[Intro: Rakim]
[Audio Clip From 1991 Rakim Interview]
"Regardless...where you from (you know?) It's where you at
If people can't—if people use a crutch as far as they ain't got this or they ain't got that—everything else is material
As long as they got their physical form and their mind, whatever they want to happen can happen—and I express that too
Once you deal with the mental—everything else speaks for itself. Once you tell somebody how powerful they mind is and they think about it, then they start to utilize it, you know what I'm saying?"

[Verse 1]
I got a pocket full of promise, backpack full of hype
Funny how those dark times spawned a Sun so bright
Been hiding in the background
But my Waldo is more Emerson than it is lost
Found my flow back when a n***a had nada
Besides knowledge, time and a couple dollars
Flipped bucks to stacks, that was all off the mental
Imagine what I do when I infuse potential (mean)
Egos falls off when a soul intervenes
And we never had intentions of being less than kings
Restarting royalty, a goal to aspire
With hate that's coal for the fire
Blazing, amazing, how I betrayed the cage n***as stayed in
While you stuck in that very box you supposed to think out of
Ha...and you wonder why we doubt cha'
Bragging about your moves when nobody's counting

[Chorus]
What's a hook, what's a jingle to a bell ringer?
What's the difference between fake thugs and real n***as?
Nowadays dudes only giving Revelations
This is something else, this is all from self
(Fuck a hook!) What's a jingle to a bell ringer?
What's the difference between fake thugs and real n***as?
Nowadays they just wanna know where it all comes from...

The Genesis (2x)

[Verse 2]
What's more important, the man or the message?
Feeling a divine presence always guiding my ways
With the grind of a slave, never tell a Renaissance man
To "stay in his lane" that's when shit gets insane
Too many small minded, tryna keep a soul binded
I'm gold mining, treasures in my temple like Tutankhamen
Lines vivid, hieroglyphics manifest mid-rhymin'
Might even have some hidden gems if you can find 'em
Its only right I father flows that's far from Common
This D.O.C written with 3000 watts of a Electronic—shit
Powerful enough for the masses
You can go ahead and caption, but my art speaks for itself
They say "a pictures worth a thousand words"
So what that mean for one who spits pictures?
A Baltimore n***a with visions that bigger than his forehead
Fuck loafing off of this ego, let's get more bread

[Chorus]
[Bridge]
In the beginning, an artist was born
A creator in every sense, he just needed some time
Outlandish with a canvas on a path outstanding
Making art, all manifest from his mind