Hip Hop Died - Skillz

— 2X — w/ ad libs

I just heard somebody say that hip hop died, a long time agoooo

But that ain’t sooo, that ain’t sooo

Uh, uh, aiyyo

I just heard, somebody say, that hip hop died, a long time ago

Uh, uh

Fuck hip hop!

That music never mattered

Who cares about it anyway?

Let the niggas have it

I’m the type to extort it

I give a fuck about the culture, I just like makin money off it

That phrase should open your eyes

It was said yesterday in a New York high-rise

By a CEO, 4080

Man these record company people are shady

They want me and my raps on the back of the bus

Man these corporate motherfuckers don’t care about us

So for every B-boy and every B-girl

Our music, our culture, but it’s changin their world

Huh, we make it and they come and steal it

How you gon' deal with hip hop and never feel it?

They say that it’s dyin, but I don’t believe it

Or maybe I’m just too damn blind to see it, uh

Hip hop dead?

Say it ain’t so

But I’m sure plenty people heard that phrase before

Can you imagine Chuck Berry bein told

That nobody will understand rock and roll?

Or Billie Holiday, with a pen and a pad

And somebody sayin, your music is just too sad

Or the cat who gave James Brown his first advance

Sayin stick to singin nigga, you don’t need to dance

Sometimes you got to buck back, take a stance

A dream ain’t a dream, if it ain’t givin a chance

After 20 years, yeah it’s losin steam

Cause I do see zombies on my TV screens

Some do it for the love and some do it for the green

And some know the meanin of microphone fiend

It ain’t the same thing Ra came in the door with

If hip hop died, then you responsible for it

See I heard a man say he liked hip hop and rappin

But he already knew what was goin to happen

When you start, what you do will be so pure and true

The only ones that get it, will be your people and you

And after five years, you’ll be doin well

'Til someone says that it’s good enough to market and sell

And that person’s goin to tell you that what you do for fun

They can promote it and sell it to everyone

And after ten years, he said I’d be on tour

I’d make money, but my manager, he’d make more

And after 15 years, they gon' say you through

The music’s changin, so you got to change up too

He said after 20, I’d be poor

The peeps I made the music for, they won’t come to your shows no more

Then he told me who he was, he said I’m (*beep*)

And the same people destroyed the music I love

I just heard somebody say that hip hop died, a long time agoooo

But that ain’t sooo