Old School Rap From 1992-1996

[KavorKin99]

what are some good old school rap i'm doing a project but all i can come up with is too short, bone thugs, nwa, does any know any more thannnnnnnnnnkkkks?

[vava]

I don't know what you call 'old school' - but my definition is Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. If you want some good stuff from the early 90's though look into Red Alert, BDP (Boogie-Down Producitons w/ KRS-1), Tribe Called Quest (their first album was dope, well, the second one too) & the whole Zulu Nation thing (Black Sheep, de la Soul, etc.) and if you want to go back earlier, there always RunDMC & Public Enemy (whose 1st two albums were really quite inovative although I don't always agree with the politics) - Stay away from the gangsta stuff like NWA/too short - no talent or musical skills, those guys were just churning out record company bs.

[THOTH]

Agreed - Grandmaster Flash are it my man - no need to go any further. White Lines, the Message, New York New York - no rap ever better! (just ask Bell the Cat...LOL)

 

But yes - Run DMC, Public Enemy, Bobby Brown, even Ice T! (cop killer! remember that one?)

 

...and for a fun take on white Rap - check out Todd Rundgren's No World Order - an awesome album - and my favorite of hie (and I have them all....) - some most excellent socio-political messages as well...

[THOTH]

An absolute classic - IMO - by all means read through it - and go out and get it and listen...

 

New York New York

 

(Glover, Robinson, Flecter, Griffin - Sugerhill '83)

 

 

Ah New York New York big city of dreams

And everything in New York ain't always what it seems

You might get fooled if you come from out of town

But I'm down by law and I know my way around, too much

Ah too many people, too much -- a ha hah

Too much, too many people, too much, rrrrrrrah!

A castle in the sky, one mile high

Built to shelter the rich and greedy

Rows of eyes, disguised as windows

Lookin DOWN on the poor and the needy

Miles of people, marchin up the avenue

Doin what they gotta do, just to get by

I'm livin in the land of plenty and many

But I'm damn sure poor and I don't know why

 

Too much, ah too many people, too much

Too much, too many people, too much!

 

A man's on a ledge, says he's gonna jump

People gather round, said, "He won't he's just a chump"

Cause he lost his job, then he got robbed

His mortgage is due and his marriage is through

He says he ain't gonna pay no child support

Because the bitch left him without a second thought

He got nothin to eat, no shoes on his feet

She even left his clothes, out in the street

He keeps hearin noises when he's at home

He always hears voices when he's all alone

His wife took the kids, the car and the crib

In this man's world, so much for women's lib

 

New York New York big city of dreams

But everything in New York ain't always what it seems

You might get fooled if you come from out of town

But I'm down by law, and I know my way around

 

Down in the Village, you might think I'm silly

but you can't tell the women from the men sometimes

They're sugar and spice and everything nice

But when you get em home ain't no tellin what you find

Right next door is a little old man

I seen him eatin dog food out of a can

He says, "I got to eat, when I can't afford meat

I barely can stand, on my own two feet"

I got a bad habit and I just can't break it

Somethin's on my mind and I just can't shake it

I need some time, and I want some space

I gotta get away from the human race

 

Too much, ah too many people, too much... a-ha hah

Too much, ah too many people, too much! Rrrrrrrah!

 

Stand at a skyscraper reachin into heaven

When over in the ghetto I'm livin in hell

Just play ball or be an entertainer

cause niggaz like me can't read too well

Nobody loves me, nobody cares

I dreamed about a life but I'm livin in a nightmare

Paranoid schitzo, set back, snowbound

Bad news psycho, heart attack, breakdown!

 

Hee, huh (16X) HUH!

 

If only I could sleep just ten more minutes

I might find the strength to make another day

If I didn't have to get up, and do my thing

I would probably sleep my whole life away

I messed up a nice dream, somethin bout ice cream

Whipped cream fruits and a cherry on top

Now I gotta get up and face the world, huh

The pressure is on it ain't never gonna stop

I sho' gotta learn to use my mind

I don't wanna be kissin nobody's behind

Just standin on line lookin like a jerk

Gotta get off my butt and do a full day's work

I ran into a pothole, got into a car crash

Shoulda been thinkin and tried to fake whiplash

A crowd gathered round, they're callin me fat

Who you lookin at wit a face like that?

