HipHop Knowledge

You know, life is funny
If you don't repeat the actions of your own success
You won't be successful
You gotta know your own formula, your own ingredients
What made you, you

1987, I was at the Latin Quarters
Listenin' to Africa Bambaata give the order
The call of the order was to avoid the slaughter
He said, "Record companies ain't got nuttin for ya"
Without a lawyer, he taught The Infinity Lessons
In how hip-hop could be a, many a blessing
And that was great, so in 1988
There was no debate, we had to end the hate

The name of the game was Stop the Violence
And unity, knowledge, and self-reliance
We started talkin' 'bout Martin and Malcolm
Had these ghetto kids goin', huh, what about him?
1989, Professor Griff speaks his mind
But his freedom of speech is declined
1990, came with the West coast
East coast, West coast, who is the best coast?

Lookin' back now, of course it was bogus
The whole argument was where we lost focus
We got hopeless, not with the lyrics and music
But with hip-hop, and how we used it
Or abused it, you know how the crew get
You like it cause you choose it
1991, we opened our eyes
With Human Education Against Lies, we tried

To talk about the state of humanity
But all these others rappers got mad at me
They called me Captain Human, another message was sent
Self Destruction don't pay the rent
Remember that? Nobody wanted conscious rap
It was like where these ballers at
Where can they call us at? All was wack
Hip-hop culture was fallin' flat and that was that

So in 1992, I found my crew
They said, "Yo Kris, what you wanna do?"
I said, "Damn, why they wanna get with me?
If I bust they I'm contradictory"
If I play the bitch role, they take my shoe
Tell me what the am I supposed to do?
So I did it, don't stop get it get it get it
All of a sudden these critics they wanna spit it

Kay Are Ess One is contradictory
Just 'cause I wouldn't let these rappers get with me
That, you and your pen
If a rapper wanna diss, yo I'd do it again
But I'm makin' these ends, and I got my friends
And I really don't wanna have to sit in the pen
So I go back to the philosopher
1993, hip-hop is uhh, wack

Go back, check the facts
1994, return of the Boom Bap
It wasn't all about the loot
It was all about Harry Allen Rhythm Cultural Institute
Blowin' 1 up, 1995
Conscious rap is still alive
But nobody wanna play it, nobody wanna say it
Nobody okayed it, they'd all rather hate it

1996, it really don't stop
We put together somethin' called the Temple of hip-hop
Not just DJin', breakin', graf and lyrics
But how hip-hop affects the spirit
Step Into a World, that's what I did
1997, I was raisin' my kid
Or kids, but I, had to go
'Cause New York DJ's changed the flows

To clothes and hoes, but that wasn't me
I'll be damned if I dance for the MTV
So in 1998, I began to debate
Should I go now, or should I really wait?
'99, I moved to L.A. you see
And took a gig with the WB
Started studyin' philosophy full-time
To have a full heart, full body, full mind

But you know what the problem is or was
DJ's don't raise our kids, 'cause
They so caught up in the cash and jewels
How they gonna really see a hip-hop school?
How they gonna really see a hip-hop temple?
They don't even wanna play my instrumentals, but
Big up Dr. Dre, Snoop, Xzibit
Especially Xzibit, he was there in a minute

Mic Conception, all of them, said
Yo you need help? I should call them
When I was in L.A., I held the crown
Bloods, Crips, they held me down
I could never forget Mad Lion, killer pride
With the gat in the lap in the low-ride
Oh, I can't forget, Icy Ice, Lucky Lou
Julio G, that was the crew

Davey D, Ingrid, David Connor
The list goes on and on, let me tell ya
FredWreck, and my man Protest
Much respect, no less
To my spiritual and mental defenders
Big up to L.A., temple members
But in 2000, I seen how I wanted to live
I wasn't no executive

So I picked up the mic and I quit my job
Said to Simone, I gotta get with God
She said, "Don't worry bout these dollars and quarters
Record companies ain't got nuttin' for ya"
Damn, she took me back to Bam
Took me back to who I am
Brought me back to the New York land
Now I overstand

{Now KRS-One, now you've been quoted as saying that
Rap is something we do, hip-hop is something you live
Yes
Explain that to us please}

{Well, well, today hip-hop, we are advocating that hip-hop is not
Just a music, it is an attitude, it is an awareness, it is a way
To view the world
So rap music, is something we do, but hip-hop is something we live
And we look at hip-hop, in it's 9 elements
Which is breaking, emceeing, graffiti art, deejaying, beatboxing
Street fashion, street language, street knowledge, and street
Entrepenurialism, trade and business}

{And uhh, that's where y'know
That's the hip-hop that that that we're about
We come from the uhh the root of, of Kool DJ Herc
Who originated hip-hop in the early 70's
And then Africa Bambaata and Zulu Nation
Who instigated something called The Infinity Lessons
And added consciousness to hip-hop, and then Grandmaster Flash
With the invention of the mixer, on to Run-D.M.C. and then myself}

{And uhh, we created the Stop the Violence movement, you may recall
A song, Self Destruction and and and so on
All of this, goes to uhh uhh, the idea of living this culture out
And taking responsibility for how it looks and, and acts in society}