Joe Budden
Joe Budden - Who Killed Hip Hop lyrics
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[Intro:] Yeah, I'm doin all these interviews Everybody wanna know what I think about the state of hip hop Wheather I think it's dead or not? The question ain't wheather it's dead, It's more like, it's more like, Who killed it, and when? [Part 1:] Can anybody pin-point the day it went wrong I mean I use to blame reggeton'e I can't front I thought all that was corny Was it ja's fault Lil' mo said she ain't get paid for put it on me Look Bring it up and dude's get on some coise shit Was it t-pain with that funny voice shit? Or was it lil' wayne with that funny voice shit? The whole game did grown that funny voice shit I can't tell when it happend, Was it when lil' jon show dudes you could sell without rappin Was it laughy taffy I thought that they was kiddin Shorty loe said they no I didn't Dancin became cool again then came walk it out But I ain't know what the fuck nigga's was talkin bout' Unit' kicked game out they ain't give a fuck Then we seen the same shit happen to buck It was a few year's ago but I remember the summer 50' made fan's start lookin at the number's A&R's won't take risk's they won't sign nigga's The worst swag came out started to blind nigga's Rap dude's want reality shows and my dumb ass is thinkin that reality sold Did it start with the ipod? or when rappers had to pay dj's for them to do they job? I mean All the content is the same it won't differ Everybody sold some drugs and pulled triggers The more you think about it you just gon' get sicker And why the fuck nas wanna call shit "nigga" Nigga Was it when the wu broke up? Pac, big, pun, went to sleep never woke up Lupe was doin a tribute and choked up And some of these stupid ass fan's like so what Some of them they ain't educated And fuck blamin the south we ain't segragated I mean... was all good around the kiss and beans shit Took a left turn around the kiss and green shit Maybe it all started when rock-a-fella parted Way's... it's natural the shift talk fame How must everyone one last one of dude's shit on dame Kinda got that in common I can dig that pain When they gave jay a desk and suit They finally gave a rapper a chance to come exucute But something told me the suits at the tables was hurtin They fired everybody labels started mergin As far as sales the decline is strong Ask the experts they'll say that the climates wrong I mean some nigga's pride is gone I peeped it when nigga's started puttin fake diamonds on You can tell a dude I spit better than you But then he'll say I'm richer for whatever I do I seen all this comin I knew what we was in for Back when eric sermon had jumped out the window Was it when mase retired and couldn't hack it Tip could he just needed some more ratchets Dj's, producers, one's that get us the farthest Said fuck rappers and they became the artist's I gotta talk candid Did we start havin issues around the same time jimmy and cam did? Was it when chingy thought he ain't need ludacris? The Next album found out that that was ludacris Papoose and clipse both survived inked it with jive then gettin jived Then the man j-hood rep the d-block gang Then I seen dude draggin his d-block chain Or did one hit wonder's change it all along? They made labels only wanna sign a dude's song And you really don't know shit if you think the fans pick the video's on 106 I'm just statin the truth... Did it start when fox stayed in the news more than she did the booth Or was it when lil' kim stop explotin sex? And what the fucks up with dmx I hope dude's straight Have an opinion and they gonna say you hate I can't front I'm missin the old' clue tapes The underground sunk further The fed's was on irv so the inc dropped murda I never blame fab, jeezy, rick ross This shit get lost when shyne went up north I'll never understand the hip hop police When hip hop is what hip hop need's to police These blaent ass radion attempts sound so bland Twista kept tryin to re-create slow-jams Did we send the wrong message with our slang? As broke nigga's blowin they rent to make it rain So you walk in give a bitch a few 20's And she'll smurk her face up lookin at you funny This chick told me she only take new money "NAH" I snatched my shit back so fast Or did it start when rappers said fuck it? Sacrificed music started rapin they budget? Nothin wrong with dudes bein candy and pop somethin It was wrong when JOC hit the candy shop! We buyin our own records maybe no-one's to blame Or we a buissness that we can't afford to maintain The 2nd week show that boy that numbers ain't high I hate to break it to ya numbers always lie Or when ortiz signed to aftermath? And now he's feelin the aftermath Was it fight klub fuckin with them battle rap's? But not too many of em' gettin signed after that! I mean... some can stay aflot A million busta albums he still not mentioned with the g.o.a.t Fuck lookin for answers time will tell Was it when def jam didn't wanna re-sign L? A 15 year old told kass was ass Rather than spaz all dude could do was laugh Or was when the whole east coast fell off? Or got comfortable maybe dude's was too well-off The more nigga's said that they ain't write down lyrics The more it started to sound like they didn't But do whatever you can to keep the light's on But dumb it down just became the dylan Honestly I ain't know what to think? A few years ago we had the young kids wearing PINK I can't blame the fans for not knowin a damn thing When we trained them to be this way I mean showed whatever to sell with