If you was born in New york City let me hear say "You know that"! YOU KNOW THAT
Aiyyo once upon a rhyme where the scenery sets you see stress Streets a matter of life and death no regrets Life's a test strife wit special effects Neighbourhood's full of reps cities are projects Where the young cadets get stripes from the vets And comrades quest to be the next, to finess Collect debts and select bets with death threats Object - Chedder, better your total net Where trends are set from ways to express the outfits Friends get wet tryin' to make ends connect Avenues to check, boulevards to sweat The smell of gunsmoke more common than cigarettes WE GOT clicks for wreck WE LIKE Pits for pets WE GOT Giants and Jets, the Knicks, Yanks and Mets WE LIKE much respect and sex extra wet And High-Tech dialect you ain't catch yet
(The Bronx Ya out there? No doubt Brooklyn ya out there)
[Rakim] Aiyyo, we got blocks and glocks with big shots with big knots and big props yo this is where the bullshit stops where herbs get got if you snitch you get shot we get down and leave the town in a state of shock WE GOT dangerous hang out spots and slick cops place called Riker's Island where kids get locked a lotta gear to rock with blocks of clothes shops styles are top notch, this is the place to buy so bust the box the radio station is hot ease your mind staring at skylines from rooftops flip scripts for chips and new Whips of the lot quick to call a shot, pollitic with thick plots And the Garden of Eden against the sea that we got to make sure the core of the big apple don't rot where seeings believing we be achieving a lot since disc jocks created hip hop, check it out!
(Queens ya out there? no doubt Manhatten no doubt New York city Staten Island New york new york long Island New york ya out there)
[Rakim] Aiyo, we got five bouroughs of ghettos with amny places to meet, you get lost in city streets the city that never sleeps Mecca ? Medina the population increase the desert and the oasis, New York, the far east with gods and Sheiks pretty amazons for weeks player dons that fleece the family's black sheep icons that teach that we all act unique we got stats to reach so we all have to eat a mass of peeps, with they own masterpiece the crafts elite, we going past the beat the latest technique no other place get as deep who parks release some of the worlds greatest athletes DJs and MCs and graffiti artistes who use walls and subway trains for marquees we go back to b-boys, breakdancing, breakbeats and it'll never cease and on that note we say peace