Future Years

This is Braintax, 49. Sending this one out to Kelis, Synapse, Trojan, QED, TD, Oddball. To all the people from the north to the south. It goes like this... (Leeds City, London Town)

[Verse 1]
Every day I sit back, thinking 'bout the future years
As they pass more quickly, time fades and disappears
The year 2000 used to see so distant
If time was a line, I could travel in an instant
I'd go to when MCs knew no animosity
Back in time wouldn't satisfy my curiosity
But tripping forward 5-years would I see
A brand new music where hip-hop used to be?
'Cos no one kept it real once it didn't pay to say it
An empty kind of phrase 'Oh my days, that's [?]'
So we play it and we say it—money talks, we obey it
I want to innovate
But I'm scared they won't play it
In 1999 who cares about the rhyme?
Their attitude's fashion so the sales do [climb?]
And hip-hop's ripped apart, the revolution never starts
There's a tiny group of people making beats from the heart
For art's sake
While the rest find fame
Using half-hearted concepts, lyrics that are lame
Plus the same old phrase, acting crazed in a rhyme
I can only form the future if I think about time

[Break]
[New time
Now is new time
Now is old time
Now is old time
New time
New time
Now is new time
Now is old time
Now is old time
New time?]

[Verse 2]
I tried to be a nutter, but I just
Couldn't do it
See, I always keep it real
But don't tell ya that I do it
Words are self-explanatory
Like a road sign I hold mine
Hoping I can be myself, find my own goldmine
It's all good, nah, it's mostly all the same
See, the fire is the future, and the present is the flame
Many played cats, chased the cream
Wish they caught a mouse
Smiling to myself like the first time I heard Slaughterhouse...
Seems somebody spoke the truth
[Robbed them old souls?], now I think that's proof
We can innovate, [?], but who's gonna risk it?
People stuck in ruts, selling tons, take the biscuit
So, I can see why they do it, hey
I knew it wouldn't really raise the art form
So stay sharp and chase corn
Which do I love most? It has to be the music
My hypothesis was that hip-hop would change the world
I hope the future proves it
Don't want to lose it and feel bad
Reminiscing daily about the times we once had
'No fad, Dad,' I said
We're breaking in the future
Music was like school
And hip-hop was my tutor
Opened up my eyes from the first time I heard it
It's like a jungle sometimes
And Captain Rock blew my mind
If I rewind like this in 20-05
I'd like to feel the same vibe, knowing hip-hop's still alive
And you don't stop
And you don't quit
And you don't stop
And you don't quit
(That's how it goes... Braintax, for the 9-0s and beyond...)

For the future years
As we float on
In the future years

All the Low Life family, who know who they are. And all my people from way back...