of the best songs in any genre ever
Peace. Thanks for posting this. I have one correction to make. You quoted the God as saying, “Then I take a thought around the world twice
From knowledge the form BACK TO KNOWLEDGE PRECISE”. It’s actually, “Then I take a thought around the world twice, from Knowledge to BORN back to Knowledge…Precise…”
That’s Supreme Mathematics. Everything has a beginning or foundation. That foundation is the knowledge which can be represented by the number , “1″. Born means to bring that thought into existence. Born can be represented by the numeric symbol, “9.” Now, when you make knowledge born, you add 1 9 which makes 10. When you add the 1 and the 0 in 10 it equals 1 and you are back to knowledge. He said he took knowledge AROUND (that’s a cipher…360 of perfection) the world with his wise ways and actions that started firmly in the mind.
PEACE