Before Before

[Verse 1: AWKWORD] Nine-one, a decade before September Eleventh Before Barack Obama, turned 50 as President Saddam Hussein, was, global terrorism And the death of Amy Winehouse, lucky 27 Before Catholic Church apologies and White Christ Roku and DVR, living like kilobytes We took silicon injections, invented AIDS infections Can't fuck our girls without Viagara erections Flooded streets of crack, and Fat Joe was Joe Crack The son of Rupert Mirdoch, founded Rawkus Rap They took coke out of Coke, and Air Jordan came back Before Bandcamp and Soundcloud, recorded on wax The NYPD, beat Pete Rock's family Before Esperanza, took Justin Bieber's Grammy Before my parents got cancer, and everything was dandy Kel, T, Spekt and AWK, still spit John Handy [Hook 1: DJ Graft (Norway) (cuts featuring original vocals by Block McCloud)] Before, Berlin 'teared' the wall Before, MC Hammer seen glamour then turned poor Before, Hip Hop videos depicted all girls as whores Before, love of money and greed put hate in our blood [Verse 2: MarQ Spekt] Before there was the guts there was the glory Before Heaven, Hell had a nigga locked down in purgatory Before she said she love me so much, she'd murder for me Now I stand before the judge in cuffs, he heard the story But this before the shots fired, before the cop sirens Before the pigs had him on the ground hog tied Before the war he knew Saddam ain't have a stockpile Shit been raw since before BIG and Pac died So you know it's before you blog and twitter rappers Before you 'lil bastards even thought of getting active I been a factor before you in the winner's bracket Spittin acid serving heads on a silver platter But this before it didn't matter Before A&Rs getting axed and them labels getting wacker New artists got so underground they can't surface BBfore swag, furry Timbs and man purses Before you saw me on South Street I had verses That had your mom speaking in tongues like Black Churches Before these rappers even made their first crack purchase Had 'em fiend out man these bitches can't serve us [Hook 2 (cuts featuring original vocals by Pace Won)] Before, they killed Cheese in The Wire Before, Vader joined The Empire Before, Earth Wind and Fire Before, Nick Cannon married Mariah [Verse 3: T.Shirt] Aspire, to do my thing and be on fire It's a hard knock life, son, you preaching to the choir Back before it became about succeeding Rapping 'bout what I know was just as natural as breathing Just a little nigga eating, working morning through the evening Can't wait for the weekend, I was cold but I was decent Couple nights in the precinct, had me thinking Nah, fuck this life, I'm not gon' be shit But before all the pressure Man, you should've seen me all dressed up My shirt and tie all pressed up Prom queen panties on the dresser Turns out that the kid you might've saw Grew to be a crazy son of a bitch, same as before Nothing really changed, not for me not for y'all I mean except my size in sneakers and the bitches I adore [Hook 3 (cuts featuring original vocals by Pace Won)] Before, Spragga Benz and Pliers Before, swagger Timbs and bikers Before, we went to war, I been so high up Like the King of Rock, there is none higher [Verse 4: Kel Spencer] K S... Before it all, I was a fly on the wall, watching Satan defying us all Cast out, after inciting riots and brawls Before Caiaphas called Christ to the Sanhedrin Before Polo P-wings and RL-2000 Skis And even way before they made the law to abolish the Slave Trade I'm A-Grade in Earth's womb, demanding a pay raise For what I knew I'd do in due time, my stew was brewing I was a shoe-in before Lew Alcindor was a Bruin Running rough shot like a Dollar Van Gallivanting without a plan, but now I got a plan And now and now I do the numbers like the lotto man Kick my 'Lo cookies up, on the suede ottoman Before we go before the track discussing 'Befores' Let's remove the lust from the cause, what shows up in applause Is appreciation for our deviation from the Herd Theory K S... Recognize, you just heard Theory [Hook 4 (cuts featuring original vocals by Pace Won)] Before, Spragga Benz and Pliers Before, swagger Timbs and bikers Before, we went to war, I been so high up Like the King of Rock, there is none higher [Instrumental Bridge] [Outro (Back to the Future sample)] Wait a minute, wait a minute, Doc. Doc. Are you telling me you built a time machine!?