Verse 1:
Flat top rules, flat top '89
Man I used to have mine with the lines like Kane
It was high school high and the girls was fly
I was practicin’ lines trying to rhyme like Kane
With a rayon shirt, do the running man, yeah, y’all, work
So c’mon, let’s move it like Special Ed
Tapes was the grittiest
Grip Grand was born in the City, bitch
That’s the most true shit I ever said
Fat cap rules, '92, new school
With the Air Max lime green trim new shoes
Had a swap-meet t-shirt, Dickies, Ben Davis
Wore a web belt, matched Starter hats, ten flavors
Rocked satin-lined flannel tops
King shit like Camelot
Cali G’s, Sammy sold trees out a ammo box
Back in the day I knew rap would never die out
What the fuck else you gonna listen to to ride out?
Chorus
Verse 2:
'85 rules, '85, old school
It was Slick Rick, Run DMC, and me
With the track suit pants in a B-Boy stance
Hip-hop steady blowin’ up, TNT
Had skips, not kicks, man I couldn’t buy shit
Pay what? Payless, better yet pay nothin’
So I didn’t look fresh in my hand-me-down vest
Or a fake Member’s Only jacket straight frontin’
'88 rules, junior high, high school
Where were you? I was at the store buyin’ PE
Had the gray cassette, used to play that shit
‘Til it broke and eventually I bought the CD
Yeah, '91 rules, Native Tongues, so cool
New York had the jazz, LA had the violence
With a beanie pulled low, couldn’t see a good show
I was too young to go ‘cuz they might have a riot
[Riot Bridge]
Chorus
Verse 3:
Back pack rules, '93 rap rules
Headphones so big bout ta’ break my neck
Trying to walk with a bop, troop up to the Hip Hop Shop
Cop a Conart shirt from Hex
Got a Tommy Hill top that Grand Puba rocked
In a video before he dropped Reel to Reel, B?
Or were you more on that cold
Timberlands when it snows
And a parka like Preem on the Arena LP?
Yeah, Jumpman rules, '9-cipher, etc
In the rhyme cipher, Grip flow with a sharp tongue
Can’t afford Jordans so I gotta save up
Bought the silver and black with the glow-in-the-dark tongue
Everyone wanna go back to the past
But for me, I would still hop back to the future
If, back in the day, you knew rap would never die?
You were right, ‘cuz we still got rap in the future
Chorus
