Back on the Block

[ all ] Back Back on the block Back Back on the block Back, on the block, so we can rock With the soul, rhythm, blues, be bop and hip hop Back on the block Back on the block [ VERSE 1: Ice-T ] Ice-T, let me kick my credentials A young player, bred in South Central L.A., home of the bodybag You wanna die, wear the wrong color rag I used to walk in stores and yell: "Lay down!" You flinch an inch - AK spray down But I was lucky cause I never caught the hard time I was blessed with the skill to bust a dope rhyme All my homies died or caught the penzo Lost their diamonds, cops towed their Benzos Livin that life that we thought was it Fast lanin, but the car flipped I'm not gonna lie to ya, cause I don't lie I just kick thick game, some people say: why? Cause I'm back on the block, I got my life back So I school the fools about the fast track I get static from the style of my technique Profanity, the blatant way in which I speak But the Dude knows the streets ain't no kiddie game You don't know the Dude? Quincy's his first name He told me: "Ice, keep doin what you're doin, man Don't give a damn if the squares don't understand You let em tell you what to say and what to write Your whole career'll be over by tomorrow night Rap from your heart, and your heart's with the street Rap on my record, man, Kimiko, send Ice the beat" The Dude is def no doubt, what can I say? The man can roll with Ice-T or Michael J [ all ] Back Back on the block Back Back on the block Back, on the block, so we can rock With the soul, rhythm, blues, be bop and hip hop Back on the block Back on the block [ VERSE 2: Melle Mel ] I'm back, on the block, on the screen I'm on the wax, I'm on the stage, I'm on the scene I'm on the case, just like an attorney The Dude took me on a magic journey To dance in France, alone in Rome On the farmlands of Nebraska, the cold of Alaska The heat of the motherland To be with my brotherman On top of a snowcapped mountain I'm scoutin What another man saw in a race of people To see him give his life for the price of equal The highest wisdoms, the richest kingdoms The Song of Songs we heard David sing them He showed me me when I was young and hung out He showed me makin love, even showed me strung out He showed me poppin nines, standin on a rock But tears came to my eyes when he showed me my block [ Tevin Campbell (& Andrae Crouch Singers) ] Stokie's just Stokie, mama (Stokie's Stokie) And one by one each woman he kiss (He kiss her and she gon' fall in love) Stokie's just Stokie, you know? (Stokie's Stokie) Till someone shows that they care enough (Ain't nothin gonna bother Stokie much) Some say they can't take it no more (Comin here, comin here startin stuff) But Dude is back on duty fo' sho' (Back on the block to stay) They say he ain't gonna be with it (Comin back, comin back to the street) But Dude he know you'll never forget it (Back on the block to stay) [ VERSE 3: Big Daddy Kane ] Back up and give the brother room To let poetry bloom to whom It may concern or consume As I reminisce before this The bliss that exist But now we brought about a twist Cause I remember of my people bleedin Put through slavery and killed for bravery We shoulda got our freedom much sooner You never seen a blackman on _The Honeymooners_ But now somehow we've learned to earn, to grow, to show The elevation of a people built is so Jesse Jackson, Miss America a black one No more livin for just a small fraction I was once told by the Dude that knowledge is a food To nourish, so to conclude This from an Asiatic descendant, Big Daddy is shocked Yo Q, we back on the block [ all ] Back Back on the block Back Back on the block Back, on the block, so we can rock With the soul, rhythm, blues, be bop and hip hop Back on the block Back on the block [ VERSE 4: Kool Moe Dee ] An everlasting omnipresence is my present State of being, seeing the unpleasant Sight of righteous souls live like peasants The mind stunts growth in adolescence My insight enables me to enlight The weakest of minds, and I put em in flight As I transcend, a-scend or de-scend Re-create, re-incarnate and re-send The powerful spirits of our ancestors For those that don't know how God blessed us Because man messed up, the media dressed up Lies perpetrated as truth, and it left us Confused, but I've seen it all before ]From Babylon to the Third World War I'm more than a man, I'm more like an entity Back on the block, and this time my identity Is the Dude Ba-ba-ba-back on the Ba-back on Ba-ba-back on the block Ba-ba-back on Ba-ba-back on the block [ Tevin Campbell (& Andrae Crouch Singers) ] Stoki, ke Stoki, mai-bo (Stoki, Stoki) Wam babma, wam bamb'u mandisa (Wahm bamba wahm bamboo mandisa) (Stoki ke Stoki, mai-bo) (Stoki, Stoki) Wam babma, wam bamb'u mandisa (Wahm bamba wahm bamboo mandisa) M'yeke, yeke, yeke, wena (Kha'mye, kha'myeke wena) Yo khala, khala, khala, u mama (Yo khal'u mama khe) M'yeke, yeke, yeke, wena (Kha'mye, kha'myeke, wena) Yo khala, kha, 'yok 'shaya u baba (Yok shaya u baba khe) [ Rev. Jesse Jackson ] (Now I would - I would contend that ah - The rappers - rap is here to stay)