Ras Kass - Core Audience lyrics

rate me

[talking/scratching]

Quiet down, quiet down..

Now listen, now listen..

[Verse 1]

Hip Hop!

?? to the bop perputratin' Left Eye

and the .22's, .45's, uzis, techs and 9's

but can you rhyme though?

Cuz niggaz went overboard with straps and just subtract that

most of 'em can barely rap worth jack shiiiit!

We all lick shots wit' unregistered burners

and at one time or another played Ike Turner

Ain't shit to be braggin' for ass backwards actors pack gats for show and tell

So they can sell and certify gold, chart billboard claimin' they killed more niggaz

Underground hardcore. But far more mainstream than Hammer

poppin' trunks, stuffin' pumps

and smokin' blunts sells more records than "Pumps & a Bump"

Violence is a new platinum gimmick

Call it the double cross crossover

A rose by any other name is "Seal"

you claimin' that you "represent the real niggaz life"

but only represent it for a price

Cuz if next week the new fad was hiphop fags

you'd find a lot of hardcore niggaz in DRAG

Shit is bad and we acknowledge this but at a certain point you only perpetuate it

So NEXT TIME you rhyme about physically buckin' somebody

[POW!] instead of "nigga" say "whiteboy"

and see how quick the devil PROTEST it

wanna see yo' ass ARRESTED, your label wouldn't SUGGEST it

They say it's BEST if you stick to killin' niggaz

o some 10-year old can claim he pimps ho's

find his daddy's glock 9 and give his sister a 2 inch hole

between the eyes -- the influence is obvious

Music ain't supposed to be raisin' your kids but in 1995 it is

I know it is -- ?? goes from ghetto to gettin' mo' dough

but silly ass niggaz need to know [need to know]

That before it makes dollars it must make sense

I kick my shit for the core audience

[Chorus]

For the core audience I kick the artform shit [x6]

(Cut of speaker talking)

"We ARE the music industry and we have to take control

You strip the BLOOD of the Black community

and you feel we have now right now to say something about it?!"

[Verse 2]

Now niggaz always reminisce about the old school days in the park

you have to realize hiphop was fucked from the start

When Sugar Hill got major distribution threatned existence

we didn't control our shit once rap became a music business

Music: the art of expression, combinations of tones

Business: the explotation for profit of an artform

Conflict of interest, two seperate entities

Niggaz pretend to be real but still sleeping with the enemy

and not to diss Rick Rubin but who let the jews in?

Our only solution create our own institution

Manufacturing, marketing, production and distribution cuz Blacks are 99% consumers

[For example]

Now "rapper X" got skills his band "producer of the year"

got a distribution deal with "Real Records"

"Real Records" is a subsidiary of "Ruben Tony Inc."

"Ruben Tony" is owned by "Poly/Sony"

"Poly/Sony" distributes to the record store

the record store receives the product from the manufacturer

[but wait there's more]

Now the manufacturer fucks the record store

who was fuckin' "Poly/Sony" who was fuckin' "Ruben Tony"

"Ruben's" robbin' "Real" who's fuckin' "producer of the year"

and "rapper X" is still broke, so who got fucked the most?

The artist creates the market but receives the least profits

it started in the streets but got FUCKED by the office

So that's why I remain anonymous

symbolic of cuttin' out the middle man and keepin' mine autonomous

I'd rather be major on a minor than minor on a major label

I'm willin' and able to put your label on my choppin' table

recycle Black dollars but not go pop and if I flop

at least I stayed true to hip-hop

[Chorus]