*piano playing for 1:02 before the beginning of the main song*



[Eric B] "Clap your hands" cut and scratched 6X

[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*