no limits Since the early 90's sold em' a false image And when some shit come that don't fit the mold It's like a mole nigga you won't even do gold They watch the videos... See you on the corner with a whole bunch of people and think that you hood They turn on the tv and see these video pigeons And they think these niggas girls really look that good I mean they get so many free verses When the album drop's shit is more like a bonus Why pay for it? why tape own this? [Part 2:] With one click of a ouse they could own it I mean some of them are fooled so easly By whatever we say or show em' on tv But that was all part of the plan Or was it when eminem made stan I swear some of these fan's They put they whole life on the line It's like they can't like more than one rapper at a time Less about the product more about the digits Is it buissness we got less fans and more critics Maybe we at a cross Canibus made one of the dopest diss records but some still say that he lost I ain't believe my ears when niggas tried to tell me That krs wanted a rap beef with nelly If rap was alive we be tryin to be the best rappers ever NOT THE BEST RAPPER ALIVE! But you won't get accepted at all if you ain't street tough Onyx was the hardest till' sticky got beat up Now I'm a thug how's I gotta behave If I wanna be paid if I wanna see praise You know somethings wrong when nigga's is gettin shot And you gotta sit and wonder if the whole things staged IT AINT REAL NO MORE Or did we just expand on our audience maybe we appeal to more Or do we just think that ya'll gettin dumber We tried to make gettin older gettin younger Did we lose our hunger somethings gotta give Did we out grow our selfs is hip hop for kids If it is... They turn on mtv cribs and think that's where these motherfuckers really live Or was it when lauren hill dropped a classic So did the fugee's till wyclef tapped it Songs don't do nomore this shit's shockin Seen it when lean back had the whole world rockin Now it's fuck the bars if your hook is fly So we look at crooked I with a crooked eye Us dope ass rappers ain't seein no dough If everythings commercial wher the fucks the show But anybody makin a dime I'm gonna wish well Still we took a big L losing big L Or was it when you tube came in the game Now nobody's from they livin room can make a name Or when the indies like koch came and blew up Nigga's at the majors they litteraly threw up Too some it ain't fun no more You know it's fucked up when dmc don't talk to run no more Too many ego's like we ain't one no more Shits predictable niggas ain't stunned no more We startin to see shit we never seen before At one point we even had the magizines at war Or was it street dvd's like smack Showed just how stupid your favorite rapper would act This shit get lifeless when mtv made a list of the hottest and ignored the nicest I mean the average fan never heard of a goodie-mob or a cee-lo But they heard of gnarlys barkley And dr. carter still say we got a heartbeat I ain't gonna lie I was scared to death straight up Started hearin rumors of an outcast break-up I was that ain't true it sounds desperate Then started seein big boi and 3k seperate Had periods we was drier then the desert Are we all killin this shit is it a group effort Are we alive and well or barely survivin Is it RnB's fault them nigga's is thrivin Then alot of people go and blame limewire I don't think it's downloadin dog the limes tired The the fans just get tired of the outcome One dope single and a bullshit album So they share albums with each other Or was it master p with them ugly ass album covers Or when we started appearin in the news Timberland said they ain't want black nigga's wearin they boots I mean... I know it got foggy atleast blurry When the label dude got knocked out by keith murray Or was it when we became obsessed with the brand names Had the kids tryin to buy shit that they can't name And some think the evidence is ample Did it start when puff took advantage of the sample Is it all water downed with no fire If you had enough money you could buy a ghost-writer Or the diamond district jacob the jewler Had to buy his watch to be looked at as cooler And fuckin with them trends Our stupid asses wasted a hundred grand on shit that ain't even in Look is the game now as bad as it's ever been It's not ringtones just the songs that they represent I heard all em' Sad part I wouldn't reckonize most of these niggas if I saw em ' I can't explain it I don't know what to tell ya' Now goin gold is looked at as a failure Maybe old cats in charge just wern't able Dj's is spinnin now with no turn table Maybe the fans are just bored of us Or maybe there ain't enough room for all of us It's like even a friendship will stop at a point Mike jones went platinum off of slim thugs joint But there's so many ways to get fuckin rich Superhead caved off by just suckin dick Did we sell out just to get into demand more Did we go against everything we use to stand for Both the likely There's two sides of the coin who you rollin with soldier boy or ice-t Some niggas wanna sit around and complain about Id rather analyze see how it came about If we could rewind the world We wouldn't have to watch flava flave try to find his girl Look today it's all about marketin a promo I remember VH1 was just for old' folks But no ma'am If I ain't know better I would think that mix show is now programmed We let the power of a dollar anilate us How the size of our chain gonna validate us It's too simple they can't think that we really deep I JUST HEARD CHRIS BROWN ON THE