Digital Underground - Heartbeat Props lyrics

rate me

[Chorus]

People, get ready for the heartbeat props

(Heartbeat props!)

Everybody, get ready for the heartbeat props

(Heartbeat props!)

We're gonna make it funky with the heartbeat props, y'all

(Heartbeat props!)

It's time to get busy with the heartbeat props

(We're giving heartbeat props)

I give my man props cause he's living

(Why wait until the heartbeat stops)

Check it out, y'all, proper respect is what we're giving

(We're giving heartbeat props)

Uh, I give my man props cause he's living

(Why wait until the heartbeat stops)

Don't you know that proper respect is what we're giving

(We're giving heartbeats props)

[Shock G]

Seems like you wondered each day if the Underground

Is going to stay down with the funky beats

Even if you know that I'm a junkie for a bump that's funky

And a fool for the loop, see, a groupie for the old one-twoiee

A bass freak would say “Oohwee,

Peace to DU cause I like the way you do me”

I love to go on about the funk, matter of fact

I'd love to be another funk front runner

But first we gotta deal with the fronters

So I can't go on, it's time to drop a few bombs

(Get busy, G, go on and take ‘em to school)

Yeah, it's time spread the jewels

I ask you about Malcolm and you tell me that he's wicked

Farrakhan comes you can't seem to buy a ticket

And check what my man has to say

Right or wrong, don't you think that he deserves a play?

Cause he's living for you and you and you and you

The brother X tried but he died trying to get through

So why wait until the heartbeat stops

Yo, go on and give my man his props

If you're really that down then act what you say

KRS and Chuck need support today

I see you posing with the Dr King hanging on your wall

Only difference is Chuck might give you that call

To march on Friday, yeah, it's kind of frightening

Let me move so I don't get hit by the bolt of lightning

Striking you down cause you're fronting

A dead leader can't tax your mind

Therefore he's not a threat to your personal time

All the lagging and the dragging

(Yo, I got something to do that day)

Yeah, you sound like an old bitch nagging

Fuck that fronting! We're pumping up the brothers

Cause the brothers keep it pumping

You got it all wrong

When you wait for the TV to tell you what's going on

I thought you're hype on the mic

Yeah, they never get it right

That's why you see we gotta thank God, y'all

For niggas like Ice Cube

Cause they'll tell the record straight

(Yo, my man's a prophet too)

Yo, god, you think he ain't?

So do the right thing, it's not a black or a white thing

We're here to let you know it's just a human being thing

We're pulling out all stops

Cause it's time give heartbeat props

[Chorus]

[Big Money Odi$]

I'm the type of guy that's sly like a fox

An honor roll student in the school of hard knocks

There was different type of brother that I used to look up to

But I'm still giving props where the props are due

But let me start with a fool I don't give a fuck about

I wanted to give a Fuck You out

To the nigga who went out on a whim

He was a roody-poo for shooting Huey Newton

But I'm thanking God for niggas like Iceberg Slim

And the chick the honky's ran to see

She was the honky-tonk's fantasy

Tina Turner, the living legacy

And she's still got you tripping off the legs you see

Another chick they used to beg to see

Was Josephine Baker, she had them hooked

They loved the way she shook her money-maker

But why did it take them so many decades

To give a little praise to who they ran rave to see

[PeeWee]

With a dark complexion she was sex symbol befo' Marilyn Monroe

But her heart stopped before they gave props to the old pro

[Big Money Odi$]

It took a great man to mould those

So I want to give props to my pops because he told those

But there's a time to break necks and throw bolos

Be a cold bro and throw low blows

When you want to close the shows of your foes

Cause foes are those that you got to break like windows

Check it, when respect goes it's time to break a nose

But give respect before the soul goes

[PeeWee]

Well, I suppose respect is what respect'll get ya

So I'm giving them gifts before they're stiff like the pose

In the pictures of Vogue and flashy fashion magazines

You be thumbing in ‘em, props to Beverly Johnson

She was the first black woman in ‘em

[Big Money Odi$]

Pee, drop the bomb and end the pressure with the menace

Smith & Wesson clear the lesson that your mama gave

[PeeWee]

Mama gave PeeWee the same threats, she used drastic measures

Told me to give her the full respect or get my ass kicked

It was my intention to relent just till the last kick

When she goes she'll roll over in a solid gold casket

When I was young Muhammad Ali had me sprung

Cause he was the champion, as the champion he was my idol

Yo, they took his title when he wouldn't take the gun

And fight in Vietnam the only way he felt, then he won the bet again

Now they want me in the army but they can't harm me

Cause I ain't no punk, I ain't [??????] man to Uncle Tommy

Props to Islam, it's getting brothers together before the big bomb

Blast out, before we're all assed-out

We need to see that we got to start giving the props to the living

[Chorus]

[Shock G]

Yeah, Spike Lee, Alex Haley, Brand Nubian, sister Whoopi Goldberg

Dick Gregory, X-Clan, sister Isis, BDP, Muhammad Ali, Stevie Wonder

Poor Righteous Teachers, Andrew Jackson, Denzel Washington

Sister Sarah Sahad Ali (?), Public Enemy, Stokley Carmichael

Sister Oprah Winfrey, yeah, Jesse Jackson, nuff respect, Paris

Gangstarr, Gil Scott Heron, George the fuck Clinton, Louis Farrakhan

Sister Queen Latifah, Bill Cosby, sister Angela Davis

The entire Nation of Islam, nucka, know what I'm saying?

Afrika Bambaataa, Miles motherfucking Davis, sister Assata Shakur

Once known as Joanne Chesimard, Robert Townsend, Nelson Mandela

Karreem Adul-Jabbar, the Black Panther Party, James Earl Jones

The FOIs, nucka, Howard E. Rollins, sister Naomi, yeah, nuff respect!