Rakim - How To Emcee

God MC Look what y'all made me do [ CHORUS: Rakim ] It don't matter if I ain't on the page you want Tell me what you want, I give it to you the way you want Show you how to flow and how to flip any phrase you want You just keep your eye on me I show you how to emcee If it's swag or the lyric display you want Tell me what you want, I give it to you the way you want Show you how to throw and how to rip any stage you want I can show you how to emcee Like you got a degree [ VERSE 1: Rakim ] This is your Qu'ran or Bible To be a true MC, icon and idol The contents you put in your songs are vital Like training for the UFC you want a title Slam thoughts on the canvas, flip 'em and pin 'em Metaphors and similes with synonyms in 'em Spit heat around the town, the more you get it heard Till you spit at least 3000 miles before it hit a curve Then flaunt your rhymes in your rap pages Wordplay to punchlines and catchphrases Deep sport for players and ballers, new game Street talk straight off the corners, new slang I got heat for crowds for those that pursue it Spitters, I show you flow till your vocals are through it From social to freestyle, just focus into it If you a G I'll show you how the Coppola do it [ CHORUS ] [ VERSE 2: Rakim ] Forever sick like catchin AIDS is In a class for greatness for matchin phrases My predicates last for pages Every letter fit, trendsetter like fashion statements Recruits get a shine and they hope forever I wrote some of the illest rhymes ever put together Soon as I make 'em rappers take 'em Analyze 'em for days and paraphrase 'em I'm back, hip-hoppers'll back my scripts and documents Raps hit the block, it's a wrap, it's the apocalypse The hood give my rap flow names Like 9/11 and crack cocaine I hit the building, it get hotter in 'em It's like birds, most rappers don't know how to flip 'em I gotta hip 'em, get hop and show 'em how to spit 'em I bust a rhyme and I school 'em for free, I scholarship 'em [ CHORUS ] [ BRIDGE: Tracey Horton ] Competition know the deal, you're not ready now Because you're dealin with the R, know how it's goin down This is it, if you so sick, where your skills at? No sir, ghostwriter, you can kill that [ VERSE 3: Rakim ] It's hard ( ? ) it isn't in bars, it's infinite So Ra deliver it far different Part lyricist, part instrument Start spittin it the more articulate y'all rhythms get Till every syllable you drop it pivotal If it's not original it's not as memorable Ill lyrical till you're so popular they sick of you Pandemical threat, level 5, it's critical Kill 'em off with a word like euthanasia Till it spread to the youth in Asia In the booth I'm major, my music's monumental, I'm a mogul You wanna make sense? I'ma show you You gotta put your life in them lines Make the deaf hear, give sight to the blind Make your flow tighter, brightest designs So if the mic is your grind then biting's a crime Especially if a ghostwriter's writin your rhymes