 

New York New York big city of dreams

Everything in New York ain't always what it seems

You might get fooled if you come from out of town

But I'm down by law and I know my way around

 

On 42nd Street, lookin for some action

Women standin on the corner sellin satisfaction

One young punk just leanin on the fence

Tryin to make a dollar out of fifteen cents

Really is a prankster, tried to be a gangster

Real big wheel when a gun is in his hands

Just did a stick-up, just got picked up

One dead punk, killed by the man

 

New York New York big city of dreams

And everything in New York ain't always what it seem

You might get fooled if you come from out of town

But I'm down by law and I know my way around

Too much, too many people, too much... ah ha hah hah

Too much, too many people, too much! HUAHH!

 

A baby cries and a mother dies

And the tears fall from the doctor's eyes because

in this room, on this day

The Good Lord has giveth, and taketh away, huh

The gift of life really means a lot

And in the ghetto your life is all you got

So you take to the streets, tryin to exist

in the trash and slime of a world like this

What you watch, on TV

a tells you what life is supposed to be

But when you look outside the only thing you see

Is the poverty stricken, reality, heh

Abandoned places, angry faces

Much hate and hunger through-out the races

You say, "I'm grown and I'm on my own

So why don't everybody just leave me alone!"

Now you stay at home, talkin on the phone

Doin ninety miles an hour in the fifty mile zone

They never took the time to tell you bout sex

So you had to learn about it in the discotheques

Nine months later, the baby is there

and the nigga that did it said, "I don't care!"

You don't have enough money to help feed two

So you have to choose between the baby and you

The sky was cryin, rain and hail

When you put yo' baby in the garbage pail

Then you kissed the kid and put down the lid

And you tried to forget what you just did, huh

The muffled screams of a dyin baby

was enough to drive the young mother crazy

so she ran in the rain tryin to ease the pain

Huh huh, and she drove herself insane

 

New York New York big city of dreams

But everything in New York ain't always what it seem

You might get fooled if you come from out of town

But I'm down by law and I know my way around

 

Ah too much, too many people, too much... ah ha hah hah

Too much, too many people, too much! HUHHH!

 

New York New York big city of dreams

But everything in New York ain't always what it seems

You might get fooled if you come from out of town

But I'm down by law and I know my way around

Too much, too many people, too much... ha hah hah hah

Too much, too many people, too much

[THOTH]

Another (perhaps could be dedicated to Tupac - eh?)

The Message

 

(E.Fletcher, S.Robinson, C.Chase, M.Glover - SugarHill Records '82)

 

Broken glass everywhere

People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care

I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise

Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice

Rats in the front room, roaches in the back

Junkie's in the alley with a baseball bat

I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far

Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed my car

Chorus:

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge

I'm trying not to loose my head

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder

How I keep from going under

 

Standing on the front stoop, hangin' out the window

Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow

Crazy lady, livin' in a bag

Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag

Search and test a tango, skips the life and then go

To search a prince to see the last of senses

Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps

So she can tell the stories to the girls back home

She went to the city and got Social Security

She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own

 

Chorus:

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder

How I keep from goin' under

 

My brother's doing fast on my mother's T.V.

Says she watches to much, is just not healthy

All my children in the daytime, Dallas at night

Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight

Bill collectors they ring my phone

And scare my wife when I'm not home

Got a bum education, double-digit inflation

Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station

Neon King Kong standin' on my back

Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac

Midrange, migraine, cancered membrane

Sometimes I think I'm going insane, I swear I might hijack a plane!

 

Chorus:

 

My son said daddy I don't wanna go to school

Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool

And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper

If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper

I dance to the beat, shuffle my feet

Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps

Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny

You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey

They push that girl in front of a train

Took her to a doctor, sowed the arm on again

Stabbed that man, right in his heart

Gave him a transplant before a brand new start

I can't walk through the park, cause it's crazy after the dark

Keep my hand on the gun, cause they got me on the run

I feel like an outlaw, broke my last fast jaw

Hear them say you want some more, livin' on a seesaw

 

Chorus:

 

