I got a hole where my heart used to be
I'm a real true artist
Put all my heart in this
I live for the baselines and guitar rifts
But too modest
The music biz is a vast sea
And you know where the sharks is
I discovered hip-hop as a little tike
Before I kissed a girl or ever rid a bike
There was nothing about it the kid didn't like
So an obsession was born for written rhymes ripping mics
My astute pursuit wasn't about loot
To boot I studied the game from root to fruit
People gathered in flocks
Hip-hop had the block locked
And had us thinking out of the box
The time we were living in it was a testament
For before the corporation would invest in it
And now they acting brand new
I'm waiving a flag for the culture
They looking at me like I'm a damn fool
You will always come around
Hip-Hop Hip-Hop Hip-Hop
And when I need a friend
Ohh you can never be found
Hip-Hop Hip-Hop
You are my friend
What's really relevant
Is it good in the hood if it ain't selling and what is you telling me
That
When we was back spinning the party was packed
And it wasn't nobody to stack digits
They did it for the kids on the block
Instead of banging they was hanging out
Doing that up rock flow rock
Hip-Hop was there when nobody else cared
No education no health care or welfare
The Bronx burning we turning into an inferno
What do we learn to know
When we ain't earning dough
We got greedier when the media showed up
And got needier when the city disowned us
I guess it was just trying to find a way out of the projects
Gentrification is the process to progress
God bless the child with the heavenly trust fund
The heaviest lumps sum that come from the slums
You will always come around
Hip-Hop Hip-Hop Hip-Hop
And when I need a friend
Ohh you can never be found
Hip-Hop Hip-Hop
You are my friend
That's the sound of the men
Banging on track not hanging on the corner slanging crack
Now that we got our backs up against the wall we gonna bring it back
We the entrepreneur keeping out dream in tact
The way I feel I don't know if you can say the same
Look at what they became following the gravy train
And when it drips dry them little birds fly
Flocking for better weather while we keep it curbside
To have a cipher you've got to come around
While pop radio is telling you to dumb it down
But I've been initiated
And we gonna get this sh** straight
And stated that hieroglyphics is the greatest
And I'm gonna be your friend even when I don't got
And when get in the rhythm I wrote a letter and let em know we're not done
Many rivers to cross to deliver the loss
It's destiny and we're gonna weather the cost
You will always come around
Hip-Hop Hip-Hop Hip-Hop
And when I need a friend
Ohh you can never be found
Hip-Hop Hip-Hop
You are my friend