Classic, uh, uh, uh I'd like to welcome y'all to Exit 13 My name is LL Cool J AKA the goat R. Leslie on the track, uh, uh, uh I told y'all that I would make a killing I told y'all I blow like Mount St. Helen's I told y'all I'm the truth, they paint me like a villain Sick on paper, the inch to penicillin I told y'all the real, they started catching feelings Muthafuck 'em all, throw ya L's to the ceiling Cool J, still hotter than a helicopter crashing in lava Still sweeter to the ladies than a box of Godiva Music industry is like a game of cops and robbers Too many Indians, no chiefs to follow What I'm sowing today, I be reaping tomorrow So here's some joyful bars, to replace your sorrow I'm beyond a legend, I'm iconic Fall off, rebuild, your man's bionic Put your trust in me, I never let you down I always come up with a way to checkmate these clowns I effeminate these clowns, tryin' to take me down Ask Puffy and Nas, who hates me now The phenomenon, ladies love the don I give 'em an ear-gasm, they can't keep calm Old school, new school, need to learn though I burn baby burn like disco inferno Old school, new school, need to learn though I burn baby burn like disco inferno I told y'all that I was coming back I told y'all I ain't going out like that I told y'all I was the greatest to ever rap And I built Def Jam and took a piss on the map I told y'all, I wasn't like the other cats I'm fresh like a Wii, them niggas playing jacks They all a bunch of a rats, they copying off 2Pac's stats Wearing tuxedos to hide they tight speedo Chains is tucked in, I'm incognito Fuck with your ego and touch your girl's labito There will never be on flyer, LL Cool J Taking you higher and higher The wire, the GOAT, the grand sire Who good at 24's if you want flat tires Telling your soul and then performing with a choir People, please, don't listen to these liars Ladies and gentlemen, these, niggas is selling you up Bunch of irrelevant shit, it's not intelligent, is it? My shit's exquisite, don't follow the yellow brick road Them niggas faking like the Wizard Old school, new school, need to learn though I burn baby burn like disco inferno Old school, new school, need to learn though I burn baby burn like disco inferno Is it really possible I'm this hot? LL Cool J, still on top? 24 years, I ain't forget the block You can ask my Jay in the shop Linden Boulevard, little Coupe, big rocks Real estate only, I ain't fucking with the stocks Why not, so our grand kids could feed they grand kids And they grand kids, can feed they damn kids And Collin Park throw ya hands in the air Jump before I turn 'em in a Cool J affair My word is my bond, every summer I'm there Y'all can jump double dutch while I'm laying in the cut I told y'all I wasn't giving up I told y'all, I can jump on tracks and switch the rhythm up Do work, treat rap like a ripped skirt Sow it up, rep your hood, nigga, throw it up You'd been standing by my side for years Sold out concerts, screams and cheers Front row T-Shirt, L, we here I bought every album, too many to count 'em Watch your movies, your the only good thing about 'em Todd Smith jeans, I can't live without 'em And the only thing I want from you Is for you to keep doing that shit you do Old school, new school, need to learn though I burn baby burn like disco inferno Old school, new school, need to learn though I burn baby burn like disco inferno Old school, new school, need to learn though I burn baby burn like disco inferno Old school, new school, need to learn though I burn baby burn like disco inferno

Don't believe everything happiness says Nothing feels better than hiding these days We bury our fears in the drinks, in these tears For the days we believed we could fly Call up your brothers and sisters and friends We'll go back to the place where the night never ends We'll remember the fires, the burning car tires Boy, how in the hell did we get here? So why don't you meet me down behind the old school? We'll waste away the weekend with perfect regard For how cavalier we used to be that beautiful insanity The apathy's surrounding me Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away Over and over and over again We sat down for a minute, grew up into men Now we're putting out fires and changing car tires Man, how in the hell did we get here? So why don't you meet me down behind the old school? We'll waste away the weekend with perfect regard For how cavalier we used to be that beautiful insanity The apathy's surrounding me Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away this time And we'll never get back what we gave away When we still have that fire in our eyes Don't believe everything happiness says Nothings as real as our old reckless ways When we drink by the fires, the burning car tires Bad girls and good liars, the dreams we'd conspire The days we went crazy, the nights wild and hazy Man, how in the hell did we get here? So why don't you meet me down behind the old school? We'll waste away the weekend with perfect regard For how cavalier we used to be that beautiful insanity The apathy's surrounding me Don't close your eyes or we'll fade Why don't you meet me down behind the old school? We'll waste away the weekend with perfect regard For how cavalier we used to be that beautiful insanity The apathy's surrounding me Don't close your eyes or we'll fade

