3rd Bass › Lyrics › Product of the Environment

Alright coming up now another request
(This one)
This time from the boys down at Anna's Pizza Paradise
A new arrangement of a great oldie in rhythm and blues

In the heart of the city you was born and bred
You grew up smart or you wound up dead
Things moved fast, but you knew the scoop
And your savior was a rhyme and a beat and a rap group

A modern day production of the city street
You said, ”I didn't have it that I couldn't compete”
So the sleeper did sleep but the sleeper shoulda woke up
Now you're in my sight, the Buddha sess you smoke up

That's the element you carry your rhymes on
That style of rhyme won't let you live long
'Cause a strong song to you is what I sent
'Cause I'm a product of the environment

There it is, black and white
There it is, black and white

On the streets of far Rockaway Queens
Seagram Boulevard, B-17
Redfern houses where no MC would ever go
Is where I did my very first show

Had the crowd, had the rhymes going, I never fess
(His reward, was almost a bullet in his chest)
And on that stage, is where I first learned
Stick out my chest to be a kid and get burned

You're so foolish, but I think you knew this
That on the the microphone punk I can do this
And doing this, is what life meant
'Cause I'm a product, of the environment

There it is, black and white
There it is, black and white

Back in the days when kids were mack daddies
Striped Lee jeans, playboys and Caddies
Long Beach, the M.O.K. center
He almost caught a bad one when he tried to enter our way

Bang, bum rush the back door
Then scatter, onto the dance floor
Me and my boys, skeezin' the cuties
Never had static, 'cuz everybody knew me

Local DJ's, tearin' up the wax
And out the corner, some kid gets taxed
After the party, crack open a forty
Vicked it from the store yo the man never caught me

Went up to the arcade, cranked the bass
And then the five-oh chased us from the place
Hop on the railroad, play the conductor

Everywhere I went, I always tucked a
Marker in my jacket to tag where I went
'Cause we were just products, of the environment

There it is, black and white
There it is, black and white

I wanna tell you something that gets me kind of mad
It's about my dear old dad
He's tired, and worn, and works a nine to five
Clockin' thirty G's a year to survive

But I know kids who in a month or so
Make that money sellin' ya, yo
Pushin' a drug, I can't understand
Destroyin' a life with a buck in the hand

Play rotten slum chain, local street hero
But if you ask Serch, you're just a bunch of zeroes
Too bad 'cause when you're older, you won't have a cent
'Cause you're a product, of the environment

There it is, black and white
There it is, black and white

You hear it in the strength of my voice and in my rhythm
Now you know, how I was livin'
It happened to me, like it happened to Serch
Prime Minister Pete Nice'll kick the verse

In Bed-Stuy with my boy, Kiwai Height
The K to A Kingston, Wednesday night
To the Empire, show slammin'
Open for Dana, crew flammin'

Mouth open wide, or listening
Dumb dope with a forty in my system
Unprotected but respected for my own self
'Cause of talent, no shade, or nothin' else

A time of tension, racially fenced in, I came off
(And all the brothers blessed him)
I left more than a mark, I left a dent
'Cause I'm a product, of the environment

Aiyyo Serch, skin is just a color of the mind and the soul
And a brother ain't a brother if his heart is cold
You [unverified] what I'm sayin' fellas?
Word, and I think we need a positive Kause in a much damaged society
Word up man Nubians killin' Nubians, brothers just don't understand

Word maybe it's some of that crime that's stoppin' the growin'
The drug pollution and all needs to calm down
Word man, 'cause that's what we need, we need Griff Productions
We need a KMD man to uplift the race and bring Kause in the beginning

And a posse called get yours
There it is, to all y'all bigots who want us to bend
We're just products of the environment, peace hopefully
(There it is, black and white)