Criminal Minded

[Intro]
Boogie Down Productions will always get paid
We'll take the wackest song and make it better
Remember to let us into your skin, 'cause then you'll begin
To master rhymin', rhymin', rhymin'

[Verse 1: KRS-One]
Criminal minded, you've been blinded
Looking for a style like mine, you can't find it
They are the audience, I am the lyricist
Sometimes the suckers on the side gotta hear this
Page, a rage, and I'm not in a cage
Free as a bird to fly up out on stage
Ain't here for no fronting, just to say a little something
You suckers don't like me 'cause you're all about nothing
However, I'm really fascinating to the letter
My all-around performance gets better and better
My English grammar comes down like a hammer
You need a style, I need to pull your file
I don't beg favors, you're kissing other people's—
I write and produce myself just as fast
Keep my hair like this, got no time for Jheri curls
Attracting only women, got no time for little girls

[Refrain]
'Cause girls look so good, but their brain is not ready
I don't know
I'd rather talk to a woman 'cause her mind is so steady
So here we go

[Verse 2]
I'm not a musical maniac or b-boy fanatic
I simply made use of what was upstairs in the attic
I've listened to these MCs back when I was a kid
But I bust more shots than they ever did
I mean this is not the best of KRS, it's just a section
But how many times must I point you in the right direction?
You need protection when I'm on the mic
Because my mouth is like a nine millimeter windpipe
You're a king, I'm a teacher, you're a b-boy, I'm a scholar
If this was a class, well, it would go right under drama
See, kings lose crowns but teachers stay intelligent
Talking big words on the mic, but still irrelevant
Especially when you're not college material
Wake up every morning to your Lucky Charms cereal
DJ Scott La Rock has a college degree
Blastmaster KRS writes poetry
I won't go deeper in the subject 'cause that gets me bored
It's a shame to know some MCs on the mic are frauds
Saying styles like this to create a diss
But if you listen, who you dissing? 'Cause I am a musician
Rapping on the mic like this to me is fine
'Cause if I really want to battle, I will pull out a nine
You can see that Scott La Rock and I are mentally binded
In other words, we're both Criminal Minded

[Verse 3]
We're not promoting violence, we're just having some fun
He's Scott La Rock, I'm KRS-One
Never off-beat 'cause it don't make sense
Grab the microphone relaxed and not tense
You waited, debated, and now you activated
A musical genius that could not be duplicated
See, I have the formula for rocking the house
If you cannot rock a party, do not open your mouth
It's that simple, no phony cosmetics for your pimple
Take another look because the gear is not wrinkled
The K, the R, the S, the O, the N, the E
Say a rhyme for '87, not no 1983
Well-versed to rehearse, in my rhymes I might curse
Originality is first, but the suckers get worse
Allow me to include, I have a very stable mood
Poetic education of a high altitude
I'm not an MC, so listen, call me poet or musician
A genius when it comes to making music with ambition
I'm cool, collected with the rhyme I directed
Don't wanna be elected as the king of a record
Just respected by others as the man with the solution
An artist of the '80s came and left his contribution
On wax, relax, there's twenty-four tracks
After years of rocking parties, now I picked up the knack
Because everything that flows from out my larynx
Takes years of experience and bottles of Beck's
I cannot seem to recollect the time I didn't have sex
Is it real or is it Memorex?
I'm living in a city known as New York State
Sucker MCs gotta wait while I translate
I hang with real live dreads with knowledge in their heads
People with ambition and straight up musicians
Although our lives have been so uprooted
I haven't included, you can all get zooted
So take each letter of the KRS-One
Means Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone
You look at me and laugh, but this is your class
It's an all-out discussion of the suckers I be crushing
So now you are awakened to the music I be making
Never duplicated, and also highly cultivated
Don't get frustrated 'cause nothing has been traded
Only activated, it came out very complicated
Not separated, from my DJ
You see my voice is now faded
I'll see you folks around the way

[Outro]
Criminal minded
Criminal minded
Criminal minded
Criminal minded