[Intro]
New York city in the early morning after a night of no electric power. What it did have in the dark streets was a wild outburst of crime. Arson, looting, mugging, and a thousand false fire alarms. At 9:34 last night it all went black

[Verse 1]
I pour some Yac for the days of way back
The turn tables crates of wax turn to major to my earlier days
My world was ablaze, black outs in the summer
No electricity asked out
Breaking down doors, my city was hungry
We vandalized stores, poor
No lights in the project hall
Before the lootin' only 5 DJ crews was movin'
Till people stole DJ equipment the numbers risin'
Now there's friction
First time in Bronx history DJ's poppin' up, there's more mixin'
Everybody wants to be Flash
His name on the flier
The Grandmaster performin' live, no acclaim was higher
He was king and the dream was to be like 'em
Meanwhile C-Cypher's not around
Firehouses shut down
School was closed
Grandmaster (?) our domes with rules
Written inside the rap scrolls

[Interlude]
The revolution will not be televised
[Verse 2]
The revolution may not be televised
And we wonderin' who the hell is Koch
This man Koch wanted the mayor's seat
And he's campaignin' like he can't be stopped
Up in the Bronx they forever strong
Don't ever try to play 'em weak
The revolution may not ever be televised
Books command the speech

[Outro]
I want to stress first my total outrage that at this hour the city of New York is still without power