Strawberry Letter 23

Hello, my love
I heard a kiss from you
Red magic satin playing near, too
All through the morning rain I gaze
The sun doesn’t shine
Rainbows and waterfalls runnin’ through my mind

In the garden, I see
West purple shower bells and tea
Orange birds and river cousins
Dressed in green

Pretty music I hear
So happy and loud
Blue flowers echo
From a cherry cloud

Feel sunshine sparkle pink and blue
Playgrounds will laugh
If you try to ask, “is it cool”
“Is it cool”

If you arrive and don’t see me
I’m gonna be with my baby
I’m free flying in her arms
Over the sea

Stained window yellow candy screen
See speakers of kite
With velvet roses diggin’ freedom flight

A present from you
Strawberry letter 22
The music plays I sit in for a few

(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oooooh)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oooooh)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oooooh)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh…)

(Ah, ah, ah, ah, aaaaaaah)
(Ah, ah, ah, ah, aaaaaaah)

A present from you
Strawberry letter 22
The music plays
I sit in for a few

(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oooooh)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oooooh)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oooooh)
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oooooh)….

Stomp

Steppin’ out the weekends open wide
Fill it up let’s blast the jams and ride
While we’re cruisin’ around in the street
Listen up for the party in feet

Slap me five
that’s the place we’ve arrived
It’s alive
Ev’rybody take it to the top
We’re gonna stomp
All night
In the neighbourhood
Don’t it feel alright
Gonna stomp
All night
Wanna party
‘Til the morning light

Runnin’ runnin’ runnin’
The set is hot
There’s people wall to wall
Old gones young things
Short ones standing tall
Grab the one with the smile on her face
And hit the floor and stay right on the case
The heat is on
And the funk just won’t leave us alone
Ev’rybody take it to the top

We’re gonna Stomp
All night
In the neighbourhood
Don’t it feel all right
Gonna stomp
All night
Wanna party
‘Til the morning light

Gonna Stomp
All night
In the neighbourhood
Don’t it feel all right
Gonna stomp
All night
Wanna party
‘Til the morning light

STOMP

Stomp, step down in it
Put your foot where you feel the fit
Stomp you don’t want to quit
Put your heels where you’re feelin’ it

Stomp, step down in it
Put your foot where you feel the fit
Stomp you don’t want to quit
Put your heels where you’re feelin’ it

Stomp, step down in it
Put your foot where you feel the fit
Stomp you don’t want to quit
Put your heels where you’re feelin’ it

[Instrumental Interlude]

Gonna Stomp
All night
In the neighbourhood
Don’t it feel all right
Gonna stomp
All night
Wanna party
‘Til the morning light

Stomp
All night
In the neighbourhood
Don’t it feel all right
Gonna stomp
All night
Wanna party
‘Til the morning light…..

I’ll Be Good To You

I want to know
Just how you feel
Said-a I want to know
If what you feel is real

‘Cause there is a reason, yeah
For the things that I say
I want to love you, girl
In a special way

We’ve been together
For so very long
I would hate to break up
Break up our happy home

The way we stand and the way we lie
The way we love and the way we cry
Of all these things there lies a tie
Makes me feel that it’s worth a try
I’ll be good to you

[Chorus:]
Good to you, good to you, good to you
I’ll be good to you, good to you, good to you
I’ll be good to you, good to you, good to you
I’ll be good to you, good to you

‘Cause there is a reason
For the things that I say
I wanna love you, girl
In a special way

We’ve been together
For so very long
I would hate to break up
Break up our happy home

Take a step now, and let me know how
All of your ways, girl
And all your know-hows
I’ll be good to you

[Chorus 5x]

Do you remember this Sprite commercial featuring KRS-ONE and MC Shan. When I first saw it, I knew that hip-hop was considered mainstream music.

KRS-ONE destroyed MC Shan in this battle and got to “quench his thirst”.

