Optiks - Hands Of Time lyrics

[Intro] We've come to the end of this journey, but I know everybody remembers when they first fell in love with hip hop music See I do. It's been a long time, but when I think about how far we came, I feel like... [Verse 1] If I could turn back the hands of time, I would Take you back to the 80's where it was all good KRS, Scott La Rock [?] And the whole wide world represented the Bronx Around the same time crime was evident Rakim was the god MC, Eric B. was president Hip Hop gave us reason to fight With Public Enemy had the remedy Don't believe in the hype Set the streets [?] something to lead us Run-D.M.C.had them b-boy steady rockin' the [?] Remember it like it was yesterday See I was just a kid, snotty nose, clothes, left the house to play Walking through the dirty streets of Accra I heard the sound pumping through the speakers from the backseat of a car I could've sworn I heard it before But this was something new Run to my older brother, asked if he heard it too Told me this is hip hop music, and don't confuse it Cause when you grow old you choose it Never imagined these words to be The older version of me A quiet child until I hopped on the beat It transformed my whole live, it's like my destiny found me I'm too young to understand hip hop is not about me [Bridge] Yo, see when I think about it See I grew up in Ghana man Hip Hop music was my only escape Like, you know, I remember late nights Just listening to my boombox, you know And just wishing I was part of this culture [Verse 2] If I could turn back the hands of time, I would Take you back to the 90's where it was all good Biggie Smalls was the king of New York Ready To Die had his eye on the number one spot on the charts With Queensbridge birthed the legend of Nas Illmatic straight cla**ic, hood poet that's ahead of his cla** Traveling to Shaolin, introduced the crew With 36 Chambers, had they entered the Wu But hip hop was mainstream and above 2Pac had the whole world showing California some love Remember it cause it was just a dream I was just a teen, writing rhymes with the rest of my team Until my boombox soon popped, eating the tape Then I grabbed the pen, rewinding it back in the place Finally finished my very first song with my crew Decided to spit at the open mic night at the school I caught the worst case of stage fright, going off first My knees shaking, palms sweating, I'm forgetting my verse Finally the crowd starts booing, we were arguing Embara**ed, I walked off the stage ruined Swore it would never happen again, how could they doubt me? I'm too young to understand hip hop is not about me [Bridge] Yo, see what's really ill? It's like I'm waking up one day man, and I'm on tour Like I got all these people out here lining up to hear me spit And it's like I wonder Like while you make this transition from being a fan to an artist But I stay the fan though [Verse 3] Cause if I could turn back the hands of time, no I couldn't Cause we already here, it's two thousand and something Jay-Z ruled the world, when he faded to black Hip Hop is big business, and less about rap And everybody started getting the iPod But nobody pushed the pop's boundaries, forever the OutKast And Missy Elliott held it down for the females And Myspace pages became the new e-mails The east coast lost his clout It all changed when T.I. crowned himself the king of the south I can remember cause it's happening now The Amba**ador sound I'm on stage steady rocking the crowd I can't believe how little we profit I graduated from college with ease and I could've incorporate But hip hop lives in my blood On tour sleeping on floors Real what we do for the love But the pain is getting hard to ignore Two cla**ic albums at stores And neither one charted at all So when I'm feeling low after the show I hear the fans go: "We need another Kweli, Common and Mos" Then it hits me, I carried a torch so we can all see Hip Hop is always for us, never about me