GZA - Those Were the Days lyrics

[Verse 1] Those were the days, back in Junior High For an 8th grader, my style was kinda fly And just to prove I was an MC Pro I often sponsored a cla**room show And the hype part of my imagination Was making my homeroom a hip-hop station Minutes before the late bell would ring I would greet the audience and then I'll swing A lyric or two as the students barked (woof, woof, woof) cause my rhymes had sparked Off something causing the cla** to mingle To a rhythm which is now a 12" single Letting off many styles of hip-hop Holding the mic that I made in wood shop Forget gold, my key chain was a cable Two math textbooks were turntables And for a mixer, something much cooler A penny being cross-faded on a ruler Measuring dope beats that were flexed From hands that played a drum roll on a desk From my home girl, her name, fly as Emory (peck sound) sweet memory I remember sitting in my art cla** Drawing up lyrics kinda fast The outcome, a masterpiece Live shows with hyped up rhymes released As if lyrics were flowing from the heavens above I'll grab a mic and provoke a push to a shove From boys and girls who broke necks to see The lyrics G.O.D Those were the days [Verse 2] Now it's high school, lunch room's the scene And I'm ready to flip the routing In the cafeteria, period three And here I come with the JVC I go in my pocket and pull out a mic Plug it in, check one-two...alright Now who wanna show and prove their MC sk**s? A brother stepped forward and tried to get ill But when it came time to live out his name He kicked rhymes that all sounded the same But I did him in with a matter of time And he was done with one victorious rhyme He was shocked because he knew he was rocked Along with his cla**mates from off his block YO!, I'm telling you, I flipped his whole crew One against one or one against two Or three or four brothers who swore they can rhyme Battled me and got taken out every time From my style and my dope profile The period of time that I rocked for awhile As a motivated, dominated supreme force Cultivated, activated cream and source The wise educated and born to be The one who would flip an MC Those were the days