[Intro: Inspectah Deck & Ed Koch]
I'm a '88er, fly aviator
I been seen the future, way back then on beta
Winning is always better than losing
And winning big is better still
'88er

[Verse 1: R.A. The Rugged Man]
Rape scandal, Tawana Brawley, New York City
Before Giuliani turned Times Square to Walt Disney
Low-cost anesthetic epidemic, seedy, what?
Wall graffitied up, cook coke, Scotty, beam me up
Murder rate stats are staggerin', lives unravelin'
Central Intelligence Agency is drug traffickin'
Cops with bad tempers, politicians pushin' their agendas
In thе streets, it's murderers and rapists and sex offеnders
With a growin' neurosis, bloodsuckin' bats, vultures are ferocious
Roller coasters of rats and rodents and roaches
Homeless vet with skin rashes from tuberculosis
Narcosis, pimps and hookers, and heroin overdoses
Every snitchin' bird chirps, that's how the world works
These hookers lookin' for who to burn first, porn theaters and perverts
On your PRO-Keds, there's bloody red spots and a dead cop
Got his head shot on the fed watch, call Mayor Ed Koch, c'mon

[Verse 2: Inspectah Deck]
I'm a '88er, straight from the days of the pissy elevator
Teeny boppers, graffiti rockers, cops, and jealous haters
Dangerous back blocks, crack rocks, and mad cops who clap shots
Aimin' to kill and steal a stash box
From psycho n***as fightin' with whites and Hasidics
Remember Willie Turks, Yusef Hawkins, and Michael Griffith
N.Y., prolific, kicked it with the lowlifes and Deceps
Who squeeze TECs, G-checkin n***as for weak checks
Sinister dark minds, victims of hard times
Pan Am Flight 103, Central Park Five
Thank Reagan for makin' dealers kingpins, who would think then?
We seein' Ms, all the shipments that slipped in
'88er, architect, camouflage vet
My burner on the train, next to Bernhard Goetz
From the time the space shuttle and Chernobyl exploded
I voted for Dinkins knowin' he would never control it, word
[Verse 3: R.A. The Rugged Man]
Global cocaine trade, buy and sell, clientele
Drug cartels, crime grime spell, die in Hell
Colombian gun dealers, citizens, and cop sadists
Bronx raid, six cops shot by Larry Davis
A '88er, 8 to 88 damn scams can't fail
Land in jail, with a plan dumb like Dan Quayle
Coke deal in the back streets, everybody sniffed out
From Hollywood stars to celebrity athletes
Hold the crowbar, stole the car, crackhead moonwalkin'
With a Mike Jack' jacket, holdin' a broke VCR
Mommy never get a raise, kids hustle for better days
Crime forever pays, guardian angels with red berets
Ain't no Spielberg extra-terrestrial phonin' home
Just a homeless guy takin' a piss on the payphone
They thought AIDS was only for gays, mass confusion
'Til Ryan White, the boy caught it from a blood transfusion, the '88er

[Chorus]
I'm a '88er, fly aviator
I been seen the future, way back then on beta
I'm a '88er, fly aviator
I been seen the future, way back then on beta

[Verse 4: Timbo King]
I'm a '88er
[?] pocket-digger, run with the paper
The turnstile-hopper, the Knicks lost to the Lakers
Sergio Tacchini zippin' through Elite Eighties
I just got paid by killers that could've made the Navy
They wolf-packin' in Latin Quarters, a crook snatchin'
A new action movie, Die Hard, I'm wearin' IZOD
It's "Peace, God", young gunner shootin' police cars
Ask Vic, she suckin' glass dick, Denise aunt
'88er, marijuana plant straight from Jamaica
The war on drugs, feds just indicted Noriega
Crack is wack, Vanessa Williams' ass was fat
Catch a gun charge, Rikers Island, one year flat
New York City mob boss Gotti, phones on tap
Go to Delancey for that red 'n black 8-ball jack'
Concrete metropolitan [?]
Hear the sounds of the Uzi spray
Al Sharpton on the news today, the '88 Olympic U.S. rude-awake
Five boroughs of terror, unforgettable era
[Outro]
"Killa Bee"
"Wyling—wyling—wyling—wyling" "Echoin' through cell blocks"
"Killa Bee" "Wyling"
"Echoin' through cell blocks and federal pens"