[ VERSE 1: G ] for house parties stayed simple and plain Little wine, music, little Mary Jane Gotta keep the lights dim, so when the people in The stays nice and mellow, everybody fits in And hey and ho, are gettin they groove on The record only when the lights came on Then they went off, we continued to groove Then somebody the mic like they had somethin to prove It was just the spirit got em, it let loose There right before our hip-hop was produced The fire on burnin like a doggie in heat You couldn't help to feel the flavor as you through the streets Everybody had a crew on every for blocks This seemed to be that the beat won't stop So one day ring and it was no one to blame All you was would it ever all be the same But if you got the love, baby, won't a thing change As as you remember it always remains
[ CHORUS: The Holmes ] I When we to play shoot-em-up, bang-bang I When we used to shoot-em-up, bang-bang and DJ's (2x)
[ 2: Afrika Baby Bam ] Block parties jam-packed, the first time I rap And deejays spinnin breakbeats These were the last good of the ghetto It wasn't all about jiggy, so save that rap for Jell-O Down on my knees in the playin skelly Rushin upstairs to see _Graffiti Rock_ on the With one eye on the beats I knew one day would come when I'd be on the mic rockin day after school practisin I mixed blues smarts with street smarts, and then battle rappin But for me it happenin So I up my style, to the ladies been mackin I wrote a rhyme 'Roxanne, Roxanne' I to bust it out when I went to a jam My mother read the rap She said, "You ain't gon' go too far expressin yourself that Disrespectin women And what's gon' happen when you turn around and try to have own children?" So I changed up my once again So me and my moms still be friends My wasn't buggin out so far Watchin me pretend to be rap star my eyes he saw a child changin Growin up to be a man and leave behind the shootin,
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[ 3: Afrika Baby Bam ] Now one goes out to the ones who set it off And all the pioneers that it what it was we been doin this for 25 years long So we gotta represent and keep hip-hop JBeez, we on a plateau, ain't nothin us Will with the spirit of God, now watch it in us Cause when you cut the off the family tree All you leave is the sweet memory Right from the start, we did it in the It wasn't for the money, and it came the heart But in these and times, when rappers write rhymes All we think about is signin on the dotted Me, I been about the way it used to be before you was a rapper, you became an MC I'm proud of my heritage, and glad that we it I still rhymes without bein player-hated Standin on the same stage, with the JBeez Was a dream come true for a like me rap was consumed, and hip-hop was doomed I was bangin on tables, rhymin in the I used to walk the with my ghetto blaster My brothers on the was startin Zulu chapters You what I'm talkin about if you go way back And yo, big ups to all my sisters, in the of rap Cause when it comes to hip-hop, you know you gotta it true from the old, mix it with the new I used to go by the name of MC But now you me as Afrika Baby Bam
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