The World is Listening

[Verse One] Flashback, '88 Copped my first tape Third Grade Young girl banking Roxanne Shante Around my way Called McKay Disarray Langston's a dark hues get bruised Stored away, hey Caught in cage Fought in the maze, gave up And now I got dreams of being live on stage What Turn up the volume, me and my cousin Doing the wop Dreaming about the Salt-N-Pepa haircut Speakers bump like the rock pumps The rhythm of my next double-dutch jump What you want? At once ....and we love the We dreamed of ourselves Knew when Latifah showed us what a queen was Went from invisible to seen on the Smooth tip Sweet Tee, to follow Monie in the Middle on the scene So then saw myself, I'll drop mics when I'm over Pick up a pen and like Antoinette "Lights Out, Party's Over" [Chorus] This is for Latifah, for Lyte, for Shante Bahamadia, Lauryn Hill, Heather B, for Jean Grae E-V-E, Nikki D, Salt-N-Pepa, even me Apani B, for Missy, for Kim, and Foxy This is for, Rah Digga, Rage, Left Eye, for Yo-Yo Paula Perry, Nonchalant, Da Brat, for Jane Doe Rage, Mystic, BO$$, Sparky D For those never seen On the search for female emcees The microphone fiends [Verse Two] Stomped in the '90s After school you could find me In the backyard begging for a beat box, rhyming U-N-I-T-Y and Heather B Blues Claim the news of the death of Phyllis Hymen I rap to keep from crying Taking Mine, now I'm the Bo$$ Recipe for a show They say no girls in the cipher, so I rock solo Then on the Blackstreet, Ill Na Na get me home, though I rap along to every song And ain't no playing with my Yo-Yo Check, how I hit every note, though Even sung along with patois Like in the joint she did with Patra I'm on a Romantic Call.... (Talkin' to my baby Down ah mi yard) Blank page calling, a ....[??] The crowd yes ya'llin' Nonchalantly in the trees at five o'clock in the morning Sported he Kim hardcore wig, then came Lauryn She showed me the beauty and the natural cut Amplify my Rage, growing out my afro puffs [Chorus] This is for Latifah, for Lyte, for Shante Bahamadia, Lauryn Hill, Heather B, for Jean Grae E-V-E, Nikki D, Salt-N-Pepa, even me Apani B, for Missy, for Kim, and Foxy This is for, Rah Digga, Rage, Left Eye, for Yo-Yo Paula Perry, Nonchalant, Da Brat, for Jane Doe Rage, Mystic, BO$$, Sparky D For those never seen On the search for female emcees The microphone fiends [Verse Three] New millennium, came of age While things stayed the same Media forms changed New name, from What-What? to Jean Grae We bootlegged, the bootleg Facebook or MySpace Put away cassette and VHS tapes in vinyl crates Fast forward album release dates Hip-hopalizing what we buy or objectify In these days Tell me what's the plight of a female MC's fate? Or what's the worth of a woman's story to a DJ? Downloading everyone and now my heroes seemingly gone Search and found Lauryn Hill Unplugged Guess I lost one Some come and go Self-labeled bitch and ho A heretic of discourse I turn off the radio I can't relate, nor can I hate For the ways we negotiate The sexist spaces we navigate I stay reppin' Vaunted by the crest of hip hop's crescent It seems... "Fantasy's what people want reality to be" [Chorus] This is for Latifah, for Lyte, for Shante Bahamadia, Lauryn Hill, Heather B, for Jean Grae E-V-E, Nikki D, Salt-N-Pepa, even me Apani B, for Missy, for Kim, and Foxy This is for, Rah Digga, Rage, Left Eye, for Yo-Yo Paula Perry, Nonchalant, Da Brat, for Jane Doe Rage, Mystic, BO$$, Sparky D For those never seen On the search for female emcees The microphone fiends The world is listening The world is listening The world is listening