Selected lyrics from KRS-ONE

MCs Act Like They Don’t Know
Intro

Clap your hands everybody, if you got what it takes
Cos I’m KRS and I’m on the mic, and Premier’s on The Breaks

Verse 1

If you don’t know me by now I doubt you’ll ever know me
I never won a Grammy, I won’t win a Tony
But I’m not the only MC keepin’ it real
When I grab the mic to smash a rapper, girls go “Illlll!”
Check the time as I rhyme, it’s 1995
Whenever I arrive the party gets liver
Flow with the master rhymer, that’s to leave behind
The video rapper, you know, the chart climber
Clapper, down goes another rapper
Onto another matter, punch up the data, Blastmaster
Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everybody
Call up KRS, I’m guaranteed to rip a party
Flat top, braids, bald heads or natty dread
There once was a story about a man named Jed
But now Jed is dead, all his kids instead
Want to kick rhymes off the top of they head
Word, what go around come around I figure
Now we got white kids callin’ themselves niggas
The tables turned as the crosses burned
Remember You Must Learn
About the styles I flip and how wild I get
I go on like a space age rocket ship
You could be a mack, a pimp, hustler or player
But make sure live you is a dope rhyme sayer

Verse 2

This is what you waited all year for
The hardcore, that’s what KRS is here for
Big up Grand Wizard Theodore, gettin’ ill
If you see then ya saw I’m in your grill with mad skill
MC’s can only battle with rhymes that got punchlines
Let’s battle to see who headlines
Instead of flow for flow let’s go show for show
Toe for toe, yo, you better act like you know
Too many MC’s take that word ‘emcee’ lightly
They can’t Move a Crowd, not even slightly
It might be the fact that they express wackness
Let me show ya whose ass is the blackest
I flip a script a little bit, you ride the tip and shit
Too sick to get with it, admit you bit, your style is counterfeit
Now tone it down a bit
My title you will never get, I’m too intelligent
I’ll send your family my sentiments, my style is toxic
When I rock and shock and hip hop it unlock your head, I knock it
It split quick from the lyric
Direct hit, perfect fit, you can’t get with it

Verse 3

Some MC’s don’t like the KRS but they must respect him
Cos they know this kid gets all up in they rectum
Slappin’ and selectin’ em, checkin’ em, disrespectin’ em
Just deckin’ em, deckin’ em, deck-in’ em
Who in their right mind can mimic a style like mine?
I design rhyme and get mine all the time
MC’s standin’ on the sidelines, always dissin’
When I roll up and rush their crew they start bitchin’
I don’t burn, I don’t freeze, yet some MC’s
Believe they could tangle with the likes of these
Cross your t’s and dot your i’s whenever I arrive
Wide, magnified, live like the ocean tide
You dope, you lied, I reside like artefacts
On the wrong side of the tracks, electrified
Comin’ around the mountain, you run and hide
Hopin’ your defence mechanism can divert my heat-seeking lyricism
As I spark mad iszm
The 1996 lyrical style’s what I give ‘em

You Must Learn (remix)

My man D-Nice, D-Nice is in the booth
Workin harder than ever
D-Nice is rockin the sound set tonight
We’re not through, I wanna drop a new style

Verse One:

It’s calm yet wild the style that I speak
Just deal with facts and you will never get weak in the heart
In fact you’ll start to illuminate
Knowledge to others in a song let me demonstrate
the force of knowledge, knowledge reigned supreme
The ignorant is ripped to smithereens
What do you mean when you say I’m rebellious
Cause I don’t accept everything that you’re telling us
What are you selling us the creator dwell in us
I sit in your unknown class while you’re failing us
I failed your class cause I ain’t with your reasoning
You’re tryin make me you by seasoning
Up my mind with see Jane run
See John walk in a hardcore New York
Come on now, that’s like a chocolate cow
It doesn’t exist no way, no how
It seems to me that in a school that’s ebony
African history should be pumped up steadily, but it’s not
and this has got to stop
See Spot run, run get Spot
Insulting to a Black mentality
A Black way of life or a jet Black family
So I include with one concern, that
You must learn

(Yo Kris) What?
Hold up D, hold up D
We gonna see if they really ready for this
Are y’all having fun tonight?
I said are y’all having fun tonight?

