[** scratched **]  "What does it take"  "to be a great"  "MC"    If you ask me, it's much more than Master of Ceremonies  Because a lot of Masquerading Cornballs  Don't realize it also means Mad Creativity  In this day and age of mediocrity  There's two types of rappers that you'll recognize and hear  But I prefer the ones with the lyrics of the year  Than the gimmick with the gear and the right puppeteer  Now you can be the next rock ?? Shakespear  You're still 10 steps away from having a career  You step up the plate to earn respect from your peers  And end up on deck for the remainder of your years  I suppose this means greatness takes blood, sweat, and tears  It also takes an industry that doesn't breed fear  Or pumping all this mindless crap up in your ears  And ?? in the contrast of what you get to hear  You got to recognize it's a determined idea  A righteous young mind is a devil's worst fear  But when you wanna give the people peace and satisfaction  Everybody's mama wants a piece of the action  So now I fall victim to supply and demand  Immaculate conceptions, born illegitimate  Destined to be the greatest story ever missed  Which means it's meant to be for whoever's hearing this    [Chorus 2x]  When it's all said and done it should be heard and seen  'Til this cold-hearted game forces us to change teams  While the lust for the loot spreads out like gangrene  So the haves chase their tails while the nots chase their dreams  As the years chase the days, past the futures, meet fate  Like your firstborn, waiting for pop's release date  Postpone, meanwhile, I accumulate means  To revise and renew what was just heard and seen    It's been stated that I rhyme like God and I ?? like a poet  One hand ?? the other like Lady Macbeth  Flip styles like Bela Karolyi  Warm hearted, cold blooded  I write like opposite left  I left opposites right what they left off  My rights left right-wing as left to right beside me  Left my right hand man 'cause he left what's right  And I reserve the right to write 'til I'm free  'Cause I free styles with my pen,  That ya'll couldn't if you freestyled all day long  Literally, this literature designed for one orator  Stays on the head  Emcee's emcee, that I be the emcee's emcee  'Cause I am saying what I am thinking  Except when my mind's blinking  My eyes open even when my eyes' drinking  I's a socializer, but more so with those wiser  Ask yourself why's a music so misused it's self contained  And not self sustained  I myself contemplate this 'til I make myself complain  Shall my raps stay maintained, wrapped in cellophane  'Til they're unwrapped by human consumers?  Emphatically no, so I rap wherever I go  And let it grow up in your brain like a tumor    [Chorus 2x]    Aiiyo, ya think ya really know me well  There's more to me than ya mind got room for  And much much more than a clever verse or two  That's all you know about me, you ain't even knowing that  You think I give a fuck whether or not my record sells?  You're damn right but you see that ain't the way I'm keeping score  If one million people said it does that make it true  You judge my music by whether or not my pocket's fat?  Well, fuck you  When the cash cow you're milking  It ain't yours but the job pays well, don't it?  And if you're lucky you can even get to taste a drop  We'll see who's happy when you're old but you're not grown  You see me? Now, yeah, you'll see me later too  Fucking you up when the vantage point change, don't it?  I know what's hip, but you determine if it's hop or pop  You're just a man without a voice, pass the microphone  I know the diff between written rhymes and freestyles  You see, for me, it's like having sex or making love  And you should know by now I'm married to the pad and pen  But I'm entitled to cheat on her every now and then  Will your children know the hip hop history?  Will the songs you hate be shrouded in mystery?  Don't step to me with your stats and your date smarts  You know your neighborhood by street signs or landmarks?  I'm not talking 'bout the first record ever made  I'm talking 'bout the first one that ever made you  The first records that I played never played me  And I can still play 'em today 'cause they stay true  You know this time I'm only speaking on the timeless  It makes sense now and then, yeah, now and then  'Cause now it's making picture perfect sense and then  It's making picture perfect sense like it did now    [Chorus 4x]