Back Around the Old School

Intro
Now I’m back around the old school that raised me
Now I’m back around the old school that raised me
Now I’m, now I’m back around the old school that raised me
Now I’m back around the old school that raised me

Chorus
Now I’m back around the old school that raised me (back around the old school)
Now I’m back around the old school that raised me
Now I’m, now I’m back around the old school that raised me (back around the old school) now I’m back around the old school that raised me (back)

Verse One
Now I’m back around the old school that raised me it’s crazy
3 feet high and rising with daisy’s
Caps to the back, fresh mesh, fresh to death
Best dressed so don’t step on my sneakers
Spit a rhyme I’ll leave you speechless
Back to the struggle
When Def Jam had Russell in the hustle
And Break-dance 1 had the muscles from Brussels
Doing handclaps in black Spandex
Back when Smokey was a bandit
I’m guarding the mic, my man’s next
Spit it like Special Ed, Biz Mark and KRS
Or the Fresh Prince and Jazz Jeff
Back when we used to worry bout’ the year 2000
Millennium bugs now the ghetto got millennium thugs
And hip-hop evolved and young bloods feel old
Platinum replaced gold, competition’s fierce
And vinyl stores are scarce it’s a ghost town
It’s like the Sheriff got scared and fle’ed the showdown
And Berry Gordy quit Motown, where’s Stevie Wonder?
Last I heard he did a track with Busta
Without the old school there’s no school
Now I’m back around it feels so cool

Chorus (x2)

Verse Two
Now I’m back around the old school, young with no front teeth
Listening to Kool Keith and Stetsasonic
Before De La did Bionix, before Dre did The Chronic
The ladies wore door knocker earrings and bandanas
And young kids believed in Santa
And hip-hop was beats, rhymes, pops and locks
Where Rakim made em’ clap while Eric would cut
And the term Sucker MC’s was for Sucker MC’s
And these synthesized beats on keys were not born
And Pete Rock made a hook using only a horn
I reminisce and think about the wonderful bliss
When ice was only for drinks and was never for wrists
And selling out was for them punks, it was never for this
We maintained, when adversity came we changed lanes
Our words had the power to sway and change brains
And free our own people from these shackles and chains
That imprison the youth and imprison the truth
So I’mma act like a prisoner when I’m in the booth
And hold bars get it? I’m no fool, there’s no rules
There’s no clues paid my dues when reppin’ the old school

Chorus (x2)

Verse Three
Now I’m back around the old school before Mafia names
Where kids took a can sprayed graffiti on trains
It was tagging, MC’ing was the art of bragging
Before rumours of gay rappers and Armageddon
And every rap record was a lesson schooling me
Was the likes of Young MC and Schooly D
Catch my drift? And double vinyl records didn’t exist
Now they old news demoted to old tunes
But them plastics are considered classics
Some are worth paper do the mathematics
Yo, I let my tape rock till my tape pop
When my tape got stuck I was like man what
Pushing paper in the top holes my blanks ran out
Every week I was taping what was hot on the street
Pressing pause when the DJ was beginning to speak
Hoping that the track would leave a little loop of the beat
And I love them days, them days were priceless
One of the nicest times in my life
When I think back they still amaze me it’s crazy
Cos now I’m back around the old school that raised me

Chorus (x2)