Word Is Bond Page #2

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those words go

on a line above,

and then that syllable

that hits on the one

is the first space

on a line.

And if you miss the one,

which has become

the style more...

so Chuck D was really big

on hitting the one.

"Back, caught you looking

for the same thing."

You know, and other people

might, you know,

come in before the one.

"Don't call it a comeback."

- So "come" is on the one.

- Mm-hmm.

And nowadays,

people miss the one most

so when you miss the one,

you put a dot there

to hold that place

to let you know.

But then underlining

where the snares are...

- Underlining the snares.

- That Rakim does something

similar, in the sense

that he knows

where all of the end words

are for the lines,

and so he would put dots

on the paper

where the end was gonna be,

and he would write

the last line first.

Measuring it out

almost like sheet music.

- Mm-hmm.

- So that, like you say,

if I come back

six months later

and look at this rhyme

and go, "Oh, you know,

this one isn't so bad.

It actually is good.

Let me try spitting it,"

I know exactly how to spit it.

I don't have

to sit there and go,

"Aw, that didn't work.

Wait, maybe that wasn't right.

Hold up.

Let me stare at it."

You know, I could look

at it and immediately

jump right into spitting it.

I would put the dots

on the paper first

to show me, um,

how many bars I had,

where the 16th bar was.

As I start incorporating

different, um, styles

and-and trying to just...

complicate my rhyme

with so many, uh,

big words and syllables and...

you know what I mean?

Like, the-the-the wordplay

was so crazy.

After a while, I had to put

a dot on the paper

to know where to take a breath.

It's not easy

to rhythmically say things

that, in some cases,

make chronological order

and rhyme it

with precise timing.

Like, most people

can't do that.

I don't think people

had a respect...

the same respect

for rap lyrics as, like, say,

a Bob Dylan would get

for that genre of music,

simply because they don't

see us respecting it.

They don't see us

respecting our own sh*t.

You know what I'm saying?

We...'cause all we do

is criticize each other.

It's cooler in hip-hop.

Somehow it's like,

it's cool to criticize.

Yeah, it's cooler

in hip-hop to criticize.

It's not cool to give props.

I wanna give people

their f***ing props.

- That's what I want to do.

- Yeah.

I want... artists need

to hear that.

Why you wanna f***ing

take away from the art?

You know what I mean?

Like, this is an art form.

Lyricism should be an art form.

It should be lyrics first.

You got lyricists

scared to be lyricists.

Rappers are never

given the credit

with falling in love

with language.

These are kids...

most of the time

from urban environments...

that literally

fall in love

with language.

What we would call, um,

you know, bars and verses,

you know, in poetry,

they call them stanzas.

And it's participating

in the development

of the English language

directly.

- Absolutely.

- To this day,

even just hearing something

as silly and funny as,

"Put a quarter in your ass

'cause you played yourself,"

immediately teaches you

something about metaphor

and about comedy.

The contribution

is often overlooked

and I think,

sometimes, purposely.

[]

Rappers stepping to me,

they wanna get some

But I'm the Kane so, yo,

you know the outcome

Another victory,

they can't get with me

So pick a BC date

'cause you are history

[Big Daddy Kane] You know,

when you talk about an MC,

it could mean

several different things.

You can have someone

that just basically works

as an announcer,

or you can have someone

that's, like, a party rocker,

or you could have, like,

you know, your lyricist

who's spitting bars,

and that comes from battle rap.

I used to go

to different schools...

Eastern District,

Westinghouse,

Erasmus, Brooklyn Tech...

to battle their best MCs.

MCs would come

to my high school.

I mean, I could be in class

and I see my man La Son

come to the window

at my door... he'd tap

on the door, go like that...

letting me know,

and I'd get a bathroom pass

and bring it back

maybe three periods later.

You know, I'm a big

Muhammad Ali fan,

so first thing

I would normally do

is destroy you before

we even start rhyming.

I will do to Buster

what the Indians did to Custer.

I'm gonna wipe him out.

"It's just you,

or it's all three of y'all?

You sure?

I mean, they can go too."

Embarrass you so bad

that your friends

are laughing at you.

'Cause, you know,

they your boys,

they gonna cosign you anyway,

but what you gonna say

after you just been laughing

at your man, you know?

- He know he lost.

- [male announcer] It's live

from the world-famous

Apollo Theater...

the future all-stars

in concert.

The one and only Biz Markie.

Biz come to me, and he already

knew what he wanted.

He came, was like,

"I wanna do a song

called 'Pickin' Boogers.'"

And I'm like, "About what?"

He's like, "I don't know,

but just do me one favor.

Somewhere in the song,

just say,

'Hey, Ma, what's for dinner?

Go up your nose

and pick a winner.'"

He had the idea, so it's really

just trying to figure out,

you know, "Okay, what

stupid stuff can I write?"

So I decide to just

go story format.

You know, just tell stories

about a situation

where you got caught

picking boogers.

Yo, don't try to front

like it's so gloomy and gray

'Cause we all

pick our boogers

Sometime every day,

whether out in the open

Or on the sneak tip

With a finger, tissue,

or even a Q-tip

You aren't who you are

without your influences.

You hear, and you say,

"I like that.

I wanna do that."

Pac was the first rapper

that I remember hearing

that it was like,

"Oh, I feel that.

I feel what he's saying,"

and was way too young

to be feeling it...

the pain coming from it.

I could feel whatever it was

he was trying to express.

In "Brenda's Got A Baby,"

he's telling a story.

I'm like, "Damn,

I feel that story."

...went out and had

a church of kids

As long as

when the check came

They got first dibs

[Killer Mike] You know,

when you talk about lyrics,

you think about

storytellers, man,

like KRS, Slick Rick,

you know, Ghostface.

You know what I mean?

Scarface.

The amount of different styles

and, I guess,

different influences

I've had

has been amazing

thanks to rap.

You know, the same way

that people argue...

you know, great writers,

Frost, Chaucer.

You know what I'm saying?

Twain.

- We argue the same.

- [El-P] And the chick

- who wrote Harry Potter.

- [Killer Mike] Oh, yeah.

[laughing] Yeah.

[ eerie hip-hop music ]

[Zombie Juice] All right,

so I'll start off. Eminem.

[Meechy Darko]

Notorious B. I. G.

[Zombie Juice] Nas.

- Tupac.

- Jay-Z.

- DMX.

- 50 Cent.

This nigga said DMX,

took my sh*t.

- Big Pun.

- Jadakiss.

[quietly] Wow.

I'm just gonna say

Bizzy Bone.

- Tech N9ne.

- Mos Def.

- Twista.

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