from The Sugarhill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight” (1979)

Now WHAT you HEAR is NOT a TEST
I’m RAPpin’ TO the BEAT.
And ME, the GROOVE, AND my FRIENDS
are gonna TRY to MOVE your FEET.

John Newton – “Amazing Grace” (1779)

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.

William Wordsworth – “A Slumber did my Spirit Seal” (1798)

A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.

Emily Dickinson – “[Because I could not stop for Death]” (1890)

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –

A Tribe Called Quest – “Luck of Lucien” (1990)

Brother, brother, brother, Lucien, you’re like no other
Listen very close cause I don’t like to boast
Instead, I’ll tell the tale of a French who prevailed
Through the Mr. Crazy Rabbits who were always on his tail
We ain’t on sale, so your rumor starts to wail
Get caught with stolen goods and you will go to jail
If you go to jail, then who will pay the bail?
Deport you back to France on a ship with a sail
Escargot, Lucien, you eat snails
(Hey yo Tip, what’s wrong with snails?)
From the Zulu nation, from a town called Paris
Came to America to find liberty
Instead of finding pleasure, all you found was misery
But listen, Lucien, you have a friend in me
Oh, luck-luck will drive your butt batty
Next time you get some wheels, make it a Caddy
In terms of doing good, I know you wish you really could
But listen, brother man, I really think you can
Succeed with the breed of the brothers on your back
It’s the creme de la creme, and you can vouch for that
It’ll take a minute, rice, so take my advice
Trust in us, and thus you trust in your life
Lucien, Lucien, Lucien, Lucien – you should know!

Are you ready, Lu? This one is for you
Comin’ from a true-blue, fits like a shoe
“¿Cómo está usted?” or “Comment allez-vous”
Lucien, I’ll leave it up to you
Voulez-vous? (vous)
Rendez-vous (vous)
Coucou (cou) ..
Les poupous (pou)
Watch that lass, gonna backlash fast
Can you get a grip on the crackhead dip?
Sold you a paper bag, guess he saw you comin
VCR from a neck-bone bummin’
$10 brother, he was hummin’ and strummin’
Only had 20, he was livin’ like ya slummin’
Gave him the money, well, I thought that was somethin
Lookin’ like a kid who was lost in crumbin
Don’t worry about a thing, I won’t get specific
This is a song that is long and prolific
Think of the stuff that I said if you can
Figure it out, compute, understand
No problemo, I’ll help you with your demo
If you go to the store for me
Lucien, I’m just kiddin’
You should know!

You gotta get a grip on the missions you’ll be takin’
Not so much the mission, but you got crazy ignition
Sure, the sugar-babies wanna give you a chance
With the French “savoir faire” and the sexy glance
But is she really fly, or is she a guy?
I won’t ask why, cause I know that you try
You try too hard, is that the answer to the riddle?
Instead of doin’ so much, why don’t you do just a little?
Boy, what a cad, I guess we shouldn’t treat him bad
In fact, it would be nice if we understood him like
A case of positionin’ the feet in the shoes
Sympathetic reason in the case of the blues
Lucien is blue, even though he’s really brown
I had to make the sound, his life is too profound
On the up-and-up, he’s somethin’ like a little pup
Young and naive, it’s hard to believe
As long as you’re strong, you can quest with the Questers
Jolly like a jumping bean or a jester
Lucien, Lucien, Lucien, Lucien
You should know!

Gil Scott-Heron – “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” (1970)

You will not be able to stay home, brother
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and
Skip out for beer during commercials
Because the revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In four parts without commercial interruptions
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
Blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
Hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary
The revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Wood and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs
The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner
Because the revolution will not be televised, Brother

There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mays
Pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run
Or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
Or report from 29 districts
The revolution will not be televised

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
Brothers in the instant replay
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
Brothers in the instant replay
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
Run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkins strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so Goddamn relevant, and
Women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
Will be in the street looking for a brighter day
The revolution will not be televised

There will be no highlights on the eleven o’clock
News and no pictures of hairy armed women
Liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb
Or Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, or Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth
The revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be right back after a message
About a white tornado, white lightning, or white people
You will not have to worry about a Dove in your
Bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl
The revolution will not go better with Coke
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath
The revolution will put you in the driver’s seat

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised
Will not be televised, will not be televised
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live

Big Daddy Kane- “Wrath of Kane” (1989)

The wrath of Kane, taking over your circumference
Destroying negativity and suckers that come with
The weak, the wack, the worse, the poor
I thrash, bash, clash, mash… and then more
Blow up the scenery, I reign supremacer, see
You need a savior to save ya, so lean on me
I’m playing rappers like a haunted ghost
And stomp ‘em out like a watered roach
I slay my prey and they decay, I blow away and throw away
So go away, cause I don’t play
Attacking like a psychopath, breaking rappers in half
So feel the wrath…of Kane!

