Manuel
It’s Still Alive
[Intro: DJ Kool Herc sample]
One night, I'm waiting for the record to play out. I said I wonder if I put... I said to myself "Hmm"... they're out there waiting for this particular break and I have a couple more records that's got the same break up in it. I wonder how it would be if I put them all together? And I told them, I said I'm gonna try something new tonight called the merry-go-round…

[Verse 1: J-Formz]
Kool Herc threw that first block party in 73
And it's like that boom bap was just embedded in me
11 years later, came here to show them how it sounded
'Causе I was born the same year that Dеf Jam was founded
Coincidence? Maybe...
But let me stake a claim and state my case before you go and call my ass crazy
Around '86, I took my first steps, and what do you say!?
The number one song is "Walk This Way"
In grammar school, I ain't never needed class for speech
'Cause I heard N.W.A. say "Fuck The Police"
And the very first decade that helped mold him
Is the era that they now refer to as the golden
Get 'em! So many veteran legends, I stop and think
If hip hop was a queen, the king was Pac or BIG
She was cryin' for peace, it's like the streets never heard her
Old enough to remember both their beef, and their murder
Damn, put on Tha Basement, or throw the clicker my way
106 & Park time, it's Freestyle Friday
The first day of the week, every kid hates
Except me, I'm hyped up for Monday Night Mixtape
The two gods in hip hop are dissin'
Just sluaghterin' each other while I watch and listen
I dig it, but, after that, most shit got wack
Tight pants and your mans wanna dance and snap
Every now and then, you might catch me sayin' "he's dope"
But, I swear, some of these muh fuckers wastin' my weed smoke
I'm still standin' with my Timbs and bars
'Cause I love them, not 'cause I want you to think I'm hard
You just couldn't be you, and I know what was stoppin' ya
You were clearly only good at doin what was popular
I survived through a time Nas said: "hip hop died"
The white boy from the burbs said it's still alive...
Come on!
[Chorus: Mic Beatz & (J-Formz)]
It's the hip hop revival (Uh!)
I'm embedded in this shit like Jesus in the Bible (Forever!)
It's like the universe (What!?)
Tryin' to tell me somethin' through the verse (Tell 'em!)
This rap shit flowin' through my veins (Truth!)
As I'm goin' through my pain (Uh!)
Cash rules everything around me (C.R.E.A.M.!)
I'm glad hip hop found me!

[Verse 2: Nick Ballz]
It all started with "Jump" on cassette
I had a boom box, I would bump it to death, yes
I was hyped like a crowd for a DJ set
I taped "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" on VHS
It wasn't music, to me, it was more like a movie
Biggie, rappin' on the corner in Coogi
If someone asked: "What's hip hop?" I'd point them to "Juicy"
My first CD was "Score" by the Fugees
Moms hated the cursin', she's a nice white lady
Drank Henny warm, there was no Ice, Ice Baby
Back when I started sparkin' daily
I was watchin' TRL with Carson Daly
DMX at Woodstock with his mic in the air
Remember when he went platinum twice in a year!?
There was no streamin' then, but yes, I would listen
But, I had to hit Best Buy to get it
There's no denyin' the impact that Em made
Couldn't tell me nothin' 'bout him back in 10th grade...
If it's the early 2000's, then, I would tell ya
There was nobody fuckin' with Roc-A-Fella
Before 4:44 and Lemonade
Me and Leg would argue the best verse on Renegade
It's kind of soft right now, but, what can I say?
Rap's wrestlin' these days, my style's MMA
Way before I recorded my rhymes
I was all in on Royce Da 5'9
I would spectate, study the template
And calculate how I could be the next great
I never listen to music, I feel the vibe
No way to explain the way it makes me feel inside
You think I ain't hot? Then, you're ill advised
Until the day I die, hip hop's still alive
Come on!
[Chorus: Mic Beatz & (J-Formz)]
It's the hip hop revival (Uh!)
I'm embedded in this shit like Jesus in the Bible (Forever!)
It's like the universe (What!?)
Tryin to tell me somethin through the verse (Tell 'em!)
This rap shit flowin through my veins (Truth!)
As I'm goin' through my pain (Uh!)
Cash rules everything around me (C.R.E.A.M.!)
I'm glad hip hop found me!