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Talib Kweli - 25 of My favorite Hip Hop verses of all time!!!!
25 of My favorite Hip Hop verses of all time!!!!
Not every rapper is an MC, and not every MC is a lyricist. There are
great songs with stupid lyrics, and lyricists who have never made
great songs. Its usually the beat that grabs you first. Sometimes
its the hook. But for the true hip hop fan, its the verses that
bring it home.
A verse could be dope because of how it feels when you rap along with
it, like Greg Nice on Dwyck or Nas on Live at the BBQ. Or it could be
the content that gets you like Rass Kass on Nature of the Threat. For
style, some of the best verses ever are on Ol Dirty b*stards Shimmy
Shimmy Ya.
For me, a great verse is one I could hold up as an example of how
truly poetic hip hop is. Jay Electronica, creator of many incredible
verses, once told me that Shakespeare got nothing on the best MCs.
When you read thru these verses, I bet youll agree.
shout out to
Discover the Meaning of Rap Lyrics | Rap Genius on the new deal, go there for accurate
(almost! the closest Ive ever seen!) translations of some of these
lyrics
25 of my FAVORITE HIP HOP VERSES
OF ALL TIIIMMMEE!!!!!!!!
1. RAKIM, FOLLOW THE LEADER, VERSE ONE- ERIC B. AND RAKIM
Eric B. & Rakim - Follow The Leader - YouTube
Follow me into a solo
Get in the flow - and you can picture like a photo
Music mixed mellow maintains to make
Melodies for MCs motivates the breaks
Im everlastin, I can go on for days and days
With rhyme displays that engrave deep as X-rays
I can take a phrase thats rarely heard, FLIP IT
Now its a daily word
I can get iller than Nam, a killin bomb
But no alarm - Rakim will remain calm
Self-esteem make me super superb and supreme
But for a microphone still I fiend
This was a tape I wasnt supposed to break
I was supposed to wait, but lets motivate
I want to see who can keep followin and swallowin
Takin the making, bitin it and borrowin
Brothers tried and others died to get the formula
But Ima let ya sweat - you still aint warm
You a step away from frozen, stiff as if ya posin
Dig into my brain as the rhyme gets chosen
So follow me and were ya thinkin you were first?
Lets travel at magnificent speeds around the Universe
What could ya say as the Earth gets further and further away
Planets are small as balls of clay
Astray into the Milky Way - worlds outasight
Far as the eye can see - not even a satellite
Now stop and turn around and look
As ya stare in the darkness, ya knowledge is took!
So keep starin soon ya suddenly see a star
You better follow it cause its the R
This is a lesson if ya guessin and if ya borrowin
Hurry hurry step right up and keep followin
The Leader
2. INSEPCTAH DECK, TRIUMPH- WU-TANG CLAN
Wu Tang-Triumph - YouTube
I bomb atomically, Socrates philosophies
And hypotheses cant define how I be droppin these
Mockeries, lyrically perform armed robbery
Flee with the lottery, possibly they spotted me
Battle-scarred shogun, explosion when my pen hits
Tremendous, ultra-violet shine blind forensics
I inspect view through the future see millenium
Killa Beez sold fifty gold sixty platinum
Shackling the masses with drastic rap tactics
Graphic displays melt the steel like blacksmiths
Black Wu jackets Queen Beez ease the guns in
Rumble with patrolmen tear gas laced the function
Heads by the score take flight incite a war
Chicks hit the floor, diehard fans demand more
Behold the bold soldier, control the globe slowly
Proceeds to blow swingin swords like Shinobi
Stomp grounds I pound footprints in solid rock
Wu got it locked, performin live on your hottest block
3. EMINEM, RENEGADE- JAY-Z
Renegades- Eminem Feat. Jay Z With Lyrics - YouTube
Since Im in a position to talk to these kids and they listen
I aint no politician but Ill kick it with em a minute
Cause see they call me a menace; and if the shoe fits Ill wear it
But if it dont, then yallll swallow the truth grin and bear it
Now whos these king of these rude ludicrous lucrative lyrics
Who could inherit the title, put the youth in hysterics
Usin his music to steer it, sharin his views and his merits
But theres a huge interference - theyre sayin you shouldnt hear it
Maybe its hatred I spew, maybe its food for the spirit
Maybe its beautiful music I made for you to just cherish
But Im debated disputed hated and viewed in America
As a motherfukkin drug addict - like you didnt experiment?
Now now, thats when you start to stare at whos in the mirror
And see yourself as a kid again, and you get embarrased
And I got nothin to do but make you look stupid as parents
You fukkin do-gooders - too bad you couldnt do good at marriage!
