[Verse 1: Lateef]
When I'm on the mic I stand tall with gall
Style worth more than anything you gon' find in mall
The treasure of the mutiny is what keeps you all enthralled
I lively up the people with the yes, yes, y'all
Create, wait, watch and let the fake fall
Employ my strategy like checkmate
Call your bluff in that destruction of all previous discussion
When I hit like a concussion your heart rate stall
Recorder all ball, your jaw go slack
I deliver, makin' quivers and shivers all down your back
Like a river flow the beat
Bounces in Cadillacs that's bumpin' that vicious Blackalicious
Kick drum that keeps punchin' through that speaker
Countinously, meticoulously
Etchin' out the spaces in time
For miles affecting rhymes that changing minds permanently
Like mescaline giving your whole peception perspective
A new design to wreck that misconception
Now we seeing eye to eye yet?
Can the MC speak? The suckas stay quiet
The crowd can get rowdy like the party was a riot
Try it and the ladies'll hoo-ride your ass up out the spotlight
"You crazy, don't you know that fool Lateef'll set it on you?
He better than you" she telling you the truth too
I give you the proof dude
Step, you end up getting cut up by the cornerstone's edge
Down back by the [?] I say don't get contrary
'Cause baby I'm very a-highly motivated
I'm tryna do that plan ownership thing like Isaiah did
Hope your vision ain't impaired
But my prayers you can hear what I'm saying to you
Now if you fakin' it may sound strange to you
Like some way under my breath maybe I'm playing you
But I only do that murder rap shit for those who the cap fit
As for the rest I'm tryna take you all back to the essence
[Hook: Lateef]
Back to the essence
When we in the house feel the almighty presence
Making MCs act humble like peasants
Smoking the mic and leaving nothing but resin
Making the spots pop like pots full of wesson
Making it hot, cooking your goose and your pheasant
Taking your props, leaving your ass butt naked
Soul exposed, no material protection
Low and behold, we going back to the essence
[Verse 2: Gift of Gab]
I be that G-I to the F when I get def up on that mic
I swing that lefty, no discrepency
And effortlessly and in the right frame of mind
Electricity combined with my soul and the way I flex the agility
Focus ability makes some heads quite restless in this vicinty
Tryna fill me out but they just jesters in my vicinity stuck in my art
Tryna feather my energy, I bless plenty of enemies daily
With expressions that'll lyrically man would like to get rid of me
In my quest to be the epitome, it'll be cold in helll
For I feel stress from any of these illiterate
Insecure about they little insignicant contributions
Infinitely I'm mocking yes
And don't whenever the Gift put out a fly quote
Yes, I'm doing my thing and leaving a cloud of cess smoke
Wherever I go, whether I'm balling, whether I'm flat dead broke
I'm heeding my call and leaving a ball of rappers with heads roast
And bringing that universal dopeness to the east and west coast
And really no one the best though is god
Allowing you to harness the energy within whoever feels it the most at the moment, takes it the farthest
So thank him 'cause it's through you that he manifest artistry
Like a painting with an infinte beyond lifetime warranty
And Satan is a wack diseased that needs to be quarantined
And caged in, I'm riding a boat of dopeness come on aboard with me
And engage in a tale of musical invention
An MC lynchin' convention GA lyrical fifth dimension miracles
All up in your system
[Hook: Lateef]
Back to the essence
When we in the house feel the almighty presence
Making MCs act humble like peasants
Smoking the mic and leaving nothing but resin
Making the spots pop like pots full of wesson
Making it hot, cooking your goose and your pheasant
Taking your props, leaving your ass butt naked
Soul exposed, no material protection
Low and behold, we going back to the essence
Back to the Essence was written by Gift of Gab & Chief Xcel & Lateef the Truthspeaker.
Back to the Essence was produced by Chief Xcel.
Blackalicious released Back to the Essence on Fri Apr 30 1999.