Back to the previous page

Artist: Public Enemy
Album:  It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Song:   Don't Believe The Hype
        - Ridenhour - Shocklee - Sadler

        Back
        Caught you lookin' for the same thing
        It's a new thing - check out this I bring
        Uh Oh the roll below the level
        'Cause I'm livin' low next to the bass, C'mon
        Turn up the radio
        They claim that I'm a criminal
        By now I wonder how
        Some people never know
        The enemy could be their friend, guardian
        I'm not a hooligan
        I rock the party and
        Clear all the madness, I'm not a racist
        Preach to teach to all
        'Cause some they never had this
        Number one, not born to run
        About the gun...
        I wasn't licensed to have one
        The minute they see me, fear me
        I'm the epitome - a public enemy
        Used, abused without clues
        I refused to blow a fuse
        They even had it on the news
        Don't believe the hype...

        Yes
        Was the start of my last jam
        So here it is again, another def jam
        But since I gave you all a little something
        That we knew you lacked
        They still consider me a new jack
        All the critics you can hang'em
        I'll hold the rope
        But they hope to the pope
        And pray it ain't dope
        The follower of Farrakhan
        Don't tell me that you understand
        Until you hear the man
        The book of the new school rap game
        Writers treat me like Coltrane, insane
        Yes to them, but to me I'm a different kind
        We're brothers of the same mind, unblind
        Caught in the middle and
        Not surrenderin'
        I don't rhyme for the sake of of riddlin'
        Some claim that I'm a smuggler
        Some say I never heard of 'ya
        A rap burgler, false media
        We don't need it do we?
        It's fake that's what it be to 'ya, dig me?
        Don't believe the hype...

        Don't believe the hype - its a sequel
        As an equal, can I get this through to you
        My 98's boomin' with a trunk of funk
        All the jealous punks can't stop the dunk
        Comin' from the school of hard knocks
        Some perpetrate, they drink Clorox
        Attack the black, cause I know they lack exact
        The cold facts, and still they try to Xerox
        Leader of the new school, uncool
        Never played the fool, just made the rules
        Remember there's a need to get alarmed
        Again I said I was a timebomb
        In the daytime the radio's scared of me
        'Cause I'm mad, plus I'm the enemy
        They can't c'mon and play with me in primetime
        'Cause I know the time, plus I'm gettin' mine
        I get on the mix late in the night
        They know I'm livin' right, so here go the mike, sike
        Before I let it go, don't rush my show
        You try to reach and grab and get elbowed
        Word to herb, yo if you can't swing this
        Just a little bit of the taste of the bass for you
        As you get up and dance at the LQ
        When some deny it, defy if I swing bolos
        Then they clear the lane I go solo
        The meaning of all of that
        Some media is the whack
        You believe it's true, it blows me through the roof
        Suckers, liars get me a shovel
        Some writers I know are damn devils
        For them I say don't believe the hype
        Yo Chuck, they must be on a pipe, right?
        Their pens and pads I'll snatch
        'Cause I've had it
        I'm not an addict fiendin' for static
        I'll see their tape recoreder and grab it
        No, you can't have it back silly rabbit
        I'm going' to my media assassin
        Harry Allen, I gotta ask him
        Yo Harry, you're a writer, are we that type?
        Don't believe the hype
        I got flavor and all those things you know
        Yeah boy, part two bum rush and show
        Yo Griff, get the green black red and
        Gold down countdown to Armageddon
        -88 you wait the S1Ws will
        Rock the hard jams - treat it like a seminar
        Teach the bourgeoise, and rock the boulevard
        Some sau I'm negative
        But they're not positive
        But what I got to give...
        The media says this