UNDERGROUND FOR DUMMIES 

And you'll know it was me by the trail of demos
Spare me the details, e-mails, memos
Dookie-gold chain letter to whom it may concern
Put this around your neck until your hangin on my every
word

Stalkin', walkin' in my big black boots
I'm the DLY artist with thick grass roots
Had a couple managers as a youth
I was too young to know better but I was like
"What does a manager do?"
Now one of them he saw dollar signs in my skin color
The other, he said to keep it undercover
Post-VIP Posse, Pre-Internet Nazi era
Powers of suggestion suggested I be what I'm not and
that's not me ever
From Lasienega to Meadowbrook Drive
Never looked surprised
Cut to the chase with metal hooks and knives
Now it's battle time, I stepped in the arena
Thirteen year old gladiator freak with a fever for the
flavor of a fight on the mic
Follow the leader
Mistachuck was the surrogate father
Krs-One, the teacher
There I was, sneakin into clubs
Beat an emcee to the punch over instrumentals dubbed
From tape deck to tape deck
Pause tape mix at breakneck speed
The only whitey in sight
That doesnt make me realer than you, or faker than you
But I'm authentic, forget it
Started breakin rules
Ten years later still hadnt stopped
Won the biggest battle in a Metallica shirt before the
album dropped
A week later, smashed the trophy at a show
It was takin up the space that I needed to grow

Pop pop goes the weasel (the weasel)
Drop drop goes the easel (the easel)
This is hip hop for the people
Stop callin it emo (waah)

I know a kid who thinks he's hip hop cause he buys it
I know a kid who thinks he's hip hop cause he never
buys shit
Underground or mainstream
Some are bound to change schemes
Y'all weren't doin this dirt
When Jeru came clean

Before the Freddie Foxxx conflict with DMX
Around the time Jay-Z and Nas's girl had sex
I used to wake up every morning on a hard wooden floor
Livin in Brooklyn with a car I couldnt afford
And if I wasn't hangin out in front of Fat Beats
records, I was in the factory, mailing my 12-inches
Nowadays, the DJs don't even spin wax
So fuck a promo copy, buddy, you can download the track
Seratooo promo sexual laptop
A hollow existence in a bottle
Ya' sip sip and swallow
I tripped quick then followed a path that made sense
Started out with a live band then worked with
turntablists
Now I strike a match with the back of my front teeth
And light up the stage with just speech

I remember the days Ken and Dave let me crash on their
couch
And I saved what I could and put the cash in my mouth
When I played in my hood I had a fraction of outs
Til Atmosphere put me on and now I'm packin the house
Since the mid-80s this has been a game of cat and mouse
It's funny hearin all the shit these rappers brag about
Knowin all of them are walkin around with massive
doubts
Talkin bout it's only status and platinum plaques that
count

Pop pop goes the weasel (the weasel)
Drop drop goes the easel (the easel)
This is hip hop for the people (the people)
Stop calling it emo (wah)

Irony is dead, it's so motherfucking dead, I was there
by it's deathbed
And the last words that it said
Was "Whiiiiite booyyyy"

I'm Still Sick with an independent record labek
I built quick just when I got Sick of Waiting Tables
Then in the blink of an eye I waged War
As a Known Unsoldier with a soul you can't pay for
I ran a business on my own two legs
Known to beg if I needed to with Home Grown bootlegs.
I cut and pasted images of my face and then sloppily
placed 'em in a case. Strange Famous. I stayed True
when School was in Session.
Went to college to buy time, that shit was expensive.
So I shamelessly self-promoted
The radio station would open doors and opportunities
Eventually made it to Oakland where anticon accepted me
with open hands
Journals fot Personal on a one dollar advance.
Non-Prophets had a hope that a UK label smashed, so I
crossed out my eyes and signed to Epitaph
This is the hustle of an emcee
The Distrust is Healthy
In a dirty industry where the promises are empty
I'm more honest than friendly
More handsome than sexy
Let me bring you up to speed, Humans do a Dance that's
Deadly

WATERLINE 

I just sit there, and let the thoughts flood
And I remind myself it's all right, it's all good
It's all love, it's not though
Cuz there's a kink in the armor
A pot hole I'm sinkin' in, the more I think of the
drama
So I stand up, I start to pace in my living room
Set my eye to the highway, knowin' that I'll play
chicken soon
There's a vanity plate, wit my name on it
There's a Davy Crocket hat with a masonic fat cat under
it
A musket rifel spittin' at my feet
And want me to dance in the middle of the street
And I respect my elders, so I do as I'm told
But I've offset the bell curve when I do it with so
losin' control
Guilty feet do have rhythm
They just dance to the wrong theme music to amuse the
villian
Instead of killin', I spare the raccoon
And start fillin' sand bags as I stare at the moon
And let the thoughts flood, blessed are those who are
damned
When the levy broke, how many choked on the steps of a
slow dance
A staircase to a hug with no hands
Accountability hung out to dry on the line of command
We let the thoughts flood, we remind ourselves it's all
right, it's all good
It's all love, it's not though
Cuz there's a kink in the armor
A pot hole I'm sinkin' in, sharing a drink with my
father
It's a family affair, the vanity we share
The water line is rising and we do is stand there..

The water line is rising and we do is stand there
[repeat to fade]

WORRY NOT 

CHORUS
Worry not, keep the stress in check
Anxiety's a disease, you gotta learn to live with it
Cancer spreads, it'll eat right through
There oughta be a quarantine for people like you


I keep clenching my jaw when I sleep
I ain't got no dental insurance, so I purchased a mouth
piece
It helps me collect all my teeth, coz they keep falling
out in my dreams
Repeating each step till I'm knee deep in sweat
Till you need deeper sleep between sheets and weak sex
If you need to eat meat then just feed on the flesh
If your will power's weak seekin' ye shall find death
It'll rent it'll lease it'll own you
Can't teach new tricks to in a old school
I've been banned from the bible
But I stand on my own two
Runnin from something my legs have no clue
Burnin through every last nerve that I got
This condition is more than deserved but I'm not
Killing the time I'm ringin' it's neck
Chokin it out and I'm stealin' its breath
Sucking it in and then blowing a kiss
To the caution I tossed to the wind like this

CHORUS
Worry not, keep the stress in check
Anxiety's a disease, you gotta learn to live with it
Cancer spreads, it'll eat right through
There oughta be a quarantine for people like you

Oh you're scared of the dark? then sleep in the light
You came for the bark but then leave when I bite?
Breakin' a sweat,
You fainting awake wit a fang in your neck
And a pain in your chest
Holes in your power your drained and your wet
When you threw in the towel I caught it like rent
That was well played - you ain't self made
You went from daycare to preschool from K-12 grade
And that's hardwired holding your brain
Not to mention the rules at the house where you stayed
Synagogue mosque or the church where you prayed
As a child tamed like your wild!
Reprogram - DEPROGRAM
There aint nothin they say we don't know man
They been breakin our vulnerable people
And claimin that everything in us is evil
I see them in hell then - but until then
You should chill friend (Just chill!)
Play pretend with the forces of organized
Superstition and get played in the end
I was killing the time I was ringin' it's neck
Chokin it out and then stealin' its breath
Sucking it in and then blowing a kiss
To the caution I tossed to the wind like this