Icon (of Brooklyn Academy) - Ghetto Life lyrics

[Intro: Sample from The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)] Caz Dolowicz: Who are you? Mr. Gray: You'll find out if you take another step Caz Dolowicz: I'm warning you, mister. That's city property you're fooling around with Mr. Gray: That's just too f**ing bad Caz Dolowicz: Why didn't you go grab a goddamn aeroplane like everybody else? Mr. Gray: ‘Cause we're afraid of flying. Now I'm telling you: stay down or I'll shoot your a** off [?] Caz Dolowicz: The hell with you. I'm coming on board Mr. Gray: I warned you, stupid [Verse 1: Mr. Metaphor] I'm chopping trees like a lumberjack. Run that number back Brooklyn Ac' all on the map like an almanac Your whole form is wack—I'd never fall for that I pack these vocals on an ordered track, surrounding you like tourist traps And rushing/Russian you like Gorbachev. Your whole order's trash As my poets bash your head, so they laugh from the store to that So the path I traveled on ain't on chariots My rhyme carriers. You'll get steamed like asparagus In need of a therapist. I'm a crazy lyricist With vocal fetishes. You'll get spilt on like beverages In telepathic messages, my mind surfaces. My whole f**ing purpose is to stay splashing like orcas is My metaphorphosis transforms—I turn offices To sausages. s**ing my joints like [?] Of course this the Metaphoric sorcerer, conjuring choruses Astonishing audiences, disorient your fortresses [Verse 2: I-See-On] Adamantium frame pop clips—one in your brain You get 35, I get 35—we one and the same When I die, they'll smoke an L in my name. Who's to blame? They exchange, we exchange, leave ‘em holding the change But me, I'm laying back in the cut like a car seat, yo I wrote my first verse to my heartbeat b**hes, you're nothing but bubblegum and heart meat And my life was like a flashlight to these dark streets Ayyo, psychotic thoughts flash, rivers of blood follow my warpath Soldier fortune: dying to flow, waving a white flag Just like that, in milliseconds, my life flashed Young n***as die fast, body armor in die cast For me, I ain't had no attention, so watch my life pa** Rewind that, watching the rise to my climax To rap, I'm like a terrorist act the way I hijack The federals'll never have traces to keep my line tapped And getting sidetracked just wasn't for me For me to surpa** this sh** is something to see Going from 1993 Honda Accord SEs To the L-E-X-U-Ses in sets of three My recipe be heavy weaponry Busting HKs and AKs at GS3s You know who we be. n***as coming up from these streets Whether on TVs or CDs, the same old G's Ayyo, dirty merchants s** venom out of a serpent SKS rap flow—100 rounds per word spit Every kid want to do what Icon had first did Verses so long that our verses hit universes Churches, curses, hearses are even worthless Oral orgies with Medusa made my nerves twitch Satan's choir swing pitchforks and sh** fire Time bombs with five seconds and six wires [Hook: I-See-On] It's just a day in the life in the streets where we roll We keeping the code—the untold is deep in my soul Ghetto life, where we roll deep, Arabian nights Look into my eyes. You'll find yourself in another world [Verse 3: Pumpkinhead] I got a rap. I gotta get it off my chest Scorch your vest, take a flick of your tortured flesh Cut off your breath like an asthma patient. Damn the nation Filled with Satan's Masons. I fight for ancient natives Whipped on the slave ships by racists with metal faces Europe's pagans, Christian cavemen Get greeted with pistols blazing I take the form of a crippled raven Fly through the sky crooked with a wing dislocated I got hip hop locked, stocked, barricaded Told you “It Was Over” for you “Wack Emcees.” Now I'm with Makin'. Brooklyn Ac' clap MCs And stack that cheese since '83 A.D D thoughts made me with hate and bravery This industry amaze me Rhymes are fly ladies. Rise and cry, babies It's crazy. I'm a weed, deep-rooted. You're a daisy Acting shady, draped in red satin, sipping [?] The force of my thoughts'll cripple Hades, cut off his horns Dip him in gold, rock him on the figure road, then stroll Through Brooklyn bold. Let the story get told You only live once, so God, please save my soul The ghetto life got me cold in an alleyway, reciting scrolls Covered in mold. Bodies decompose on the side of the road Foes die like a wilted rose. My sk**s compose Some of the deadliest lines you'll ever know [Hook: I-See-On] (x2) It's just a day in the life in the streets where we roll We keeping the code—the untold is deep in my soul Ghetto life, where we roll deep, Arabian nights Look into my eyes. You'll find yourself in another world