[Skit: Gibran Evans]
When I was little, my father was famous
He was the greatest samurai in the empire
And he was the Shogun's decapitator
He cut off the heads of 131 lords
It was a bad time for the empire
The Shogun just stayed inside his castle and he never came out
People said his brain was infected by devils
My father would come home, he would forget about the killings
He wasn't scared of the Shogun, but the Shogun was scared of him
Maybe that was the problem
Then, one night, the Shogun sent his ninja spies to our house
They were supposed to kill my father but they didn't
*Woman screaming*
That was the night everything changed

[Intro: RZA]
See, sometimes
You gotta flash 'em back
See, n***as don't know where this shit started
Y'all know where it came from
I'm sayin', we gonna take y'all back to the source
Through knowledge, yo

[Chorus: RZA + GZA]
When the MCs came to live out the name
And to perform, some had
To snort cocaine, to act insane
Before Pete Rocked it on
Now gone off the mental plane, to spark the brain
With the building to be born
Yo, RZA, flip the track with the what to cut
[Verse 1: GZA]
Fake n***as get flipped in mic fights
I swing swords and cut clowns
Shit is too swift to bite, you record and write it down
I flow like the blood on a murder scene
Like a syringe, on some wild out shit to insert a fiend
But it was your op. to shop stolen art
Catch a swollen heart from not rollin' smart
I put mad pressure on phony wack rhymes that get hurt
Shit's played like zodiac signs on sweatshirts
That's minimum and feminine like sandals
My minimum table stacks a verse on a gamble
Energy is felt once the cards are dealt
With the impact of roundhouse kicks from black belts
That attack the mic-phones like cyclones or typhoon
I represent from midnight to high noon
I don't waste ink, n***a, I think
I drop megaton bombs more faster than you blink
'Cause rhyme thoughts travel at a tremendous speed
Through clouds of smoke of natural blends of weed
Only under one circumstance, that's if I'm blunted
Turn that shit up, my Clan in Da Front want it

[Chorus]
Now, when the MC's came to live out the name
And to perform, some had
To snort cocaine, to act insane
Before Pete Rocked it on
Now born with the mental plane to spark the brain
With the building to be born
Yo, the RZA flip the track with the what to cut
[Verse 2: GZA (RZA)]
I'm on a Mission that n***as say is Impossible
But when I swing my swords, they all choppable
I be the body dropper, the heartbeat stopper
Child educator, plus head amputator
'Cause n***as' styles are old like Mark 5 sneakers
Lyrics are weak like clock radio speakers
Don't even stop in my station and attack
While your plan failed, get derailed like Amtrak
What the fuck for? Down by law, I make law
I be justice, I sentence that ass two-to-four
'Round the clock get that state pen time, check it
But the pens I be stickin' with, you can't state the crime
Came through with the Wu, slid off on the DL
I'm low-key like seashells, I rock these bells (When the MCs)
Now come aboard, it's Medina bound
Enter the chamber, and it's a whole different sound
It's a wide entrance, small exit like a funnel
So deep, it's picked up on radios in tunnels
N***as are fascinated how the shit begin
Get vaccinated, my logo is branded in your skin

[Chorus]
When the MC's came to live out the name
And to perform, some had
To snort cocaine, to act insane
Before Pete Rocked it on
Now gone off the mental plane, just to spark the brain
With the building to be born
Yo, RZA flip the track with the what to cut