The MAN at HAND to RULE and SCHOOL and TEACH
And REACH the BLIND to FIND their WAY from A to Z
And BE the MOST and BOAST the LOUDest RAP
KANE ‘ll REIGN your doMAIN! (Yeah, KANE!)
The heat is on so feel the fire
Come off the empire, on a more higher
Level than def, one step beyond dope
The suckers all scope and hope to cope but nope
Cause I can never let ‘em on top of me
I play ‘em out like a game of Monopoly
Let ‘em speed around the board like an Astro
Then send ‘em to jail for trying to pass Go
Shaking ‘em up, breaking ‘em up, taking no stuff
But it still ain’t loud enough
So Mister Cee, let the volume grow
so I can flow, now yo
Juice Crew’s the family, Slick Rick’s a friend of me
And Doug E. Fresh, Stet, KRS and Public Enemy
Blase blah, you know who you are
The red, black and green, the sun, moon and star
Knowledge of self is being taught here on after
Peace in the name of I Self Lord and Master
I come to teach and preach and reaching each
With the speech every leech I’ll impeach
Drop science and build with math
And the dumb, deaf and blind’ll feel the wrath, of Kane!

Line by line, chapter after chapter
Like a pimp on the street, I gotta rap ta
Those who chose to oppose, friend or foes I still dispose,
and blow ‘em out like afros
Too many rappers have fronted to get a name out
Yellin and screamin and jeerin but still came out
Off the wall as butter soft-er y’all
So you waited for Kane, to come after all
Competition, that bite and chew and crunch and munch
To play me out position, you on a mission
But stop lyin and tryin to front adventures
Your rhymes are more false than dentures
Freeze, as I get warm like a heater
Bite like a mosquito, but still can’t complete a
Rhyme or find the time to design a line
Or phrase that pays, so you down in rhyme
I get busy from sun to sun
Only twenty-one, untouched by ANYONE
No one throws, bangs or blows
All foes I keep em runnin like pantyhose
They got soft and tender, front and they’ll surrender
I turned off more lights than Teddy Pendergrass
Bring on the trial, war be my style
But when I’m in effect, they feel the wrath, of Kane!

Eminem – “Drug Ballad” (2000)

Back when Mark Walhberg was Marky Mark
This is how we used to make the party start
We used to mix Hen with Bacardi Dark
And when it, kicks in you can hardly talk
And by the, sixth gin you’re gon’ probably crawl
And you’ll be, sick then and you’ll probably barf
And my pre-diction is you’re gon’ probably fall
Either somewhere in the lobby or the hallway wall
And every-thing’s spinnin’, you’re beginnin’ to think women
Are swimmin’ in pink linen again in the sink
Then in a couple of minutes that bottle of Guinness is finished
You are now allowed to officially slap bitches
You have the right to remain violent and start wilin’
Start a fight with the same guy that was smart eyein’ you
Get in your car, start it, and start drivin’
Over the island and cause a 42-car pile-up
(Earth calling, pilot to co-pilot
Looking for life on this planet sir, no sign of it
All I can see is a bunch of smoke flyin’
And I’m so high that I might die if I go by it
Let me outta this place, I’m outta place
I’m in outer space, I’ve just vanished without a trace
I’m going to a pretty place now where the flowers grow
I’ll be back in an hour or so)
Cause every time I go to try to leave
Somethin’ keeps pullin’ on my sleeve
I don’t wanna, but I gotta stay
These drugs really got a hold of me
Cause every time I try to tell ‘em “no”
They won’t let me ever let ‘em go
I’m a sucker all I gotta say
These drugs really got a hold of me

In third grade, all I used to do
Was sniff glue through a tube and play Rubik’s Cube
Seventeen years later I’m as Rude as Jude
Schemin’ on the first chick with the hugest boobs
I’ve got no game, and every face looks the same
They’ve got no name, so I don’t need game to play
I just say whatever I want to whoever I want
Whenever I want, wherever I want, however I want
However, I do show some respect to few
This ecstasy’s, got me standin’ next to you
Getting sentimental as fuck, spillin’ guts to you
We just met, but I think I’m in love with you
But you’re on it too, so you tell me you love me too
Wake up in the mornin’ like “Yo, what the fuck we do?”
I gotta go bitch, you know I got stuff to do
Cause if I get caught cheatin’ then I’m stuck with you
But in the long run, these drugs are probably going
To catch up sooner or later but fuck it, I’m on one
So let’s enjoy, let the X destroy your spinal cord
So it’s not a straight line no more
‘til we walk around looking like some wind-up dolls
Shit’s stickin’ outta our backs like a dinosaur
Shit, six hits won’t even get me high no more
So bye for now, I’m goin’ to try to find some more

