Local Mcs

"and our next contestant will be mr. vocab malone, come on down!"

I - i look around my city / and what do i see?

An army of / itty-bitty nitty mc's

A mob of minstrels / who be mobbing instrumentals

They wanna stack they funds / but they lack the fundamentals

They dentals is gold / they records is not

They flow is lukewarm / but they thinking that they hot

You ask who i speak of? / who do i mean?

I'm talking lotsa cats / in the local rap scene

It ain't just in phoenix / so please don't take no pity

Local laughables / dominate your every city

So open up your eyes / and look around you

You'll see that these / clowns also surround you

Scores and scores / you never noted it before?

They're clones, so it's like / the brand new star wars

There's little biggie smalls / 22 tupacs

Unreal slim shadies / little kiddie rocks

Wu-tangs that gang bang / and claim fame with fake chains

And whatever other rapper / that you feel free to name

They bite 'em for a fee / cause the style ain't for free

And the cost is the loss / of their identity

"ay yo, lil homey, what you think of me?" ("ese" voice)

Uhhh, you're my favorite "local mc"

"ay yo, lil homey, what you think of me?" ("g" voice)

Uhhh, you're my favorite "local mc"

Local mc's, local mc's

Local mc's, vocal mc's

Trapped in the chokehold of fame and sin

Uhhh, excuse me, what's your name again? (2x)

Why you wanna do / that hallucinogen?

Why you feed the need / for the juice and the gin?

Why you wanna sin / with your loose tooth grin?

In the sound booth / that's your very best friend

Instead it's "kill the soundman"! / and "soundman, you're wack"!

Then you scold the promoter / hope to be asked back?

Go past your time limit / tell the host to shut up?

Then yell at the crowd / cause they didn't stand up?

Was'up with that? / you ain't got no bmi

E-mail on your ibm / to say you ride like a bmx

Huffy "puffy" in the head / imitating dmx,

Xzibit common courtesy / for once in your life

And sit down and shut up / and watch the other local acts tonight

I said, sit down and shut up / and watch the other local acts tonight - that's right!

(quote from a live performance during the 2002 national poetry slam phoenix semi-qualifier)

This poem is dedicated to all the local mc's, that forget they're local

"voice" cutting:

You're my favorite local, local - "mc"