Verse Two:

I believe that if you’re teaching history
Deal with straight up facts no mystery
Teach the student what needs to be taught
Cause Black and White kids both take shorts
When one doesn’t know about the other ones’ culture
Ignorance swoops down like a vulture
Cause you don’t know that you ain’t just a janitor
No one told you about Benjamin Banneker
A brilliant Black man that invented the almanac
Can’t you see where KRS is coming at
With Elie Whitney, Haile Selassie
Granville Woods made the walkie talkie
Lewis Lattimer improved on Edison
Charles Drew did a lot for medicine
Garrett Morgan made the traffic lights
Harriett Tubman freed the slaves at night
Madame CJ Walker made a straightin comb
But you won’t know this is you weren’t shown
The point I’m gettin at it it might be harsh
Is we’re just walkin’ around brainwashed
So what I’m sayin is not to diss em man
We need the 89 school system
One that caters to a Black fratern because
You must learn

Whattup cameraman?
Let me here you say hoooo!!!!
We’re not through with the ragga stuff
We’re not through with the raggamuffin stuff yet man

Verse Three:

Akebulan is the original name
Of Africa now stripped of it’s fame
It’s good to note, that in ancient times
Egyptians developed all sciences of the mind
To the point where they ruled the planet
But Rome, Greece and Persia wasn’t havin it
They attacked, and won the war
But it wasn’t enough, they had to get to the core
Cause in that time it was Akebulan
That ruled religion, politics and man
In order to destroy the Egyptian race
They had to wipe the sciences, from off the face of the planet
So they proceeded to ban it
Then replace it with Christianity
And it’s, been that way, all the way to today
Learn what we teach, hear what we say
But here comes the K-the-R-the-S-the-O-the-N-the-E
The BDP and we rhyme intelligently
Let me continue with Theodosyius
A Greek ruler not known to most of us
He in the fourth century A.D.
Calls the Egyptians fools you see
Two years later, Justinian rules
Six A.D., was it for schools
As a result, ignorance had swirled
Over Christian Europe and grateful Roman worlds
This went on for a thousand years
Of ignorance stupidity and tears
Now comes the seventeenth century hardness
Europe, began to come out of it’s darkness
So J.F. Blumenbach, a German
Came out of nowhere and started confirming
White supremacy and men of colors
Before this time, all men were brothers
It was Johann, who went on to say
There are five different colors in the world today
That’s caucasian, malayan, and mongolian
American-indian, and ethiopian
Yes, the ignorance gets scarier
He believed whites were superior
According to his idiotic fountain
The purest whites were from the Caucas mountains
J A Blofener, and H S Chamberlain
Both supported this outrageous racism
This went on to what the master race should be
And why they killed the Jews in Germany
Here is the reason why I’m so concerned
Because you, must, learn

We’re not done, we’re not done, we’re not done
Check this out

Outta Here
Verse One:

Back in the days I knew rap would never die
I used to listen to Awesome-2 on WHBI
I used to hear all kind of rap groups before sampling loops
Rappers wore bell-bottom Lee suits
Me and Kenny couldn’t afford that
So we would go to the park when they was jammin’ to hear rap
I used to listen till the cops broke it up
I always thought to myself “Damn, why they fucked it up?”
But never the less I was in love with the microphone
And it stayed that way until I left home
On the streets of New York, now I’m free
But with freedom comes big responsibility
I used to walk around driven by the force
I remember how large Super Rhymes was when he fell off
I used to wonder about crews that used to rock
They were large, but none of them could manage to stay on top

Do you ever think about when you outta here?
Record deal and video outta here?
Mercedes Benz and Range Rover outta here?
No doubt BDP is old school, but we ain’t goin’ out!

