Brand Nubian › Lyrics › The Beat Change

Somebody went gold in the Billboard, it was a X, but it was Mia
Young boys ran to me in the local pizzeria
He said, "You Jamar and Haji man y'all hot to death
Can y'all save what's left, or at least make a claim?"

Shorty remind me of myself when I started in this game
And through years I'm basically the same, as are my brothers
I'm the eight track flashback before the days of crack
Is it real or an act, f*** it, let's save the kids

Yeah, you all about war, why you tryin' to die for?
Yeah, them niggaz real raw but you sleepin' on the floor
Yeah, I walk through the Valley with my man Spark and Allie
Days of money, in Harlem Week '85
With the Captain's hats, and my father's old guns

Before I had a daughter, and before they had sons
I stay the hypnotizer, style's a tranquilizer
Got you feelin' all loose, wettin' up the goose
The great Datty X and I'm hear to say
You can always find me around the way

Uh, I be that kid with the dreads that remember
When I hid from the Feds, plus I always did what I said
I was gonna do, talk s***, right in front of you
Never forfeit, on top, we do it non stop

Remember when we let the bomb drop
With more jewels than a pawn shop from the school
Of the hard knocks, straight off the now rule block
Powerful aftershocks with the strength of master locks

We got you in a paradox, between a rock and a hard place
We got the hard bass
And everybody's gon' get a taste, get your plate
First we had to let it marinate, now we straight, uh

Five mics is how we rate, stand with us
And stand amongst the likes of the great scandalous
Cats, try they best to decipher the tape
What we manifest still gets blessed in every state

Hey, listen here dog a nigga keep it spicy hot
Rhyme flow stay straighter than six o'clock
Hustle rhymes like a nigga hustle s*** on the block
The s*** is work and got a 4.6 in the lot

I hustle knowledge, charge tuition like a college
My wisdom hold me down in town like Jackie Brown
I teach dangerous minds, like that chick Michelle Pfeffeir
That's why the Gods check got at least 6 cypher

My Justice Cypher Born, I ain't no helpless type nigga
Like a gat without a trigga I got the figure to make figures
For years I've been doin' this thing I do
Since Ralph McDaniel's video show was on channel U

Station 31, vice grip channel changer son
The show was the banger, came in clear with a hanger
Top notch status watch the God get it flamin'
Herbal with the verbal, drop top twin turbo
Blazin' for the year, born build to 2 G's

Flow like these, help the God stack cheese
Summer Jet-Ski, trunk with TV's
Sittin' under tropic trees with iced teas
Mind stay positive black, guaranteed
to grab the top dollar, more pull than the Rottweiler