[Intro]
Down-down

[Chorus]
We can get down, we can-we can get down
We can get down, we can-we can get down
We can get down, we can-we can get down
We can get down, we can-we can get down (Why waste time on the microphone?)
We can get down, we can-we can get down
We can get down, we can-we can get down
We can get down, we can-we can get down
We can get down, we can-we can get down (Aww)
It's like that, man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that, man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that, man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that, man, it's like that (Why waste time on the microphone?), check it

[Verse 1: Phife Dawg]
I'm not your average MC with the Joe Schmoe flow
If you don't know me by now, you'll never know
Steppin' on my critics, beatin' all my foes
The plan is to stay focused, only then I can grow
Straight from the heart, I represent hip-hop
I be three albums deep, but I don't wanna go pop
Too many candy rappers seem to be at the top
Too much candy is no good, so now I'm closin' the shop
Crushin' competition like Italians on grapes
My rhymes styles be blendin' like a Ron G tape
My man, where ya goin'? You can't escape
When the Tribe is in the house, that means nobody is safe
How can a reverend preach, when a rev' can't define
The music of our youth from 1979?
We rap 'bout what we see, meanin' reality
From people bustin' caps and like Mandela bein' free
Not every MC be with the negativity
We have a slew of rappers pushin' positivity
Hip-hop will never die, yo, it's all about the rap
So Mayor Barry smokin' crack, let's preach about that
The trash you talk won't matter, that old bogus chatter
The more that you condemn us, it only makes us phatter
When I talk, I know I'm talkin' for hip-hoppers all around
You know you love the sound, we gets down
[Chorus]
We can get down, we can-we can get down
We can get down, we can-we can get down
We can get down, we can-we can get down
We can get down, we can-we can get down (Aww)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Why waste time on the microphone?), check it

[Verse 2: Q-Tip]
I'm the cherry on the top of yo' ice cream
I'm the mystic thought inside your dream
Listen to the way we pulsate the jam
I'm the n***a here with the mic in hand
Styles that we present are just a few
To do away with you and your humdrum crew
This is '93 and the shit is real
Black people, unite and put down your steel
Ladies, make a forum on your sexual drive
Devote it to your lover and make it thrive
The rhythm's in F, I'm a hip-hop body
Release my energy with the force of a shotty
Standin' on the wall with my Polo on
Talkin' to the girl with the Liz Claiborne
Keep the poetry in my black knapsack
Got my Timbo hooves and my Doublemint pack
Hit the city streets to enhance my soul
I can kick a rhyme over ill drum rolls
With a kick, snare, kicks and high hat
Skilled in the trade of that old boom bap
I can do a trick with the opposite breed
I used to down forties and smoke grade weed
Now I'm doin' shows with half loot down
Now it's time for me to take ya Uptown
[Chorus]
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes)
It's like that man, it's like that (Yes), Shaheed

[Interlude]
Why waste time on the microphone?
Why waste time on the microphone?
Why waste time on the microphone?
Why waste time on the microphone?
Why waste—
Why waste time on the mic—

[Outro]
A Tribe Called Quest consists of four members
Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip, and Jarobi
A-E-I-O-U, and sometimes Y