Verse Two:

After livin’ on the streets alone
Some years went by, I signed myself into a group home
I used to watch the show “I Dream of Jeannie”
And dreamt about “When will I be large like Whodini?”
But I was messin’ with graffiti on the subway
And gettin’ chased by the cops almost everyday
I knew it had to bea better way see
So I would go to my room, blast RUN DMC
Around 1984 I left the group home, again alone
Still dreamin’ about the microphone
Gimme a chance man, I know I can rock it
But I had to worry about puttin’ money in my pocket
So when I reached the shelter I met my helper DJ Scott La Rock
And we both loved hip-hop
I was takin’ suckas out in the shelter system
Yeah there was rappers in the shelter but I had to diss ‘em
But all along, my vision was never lost
I kept seeing all these rap groups fallin’ off

Do you ever think about when you’re outta here?
Fly girl and fresh gear outta here?
Five-thousand dollar love seat outta here?
No doubt BDP is old school, but we ain’t goin’ out!

Verse Three:

While I’m battling these rival crews
Yes, BDP would stay in the street news
Some said all they wanna do is battle
They can’t write a song, so their careers won’t last long
Around this time I used to hang with Ced Gee
And DJ Scott La Rock used to buy gold with Eric B
I didn’t meet Rakim till later with Scott
I remember we were jammin’ at the rooftop
It used to irk me when these critics had opinions
Scott would say “Just keep rappin’, I’ll keep spinnin’”
We had a fucked up contract, but we signed it
And dropped the hip-hop album Criminal Minded
We told the critics your opinions are bull
Same time Eric B and Rakim dropped Paid in Full
Hip-hop pioneers we didn’t ask to be
But right then hip-hop changed drastically
People didn’t wanna hear the old rap sound
We started samplin’ beats by James Brown
In the middle of doin’ My Philosophy
Scott was killed and that shit got to me
But knowin’ the laws of life and death
I knew his breath, was one with my breath
I had nothin’ left and it was scary
So I dropped By All Means Necessary
Another hip-hop group that was a friend of me
Was a revolution crew called Public Enemy
It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
These two albums set off consciousness in rap
But all along, I’m still lookin’ around
And all I can see are these rap groups fallin’ down

Do you ever think about when you outta here?
Condominium and beach house outta here?
Credit cards and bank accounts outta here?
No doubt BDP is old school, be we ain’t goin’ out!

Criminal Minded
Intro: (sung by KRS-One to the tune of the Beatles “Let It Be”)

Boogie Down Productions will always get paid
We’ll take the wackest song and make it better
Remember to let us into your skin
Cause then you’ll begin, to master
Rhymin rhymin rhymin

Verse One: KRS-One

Criminal minded, you’ve been blinded
Lookin for a style like mine you can’t find it
They are the audience, I am the lyricist
Sometimes the suckas on the side gotta hear this
Page, a rage, and I’m not in a cage
Free as a bird to fly up out on stage
Ain’t here for no frontin just to say a little somethin
Ya suckaz don’t like me cause you’re all about nothin
However, I’m really fascinating to the letter
My all-around performance gets better and better
My English grammar comes down like a hammer
You need a style, I need to pull your file
I don’t beg favors, you’re kissing other people’s —
I write and produce myself just as fast
Keep my hair like this, got no time for Jheri curls
Attractin only women, got no time for little girls

[KRS sings again] Cause girls look so good
but their brain is not ready, I don’t know
I’d rather talk to a woman
cause her mind is so steady, so here we go

I’m not a musical maniac or b-boy fanatic
I simply made use of what was upstairs in the attic
I’ve listened to these MC’s back when I was a kid
But I bust more shots than they ever did
I mean this is not the best of KRS, it’s just a section
But how many times must I point you in the right direction
You need protection, when I’m on the mic
Because my mouth is like a 9 millimeter windpipe
You’re a king, I’m a teacher
You’re a b-boy, I’m a scholar
If this was a class, well it would go right under drama
See kings lose crowns but teachers stay intelligent
Talkin big words on the mic but still irrelevant
Especially when you’re not, college material
Wake up every morning to your Lucky Charms cereal
DJ Scott LaRock has a college degree
Blastmaster KRS writes poetry
I won’t go deeper in the subject cause that gets me bored
It’s a shame to know some MC’s on the mic are fraud
Sayin styles like this to create a diss
But if you listen, who you dissin?
See I am a musician
Rappin on the mic like this to me is fine
Cause if I really want to battle I will put out a nine
You can see that Scott LaRock and I are mentally binded
In other words we’re both Criminal Minded