(Ha ha!) And do you have any clue what I had to do to get here I dont
Think you do so stay tuned and keep your ears glued to the stereo
Cause here we go - hes {*Jigga joint Jigga-chk-Jigga*}
And Im the sinister, Mr. Kiss-My-Ass its just a RENEGADE
4. AZ, LIFES A bytch- NAS
Nas - Life's a bytch Ft. Az - YouTube
Visualizin the realism of life and actuality
fukk whos the baddest a persons status depends on salary
And my mentality is, money orientated
Im destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it
cause yeah, we were beginners in the hood as five percenters
But somethin must of got in us cause all of us turned to sinners
Now some, restin in peace and some are sittin in San Quentin
Others such as myself are tryin to carry on tradition
Keepin the effervescence street ghetto essence inside us
Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us
Even though, we know somehow we all gotta go
but as long as we leavin thievin well be leavin with some kind of dough
so, and to that day we expire and turn to vapors
me and my capers-ll be somewhere stackin plenty papers
Keepin it real, packin steel, gettin high
Cause lifes a bytch and then you die
5. ANDRE 3000, RETURN OF THE GANGSTA- OUTKAST
Outkast - Return of the 'G' - YouTube
Its the return of the gangsta thanks ta
Them nikkas thats on that blow
That run up in yo crib which contains
Your lady and an 8 month old
Child to raise plus you true blue bout this music but
They do not want to hear it because theyd
Rather be bouncin and shootin and killin and bouncin
And shyt get down
Return of the gangsta thanks ta
Them nikkas that thank [think] you soft
And say yall be gospel rappin
But they be steady clappin when you talk about
bytches & switches & hoes & clothes & weed
Lets talk about time travelin rhyme javelin
Somethin mind unravelin get down
Return of the gangsta thanks ta
Them nikkas who got them kids
Who got enough to buy an ounce
But not enough to bounce them kids to the zoo
Or to the park so they grow up in the dark never
Seein light so they end up being like yo sorry ass
Robbin nikkas in broad ass daylight get down
Return of the gangsta thanks ta
Them nikkas that get the wrong impression of expression
Then the question is Big Boi whats up with Andre?
Is he in a cult? Is he on drugs? Is he gay?
When yall gon break up? When yall gon wake up?
nikka Im feelin better than ever whats wrong with you
You get down!
6. PHAROAHE MONCH, PRISONERS OF WAR- ORGANIZED KONFUSION
Organized Konfusion-Prisoners of War - YouTube
Wake up to the mathematics of an erratic rap
Rejuvenator of rhyme, that sort of come automatic
Poetical medical medicine for the cerebellum
I divert em and flirt em insert em then I repel em
A breakdown, poetical shakedown
Fifty-two pick-up a stick-up so get on the floor facedown
The ammo to keep the people steppin
Breakin open the vault because Im like a verbal assault weapon
Im mathematical, acrobatical
Attack the wack take rap to the maximum
Youre strung out youre hung out when you heard the style
That I brung out of faint air must come out my mouth
Where I stick my tongue out in the at-mos-phere
Take a good look at whats happening here
On the microphone, Im rappin
Pickin-em-stickin-em up, breakin-em-shakin-em up, and bashin
The lyric dictator, the aviator of antonym
All beware to prepare for the guillotine
Rhymes go express, expert, extreme
Be up to par with wisdom and intellect
Detatching ones head directly from ones neck
Still Ive been illing and drilling your brain
Like a villain I came in the darkness to spark the literature for sure
When I rhyme for the prisoners of war
7. NAS, NY STATE OF MIND, VERSE ONE
Nas NY State of Mind - YouTube
Rappers I monkey flip em with the funky rhythm I be kickin
Musician, inflictin composition
Of pain Im like Scarface sniffin cocaine
Holdin a M-16, see with the pen Im extreme, now
Bulletholes left in my peepholes
Im suited up in street clothes
Hand me a nine and Ill defeat foes
Yall know my steelo with or without the airplay
I keep some E&J, sittin bent up in the stairway
Or either on the corner bettin Grants with the ceelo champs
Laughin at baseheads, tryin to sell some broken amps
G-Packs get off quick, forever nikkaz talk shyt
RemIniscing about the last time the Task Force flipped
nikkaz be runnin through the block shootin
Time to start the revolution, catch a body head for Houston
Once they caught us off guard, the Mac-10 was in the grass and
I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin
Pick the Mac up, told brothers, Back up, the Mac spit
Lead was hittin nikkaz one ran, I made him backflip
Heard a few chicks scream my arm shook, couldnt look
Gave another squeeze heard it click yo, my shyt is stuck
Try to cock it, it wouldnt shoot now Im in danger
Finally pulled it back and saw three bullets caught up in the chamber
So now Im jetting to the building lobby
And it was filled with children probably couldnt see as high as I be
(So whatchu sayin?) Its like the game aint the same
Got younger nikkaz pullin the triggers bringing fame to they name
And claim some corners, crews without guns are goners
In broad daylight, stickup kids, they run up on us
Fo-fives and gauges, Macs in fact
Same nikkazll catch a back to back, snatchin yo cracks and black
There was a snitch on the block gettin nikkaz knocked
So hold your stash until the coke price drop
I know this crackhead, who said she gotta smoke nice rock
And if its good shell bring ya customers in measuring pots, but yo
You gotta slide on a vacation
Inside information keeps large nikkaz erasin and they wives basin
It drops deep as it does in my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
I think of crime when Im in a New York state of mind
8. PRODIGY, SHOOK ONES PART TWO- MOBB DEEP
Mobb Deep - Shook Ones - YouTube
9. BLACK THOUGHT, ACT TOO: LOVE OF MY LIFE- THE ROOTS
The Roots feat. Common - Act too (Love of my life) - YouTube
10. CHUCK D, BLACK STEEL IN THE HOUR OF CHAOS- PUBLIC ENEMY
Public Enemy - Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos - YouTube
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