[Rakim]  Put your hands together... clap your hands

 Verse One: Rakim

 This is for thousands of people who came
 A show from road to road you're entertained
 I don't even have to say my name
 Cause when the place is ripped in half, I'm to blame
 Masses of posses packed up schemin
 Ladies lovely and keep on screamin
 Go Rakim, go Rakim, go
 It won't be long then it's on with the show
 I'm late, so hit the brakes and park the Benzito
 Double oh seven, incognito
 Sneak in the back door, lookin for the stage
 When I get on you react in a rage
 People from side to side and front to back
 won't dance, if the MC's wack
 The crowd go psycho even if I don't move
 Some like the groove cause I'm so smooth
 Then somethin happens, feet start tappin
 You can't hold back when Rakim's rappin
 The man you've been waitin for, rougher than ever
 Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together

 [Eric B] "Clap your hands" cut and scratched 8X
 [Rakim]  Clap your hands

 Verse Two: Rakim

 I create em, take em, shake em, then make em clap to this
 Most of you rappers, can't even rap to this
 I made it faster, you tried to master
 Syncopated styles, words flowin after
 Measures of metaphor definitions of more than one
 Take it both ways, I'll be here when you're done
 Remember as the rhyme goes on it's rougher
 Soon as I stop, you had enough of
 Followin footsteps, you better turn back soon
 Sucker MC's suck rhymes like vacuums
 The style remains the same, the words is changed
 Bitten, rewritten, recited and rearranged
 Sing along if your tongue is strong, it gets sore
 Sing when I'm gone and it'll break your jaw
 Wisdom flows so swift, I'm Asiatic
 Is it a gift, or automatic
 Static, I don't cling
 I got a tip of my own and I don't sing
 Don't understand, here's an example
 and why MC's and DJ's sample
 Cause we don't have a band, it's just my voice and his hands
 That's what hip-hop was, it still stands
 The records we use are from mom's and pop's collection
 Find a break from a dope selection
 And go to the store, then buy one more
 So my DJ can mix cause that's what his hands are for
 Years later hip-hop got contracts
 The chance to put actual facts on wax
 A mind's the coach, the physical form's the team
 The top's the destination, I'm the cream
 And still I rise with somethin pumpin and somethin clever
 Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together

 [Eric B] "Clap your hands" cut and scratched (7X)
 [Rakim]  Clap your hands... clap em, clap em

 Verse Three: Rakim

 Now who's the man with the masterplan?
 With stacks of verbal attacks so clap your hands
 Rhyme written in graffiti xeroxed on blueprints
 Students influenced are now a nuisance
 You couldn't fight it, you had to clap to this
 You got excited, you almost snapped your wrist
 The rhymes was written for the crowd's enjoyment
 When I'm with this you can't toy with
 The def jam juicer rough rhyme producer
 Loads of lyrics get you loose, then looser
 The man so smooth and world so rough
 Eric is throwin and sewin rippin restitchin the cuts
 Microphone your majesty, no one's bad as me
 Seems the tragedy, Rakim had to be
 Thinkin of some def view of a video
 Visions are vicious, and I'll let the city know
 Whoever's frontin they know, nothin to say though
 so lay low, musical forms are kickin' like Kato
 Don't get near it, hard as you ever hear it
 I know it's fearified, but don't fear it
 And try to predict which rhyme you can kick
 You're quick to pick your best, for the mic is lit
 Instead of goin with the flow like you're supposed to go
 And enjoy the show and yo, put your hands together

 [Eric B] "Clap your hands" cut and scratched 6X
 [Rakim] Clap your hands... put your hands together
 CLAP YOUR HANDS! *echoes