LYRICS: My story starts back in the days: Trapped in a daze with the game of life played I thought I had it made cuz when youth was swell Who could tell what the future held? The truth upheld, it soon fell to a putrid Hell With destruction of life that sucked the blood from life And with the butt of a knife gripped tight It f*cked my love of life. I tried to hang on for just another night Wishing the pain gone when it became dawn But later on it all remained wrong. I'm hearing that same song of sadness sung solemnly Calling me from the past, what's fought and forgotten follows me. My brother dead, my mother lost and father spurning Wants me to make an earning but blocks every way for learning Unless I abandon who I am and even stand in For the enemy I hate, either way a man can't win. I'd tell the world not to give shit to me if it would mean I'd become the one that's stripping me of my dignity. That's why I initially hit the streets And saw how it would be a struggle for victory Til people would start listening So I took what little resources I had around me And learned that the most astounding work comes from having boundaries. Oppressive conditions had predestined a vision With a voice always ignored, now expressively written For my people and myself, dictated by no one else I spoke it how it felt, and yo I found it helped When others start listening to what we're witnessing Until now, this business of the industry wants to get in the scene. We're all out to follow scrill, keep our wallets filled Cuz American dreams are all fulfilled with dollar bills. So you offer deals for proper skill No more cyphers behind the bar and grill Getting paid for it's only logical. So make me famous cuz if entertainment must, then yo You better know the mainstream came to us Cuz there ain't no doubt that I would bring you bucks, But if you sell me out after you gain my trust that'll be dangerous Cuz in perspective fame is nothing, money ain't much either And I'd rather be the poor righteous teacher. But these people always looking for the new Father of Rap Someone with knowledge and apt enough in skill to call it that-- --but I call it wack. If you think I'll be one to let you define me, well I'll be damned And I'd probably pay you to buy me. Try me, this is one mind you ain't gonna bind. I represent myself on my own time Cuz I already see what you're doing to me, musically Confusing me by moving me to lose my true history. So now I'm here to take it back in full and break its shackles Take the mold that's been getting old and let it evolve To something that will cause heads to give it credibility. As long as my life is ignored, then it's killing me...

LYRICS: CASH: I said a Hip Hop, P. Diddy From Biggie to the rip-offs jockin' on Tupac And rockin' to Wu-Tang Clan All of this fame can't be nothing If it isn't for the word on the streets. Now what you heard was all a test Hip Hop is not complete Without a beat, some shoes, and a pen And don't forget a hot M.C. That's why we're on the mic cuz we'd like to say hello If you thought that rap was a passing fad, We're glad to say "Hell no", but first we gotta Pay thanks to people who were putting it down underground All the gangbangers all can get props for Hip Hop If you've risen to the top or not so hot Cuz it's so hard to steer your choice When you're right and then you're wrong But next on the mic is my bro Flip Rip the mic and end this song. FLIP: Check it out, I'll flip the script and split your lip And take this mic while I recite And turn a grandmaster to a weak emcee Then rock the house like a young Jay-Z You better run and hide if you's a punk You losing the beat or you ruin the funk To all the Sucka M.C.'s tryna prove a point We kept it real with this lyrical joint We're the sons of ones who have paved the way Before Mixmaster Mike his hands knew time Because we make a miracle whenever we speak Cash and Flip as M.C.'s could never be weak. CASH: Now the ceiling is high, if you feeling our flows Put your hands to the sky let me hear you say "Ho!" Start clapping your fingers and snapping your feet If you can actually do that, you're more talented than me Say "damn" if you feeling the beat-- FLIP: And just jam to some real M.C.'s And then throw it up like Linda Blair How all this music be makes you tear your hair CASH: And talk is super cheap but now we're here To reverse all wackness up in your ear. Now we're not as old as the best in the game FLIP: But still hang, so don't mess up the name: CASH: It's the Bernard Brothers just a pair of fly guys All we're here to do baby, is spit some rhymes FLIP: So next time make sure you heard accurate It's Hip Hop's newest duo (yeah) Cash & Flip.

