Step Up (1999 Demo)

[Intro: Mike Shinoda]
Yo...

[Verse 1: Mike Shinoda]
Watch as the room rocks, mentally moonwalk
Mixed Media slang banging in your boom box
Verbal violence, lyrical stylist
In a time when rock hip-hop rhymes are childish

You can't tempt me with rhymes that are empty
Rapping to a beat doesn't make you an MC
With your lack of skill and facility, you're killing me
And a DJ in the group just for credibility

I heard that some of you are getting help with your rhymes
You're not an MC if someone else writes your lines
Rapping over rock doesn't make you a pioneer
‘Cause rock and hip-hop have collaborated for years

But now they're getting randomly mixed and matched up
All after a fast buck, and all the tracks suck
So how does it stack up? None of it's real
You want to be an MC, you've got to study the skill

[Chorus: Mike Shinoda]
Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Bring it to you every time like this?
Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Step, step up! Step, step up!

[Verse 2: Mike Shinoda]
So, you pick up a pen and write yourself a new identity
But mentally, you don't have the hip hop energy
With a tendency to make up stories (Bullshit)
Sounding like the only hip hop you've heard is top 40

And your record company is completely missing it
All the kids are dissing it for not being legitimate
So in a battle, you can't hack it, react with whack shit
And get smacked with verbal back flips

Get your ass kicked by fabulous battle catalysts
It's taken decades for MC's to establish this
You're new to hip-hop, and welcome if your serious
But not on the mic, leave that to the experienced

[Break]
Using the waves of sound
The true master paralyzes his opponents
Leaving him vulnerable to attack

[Chorus: Mike Shinoda]
Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Bring it to you every time like this?
Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Step, step up! Step, step up!

Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Bring it to you every time like this?
Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Step, step up! Step, step up! Step up!

[Bridge]
After years of pain-staking research by the world's leading sound scientists
We here at the sound institute have invented a reliable audio weapons system
Actual movement of musical sound in space used to carefully attack and neutralize the cellular structure of the human body
And the question must be asked…

[Chorus: Mike Shinoda]
Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Bring it to you every time like this?
Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Step, step up! Step, step up!

Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Bring it to you every time like this?
Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Step, step up! Step, step up!

[Outro]
Mix Media
Step Up the microphone
And you do it like this
And you do it like
Step Up the microphone
Mix Media
And you do it like this
Mix Media
Step Up the microphone
And you do it like this
Mix Media
Step Up the microphone
And you do it like this