A child was born, with no state of mind

Blind to the ways of mankind

God is smiling on you but he's frownin too,

Cause only god knows what you go through

You grow in the ghetto, living second rate

And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate

The places you play and where you stay

Looks like one great big alley way

You'll admire all the number book takers

Dogpitchers, pushers and the big money makers

Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens

And you wanna grow up to be just like them

Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers

Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers

You say I'm cool, I'm no fool

But then you wind up dropping out of high school

Now you're unemployed, all null 'n' void

Walking around like you're pretty boy Floyd

Turned stickup kid, look what you done did

Got send up for a eight year bid

Now your man is took and you're a May tag

Spend the next two years as an undercover fag

Being used and abused, and served like hell

Till one day you was find hung dead in a cell

It was plain to see that your life was lost

You was cold and your body swung back and forth

But now your eyes sing the sad sad song

Of how you lived so fast and died so young

[THOTH]

And lastly (another not to be missed)

 

White Lines (Don't Do It)

 

(S.Robinson, M.Glover - SugarHill Records '83)

 

Fun, baby

Freeze! Rock-Rock-Rock-Rock-Rock-Rock-Rock-Rock!

(High... High... High... High...) Rrrrrrrrruh!

Bass!

(Oooh White...White) 3X

Verse One:

 

(Ooooh...White Lines) Vision dreams of passion

(Blowin through my mind) And all the while I think of you

(Pipe cries) A very strange reaction

(For us to unwind) The more I see the more I do

(Something like a phenomenon) Baby

(Tellin your body to come along, but white lines...blow away)

(Blow! Rock it! Blow!)

 

Ticket to ride white line highway

Tell all your friends, they can go my way

Pay your toll, sell your soul

Pound for pound costs more than gold

The longer you stay the more you pay

My white lines go a long way

Either up your nose or through your vein

With nothin to gain except killin your brain

 

(Freeze! Rock!) 4X

(Blow!)

 

(High...) Higher, baby

(High...) Get higher, baby!

(High...) Get higher, baby!

And don't ever come down! (Freebase!)

 

Verse Two:

 

Orang dang diggedy dang di-dang

Orang dang diggedy dang di-dang

Orang dang diggedy dang di-dang

Diggedy dang di-dang diggedy dang di-dang

 

(Pipe line...) Pure as the driven snow

(Connected to my mind) And now I'm havin fun, baby!

(Pipe cries) It's gettin kinda low

(Cause it makes you feel so nice) I need some one-on-one, baby

(Don't let it blow your mind away) Baby

(And go into your little hideaway cause white lines...blow away)

(Blow! Rock it! Blow!)

 

A million magic crystals, painted pure and white

A multi-million dollars almost over night

Twice as sweet as sugar, twice as bitter as salt

And if you get hooked, baby, it's nobody else's fault, so don't do it!

 

(Freeze! Rock!) 4X

Rrrrah! (Blow!)

 

(High...) Higher, baby

(High...) Get higher, baby!

(High...) Get higher, baby!

And don't ever come down! (Freebase!)

Edited October 31, 2003 by THOTH

[THOTH]

Couldn't help it - just a fave of mine (more likely to follow...LOL)

 

Fascist Christ 1.0

Composer: Todd Rundgren

 

Founding fathers and mothers left us a mandate

We've got to separate the church and the state

So get your head straight before it's too late

And you drop it in the plate, you must appreciate

 

Jesus and money make a man speak in tongues

Scream out his lungs, roll in the dung

And when the song is sung, he moves up another rung

And the deaf and the dumb are the ones who get stung

 

Here comes the sex police, they're at your bedroom door

Movin' in next door, searchin' from floor to floor

You know what they're lookin' for

Someone's always keepin' score every time you dip the oar

 

Love isn't fun no more

 

Fascist christ, come to the rescue

Gimme that old time religion, here it comes

 

Let's get fundamental about this strange philosophy

In which god and man are enemies

In which there is no serenity unless you happen to believe

Precisely what they want you to believe, and no diversity

 

Come join the army and learn the noises

That drown out the others' voices and please the devil

Who rejoices when mankind has no choices

And power exploits us, and peace avoids us

 

Guess who to the rescue on a holy mission

To uphold the tradition of the Spanish Inquisition

And preempt your decision by forcing your confession

Now let that be a lesson

 

Who do you think you're messin' with?

