Gang Starr
Put Up or Shut Up
[Premier scratch: "This mic in my hand, I'm rulin'!"]
[Verse 1: Guru]
Stupid, you know it's time to sit and think, before we hit the brink
Locker room, at a prize fight, before he hit the ring
Like when I tell these corporate leeches they can't get a thing
Or when I tell relentless rappers they had better sing
The position that anyone holds could be up to grabs
I'm waitin up the ave. to see if anyone folds
Since I was twenty-one years old and legal
I knew the difference between gimmicky gangsters and powerful people
I'm the reason, why the game is flipped
I'm the reason, why your aim is missed
I'm the reason why you're mad I only sprained my wrist
The reason my mindframe is trained in this
You like gunfire? better acquire the taste
'Cuz youf walk aroun' with full pounds by dem waist
Deface property, they be laced properly
Rules are rules, fools are fools, I react logically
Ain't no way, so come, make my day
Like Tom Hanks I earn long bank and +Cast+ you +Away+
[Premier scratching]
"This mic in my hand, I'm rulin'!"
"I repeat, this is not a question"
[Hook: Guru] + (Krumbsnatcha)
Oh you brag about the ki's you flipped and who you done up
N***a whattup? (Put up or shut up!)
Poppin' shit about the chicks and the whips you got
You think you hot? (Uh-uh, man - you put up or shut up!)
Always talkin' 'bout your dough and your wealth and fame
You'se a lame (Get out of here - put up or shut up!)
You got hot beats and kids that can spit mad fire?
You'se a liar! (That's whack - put up or shut up!)
[Premier sample: "This mic in my hand, I'm rulin'!"]
[Verse 2: Guru]
Aiyyo I've seen the toughest of tough guys, the roughest of guys
Get reduced of their juice against the wall like small fries
All rise, it's time to do the damn thing
I'm all wise, my mind exercise like handsprings
Crazy degrees of difficulties
Remain mackin' chicks, O.G. shit, the Temprees
Please, you know my peoples want a lot, the corner's hot
We gettin' love on y'all block
And that's gangsta, but a lot of shit ain't
Believe me it ain't easy like you sleazy n***as think
Uneasy n***as blink, when I step to the stage
And don't flinch, don't move a inch, I'm 'bout to empty the gauge
I've witnessed the bad shit, sickness and sadness
Always dreamed about what I would do, if I had shit
Drop jewels infinite for the blind, deaf and dumb
Down with M.O.P. and Bumpy plus I just left Krumb
[Verse 3: Krumbsnatcha]
But I'm back.. ha, fresh out of the max
And I'm gettin' at you cats
Aiyyo popped out the beast, met The Ownerz with the lease
Soldifyin' contracts over dope beats
Learned a whole lot up in these streets
Like when to talk, when to spark, and when not to speak
I do the one before a gun come out
Plus y'all don't really wanna see Krumb dumb out
A ghetto doctrine to watch every pistol pop
And then while you watchin' examine all options
Young bodies in the coffin more often
It stay the same from Brooklyn to Boston
Every interstate, more youth with the inner hate
Deep in the struggle, puttin' food on they dinner plate
Hungry W.O.L.V.E.S. that roll thick in packs
And pray on you cats with the gangstafied raps
Extortion, only gettin' left with a portion
Pullin' out tools on them fools who be flossin
[Hook]