[El-P]
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I brought that genuine shit in '96
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Before you knew the underground or independent existed
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I watched the whole scene straight jump on the dick
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After stepping to KCR lit and flexing my shit
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No gun talk, no gimmicks, just rounds of raw-dogging
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Dirty dusty intelligent wit and word murdering
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A hardcore poetic informed without burglary
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Potent and shook the shit out of rappers who just learned of me
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Everytime I prescribe a new pill, revolution
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Quickly defined the standard for indie rap distribution
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Arrogant unafraid shit developed riding a train thinking of brain fucks
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"Bad Touch Example" that soon became bucks
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Had everybody sprung wondering where I came from
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Screaming out "Independent as fuck" with an insane tongue
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With an indelible squad of design monsters
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Innovating the styles that made biters look like imposters
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So we scripted an album and signed to Rawkus
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Selling a hundred thousand without a radio chart hit
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Imposterous son is taking the world hostage
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Classic hip-hop bombage dirty with style progress
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Now I've come from the '80s juvenile Brooklyn
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Where cats was like: "Gimme that subway pass, kid. Good lookin."
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Now someone else is taking a ride with what's mine
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So I had to develop styles with a death device cooked in
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So when I battled in basements I had eight sentences
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Waiting ready for the four you had laced in
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And I was taught to wait patient (Why?)
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Only faggots make shit up just to get famous
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So when I finally blew up I remained sick
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Earning respect in ghettos and 'burbs for word placement
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Back when the independent scene remained faceless
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We were the only crew who promised your ass we'd take it
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Mold it, shape it, living outside the matrix
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Hold it, make it, more than miniature major labels
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Hold it sacred, living it for the culture
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Told ya plainly, protected it from the vultures
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That's why I always get respect from true soldiers
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That laugh at the critics claiming every year: "Hip hop's over."
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FUCK YOU, hip hop just started
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It's funny how the most nostalgic cats are the ones who were never part of it
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But true veterans'll give dap to those who started it
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Then humbly move the fuck on and come with that new retarded shit
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New slang, new thought, new sound, new heart, you thought you hang
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You clown, you don't, you drown
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I won't dumb it down, I'm dumbing now for these rounds
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I'm a live mothefucker plus I'm gunning for clowns
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You're a mime motherfucker, don't be coming for pounds
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Till you can break out of that invisible box, you're not down
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My favorite ones are the ones who started out young rappin about
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Comic books, spaceships, and Omnicron 1
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And even though they were soft they had fun
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But they couldn't break out the frame of the town they came from
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Some of these faggots used to send me their demos
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Keeping their puppy styles in the Company Flow kennels
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But since they had no identity from the start
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They started to resent the scene when they couldn't become a part
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They've been failing for years and call themselves Vets, that's bold
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Motherfucker, you're not a Vet you're just old
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I'll slap the shit out you to continue my nerd rap
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Making this money fist over fist, fuck what you heard
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Rookie cats talk about boom bap and golden ages
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Pat themselves on the back for making that new outdated shit
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But i've been putting out vinyl since '93 and never looked back once
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At ya'll trying to chase me
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You don't innovate because you can't innovate
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It's not a choice despite what you might tell your boys
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Keep your identity crisis under the table
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I always knew who I was and I'll always be more famous
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[Aesop Rock]
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Check it
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For the best in the bendor biz
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1-800-Lazerface
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Leave the last CE-Off for crabs and bobbin hatorade
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Dig it, daddy dug his own tunnel under the gutters where the numbers bleed
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Hunters froze up and exposed Rapunzel weeds
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Tugboat, tug a rut out brutal dirt first
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The fuedals fuming oodles, it was right under your poodle skirt
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Welcome to Bazooka Works, halogen halo eyesore
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The revolution will not be apologized for
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