Yo, the first time I heard Digital Underground I was in the first grade
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My homie Lace brought it over and he dubbed it on a mixtape
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I would do the Humpty Hump and perform to his verses
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Twelve years later I learned that Shock-G and him were the same person
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I loved Hammer, I can't front he taught me how to dance
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Along with Bel Biv Devoe I had Jay Ohs and a pair of zebra pants
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But this was the foundation of what would come to be
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A life long passion journey and drive; an emcee
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Some people ask me what it means, I don't know where to start
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It's the deepest connection between my soul and my heart
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When I first stepped into a cipher and a jam in the park
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I got served, no for real I got served
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But see I learned something
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Observed others and watched
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An urged hunger burst, earned a turn at that park.
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I don't care who you are, where you're from or what you believe in
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But if you love hip hop I bet it's more or less for the same reason
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This is it when you spit you exist in that moment
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And if you're sick with that gift then you rip it when you perform it
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Then all the shit that you live begins to lift up your shoulders
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And the audience well they get to experience where your soul is
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The most amazing feeling, rocking the crowd to your anthem
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From the front to the back with their motha fuckin' hands up
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'Cause I'm an emcee, won't be the first won't be the last
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Just another b-boy and I'm a die in my stance
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If you got a pen and a pad put your heart down
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If you got a record and can crab lay a scratch down
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If you got a marker and a can bomb your art now
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If you got a floor and you're fast kick that I'll style
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If you got a pen and a pad put your heart down
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If you got a record and can crab lay a scratch down
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If you got a marker and a can bomb the whole damn town
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But if you live for hip hop don't ever put your hands down
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Don't put your hands down, keep that shit up
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We're goin' to rock it like this, do this with me
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It goes front, back
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Front, back
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Front, back
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Front, come on
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It goes front, back
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Front, back
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I said front, back
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To my people you know it
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Now I don't know if it's the clothes, the hoes, or the cars
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That makes people rap like they're trapped inside of these bars
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This shit ain't complicated man just be who you are
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To busy searching for the light and missing the fact that you're a star
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Now who's got passion now stand the hell up
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'Cause I want to hear somebody rapping who's got it inside their cuts
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Or you can get intricate displaying your fancy cadences
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But if you're not speaking the truth you might as well not be saying shit
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I said who's going to teach the kids?
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You'd rather blow up and get famous so you can get some new rims
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All the money in the world can help you look like a star
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But money can't buy you the heart to go and put inside your bars
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And I like nice shit too
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Believe me, I got a closet full of Nikes and a whole bunch of Lenore suits
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They'll give you the white tees and the icy earring like the whole youth,
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Population of hip hop but look beyond it when I record through,
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These beats 'cause if I don't speak me
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What's the difference between my lyrics and what you hearin' on MTV
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People fear that if they're steering away from the mainstream
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Then their album won't sell
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Well I could give a fuck
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I'm just goin' to freestyle and spit what's in my gut
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And if you want to you can go and label me conscious
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But remember there's a kid at a bus stop beat boxin'
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Who's life will be effected by what's inside of his Walkman
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If you got a pen and a pad put your heart down
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If you got a record and can crab lay a scratch down
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If you got a marker and a can bomb your art now
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If you got a floor and you're fast kick that I'll style
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If you got a pen and a pad put your heart down
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If you got a record and can crab lay a scratch down
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If you got a marker and a can bomb the whole damn town
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But if you live for hip hop don't ever put your hands down
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I Said Hey
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Macklemore |