And you'll know it was me by the trail of demos 
Spare me the details, e-mails, memos 
Dookie-gold chain letter to whom it may concern 
Put this around your neck until your hangin on my every 
word 

Stalkin', walkin' in my big black boots 
I'm the DLY artist with thick grass roots 
Had a couple managers as a youth 
I was too young to know better but I was like 
"What does a manager do?" 
Now one of them he saw dollar signs in my skin color 
The other, he said to keep it undercover 
Post-VIP Posse, Pre-Internet Nazi era 
Powers of suggestion suggested I be what I'm not and 
that's not me ever 
From Lasienega to Meadowbrook Drive 
Never looked surprised 
Cut to the chase with metal hooks and knives 
Now it's battle time, I stepped in the arena 
Thirteen year old gladiator freak with a fever for the 
flavor of a fight on the mic 
Follow the leader 
Mistachuck was the surrogate father 
Krs-One, the teacher 
There I was, sneakin into clubs 
Beat an emcee to the punch over instrumentals dubbed 
From tape deck to tape deck 
Pause tape mix at breakneck speed 
The only whitey in sight 
That doesnt make me realer than you, or faker than you 
But I'm authentic, forget it 
Started breakin rules 
Ten years later still hadnt stopped 
Won the biggest battle in a Metallica shirt before the 
album dropped 
A week later, smashed the trophy at a show 
It was takin up the space that I needed to grow 

Pop pop goes the weasel (the weasel) 
Drop drop goes the easel (the easel) 
This is hip hop for the people 
Stop callin it emo (waah) 

I know a kid who thinks he's hip hop cause he buys it 
I know a kid who thinks he's hip hop cause he never 
buys shit 
Underground or mainstream 
Some are bound to change schemes 
Y'all weren't doin this dirt 
When Jeru came clean 

Before the Freddie Foxxx conflict with DMX 
Around the time Jay-Z and Nas's girl had sex 
I used to wake up every morning on a hard wooden floor 
Livin in Brooklyn with a car I couldnt afford 
And if I wasn't hangin out in front of Fat Beats 
records, I was in the factory, mailing my 12-inches 
So fuck a promo copy, buddy, you can download the track 
Seratooo promo sexual laptop 
A hollow existence in a bottle 
Ya' sip sip and swallow 
I tripped quick then followed a path that made sense 
Started out with a live band then worked with 
turntablists 
Now I strike a match with the back of my front teeth 
And light up the stage with just speech 

I remember the days Ken and Dave let me crash on their 
couch 
And I saved what I could and put the cash in my mouth 
When I played in my hood I had a fraction of outs 
Til Atmosphere put me on and now I'm packin the house 
Since the mid-80s this has been a game of cat and mouse 
It's funny hearin all the shit these rappers brag about 
Knowin all of them are walkin around with massive 
doubts 
Talkin bout it's only status and platinum plaques that 
count 

Pop pop goes the weasel (the weasel) 
Drop drop goes the easel (the easel) 
This is hip hop for the people (the people) 
Stop calling it emo (wah) 

Irony is dead, it's so motherfucking dead, I was there 
by it's deathbed 
And the last words that it said 
Was "Whiiiiite booyyyy" 

I'm Still Sick with an independent record labek 
I built quick just when I got Sick of Waiting Tables 
Then in the blink of an eye I waged War 
As a Known Unsoldier with a soul you can't pay for 
I ran a business on my own two legs 
Known to beg if I needed to with Home Grown bootlegs. 
I cut and pasted images of my face and then sloppily 
placed 'em in a case. Strange Famous. I stayed True 
when School was in Session. 
Went to college to buy time, that shit was expensive. 
So I shamelessly self-promoted 
The radio station would open doors and opportunities 
Eventually made it to Oakland where anticon accepted me 
with open hands 
Journals fot Personal on a one dollar advance. 
Non-Prophets had a hope that a UK label smashed, so I 
crossed out my eyes and signed to Epitaph 
This is the hustle of an emcee 
The Distrust is Healthy 
In a dirty industry where the promises are empty 
I'm more honest than friendly 
More handsome than sexy 
Let me bring you up to speed, Humans do a Dance that's 
Deadly