Verse Two: KRS-One

We’re not promoting violence, we’re just havin some fun
He’s Scott LaRock, I’m KRS-One
Never off-beat cause it don’t make sense
Grab the microphone, relaxed and not tense
You waited, debated, and now you activated
A musical genius that could not be duplicated
See I have the formula for rockin the house
If you cannot rock a party do not open your mouth
It’s that simple, no phony cosmetics to your pimple
Take another look because the gear is not wrinkled
The K, the R, the S, the O, the N, the E
Sayin rhyme for eighty-seven not from 1983
Well versed, to rehearse, and my rhymes are my curse
Originality come first but the suckers get worse
Allow me to include I have a very stable mood
Poetic education of a high altitude
I’m not an MC, so listen, call me poet or musician
A genius when it comes to making music with ambition
I’m cool, collected with the rhyme I directed
Don’t wanna be elected as the king of a record
Just respected by others as the man with the solution
An artist of the 80’s came and left his contribution
on wax, relax, there’s 24 tracks
After years of rocking parties now I picked up the knack
Because everything that flows from out my larynx
Takes years of experience and bottles of Beck’s
I cannot seem to recollect the time I didn’t have sex
Is it real or is it Memorex?
I’m livin in a city known as New York State
Sucka MC’s gotta wait while I translate
I hang with real live dreads with knowledge in their heads
People with ambition and straight up musicians
Although our lives have been so uprooted
I have it included, you all get zooted
So take each letter of the KRS-One
Means Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone
You look at me and laugh, but this is your class
It’s an all-out discussion of the suckas I be crushin
So now you are awakened to the music I be makin
Never duplicated, and also highly cultivated
Don’t get frustrated cause nothin has been traded
Only activated, it came out very complicated
Not separated, from my DJ
You see my voice is now faded
I’ll see you folks around the way

Criminal minded…

Who Protects Us From You!
Verse

(Fy-ah! Come down fas’…)

You were put here to protect us
But who protects us from you?
Every time you say “That’s illegal”
Doesn’t mean that that’s true (Uh-huh)
Your authority’s never questioned
No-one questions you
If I hit you I’ll be killed
But you hit me? I can sue (Order! Order!)
Lookin’ through my history book
I’ve watched you as you grew
Killin’ blacks and callin’ it the law
(Bo! Bo! Bo!) And worshipping Jesus too
There was a time when a black man
Couldn’t be down wit’ your crew (Can I have a job please?)
Now you want all the help you can get
Scared? Well ain’t that true (You goddamn right)
You were put here to protect us
But who protects us from you?
Or should I say, who are you protecting?
The rich? the poor? Who?
It seems that when you walk the ghetto
You walk wit’ your own point of view (Look at that gold chain)
You judge a man by the car he drives
Or if his hat match his shoe (Yo, you lookin’ kinda fresh)
Well, back in the days of Sherlock Holmes
A man was judged by a clue
Now he’s judged by if he’s Spanish,
Black, Italian or Jew
So do not kick my door down and tie me up
While my wife cooks the stew (You’re under arrest!)
Cos you were put here to protect us
But who protects us from you?

