Lightnin' Rod - Hamhock's Hall Was Big (And There Was A Whole Lot To Dig!) lyrics

And you could feel all the tension building up at the convention As the hustlers began to arrive Must've been 9 thousand or more that came through the door The time was 11:55 There were pick pockets and dope peddlers, murderers and theives Card shark gamblers with aces up their sleeves Bank robbers, burglers, boosters and pimps Prostitutes, call girls, all kinds of nymphs Load sharks, swindlers, counterfeiters, and fences Crooked politicians spending campaign expenses High jackers, arsonists, bookies in the mob And anybody else, whoever k**ed, cheated or robbed (?) Brown proceeded to pat us down While this fine broad checked our hats Grits nodded to him slightly, Brown shook us down slightly Treating us like diplomats Brown let us slide, so we went inside with our .38 strapped to our chest Without making a sound we slowly looked around And scoped at all the rest of the guests Hamhock's Hall was big so there was a whole lot to dig As our eyes quickly scanned the place The decor was fly and everyone looked high As I focused on a familiar face There was stingy, grim Slim and his crime partner Jim Two hustlers from a long ways back They were dressed to the bone and their record tastes was well known Bagged man on kilos of smack They were rapping with Big Bill Wheeler, international dope dealer About who was gonna win tonight Bill had bet a grand on a hustler named Van Who supposedly had his sh** up tight But me and Spoon, we just grinned as we continued to pin To see who else was there We spotted finger-poppin' Teddy and his call girl Betty Whose perfume had lit up the air I recalled the past, and how Teddy's rep had spread fast From being so swift with his hands From the wallet in your pocket, to a ring, watch or locket He specialized in expensive brands Now Betty it was said, could k** a great boy in bed And make the chumps admit, they would come before they came Then she would pick-pocket the lame, while telling him that he wasn't sh** My eyes caught a glimpse of tow superfly pimps Who had just come through the door I could tell they were down from out of town Just by the clothes that they wore Like a peaco*k's parade, they strutted around in silk slacks Handmade, sporting tan alligator shoes Decked out in colorful shirts of pink, yellow, and red Stitching of gold (?) thread And acting like they couldn't lose Spoon and I were impressed by the way these cats were dressed And how smooth they seemed to be But there was one thing we knew for sure And that's that couldn't be no draw Between us masters of streetology We didn't find out 'til later from a booster named Ada (?) They were known as (?) from out of Harlem, New York And his partner By now champagne was flowing, the big band was blowing As the musicians gave it all they had Some cats were dancing, others were romancing But everybody's head was bad The joint was packed back to back And the hustlers were eager to begin They were ready to play from night 'til day Cause all of them wanted to win There were private rooms in the rear, at the top of the stairs For the studs who wanted to lay But the main set was below for the cats with the dough Hustlers who had come there to play We were now ready to oppose our illustrious foes So we made it downstairs to the set It was a quarter after one, and the players had already begun Bidding on their opening bet