Hip-Hop's from the Bronx, that's where it's born from But what is Hip-Hop's etymological origin A word's etymology is how it was formed and when Words are important, you should be informed of them Here's an etymological lexical chronicle Wrought to give thought in full to its topical vocable Hip-Hop, "a genre of audible, optical thought-in-flow Get taught it's part of hip-hop to know (you know?) And so here it is, the etymology of hip-hop Well Hip comes first, but at first 'hip' was hep Which meant up-to-date, with it, and in step Which in 1914 first appears with that name In the now rare, Vocabulary of Criminal Slang Which claims that it came from a detective's last name Who was, legend has it, always 'hep' to the game And so his name became a saying "He's hep" like he's heard of it But some say that's wrong, here are other alternatives Some say that it comes from ancient ploughmen and shepherds Who when herding would shout the word 'hep' to their herd "Hep hep" like "tut tut!" the kind of word you're using As you do in hop-hop, when you're gettin' things moving More likely sources, on the other hand say That it's from the Wolof language of Senegal, Mauritania & Gambia "Hepi" to open one's eyes, well that's eye opening And should come as no surprise Since West Africa was the home of the Griot, or Djeli Who practiced the ancient art of tale and poem telling And preserving a cultural knowledge by rappin' it But some say even that etymology, is inaccurate But wherever it came from, what matters is where it went It entered the vernacular of Black Americans In the 30's and 40's, in what they call the Jive Era 50 years before Jive and era era era And it's usage continued in the context of Jazz First among musicians, and then among the fans So a "Hepcat" went from being a jazz man To later being a white intellectual Jazz appreciator And ultimately as 'hip' made the transition from hep If that was a transition that you weren't 'hip' to yet And you still said 'hep', and not hip Well then you'd fall into the category of person's Who are not hip at all "Hop" as in jump, or a one-footed leap First appeared in the 1500s, from a deep proto-Germanic root word In modern form hüpfen To engage in a bouncing, springing-forth movement Combining then hip, which means conscious and aware And hop which means making a leap in the air You have conscious movement, that's how KRS explains it He's the teacher of hip-hop, I teach ancient languages DJ's a "Disc Jockey", it's an established acronym Less obvious perhaps the MCs (emcees) that rap to them Can stand for the master of ceremonies, or for mic checker Or the less known microphone controller Graffiti's Latin via Greek; and via Latin, from Italian And even ancient Romans wrote, but not on iron stallions "Breaking" is from brecan, Old English, to shatter Old English 800 is a good way to get plastered Rap rap rap rap rap is onomatopoeic And so whoever did invent it, when they thought it and said it Made up a word that recreated some impression that came before Like the rap rap rapping Edgar heard at his chamber door It came from ancient Danish err becoming a term of art It meant a light quick blow, it also meant fart And that's poetic justice cause it's obvious they're Some rappers who claims to "drop shit" that's just air That's rap, but what about trap In the past 10 years everybody's feelin' that Where's the word come from? And where's the word at It was slang for the spot where your drugs transact Trap dervied it from trep That in or onto which someone can step Implying a movement that comes to a stop Some people don't like it some like it a lot Why not I'm not really saying either way I'm trying to say the way it went and whence it came And since it came to get its name And then became a way of statement That's pervasive in the game, and oftentimes, it's like a homophone It kinda sounds the same I guess it's aptly titled, 'cause it's everywhere of late I guess they call it trap cause it's hard to escape Hip-Hop evolves, and undergoes changes And yet somehow it's essence transcends and stays changeless And the line between who's real? and who appropriates it Is whether you make it in such a way that no haters can say shit That's what I'm trying to do And I recognize genre Is nothing more than a means to catalogue an author And I don't care if you call what I do is Hip-Hop Or historical essays masquerading as song-words What I care about is this, regardless of your origin When a crowd hears your voice, be sure you inform them Make them hip to what's real Make them hop to what moves them Make them think, make them feel Give them thought, give them movement For this is the function of, language and music However you may make it, wherever you may do it Cause words are just words, and what's real is just facts And it's not just where they're from it's where they're at

Well, there's a lot to argue about in this world And sometimes it seems like the most important arguments Are the least likely to end anytime soon — God or no god? Capitalism, Socialism? /dʒɪf/ or /ɡɪf/...? And usually when you're arguing with someone About one of these things, You do assume that one or the other of you is in fact right. Usually you assume that's you and maybe you are, and maybe you aren't But there is also a third possibility Which perhaps you had not considered This is the possibility that you're right, and wrong, And they're wrong, and right, and also neither of you Are either right or wrong, and at the same time, you're both right And wrong and neither, about the same thing For in the case of some arguments You may find that the principles from which you proceed Can lead both to your own conclusion And at the same time to the exact opposite Of what you were each trying to argue about in the first place The same is true for whomever you are arguing with Take for instance the old argument Between whether the world is ultimately Spiritual or physical in nature "Idealism" vs. "materialism" As they call it in philosophy class Say the soul does not exist and it's all mere matter And all our thoughts and feelings are a part that follows after A product of neurons' automatonic transfer A "stimulus responding" but not a "conscious answer" And consciousness at it's noblest is justs the total synthesis Of ultimately physical, infinitesimal little bits Which eventually flicker and switch off in impotence And so the