(A public service announcement brought to you by the scientists of
Boogie Down Productions. Fy-ah! Come again…)

Why Is That?
Verse One

The day begins, with a grin
And a prayer to excuse my sins
I can walk anywhere I choose
Cause everybody listens to the B.D.P. crew
We’re not here for glamour or fashion
But here’s the question I’m askin
Why is it young black kids taught {flashin?}
They’re only taught how to read, write, and act
It’s like teachin a dog to be a cat
You don’t teach white kids to be black
Why is that? Is it because we’re the minority?
Well black kids follow me
Genesis chapter eleven verse ten
Explains the geneology of Chem
Chem was a black man, in Africa
If you repeat this fact they can’t laugh at ya
Genesis fourteen verse thirteen
Abraham steps on the scene
Being a descendent of Chem which is a fact
Means, Abraham too was black
Abraham born in the city of a black man
Called Nimrod grandson of Kam
Kam had four sons, one was named Canaan
Here, let me do some explaining
Abraham was the father of Isaac
Isaac was the father of Jacob
Jacob had twelve sons, for real
And these, were the children of Isreal
According to Genesis chapter ten
Egyptains descended from {Hahm,Kam}
Six hundred years later, my brother, read up
Moses was born in Egypt
In this era black Egyptians weren’t right
They enslaved black Isrealites
Moses had to be of the black race
Because he spent fourty years in Pharoah’s place
He passed as the Pharoah’s grandson
So he had to look just like him
Yes my brothers and sisters take this here song
Yo, correct the wrong
The information we get today is just wack
But ask yourself, why is that?

Verse Two

The age of the ignorant rapper is done
Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone
The stereotype must be lost
That love and peace and knowledge is soft
Do away with that and understand one fact
For love, peace must attack
And attack real strong, stronger than war
To conquer it and its law
Mental pictures, stereotypes and fake history
Reinforces mystery
And when mystery is reinforced
That only means that knowledge has been lost
When you know who you really are
Peace and knowledge shines like a star
I’m only showin you a simple fact
It Takes A Nation of MILLIONS to Hold Us people Back
Which is wack, but we can correct that
Teach and learn what it is to be black
Cause they’re teachin birds to be a cat
But ask yourself homeboy, why is that?

We can’t forget the “Stop the Violence- Self Destruction” video featuring many of the big East Coast rappers at the time.

Ever since I can remember, I have always thought KRS-ONE as a uplifting, knowledgeable rapper. In fact, if it was for him, I wouldn’t have been curious about black history (since they don’t teach it in public schools). So the next few posts I will tribute to one of the best rappers of all time…..KRS-ONE!

You Must Learn by Boogie Down Productions

Sound Of The Police by KRS ONE

Outta Here by KRS ONE

MCs Act Like They Don’t Know

Other favorites are “Criminal Minded” “The Bridge Is Over”, “Jack Of Spades” and “Who Protects Us From You”.

Everyone who loves music has their favorites. I would go crazy without the following albums.

Cleansing by Prong

Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck

Vulgar Display of Power by Pantera

This Love

The Bleeding by Cannibal Corpse

Staring Through The Eyes of the Dead

Bloody Kisses by Type O Negative

Black No. 1

Master of Puppets by Metallica

Disposable Heroes

Demanufacture by Fear Factory

Replica

World Demise by Obituary

Don’t Care

Beneath The Remains by Sepultura

Beneath The Remains

It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy

Night of The Living Baseheads

De La Soul is Dead by De La Soul

Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)

I really like music! It is my third love besides my lovely wife and politics. My musical tastes fly all over the music map. I have over 100 music mix tapes and when I find a new song I like I’ll add it to another mix tapes and when I get sick of a song I’ll remove it from a mix tape.

The first album I ever bought was The Romantics…the album with “One In A Million” and “Talking in Your Sleep”. I wound up selling that album to a good high school buddy for 2 dollars.

The second album I bought was UTFO and old skool hip hop group who had hits like “Roxanne, Roxanne” and “Bite It”.

The third album I bought was Hall and Oates “Rock N Soul Part One.” Private Eyes and Sara Smiles are my favorites.

The fourth album I bought was Doug E Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew’s “Oh My God! The Show”. I’m surprised I still have the original album because I played it all the time.

The fifth album I bought was LL Cool J’s “Radio”, his first album. I think it was the first time I ever heard someone cuss in their lyrics.

I think you will enjoy my wide range of musical interests.