LYRICS: The city's a jungle, the only way you'll see the struggle Is to leave the bubble if you're tough enough Hustle the double-bluff to see a couple bucks But even Steven Wonder on the up-and-up can get stuck Living just enough for the city, take precautions Daily problems still outweigh these options And I got some crazy thoughts inside this hazy conscience As I'm watching this lady walking with her baby's father talkin And plotting to make some dollars off 'em. It's not too often I consider crime But when you're tryna live there's little time to get in line Beneath the street survival is the need to strive For something deeper than complete denial Not one that leads to Cairo, but one that keeps the 5-0 off my back And beats my rivals, some people read the Bible I already see the cycle I'm in is an endless spiral of sin Cuz I'm almost up to my chin in 5 feet of sand and the tides rollin in. But if I could just end, press stop rewind and begin my life And then find where it wrong and try it again I'd pray to God to get a better chance at living Until then I'll handle the circumstances given with ammunition Officers man positions We got a kid standing blocking the grander vision Who grants permission to fan the fire of man's suspicion of systems That cram traditional -isms of planned religion Down the throats of citizens who can't resist 'em so Don't stop now, the beats won't ever sleep Peace to each and everyone in the streets To all my folks locked down, keep your head up The worst part about it can only get better Don't look down, speech reaching the meek So far West we can meet in the East We on the same hook different beats Life in the same hood, different streets... Living is harder than I ever thought it would be I'm coughing ugly shit up when I hawk a loogie Nobody bother looking, just step over and left over My people forgotten like dead soldier, left to the vultures Wanting to forget the culture that's forgotten you No wonder all my ni99as be sess' smokers What do we got to lose? Misrepresented when you watch the news Turn off the tube it's not the truth it's about as real as Dr. Seuss. Cuz when the only opportunity for you to speak is through a beat Commodity starts with the high marketing All cuz we like pocketing profit that sky-rocketing When artistry starts to be properly signed property Too hot to seek philosophies of freedom and thought We got brainwashed at the bottom cuz of greed at the top Keeping it pop cuz that's what it know people will cop Until somebody drops that top-notch Hip Hop Changing the game When entertainments the same chain of command Telling artists what to try and how to play in a band Well that ain't gonna stand too much longer The more pain it takes to maintain makes us stronger. Don't stop now, the beast won't ever sleep Peace to each and everyone in the streets To all my folks locked down, keep your head up The worst part about it can only get better. Don't look down, speech reaching the meek So far West we can meet in the East We on the same hook different beats, Life in the same hood different streets.

LYRICS: The Beatbox: The bass break you like some sheetrock I keep it pumpin' like a Reebok tongue Flying at Mach 1 Top Gun, "Houston, we have a problem" It's too complicated for people to reproduce And keep the music and beat purely human Surely you can go practice, probably surpass this But first to match this you have to be able to grasp it So when I speak the cypher keeping the people hyper While your girl be screaming higher than Steven Tyler Go tell Aerosmith, no comparin' this And spare your instruments I got me a pair of lips Prepare for this Hip Hop's biggest heretic Half Afro-American, blast from San Jo' to Maryland And so I'm arrogant...I have the right to be That's why you pass the mic to me.

