The Ghost Of Hip Hop's Past lyrics - Canibus

[first minute of the song is DJ shoutouts]

[Canibus]

Yeah, the ghost of hip-hop's past

Let's see how long infinity gon' last...

Wake up, what is the date? 1988

Hip-Hop is barely exposed to the emotion and hate

I hibernate, rhymin from space, my first album ten years late

I tried to take it to a positive place

But it was like a communist state, I tried to escape

My label shot me in the back as I was climbin the gate

I woke up, now I'm awake, I found democracy to be fake

Hip-Hop sucks, who made it this way?

I was a teenager when hip-hop saved the day

Paychecks paid the way, not radio play

Some artists had knowledge of self, that little bit of honesty helped

Violent lyrics promoted positive guilt

So even when you thought the message was negative it promoted positive health

It was about the rhymes, not wealth

It was about our culture, not about what the culture could sell

It was a path to enlightenment, not Hell

We amused ourselves and this confused everybody else

I memorized "Rock the Bells"

I memorized "Tales for the Crack Side" I used to rock gazelles

EPMD, "You Gots to Chill"

Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, Pete Rock, "Mistadobalina" was Del

Cold Crush Crew, Melle Mel

Sugar Hill, Salt-n-Pepa, Sweet Tee pretty as hell

Shante dimple on her face, pretty as well

I used to wanna smell the pale Roxanne's taie

Technics 1200, beat it like an SB-12

Lord Finesse the punchline king, Heavy D was doing his own thing

Dio and McGruff used to hold things

Biz Mark's big ass gold chain

One day I think I saw the Jungle Brothers dancing on Soul Train

Marley Marl, Craig G, Master Ace, Big Daddy Kane

Kool G Rap put me under his wing

On the road to lyricism, with Rakim and them

Some real lyricists, Eric B. was sick with the zigga-ziggas

I know I'm trippin, it's been a minute

So many brothers and sisters it's hard to remember who did it

Memories disappear like Whodini

My friends disappeared faster than my budget when my producer was greedy

{"Fat, Boyyyyyyyyys"} feed me

I've been eatin emcees, you still don't believe

Brand of wool, brown teeth, red blood leak from Black Sheep

Whenever the horns blow it gets deep

Digging In The Crates for my niggas in the street

Diamond D had the "Best Kept Secret" for weeks

D-Nice said, "Bis, you a beast", Redman said, "Peace"

Def Jam said I couldn't compete

Killah Priest spit "Heavy Mental" before "Heavy Mental" was released

Accapella, no instrumental beat

My Girbauds would hang low, no crease

Timbs on the feet, Cold Cheeks had a Lex

Tom Leek had the MPV, J Rav had the Jeep

Clark Kent had the Tahoe, Charles bought a 4.6 because of Jay-Z

The program director's name from Hot 97 was Tracy

Tragedy Khadafi, Queens' first intelligent Prodigy

Probably the first Arab Nazi

K-9 Posse chew you up like blue chnk chopped meat

MC N-I-N-E

"This is the way we walk in New York"

"Throw Ya Gunz" in the air if you ready for war

Throw your hands the air if you ready for more

If I don't like the way you look, I'ma tear your face off

The Undergod, underground lord

When it comes to "100 Bars" you niggaz know who to ask for!

I woke up in the mornin, on a regular day

I knew my nigga K-Solo would be around my way

I washed off my Thor hammer, the trigger mechanism lubricate

It was time to destroy the place

He kept sayin if I spit my rhymes on the mic

in no time, I would be back in the limelight

I said, "Solo, nowadays I don't feel rap

Cause it ain't like it used to be, the shit is whack"

He said, "No 'Bis, trust Wolfgang, cause I know my shit

You already know the flows I spit"

We love hip-hop, we gotta pay homage to the shit

I love hip-hop... [fades out, comes back as scratching]

[repeat 2X]

Yeah, the ghost of hip-hop's past

Let's see how long "Lyrical Law" gon' last

[Canibus]

DJ Immortal, get it kid! YEAH!