A-MILLI BEAT Saw a video corny lookin ass niggas Grabbed the remote tired of lookin at niggas But that let a nigga know that if we ain't dead That we just half alive maybe brain dead Did it start when capone left nore Nah he went to jail that's a whole different story [Part 3:] Or maybe somethings really wrong with our ears Obie trice got dropped so much for cheers Females emcees they don't ever hit the target Somebody said they seen amill workin at a target The sad part is we already lost remi Or did we go wrong when evey eve got skinny What's up with jackie o rah digga that I can't figure Trina ain't been the same since "Nan" nigga I know it had to do somethin to his heartbeat When lady a rave started doin steve harvey I know we caught a little trauma Somewhere between yo yo boss and lil' mama Alotta females found another way to extort Most of our video models have turned escort Do anything to see dough... So they'll exchange sex with an artist or director for a lead role Or should we get back to basics Where's the rakims or the master ace's The big daddy caines or did we never recover From dre' not bein on the side of ed lover Or when rap dudes started signin they friends Instead of goin out and tryin to find nigga's with skill Seen it when d-12 put out purple pills And while the whole hood laughed them niggas sold a mill Some of us ain't prepared for somethin so lukerative I just heard yung berg say some stupid shit Like we almost took one in the torso When each bone thugs member took they own crossroads Some disagree some gotta see the same Or maybe hip hop died on aaliyah plane If it relocated where did it move too I still love her the way commom use too Or did bill o'riley come fuck up the spirt With negitive remarks about everybodys lyrics Spend all this time dissin us Nigga you 95 years old motherfucker shouldn't be a listener Lost jam master who was tougher then leather Or did it start when trench was fuckin pepper As our jeans got tighter and our tee's got longer I'm tryin to figure which age group do we belong ta Or did we all go astray the second dr dre left n.w.a In my opinion we was on easy street when he was beefin with eazy-e Or did we get fucked up when producers found a way to cheat Signin unknown niggas to start makin they beats If you sell your own shit it gotta go for cheap Let's put my name on it so the price increase Or is it cause ery'body so self centerd Is the reason itself that hip hop ain't centerd Or had we already seen this shit with our own eyes When rico suave, hammer and vanilla ice Everybody want in the game So in return... Got label executives fuckin they interns And anybody lookin at that new vibe bracket Should see that they don't know a thing about this rap shit Or maybe we should have stopped bein proud... When there was no more raukus and no more loud Tried to get conscience around voe to die So they made it look like all our vocals lies As the years go on it's like we keep gettin more voids We got lost when we lost one of the lost boys I knew we was impersonanatin the frauds Then kay slay slapped my man at the awards Regardless it's all for this artist Runnin with awnin rodgers who act like they never left the projects Who do we wanna target... Will they put an uncle murda cd in a wal-mart or a target We got the nerve to not wanna hear ras-kass Or fuck with vick get silly and act trash I fel ashamed when j-kwon told me he don't like raekwon cause he stole his name Was back when everybody in the club got tipsy Now every contract gotta be 360 So fuck eatin better scrape the plate Now every beat gotta have atleast an 808 Did the lights get dim when we first heard MIMS and said Another new york rapper on the souths tip Is it over-crowded... They keep sayin if it's so fucked up then do somethin about it... I doubt it It's just one thing they don't understand That job is way bigger than just one man Or maybe all of these pleas that it's deceased it falls and this shit is right where it needs to be Maybe we built on somethin that will last forever Seen face and ghetto boyz just got back together Maybe no one can stop us... Even other genres now jock us we even do songs with the rockers How's that the feelin... Kanye is amazing wayne just sold a million we closer to a ceilin God we in a coma... But we the only buissness you can excell with no diploma Technologyu changed made everything simple Myspace is now a dude bio slash demo Aside from this fact we generating more money We took it global and penetrated other countries So let's celebrate sip some criss' Some more shit we embrace just to end up diff Go and buy the bar out so we can all get bent Let go cop a bunch of cars just to still pay rent Or here's another bright idea to entertain Let's go and put our face on the bottom of a chain Or some of us just nigga rich with nigga money Well jews keep laughin look at these niggas dummies So hip hop should be a steppin stool Till we find another road we can step into Some of us doin movies as a matter of fact But some plan to never stop life after rap I mean AH... As a whole did we stop movin further Around the time snoop dogg went on trial for murder Or was it scarface creatin these clonies 30 years later everybody still tony Maybe anybody complainin is deranged Can you expect somethin to grow and not change We socially acceppted deviated our own route It's simplified we all sold out I think I figured out who's to blame We started out obama ended up mccain So we kurt kobained ourselfs if we defeated So next time they ask who killed it tell em' we did