consciousness the constitute is without all significance That would be the "materialist" viewpoint But Your feelings are real and it's real that you're hearing this And such self-reflection is just what 'soul' and 'spirit' is And so those physical processes that cause us our fear and bliss Produce non-physical phenomena that clearly exist And so matter is inclusive of the principle it's thought to miss That is, it has a capacity for conscious intelligence And if you're willing to admit that matter can be conscious You admit that it includes that wihch it's defined in contrast to So yeah Or Say there's no matter and it's all spirit and soul And objects that have mass that your hand appears to hold Are in fact a vast interplay of images That are really no more real than mere dreams And we're what makes the dreams go And we too may be dreams Of a singular supersoul And all these dreams' purpose Is to see through to it's truth and goal And that which appears to be An inanimate wad of mere stuff is Weird enough, actually God Like when you're on drugs But All dreams aside, what happens a lot Is that I freeze when I'm cold and I burn when I'm hot And if right now I ate shit and dropped here on this spot Then the floor would make it clear that an illusion it's not And if I must define even the clearest sensations as an illusion Then who even am I? And what am I doing? And who could I ask that? If I, as the asker, were not separated from you by our matter Well, here's a possible answer It's this and that And both and neither And it's a fact So don't believe it It's not sense or nonsense So all that leaves Is a process though contrasting possibilities Wherever that leads Whatever that means Whomever that includes And that includes you and me It is what it isn't And is and isn't what it seems So don't be sure and don't be mean Here's another example From the domain of political discourse Say you're a radical progressive, generally defined You think the preexisting structures should be left behind We must tear down these systems and then free the mind From the old guard's traditions that hold it in line There's no thurth to teach One seeks but there isn't tho And therefore we should teach to be creative and critical 'Cause in the absence of any other Over-arching purpose in the universe There's just the individual freedom of persons But isn't this very relativistic reassessment itself But an expression of a biased entrenchment? Aren't the very critiques that lead us in a better direction Themselves all subjective and subject to convention? And if all absolutes are just inducements of oppession Is anti-absolutism itself exempt from its own objection? And doesn't centering ourselves around our own self-invention Just subject us to yet another centralized conception? It's a good question Or you're a radical conservative, economically and socially And you assert there's a way things are and are not supposed to be Which means what's yours is yours and what's mine is only owned by me And you oppose those whose ideas oppose this openly And the reason we find ourselves in weird situations Is we're drawing new lines that aren't clear in their placement As people try to veer from the way that nature made them And this leads to society's deterioration But if you find yourself saying there's such a thing as "nature" That has a fixed form as defined by its "creator" Wouldn't every strange form "He's" made lately or still hasn't yet Still be an expression of "His" will and that natural-ness? And if God is absolute, omniscient and omnipotent Then he also made revolutions even if you're not into it And it follows from His omnipotence, omniscience, and absoluteness That His nature would include both the old school and the new shit But the truth of it is It's this and that And both and neither You don't know shit You're not wrong either Don't be a believer But also don't assert that there's nothing to believe in And don't be a jerk It's absurd to say the facts are certain and exact And absurd to assert that there's alternative facts It is what it isn't But, be it as it is It's neither, and both And that, and this I don't know what I'm doing I'm just rhyming while doing it Wise in my foolishness Blind in my foolish wit I've been trying to find the truth and I'm behind in pursuit of it But I might yet find it precisely in losing it But what good does that do? And isn't what I'm muttering just an abstract distraction From the actual suffering of the persons And facts and the passion of utter being? Yes, perhaps That and this other thing Be nice

Zebras meet on prairies, the stallions leap and spar Mice may meet in city streets, mice-deer in Myanmar Wherever I may meet you — whether online or at the bar — However you're defined, you're fine: I'm fine with what you are. What am I? My DNA — my cell's in their division I'm a consequence of countless generations of fruition — If you've got to know my chromosomes, ask God or my physician But let me just say Hi to you, and bye to definitions So bye, binaries, binaries bye-bye — You can't define everything but everything is fine So bye, binaries, my non-binary dear Some say sex is just genetic competition, meaning nothing — Nature's blind imperative to keep the people coming — And maybe nature's blind, but then one might say so is loving 'Cause even if I didn't know what you are, I'd know you're really something Some may try to label you, but you don't need to let them Labels are for mason jars and bands with big investments You don't need to quite define them to be kind to or caress them If they've given you consent and you assent that it's a spectrum So bye, binaries, binaries bye-bye — You can't define everything but everything is fine So bye, binaries, my non-binary dear Some have double X's, and some have X-and-Y's And some have both regardless of what comes between their thighs — And drone bees have just half a gene but we still call them guys — The birds are birds, the bees are bees, the talks we got were lies So whether you're all figured out or whether you're a mess Whether you're a Mr. or a Mrs. in that dress Whether gender queer or cis gen, F or M or intersex When they're asking you What are you? All you have to say is Yes So bye, binaries, binaries bye-bye — You can't define everything but everything is fine So bye, binaries, my non-binary dear So if you're feeling lonely, in your old age or your prime Or while you're prepubescent with no peach fuzz on the rind And they tell you your complexity is only in your mind — You may not know yet what you are but what you are is fine So bye, binaries, binaries bye-bye — You can't define everything but everything is fine So bye, binaries, my non-binary dear My non-binary dear, my non-binary dear

