Hip hop is the greatest
I love it so much that I hate it
I haven't been in it in a minute to win
Ok, so let's begin
When I first hit the scene as a struggling MC
Doing shows at The Fez underneath the Time Cafe as rap meets poetry
Made enough loot for train fare
I had no car to get there
So I'd leave the party early
I was stranded, sleeping in Grand Central
If I missed that last 138 train heading up to White Plains
I could be wrong but I believe
This took place around the years early '94 or '93
Heard Nas on Main Source when I lived in Atlanta
Before my first time touring overseas with Vernon Reid
When Sayyid was a writer for URB
Before I quit smoking 'erb
We used to get high outside across the mall by the library
While a local MC from White Plains named Top Quality
Put out an album called "Magnum Opus"
When he signed a record deal with PMD
Back then I was a cashier at a clothing store
While my man Dead End came to visit one day
Said he'd be right back
Then turned around and robbed the video store right next door
I only soared in '95 and '97
Antipop had to be distinctive in it's approach from those (?) kids
I always considered it essential in art
Forward thinking and plus
(?) keep it real
And held it against me as a minus
Back then we had no support and nobody was behind us
Which meant Stretch and Bobbito would never really play us
And Rawkus would never really sign us
Before (?) gave the world's first orientation to our single "Disorientation"
Before the (?) Blues Remix
Before The Isolationist with Vadim
Before Antipop was performing at the Soundlab as The Blank Slates
Before Priest got arrested, posting up stickers he made working at Kinko's
Promoting the Consortium mixtapes
After Original Flavor from New Rochelle dropped "Can I Get Open" with Jay-Z
I recorded my first verse ever on an album by a female MC
Named (?)
When Gang Starr was two MC's
Still together was EPMD
I was influenced by Sadat X's freestyle tapes
Before Brand Nubian's first album hit
That my man (?)
He was the first to say to me, "Don't be a DJ, you'd make a better MC"
Occasionally I'd go to Lyricist Lounge
That was the first time I saw Biggie
I was in the crowd, I stood a few feet away from him
Then I saw him again during New Music Seminar
Sharing the stage with 2Pac at the Palladium
I'm a golden era 80's baby
PE raised me
I'm here to stay, I ain't for play
A blank page to a pen is a sin
(???) when I cancel your grin