Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap Page #2

Not far from the deegan

And not far away from

the cross bronx expressway

I ain't hard to find

I'm right by the zoo

By the gorilla cage

Holla at a nigga, ooh-ooh

Ain't where you from,

it's where you at...

Hip-hop is not

made up from scratch.

The music and the foundation

of the music of hip-hop

comes from records that we

found in our parents' crates,

you know what I mean?

Old funk and soul grooves.

We've given new life

to artists like

james brown and isaac hayes

and sly and the family stone

and george clinton

and parliament and funkadelic,

and so many other groups,

because we rapping

over they beats, okay?

So hip-hop

didn't invent anything,

but hip-hop

reinvented everything.

Lyrics is what rap

is all about,

though being lyrical

and being able to flow

and have the type

of rhymes and raps

that paint pictures

for people.

I be that stage nigga

I don't know

how to age, nigga

I'm the first cat that put

the pen to the page, nigga

I'm the key

to the cage, nigga

That brown

and beige nigga

I'm the off-the-chain

Meat rat meter

engage nigga

I'm that top nigga

Walk through your 'hood

with a bop, nigga

No drop, nigga

But I, hey, gotta run

from the cop, nigga

Hip-hop nigga

I used to run

with your pop, nigga

Yo, I thought I told you

that I won't stop, nigga

The mic nigga

Mcing's like

riding a bike, nigga

I'm the beige timbaland

And the white

air night nigga

I'm the rhyme nigga

The let's-go-back-into-time

nigga

The prime nigga

That always

keepin' my dime, nigga

I'm the sixth nigga

I'd rather flip flows

than bricks, nigga

I shoulda been long gone

But I'm still

in the mix, nigga

I'm the live nigga

Always-last-to-arrive nigga

I'm the cross bronx,

west side, fdr drive nigga

I'm that 'hood nigga

I smoke

that good wood, nigga

You-could-never-f***-with-

but-wish-that-you-could nigga

I'm that damn nigga

That f***-you-and-your-man

nigga

That get-your-punk-ass-

in-the-back-of-the-van nigga

I'm that sweet nigga

That never-off-beat nigga

That circle-and-a-slash-

on-cold-mics-heat nigga

I'm that cool nigga

Ran my whole high school,

nigga

And you don't want to ever

challenge me to a duel, nigga

I'm that proud nigga

That stand-out-in-a-crowd

nigga

That go where most

of y'all niggas ain't allowed, nigga

I'm that smart nigga

Always first

to start, nigga

I think with my head

But I feel

with my heart, nigga

Hip-hop

is a masterpiece,

but nobody

painted it all.

What stroke

did bambaataa,

the soulsonic force

put on that map?

What... what did you

bring to that painting?

We brought

by naming this culture,

which came from the clichs

of our great brother,

who was also a gang member

and a brother of mine's

of the black spades,

kool keith cowboy.

Mm-Hmm.

My brother

lovebug starski,

who was... also was part

of the black spades.

Um, using clichs

that they was using,

and... and they... rhymes before

were so, quote, "hip-hop."

'Cause, see, many people

when they say, "hip-hop,"

they don't know exactly

what is hip-hop. Right.

They automatically think

when you say, "hip-hop,"

you're just talking about rap.

Right.

But when you talk about

hip-hop, we're talking about the whole movement,

the b-boys, the b-girls,

the djs, the mc,

the... or writers...

And that fifth element

that holds it all together,

which is the knowledge.

So putting all this together

and naming this culture

when it came to the media,

and I could

have called it

the boi-yoi-yoing,

the go-off,

or any other type of name.

I decided to take

from the clich.

I said, no,

we call this hip-hop.

Is there any other

rapper out there,

is there anybody,

legend or anything, that...

Definitely got to give it

to the grandmaster melle mel,

"it's like

a jungle sometimes.

It's make me wonder,

keep from going under."

broken glass

everywhere

People pissing on the stage,

you know they just don't care

I can't take the smell,

can't take the noise

Got no money to move out,

I guess I got no choice

Rats in the front room,

roaches in the back

Junkies in the alley

with the baseball bat

It's so funny, man.

Right.

Niggas got on all kind of diamonds and furs.

Hey, they looking

for a new member to join the furious.

Somebody search

busy bee, man.

What the f*** is...

What the f***

is going...

Look at his hair.

Hair longer than yours.

Who you talking to,

b*tch, the feds?

Nigga...

A nigga b*tch turn...

A nigga b*tch turning in

somebody else.

When you writing your best raps,

what's your technique?

Do you need to be mad,

and you like to hear the music first?

I mean, there's

lots of techniques. What's the best...

When you go in there

in some of your best sh*t.

My, uh, technique, if I

was gonna describe it,

is called make it plain.

My sh*t is like,

you heard me say it,

and that's what it is

that I said.

You don't gotta

break it down.

I mean, you ain't got...

You ain't gotta break down

what I'm trying to say

on beat street.

It... you know,

or what I tried to say in the message

or what I tried

to say when I wrote white lines.

It's all there, so you

just make it plain.

I'm the reason

why your man could cuss

And your man could bust,

no mistake

That's why you got

the game from us

Tell ja rule

stop popping the clutch

True fast and the furious

Grandmaster flash and us

Architects

of hip-hop domain

And I'm not your man

Spit so much poison

that I got ptomaine

So much game,

my game came with propane

Mentioning my name is

like sniffing the gang of the cocaine

The dopest cat

to walk on twos, I never lose

Flows of your amigos,

egos battered and bruised

You a lowlife,

get off of my penis

Swingin' on balls like

you trying to call out serena and venus

So now with

that thought in mind,

my name is melle mel.

I started the game.

The pleasure's all yours.

F*** you very much.

If you want

to be big in the 'hood,

you gotta

do something special.

The mc possesses

the great gift of communication.

He has the ability to capture

everybody's attention

with incredible displays

of verbal acrobatics

and the power

to command a crowd.

I'm coming

I'm coming, I'm coming

What's the difference

between a rapper and an mc?

Well, a rapper is, you know,

someone that rhymes.

I mean, you can consider

dr. Seuss a rapper,

you know. Um...

Right.

You know, you know,

that's someone that rhymes, you know.

You rhyme "cat"

with "hat," you know,

then you can be

considered a rapper.

Mc is someone that either has

that party-rocking skill

or that lyrical skill.

Right.

Doug e. Fresh,

busy bee,

these are mcs,

because these are people

that know how

to get on the mic.

Like, 'cause you have an mc

that can get up there

and use a whole bunch

of big words

like "ostentatious,

indubitably, quagmire" in a rhyme,

and the crowd's

sitting there, looking around,

"what the..."

What was that word?

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