Many and strange are the things of this world But nothing's as strange, or quite as absurd As you and I — Humankind — You might have heard: We're kind of the worst Is the title deserved? — Human Beings It's a quarter million years since we came on the scene In the past 300, we made some machines And began a new age — the Anthropocene ...Now just how extreme do I have to be To have a whole planet age that's named after me? Anthropos — human — it's Greek — I agree We changed the whole thing by quite a degree... Celsius. — See? — It's kind of intense — We don't always make ecological sense Cuz the things we invent, for survival success May, in the end, just lead to our deaths! ...Yes. ... But for now we're alive And while we're all here, we may as well ask why — And how'd we change so much, in so little time — The history of Strange Humankind Well, we've been around 300 thou' And it all started out au naturale — No horse, no plough; no slave, no master — That's fire, Wow! — we hunted, and gathered But nearer to now — 12 millenia tops — Just a little while relative to how long we've walked Upon this rock — someone stopped and said Let's plant crops! And settle in a place, make bread and tend flocks Bet — why not? But in the course of time As the hunter-gatherer became the grower of the vine It brought about changes in their hearts and minds Your farm's there; this farm's mine Darn — fine. Don't let it get your goose — They started owning animals — and ownership and use Came to dominate a consciousness that used to keep it loose For as one lives, so is one's truth We changed, we adapted — Our numbers increasing Our Feeling gave way To Thinking and Reasoning People of taste — eating with seasoning Instead of just eating whatever the season brings I sing how the shift began As they planted grains in the shifting sand As the power-grip shifted throughout the lands From animal to human, and from woman to man From family to clan — and what slipped through the cracks As the way got paved, was the way to get back From the fictions we made to the natural fact Of the Here and the Now. — We became abstract ...That's that Home on the range The world was ours But the world was changed And the things of this world Became things of exchange And the Earth and the Self Which were one Were estranged None stranger you can find Than the stranger Humankind Ah yes. Humans will be humans — Dust unto dust to industrial revolution The age of mass production and accelerated movement — And it never really ended, cuz we're kinda still doin it Throw this one a way, buy myself a new one — Throw myself away — my self is such a nuisance — Find myself a way to disappear into my room and If I need to know what life is like I'll stay at home and google it And true, we've made progress And awesome hits And the laptop software I wrought this with — But we also made an big atomic bomb that hit And for all time altered all of this The radiation remains And in our blood and our brains Are all the particles of polythene in hydrocarbon chains From our plastic bags — And so it's hardly strange We made a problem as large As climate change Change. Money — But money is nothing It really is, kids, it's just a symbol of something — Just a little piece of paper on a number we're running You can't live in it or eat it And it's not even yummy It's stunning — to think that we don't actually need it — I mean it — we really don't actually need it We grow enough a day to feed the planet and to keep it As a thing that's free for everyone and yet we don't feed them And you may say, Wait! we got a bottom line At the top they got a lot and at the bottom not a dime — But that concept's not inherent in the mind It's contingent on the way we've developed over time — I'm not denying it's survival of the fittest But survival of the fittest wasn't always such a business It was different when applied to our original conditions When we tried to fit the best with ecosystems that we lived in Ahhh, homo sapiens — One part progress, one part sloppiness I don't want to descend into soppiness But sometimes I feel sorry for all of us But then I think this — if we human beings Have changed the world once for the worse, then it seems We could change it again — We could intervene And give a new meaning to Anthropocene Imagine the scene — Ecstatically green — The age when humanity gathers its dream into action — and seeing The rational being Reconnected at last, with a planet that's clean This means that we're not the worst Your actions do matter The plan is not cursed Integrate the new with the way we lived first And celebrate the work Save the Humans of the Earth It isn't just words Or an abstract movement — It's a fact, and a truth That if everyone is doin' what They can where they're at Well then that's a revolution — A radical reunion of the planet and the human ... So yeah it is strange Being this animal, having this brain — And yet we can change — and may redefine Just what it is to be human: kind