GZA
GZA & Ol’ Dirty Bastard & Masta Killa & Inspectah Deck
GZA & Method Man & RZA
GZA & Method Man
GZA & LifeLines & Inspectah Deck
GZA & RZA
GZA & RZA & Killah Priest & Ghostface Killah
GZA & Method Man
GZA & RZA
GZA & U-God & Raekwon & Ghostface Killah
GZA
GZA
Killah Priest
“I Gotcha Back” is considered the “true” closing track to Liquid Swords, since “B.I.B.L.E.” is a bonus track. In it, GZA breaks down the cyclical nature of inner city violence among the youth.
He told Wax Poetics,
This was a short rhyme I wrote for one of my nephews. When I said, “My lifestyle so...
[Hook: GZA and RZA]
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
[Verse: GZA]
I was always taught my do's and don'ts
For do's I did, and for don'ts, I said I won't
I'm from Brooklyn, a place where stars are born
Streets are shot up, apartment buildings are torn
And ripped up, stripped up, shacked up and backed up
From fiends, cause the bosses on the scene, they got it cracked up
Kids are slinging in my lobby
Little Steve and Bobby
Getting paid but it's a life-threatening hobby
Yeah, they still play hide-and-seek
The fiends seek for the crack, and they hide and let the cops peep
Grown folks say they should be out on their own
Before the gangs come and blow up their mom's home
Because they lifestyle is hectic, so fucking hectic
Blaow! Blaow! Blaow! Bullets are ejected
My lifestyle was so far from well
Could've wrote a book with a title "Age 12 and Going Through Hell"
Then I realized the plan
I'm trapped in a deadly video game, with just one man
So I don't only watch my back, I watch my front
Cause it's the niggas who front, they be pulling stunts
Back on the Ave of Livonia and Bristol with a pistol
Sticking up Pamela and Crystal
You know your town is dangerous when you see the strangest
Kid come home from doing the bid and nothing changes
What is the meaning of CRIME (what?)
Is it Criminals Robbing Innocent Motherfuckers Everytime?
Little shorties take walks to the schoolyard
Trying to solve the puzzles to why is life so hard
Then as soon as they reached the playground, blaow!
Shots ring off and now one of them lay down
It's so hard to escape the gunfire
I wish I could rule it out like an umpire
But it's an everlasting game, and it never cease to exist
Only the players change, so
[Hook: GZA and RZA]
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back so you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front, that be pulling stunts
I gotcha back but you best to watch your front
It's the niggas who front, that be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
[Outro: (LP version only)]
Your, tech, nique, is, mag-ni-ficent
When cut across the neck
A sound like wailing winter winds is heard, they say
I'd always hoped to cut someone like that someday
To hear that sound
But to have it happen to my own neck is... ridiculous
*man gasps for air*
I Gotcha Back was produced by RZA.
GZA released I Gotcha Back on Tue Aug 30 1994.
Regarding the Shogun Assassin samples used here and throughout the album, RZA told Vanity Fair,
Most of our influence came from kung-fu movies. Sometimes there’s a lot of swinging, a lot of blocking. But in Japanese samurai movies, it’s one stroke kills. BING, STROKE! BING, STROKE!
When it came...