Follow me into a solo
 Get in the flow - and you can picture like a photo
 Music mixed mellow maintains to make
 Melodies for MC's motivates the breaks
 I'm everlastin, I can go on for days and days
 With rhyme displays that engrave deep as X-rays
 I can take a phrase that's rarely heard, FLIP IT
 Now it's a daily word
 I can get iller than 'Nam, a killin bomb
 But no alarm - Rakim will remain calm
 Self-esteem make me super superb and supreme
 But for a microphone still I fiend
 This was a tape I wasn't supposed to break
 I was supposed to wait, but let's motivate
 I want to see who can keep followin and swallowin
 Takin the making, bitin it and borrowin
 Brothers tried and others died to get the formula
 But I'ma let ya sweat - you still ain't warm
 You a step away from frozen, stiff as if ya posin
 Dig into my brain as the rhyme gets chosen
 So follow me and were ya thinkin' you were first?
 Let's travel at magnificent speeds around the Universe
 What could ya say as the Earth gets further and further away
 Planets are small as balls of clay
 Astray into the Milky Way - world's outasight
 Far as the eye can see - not even a satellite
 Now stop and turn around and look
 As ya stare in the darkness, ya knowledge is took!
 So keep starin soon ya suddenly see a star
 You better follow it cause it's the R
 This is a lesson if ya guessin and if ya borrowin
 Hurry hurry step right up and keep followin
 The Leader

 Verse Two:

 This is a lifetime mission, vision of prison
 Aight listen
 In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
 Am I Eternal? Or an eternalist?
 I'm about to flow long as I can possibly go
 Keep ya movin cause the crowd said so
 Dance - cuts rip ya pants
 Eric B on the blades, bleedin to death - call the ambulance
 Pull out my weapon and start to squeeze
 A magnum as a microphone murderin' MC's
 Let's quote a rhyme from a record I wrote
 (follow the leader) Yeah - dope
 Cause everytime I stop it seems ya stuck
 Soon as ya try to step off ya self-destruct
 I came to overcome before I'm gone
 By showin and provin and lettin knowledge be born
 Then after that I'll live forever - you disagree?
 You say never? Then follow me!
 >From century to century you'll remember me
 In history - not a mystery or a memory
 God by nature, mind raised in Asia
 Since you was tricked, I have to raise ya
 >From the cradle to the grave, but remember
 You're not a slave
 Cause we was put here to be much more than that
 But we couldn't see it because our mind was trapped
 But I'm here to break away the chains, take away the pains
 Remake the brains, reveal my name
 I guess nobody told you a little knowledge is dangerous
 It can't be mixed, diluted; it can't be changed or switched
 Here's a lesson if ya guessing and borrowing
 Hurry hurry, step right up and keep following
 The leader

 Verse Three:

 A furified freestyle, lyrics of fury
 My third eye makes me shine like jewelry
 You're just a rent-a-rapper, your rhymes are minute-maid
 I'll be here when it fade to watch you flip like a renegade
 I can't wait to break and eliminate
 On every traitor or snake - so stay awake
 and follow and follow, because the tempo's a trail
 The stage is a cage, the mic is a third rail
 I'm Rakim the Fiend of a Microphone
 I'm not HIM, so leave my mic alone
 Soon as the beat is felt, I'm ready to go
 So fasten your seatbelt, cause I'm about to flow
 No need to speed slow down to let the leader lead
 Word to daddy, indeed!
 The R's a rollin stone, so I'm rollin
 Directions is told, then the rhymes are stolen
 Stop buggin', a brother said, dig em, I never dug 'em
 He couldn't follow the leader long enough so I drug 'em
 into danger zone, he should arrange his own
 Face it, it's basic, erase it, change ya tone
 There's one R in the alphabet
 It's a one-letter word and it's about to get
 More complex from one rhyme to the next
 Eric B be easy on the flex
 I've been from state to state, followers tailgate
 Keep comin but you came too late, but I'll wait
 So back up, regroup, get a grip, come equipped
 You're the next contestant - clap ya hands, you won a trip!
 The price is right - don't make a deal too soon
 How many notes could you name this tune?
 Follow the Leader is the title, theme, task
 Now ya know, you don't have to ask
 Rap is Rhythm And Poetry, cuts create sound effects
 You might catch up if you follow the records E. wrecks
 Until then keep eatin and swallowin
 You better take a deep breath and keep followin
 The leader