Word Is Bond

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1

[train clattering slowly]

[clattering continues,

train whistle blowing]

[J. Cole]

I just wait for a feeling.

When I get a... a chill,

when I get, "Whoof. Oh!"

That's how it is

when you in the zone.

'Cause, like, it's not

really you speaking.

It's you speaking,

but it's, like, the real you.

It's, like, the...

the non-ego you,

the soul you, you know?

The part of you

that's connected to God.

It's like, it's wiser than...

than the physical you.

[ tranquil hip-hop music ]

[Rakim] I was always

kind of private

with my method, man.

Sometimes I'll have

something on there

where I felt how it would feel

if somebody seen it.

They'll figure out

how I put that rhyme together.

[Nas] A thought

can become a reality.

What you speak

into the universe

can come true.

[Rhymefest]

You gotta create a rhyme

like a theater in your mind.

It has to be something

that when you say it,

people can see it.

[Nas] I'm just happy that

I was coming up at the time

where the American language

was being shifted

by young black people,

poor righteous teachers,

in the streets.

Hip-hop MCs have spoken

a new America into existence.

While the Jesse Jacksons

of the world

were on their way down

from their fight,

it was time

for a new soldier to get up

and change the direction of,

"How do we get out of this?"

Hip-hop did it verbally.

[Rapsody]

The power to hold a mic,

to take 16 bars,

and in 16 bars,

you were influencing

a whole world.

[Rhymefest]

Maya Angelou, she said,

"Words are things.

Guard them."

[Styles P] Words are the man's

most powerful weapon

in life, period,

whether you rap or not.

Like, you could be a father.

You could be a husband.

You could be a brother

or sister.

You saying the wrong words

to a family member

can affect

whether their life

goes negative, positive,

whether they have

a good day or a bad day.

So definitely,

words mean everything.

[Killer Mike] Lyrics don't

always mean complexity.

The simplest of rappers

have made the grandest

of statements.

[Erick Arc Elliott]

When your pen is that strong,

you want everybody to know

all the nuances of the words.

Don't ever delete your rhymes.

Don't ever.

That's my word...

that what I just told you

is my bond.

[]

[hip-hop music playing faintly]

...need more people,

my heart is so evil

Now I'm trying

to get elite-lite

Talking 'bout your strap,

how you carry that

Said you had the packs,

3,000 Sour Diesel

You said you had the b*tches,

but I never see 'em with you

You said you like the pipe

but always huntin'

For the pistol,

a b*tch told me 'bout you

Yeah, I think

her name was Crystal

She said you gave

a short screw

She could never forget you,

you got a chain

But you ain't get it

from a jeweler

I have to really be moved

to go and make something.

You had A Bronx Tale.

I wanted A Queens Story.

I could see that

as a film, actually.

"Rest in peace

to Black Just,

riding through Jamaica, Queens

in his black truck."

I could see myself

in the truck with him,

you know, playing his records

and... we rocking,

driving through

Jamaica, Queens.

He's showing me blocks...

back blocks

where everybody's gambling,

and I'm meeting dudes

from 40 Projects, Baisley,

and we over here

and over these backstreets

and all that.

He's showing me

the ins and outs,

and we just talking,

having a good time,

and I'm writing,

"Timbs was 40 Below,

waves to the side of his dome."

I'm describing him,

but I'm seeing it.

It's not just me

writing a rhyme anymore.

It's like,

"This is a serious moment."

After my first album,

I had no time

to sit down at home

and write.

I am a writer, but...

it's spontaneous.

A studio's a bathroom,

a place I go to release...

unless I get into my pocket

and I set aside time

to be in here

and not do anything else

but record until I get it done.

At that point,

it becomes my spaceship, man.

Uh, rest in peace

to Black Just

Riding through

Jamaica, Queens

In his black truck,

Timbs was 40 Below

Waves to the side

of his dome

Definition

of good nigga, yo

Gangsters don't die,

niggas only become immortal

Angels don't only fly,

they walk right before you

[Rapsody] When they were

bringing slaves over

on the boats, you know,

they didn't have a way

to write down their history,

so they had to tell it

to one another...

and they had to memorize it.

So you're memorizing.

You tell it to the next.

And to me, that's kind of

what an MC does.

They documenting everything

that's happening.

[ gentle piano melody ]

[Pusha T] It's the initial

impact of the song

that grabs you,

and it locks you in.

The first few bars,

cadences, whatever it is...

that feeling is felt

throughout, man,

from beat one.

I remember having

an argument with a girl

about Biggie and Pac.

You know, I spit one

of Big rhymes,

and I'm like,

"Yo, did you hear that?

Like, that's why

I will go with him.

Now you tell me

one of Pac rhymes

that's better than that,"

and she said, "'Dear Mama'!"

That's all she said,

which meant that that song

meant something deep to her.

Lyrics, yeah...

in hip-hop, deep.

Whenever we write,

we trying to change something.

You know, we get

this feeling inside

that we can't really explain...

them chemicals in our body

that-that-that make us

feel awake.

You know, I'm bald-headed,

so a lot of times,

I can almost feel,

you know, the hairs

on my head growing,

or I just, you know,

can feel my heart pumping.

My heart start beating

that adrenaline,

and as I'm rhyming, I just...

you know, I just feel it.

That's when I know that I got

something that's electric.

When rap came through

the neighborhood,

it took the hood by storm.

It was like, the next day,

everybody was rappers

and break-dancers and DJs.

I was...[laughs] I was using

the rap name Tony Tee.

Like, "I'm the T-O-N-Y,

the T-E-E.

Your hands can't hit

what your eyes can't see."

I thought I was,

you know, killing it,

and then I remember my man Swan

played Cold Crush for me.

Other MCs

can't deal with us

'Cause we are the four

known as the Cold Crush

Six-one and a half,

no good at math

Say rhymes to myself

when I'm taking a bath

Got true clientele,

finesse, and clout

And I don't get into nothing

that I can't get out

Yeah, I ripped

all my rhymes up,

started my whole life over.

I played the sax

coming up in school.

I took what I learned

from that...

reading music... and started

pouring it on the rhymes.

My first rhyme was,

"Mickey Mouse built a house.

He built it by the border.

A earthquake came

and rocked his crib,

and now it's in the water."

[Brother Ali] One of the

things that I really learned

from you... you know,

you would write a rhyme,

and then we would

come back to it later...

that you might forget

exactly how

these words are

supposed to land.

Whether we're writing on paper

or typing on a computer,

that the first space in a line

is always the one.

If you come in before the one,

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