Ran'dem Rhymes vol.#13 - Ain't What it Used to Be

By Ruhudeen Ali
March 9th, 2010

*With a special dedication to the late, great MC Guru of Gangstarr. He was among the pioneers of hiphop and helped lay its foundation on the Eastcoast and worldwide. His death is a huge loss to the hiphop community. RIP 'King of Monotone,' you will be missed. (July 17th 1966 - April 19th 2010)

Now let this be your rap manual n' syllabus

I'm teachin fake emcees its my impetus

why? cuz I'm thoroughbred to be intelligent

and you know I get that thorough bread ladies n' gentlemen

my rhymes be on another level some whole different s***

spoken on the speakers of the world man sorta ubiquitous

matter of fact I'm sick with it

now to show you a bit of this on how I flip a script

"I can't write a phat line to demonstrate"

- now hold up, wait for it

cuz what I just did made me a hypocrite

you see the content is lyrical, delivery is critical

it can make your skills imminent

if its done wrong it can make a rhyme impotent

like turning an Eminem into a simpleton

follow these rules you'll serve madd crews like in Wimbledon

if not, then you'll end up permanently feminine

or tied up whimperin' in some disheveled tenement

whatever the case may be I just poured you some gravy

showin yall how to achieve in great degrees

hiphop was my main squeeze

til she started hangin out with lame emcees

cuz the game just aint what it used to be, now its lame

they opened up the lane to the ignorant n profane

you see hip hop used to be a treasure

worth more than diamonds n' pearls

the sky was the limit, the world was yours

then it sold out to commercial rap

had a gold mine but gave over half,

conscientious MCs no longer rhymin for free

sold out to big labels for stacks of G's

claiming to be real G's spending lavishly

but instead of being real

they pushed an image that was primitive n' savagely

rap then sold out to parties & clubs

became all about hoes, bacardi's & dubs

no longer about the struggle,

what happened to the love?

its value further diminished

prompting us to say "what the fffu-

forget about it when you're upset about it

there's still some talent in these streets man

no doubt about it

bring it back to good lyrics & slammin beats

bring a smile to the hood cynics &  jammin geeks

rockin dreads, hop in jeeps bumpin beats

bobbin heads n' stompin feet

but reminiscing about the golden era wont bring it back

we're not even close to a silver era, its beyond whack

let's find n' sign those with craft

those with talent who rhyme with a knack

to put a phat track on wax instead of supporting crap

cuz back in the day whole armies defended hiphop

had its gems locked up in treasuries

not on cheap displays in shops

but nowadays if rap was a currency

its only got a dollar left expecting more theft

now its got no army left

aint no time to toy around let's repent

cuz all we got now is just a Soulja Boy and 50 cent