 

Somebody took our god away

[THOTH]

And another fave - from the same album (though it isn't rap)

 

This is for all the femenists (like me!) (its sung from a womens perspective BTW)

 

Property 1.0

Composer: Todd Rundgren

 

 

I'll be your fantasy, but I won't be your property

Love you eternally, but I'll never be your property

Love from me's not guaranteed

Just because you think I'm property

I can love you totally and still not be your property

 

Every girl and boy wants to grow up to be loved someday

And you can't wait to give your heart away

But it's like worship in their eyes walking down the aisle

When you slip on that ring, they start to treat you like a thing, yeah

 

I call it slavery when you call someone your property

Don't waste your vanity, I will never be your property

 

Something wonderful happens when people fall in love

Your happiness is all they're thinking of

But it's like "anything you say" 'til the wedding day

When they get it in ink, they start to tell you what to think, yeah

 

Darkest day in history when someone invented property

Cause of our misery is the constant lust for property

 

Since god began it, we've been dividing up the planet

When you see something you want it

You've got to put your name tag on it

And we go on carving, meanwhile half the world is starving

It's a crime .. hands off what is mine!

 

Take all you can 'til you slam on the parking brake

And you need space to make your own mistakes

But it's like "I won't hold you back" 'til the bags are packed

Then they're struttin' about like they own you inside out

 

I call it slavery (you can't make me a slave),

when you call someone your property

Don't waste your vanity (don't be so vain),

I will never be your property

Darkest day in history (why did you have to do a thing like that)

when someone invented property

Cause of our misery (misery, misery)

is the constant lust for property

[THOTH]

And in summation...

 

No World Order 1.1

Composer: Todd Rundgren

 

 

Let me tell you 'bout the new world order

Not the kind to make you run for the border

It's a new religion wrapped in a revolution

With a proven solution for your mental pollution

 

Cars and gold bars and chains and diamond rings

These are the symbols, we want the real things

Peace in the soul and a natural insight

Things that please the mind and make the body feel right

 

Don't let no one tell you that god ain't got a sense of humor

Someone said he's pissed off, but that was just a rumor

I know he's laughin' when the preacher starts to scream about

How trippin' is evil, and sex is unclean

 

Nature wants your life to go on long and on strong

To have children and show them where you went wrong

So if your life style leads you into hell or into prison

Wake up and listen, this is what you're missing

 

Free will, we can't seem to get our fill

We are beggers, we are choosers drunk on a lack of power

I believe in understanding, I've got to know where we're landing

I'm takin' my survey now, hands up if you're with me

Do you want different choices? Can't hear the quiet voices

Got to dim all the lights, turn down the volume

Put on a little more forgiveness, who's gonna be my witness?

If we must endure this trial, someone is bound to touch us

 

Do you want more sex, more comforting

A little more foreplay and afterglow, let my people go

Everybody wants peace on the earth, children sheltering

Calling every man, every woman

We're gonna take control of our own bodies

 

Peace breaks out in the battle of the sexes

We start to learn what the other one expects is

We stay away from what the other one rejects is

And have respect for individual perspectives

 

We're gonna break out of this cycle of dependency

And liberate each other from a hopeless life of drudgery

And face up to the truth as we dispel all of this secrecy

And simplify the situation when we learn to speak plainly

 

We're gonna take control of the machinery

Bad little actors that chew up the scenery

Job number one is gonna be findin' a way

That we can rave all night and meditate all day

 

Mankind's strugglin' hard to see the light

To hear the voice of the spirit in the night

To lay down his heavy burden and pick up his soul power

And build a heaven on earth hour by hour by hour

 

Child protection, more careful mate selection

Everyone wants to be wanted by a natural father and mother

Lookin' for a sense of wonder, don't let your faith go under

This is a beautiful world, if we could only give up fighting

The answer is surrender, every race, every gender

Beat our swords into plowshares on the anvil of a pure heart

We gotta have honest answers and the courage to take our chances

Opportunity's knockin' loud, give me your attention

Edited October 31, 2003 by THOTH

[gamavor]

Some time ago I applied for a legal position with one of the 'fancy' law firms in town. The initial process of 'screening' required answering (no joke) the following questions?

