9 Elements

Well my ladies and gentlemen

This is a rapsession and my name is "KRS-One!"

And when I talk about "Hip-Hop Music!", I know

[Kris]

[One:] Breaking or breakdancing

Rally b-boying, freestyle or streetdancin'

[Two:] MC'ing or rap

Divine speech what I'm doing right now no act

[Three:] Grafitti art or burning bombin'

Taggin', writin', now you're learning! uh!

[Four:] DJ'ing, we ain't playing!

[scratch] You know what I'm saying!

[Five:] Beatboxing

Give me a beatboxin Yes and we rockin'!

[Six:] Street fashion, lookin' fly

Catchin' the eye while them cats walk on by

[Seven:] Street language, our verbal communication

Our codes throughout the nation

[Eight:] Street knowledge, common sense

The wisdom of the elders from way back whence

[Nine:] Street entrepreneur realism

No job, just get up call 'em and get 'em

Here's how I'm tellin' it, all 9 Elements

We stand in love, no we're never failing it

Intelligent? No doubt

Hip-Hop? We're not selling it out, we're just lettin' it out

If you're checkin' us out this hour, we teatchin' hip-hop

Holy integrated people have it, I'm the present power!

[Chorus]

Rap is something you do!

3x Hip-Hop is something you live! [scratched]

Rap is something you do!

Hip-Hop is something you live! [scratched]

[Kris]

Skaters, BMX-bike riders rock

Don't you ever stop! You are hip-hop

You doing the same things we did on our block in the suburbs

You know you be packing that black block

Selling that crackrock and ecstacy

Gettin' pissydrunk, fallin' out next to me

But like I told those in the ghettoes

Here's the facts! True hip-hop is so much more than that

Some much more than rap, so much more than beats

Hip-hop is all about victory over the streets

What you see on TV is a lie

That's not something you wanna live or pattern your life by

But, huh that's too much preachin' ain't it?

You don't want the ?education?, you wanna be dead on the pavement

Well, so be it, some of ya'll ain't gonna see it

Others wanna enslave your mind! Kris wanna free it!

[Chorus]

Rap is something you do!

5x Hip-Hop is something you live! [scratched]

"Oh yea" [scratched] [From "P is dead"]

"I have spent my whole life livin'", "talk to the fullest", "no doubt"

[Kris]

You know that's why these rappers can't hang

Cause the essence of hip-hop is not a material thang

They so careless, hip-hop is in a {?} we give

Rap we do, hip-hop we live

How many times I gotta say it? How the radio ain't gonna play it

And you hip-hoppers sit back and okay it

Think about it! (think about it)

The present course of action, we have got to reroute it!

[Chorus: x3]

Hip-Hop is something you live!