That’s the sound of a bottle when it’s hollow
When you swallow it all wallow and drown in your sorrow
And tomorrow you’re probably gonna wanna do it again
What’s a little spinal fluid between you and a friend? Screw it
And what’s a little bit of alcohol poisoning?
And what’s a little fight? Tomorrow you’ll be boys again
It’s your life, live it however you wanna
Mar-a-ju-on-na is everywhere, where was you brought up?
It don’t matter as long as you get where you’re goin’
Cause none of this shit’s gonna mean shit where we’re goin’
They tell you to stop, but you just sit there ignorin’
Even though you wake up feelin’ like shit every mornin’
But you’re young, you’ve got a lot of drugs to do
Girls to screw, parties to crash, sucks to be you
If I could take it all back now, I wouldn’t
I would have did more shit that people said that I shouldn’t
But I’m all grown up now and upgraded
And graduated to better drugs and updated
But I still got a lotta growin’ up to do
I still got a whole lotta throwin’ up to spew
But when it’s all said and done I’ll be 40
Before I know it with a 40 on the porch tellin’ stories
With a bottle of Jack, two grandkids in my lap
Babysitting for Hailie while Hailie’s out gettin’ smashed.

Busta Rhymes – “Gimme Some More” (1998)

Yeah, as a shorty playing in the front yard of the crib
Fell down, and I bumped my head
Somebody helped me up and asked me if I bumped my head
I said “Yeah”
So then they said “Oh so that mean we gon, you gon switch it on em’?”
I said “Yeah, Flipmode, Flipmode is the greatest”
Knowing as a shorty, I was always told
That if I ain’t gon’ be part of the greatest
I gotta be the greatest myself

C’mon C’mon, Yeah, C’mon
Yeah nigga what, what a surprise
Get ya sumn’, make a nigga close both of your eyes
All my niggas gettin’ money capitalize
Die little small guy, we on the rise
Everything a nigga touch platinumize
Fully equipped, you know we come wit’ all the supplies
Got a big gun, and I’mma show you the size
You fuck wit’ any of my Flipmode family ties
Me and my niggas be comin’ through stalkin’ you out
Killin’ off any and everything you talkin’ about
See you in the club, now we walkin’ you out
Shoulda’ thought twice ‘fo you went and opened your mouth
Yo, anyway we stay keepin it movin’
Fuckin’ with the wrong nigga, hope you know what you doin’
Now blame me, all the same niggas is lame
It’s not a game, makin’ names still splittin’ your frames!

Y’all niggas had enough? (Gimme some more)
Y’all niggas want the wild shit? (Gimme some more)
Yo Spliff where the weed at? (Gimme some more)
I know ya’ll niggas need that (Gimme some more)
Even though we getting money you can (Gimme some more)
With the cars and the big crib (Gimme some more)
Everybody spread love (Gimme some more)
If you want it let me hear you say (Gimme some more)

Flash with a rash gimme my cash flickin my ash
Runnin’ with my money son go out with a blast
Do what you want, a nigga’s cuttin’ the corner
You fuckin’ up, the article, go ahead and meet the reporter
Yo, she tellin’ news on how you switch to a bitch
Little fake funny style, nigga chill with a snitch
So now I pass and trait over your blood and to ask you
Make a little room for me and all my niggas to pass through
Cartier, Sidney Poitier, hooray shit
What with all my niggas from around the way shit
When I come through you niggas know I do my thing
Bring more shit that generate money, cha-ching
Arrest you lyrically flow and caress you
Bless you, then a nigga come to your rescue
While you assume a nigga blossom and bloom
I’m comin’ soon hit you with a boom gimme some room!

Yo, live nigga shit know what I mean
I represent while we gettin’ money and reign supreme
Hope you niggas know we comin’ through full steam
Can’t see you better turn on your high beam
All my niggas while I’m ringing the sireen
Flipmode be the glory niggas on my team
Never should you ever try to fuck wit’ my cream
I O.D when my shit get all in your bloodstream
Everytime we be rippin’ it be blowing it down
Blowing you off fuckin’ wit’ the hottest niggas around
Like it’s when me and my people run through your town
Holdin’ it down takin’ a while and then gimme my crown
Ay, yo! All my people need to come and surround
A nigga be hittin’ so much it make you fall on the ground
Sure to make you shout that’s what I be all about
Turnin’ you out makin’ all you niggas fall out!