[ VERSE 1: Mike G ]   Remedies for house parties stayed simple and plain   Little wine, little music, little Mary Jane   Gotta keep the lights dim, so when the people walk in   The vibe stays nice and mellow, everybody fits in   And everybody hey and ho, are gettin they groove on   The record only stops when the lights came on   Then they went back off, we continued to groove   Then somebody grabbed the mic like they had somethin to prove   It was just the spirit got em, it wouldn't let loose   There right before our eyes hip-hop was produced   The fire kept on burnin like a doggie in heat   You couldn't help to feel the flavor as you walked through the streets   Everybody had a crew on every block for blocks   This seemed to be insurance that the beat won't stop   So one day shots ring and it was no one to blame   All you thought was would it ever all be the same   But if you got the love, baby, won't a damn thing change   As long as you remember it always remains      [ CHORUS: The Holmes Brothers ]   I remember   When we used to play shoot-em-up, bang-bang   I remember   When we used to play shoot-em-up, bang-bang   MC's and DJ's (2x)      [ VERSE 2: Afrika Baby Bam ]   Block parties jam-packed, the first time I heard rap   And deejays spinnin breakbeats back   These were the last good days of the ghetto   It wasn't all about bein jiggy, so save that rap for Jell-O   Down on my knees in the street playin skelly   Rushin upstairs to see _Graffiti Rock_ on the telly   With one eye on the beats droppin   I knew that one day would come when I'd be on the mic rockin   Every day after school practisin   I mixed blues smarts with street smarts, and then started battle rappin   But for me it wasn't happenin    So I changed up my style, to the ladies been mackin   I wrote a rhyme about 'Roxanne, Roxanne'   I used to bust it out when I went to a jam   My mother read the dirty rap   She said, "You ain't gon' go too far expressin yourself like that   Disrespectin black women   And what's gon' happen when you turn around and try to have your own children?"   So I changed up my style once again   So me and my moms could still be friends   My daddy wasn't buggin out so far   Watchin me pretend to be another rap star   Through my eyes he saw a child changin   Growin up to be a man and leave behind the shootin, bangin      [ CHORUS ]      [ VERSE 3: Afrika Baby Bam ]   Now this one goes out to the ones who set it off   And all the pioneers that made it what it was   Cause we been doin this for 25 years long   So we gotta represent and keep hip-hop strong   JBeez, we on a plateau, ain't nothin stoppin us   Will with the spirit of God, now watch it jump in us   Cause when you cut the roots off the family tree   All you leave behind is the sweet memory   Right from the start, we did it in the park   It wasn't for the money, and it came from the heart   But in these days and times, when rappers write rhymes   All we think about is signin on the dotted line   Me, I been thinkin about the way it used to be   When before you was a rapper, you became an MC   I'm proud of my heritage, and glad that we made it   I still bust rhymes without bein player-hated   Standin on the same stage, rockin with the JBeez   Was a dream come true for a brother like me   Before rap was consumed, and hip-hop was doomed   I was bangin on tables, rhymin in the lunchroom   I used to walk the street with my ghetto blaster   My brothers on the block was startin Zulu chapters   You know what I'm talkin about if you go way back   And yo, big ups to all my sisters, in the name of rap   Cause when it comes to hip-hop, you know you gotta keep it true   Take from the old, mix it with the new   I used to go by the name of MC Shazaam   But now you know me as Afrika Baby Bam      [ CHORUS ]