 

1. Beatles or Rolling Stones?

 

2. Is there a difference between rap and hip-hop?

 

I answered first question 'Beatles', second question 'No'! - and almost got hired

[THOTH]

Some time ago I applied for a legal position with one of the 'fancy' law firms in town. The initial process of 'screening' required answering (no joke) the following questions?

 

1. Beatles or Rolling Stones?

 

2. Is there a difference between rap and hip-hop?

 

I answered first question 'Beatles', second question 'No'! - and almost got hired

LOL - well the answer to 1 is "both" ...and to 2 is certainly yes (you don't ussually dance to Rap for one...but [most] always to/with hip-hop!

 

...almost hired...love it...but yeah - strange questions for such I think...

 

So which is it for you Gams - Salt or Peppa...? LOL (I'm sure I know your answere...neither! LOL)

[gamavor]

The most exotic thing that my ears tolerated was Ravi Shankar.

 

The tragedy is that the new generation is missing big time the old glory. In one of the treads someone asked about what is "Hey Bulldog". Thanks to Napster, Bapster, Mormonstor etc. no one is interested in producing good quality music. Well, I hear you already saying "Gams, what is good music?" - my answer is the one that doesn't make your convolution getting flat.

Edited October 31, 2003 by gamavor

[KavorKin99]

thank you all for your help muahzz have a happy halloween muahz

[KavorKin99]

i miss all the old school music *sniff sniff* lol does any one else?

[THOTH]

thank you all for your help muahzz have a happy halloween muahz

No problem...so...tell us what you come up with & such...and did you enjoy the lyrics/any comments (beyond just the thanks etc)?

[KavorKin99]

well the project thatI have to do is pick five great rappers or old school music from 1992-1996 and I am going to pick: salt n pepa, too short, and run-dmc, , umm and maybe bone thugs but thank you the lyrics were good too hehe muahz

[THOTH]

well the project thatI have to do is pick five great rappers or old school music from 1992-1996 and I am going to pick: salt n pepa, too short, and run-dmc, , umm and maybe bone thugs but thank you the lyrics were good too hehe muahz

OK - kool...

 

Yeah - I always liked Salt & Peppa (thoguh Peppa cpould be a little scarry - I mean she looked like she could f u up...etc! LOL)...and I thought their thing with (forgot their name - the sultry ones...oh yes - En Vougue!) - "Whanna man" (something like that...great tune...loved the riff...vid good too...

Edited October 31, 2003 by THOTH

[KavorKin99]

theres this one song by salt n pepa and it's really sad i think some girl has aids or something i think thats what the song is about chi gitiem

[nairi]

Push it?

 

Beastie Boys.

 

Beatles or the Rolling Stones? Stones for sure. Beatles are for wusses

[KavorKin99]

ya push it is good nairi jan

[THOTH]

Push it?

 

Beastie Boys.

 

Beatles or the Rolling Stones? Stones for sure. Beatles are for wusses

Yeah push it - probably their best tune..

 

Hey listen to Revolver - then decide...(not at all knocking the Stones)....neither compares to Frank though....

[vava]

Beastie Boys were great - especially Paul's Boutique - by far the most creative use of sampling for their generation. Too bad the last few albums all sound the same. Never was into Salt&Peppa.

 

And Nair, I'm sorry but the Beatles are WAY cool. Just go back and listen the Magical Mystery tour album one more time. Don't let their commercial success fool you - these guys were edgy and innovative.... I wish I grew up with the Beatles.

[THOTH]

First time I ever heard the Beastie Boys was that song "cookie" - funny as all..

 

And yeah - early/mid Beatles - awesome...Revolver is my fave album...and the WHite Album, Abbey Road...great stuff..

 

All Hail Marx & Lennon!!! (al la Firesign Theater...now there is one for ya...any familiar?...any Bozos on the bus...or How can you be here where you are nowhere at all? [the latter for Domino of course...]

 

Marx (Groucho) & Lenon (John ) of course...

[Armen]

theres this one song by salt n pepa and it's really sad i think some girl has aids or something i think thats what the song is about chi gitiem

"Shoop". Originally by Ice Cube - "Check yourself before..."

[KavorKin99]

thanks sarq jan much appreciated muahz