LYRICS: People have lost respect for the finer things I don't mean the kind of bling-bling gleam of diamond rings I'm talking bout creativity: to really be an ill emcee While having the ability to keep polyphony... Most people will agree the main view is that rap is plain stupid Using lame excuses to say that it ain't music. I'd probably say the same you would. The truth is these rappers don't make music because they can't do it. You would think Hip Hop was all about the deep lyric. But put a loud beat near it and I'll doubt you'll even hear it. So in this business a lyricist is pissed and furious Cuz rap it surely is becoming spurious... and this is serious. I'm sick of this simpleness making Hip Hop look ridiculous. Cuz people want cheap emulation These weak imitations defeat innovation Even in a place when we seek integration You need patience to find a decent arrangement. See, entertainment breeds the same when people change To attain their 15 of fame, I'm just saying it's a shame Because it seems to be the game we playing. To say that rap is intellectual is "unprofessional" Cuz if it's not violent it must be something sexual. Tons of censors all agree it's unexceptional, one-directional Plus it's unquestionably unrespectable. That's unacceptable. You underestimate potential but eventually you'll need to pay attention See I mention when I bust on instrumentals it's intentional. I can bust to Rachmaninoff switch styles flipping on and off While y'all tryna talk, save it you might wanna cloth You're choking on your words like it was the common cough You know, I'm so mad and inflammatory That the Grammy's always have awarding For Hip Hop in a Rap category and the story's self-explanatory. The standards always have been sorry Didn't expect much of what they had before me When all we used to do was battle rap for glory Well who's gonna reform where the path is going When us cats are after 40? It's like, look at rap and ask what songs are working? We're not searching for the honest person. We're looking for the worst who's fond of cursing Pure controversy we wanna purchase. Well, some will see it as a harmful purpose When others treat it just like it's on the surface But no matter how write or wrong the verse is People just hear "rap" and the song is worthless. And what's worse is all the exploitation Voice-faking for the next boy sensation Rich glamour and glitz is the choice he's taken But nobody can tell you the point he's making So I don't wanna sit here poised and waiting For paid kids to fake it the more they make it Before the fame they was naked I seen better skill coming out of California Raisins. Outrageous. The page is being turned musically Usually I'm used to see tunes that's using ingenuity Maybe soon there'll be some unity Assuming we can regain fluency to truthfully do it genuinely See what I'm doing between you and me Is coming fluidly sequential like 1, 2 and 3 And in this community only a few can see Wouldn't you agree? That's why I'm moved to speak the truth to people til my eulogy... Or better yet, resurrect and scare those Like a werewolf tearing clothes from the hair growth. I come prepared for whate'er goes In a bus stop flowing to concertos making it unfair for those "M.C.s" Dumber than that one scarecrow Looking Somewhere Over the Rainbow for brains, so You better listen hard, I seen 'em disregard rap like it isn't art But they're missing all that. Smart lyrics are mixing parts Understood by those from the business cards to the prison yards. So disembark, leave your assumption behind And you'll find every line keeping time is refined by the rhyme... ...and then try to do that off the top of the mind And if you still don't see the skill to flow free Then don't speak you're only dissing poetry. We just added a dope beat to make it more sweet Can't feel that? Then go to sleep and don't breathe. Cuz it's more powerful than you ever could dream Mass communication that's taking on the cleverest means Never could be destitute. People who claim that are only resolute In their ineptitude. So get it through your head: Hip Hop is much more Than the skill that you just saw in the lyrics I said. You only know a fraction of the whole And that's no bull, no even half the cup is full. And if you want more, I would know where to start I'd have to tear it apart and just flow from the heart, but yo! Now tell me that this ISN'T an art.

LYRICS: Does anybody wanna put their hands up? I know you can but this damn club feels like I have to do bad standup There's nothing funny 'bout me kicking a verse But I guess when worse comes to worse they make me go first And that's alright with me, although I didn't come prepared At least I'm not out there sitting in underwear My skill is major not undeclared I got this microphone running scared Cuz it knows I'ma rip it beyond repair My tongue's a lyrical catapult spitting knowledge like political radicals I'm so live even mechanical mic's come to life like they had a pulse An animal trapped behind padded walls For rag-dolling tracks like a rabid dog. As soon as I came out of the womb I crowded the room Jumped off the doctor's table, ran out and howled at the moon My instinct as an emcee to blow up in your face worse than Kazynski When he's getting head from Lewinsky I wanna know how much y'all paid for this open mic Cuz I'll make sure this the only night this shit ain't overpriced You in the back take off your coat and tie, this ain't no formal affair You should've brought clothes normal to wear All the sudden his neck went tense "who me?" Looking shocked like he hopped an electric fence Or got caught with a sex offense Probably from this beautiful queen here, props to his Excellence Okay okay, I should probably stop talking shit It's just that I follow this Hip Hop doctrine strict So if I stop rapping I'll start pop-lockin, I got options On how I could be an Entertainer, but I'm not Scott Joplin And this ain't the age of foxtrotting Staying in on the rainy days hobnobbin sippin coffee & hot chocolate These days we got problems with cops watching for lock, stock And I don't mean what dropped at the box office. These are the days of John Cochrane, Consumerism, and broads shopping' at Hot Topic, And rotten politics straight up dirty like dog paw prints, it's all nonsense We've hit rock bottom selling out for the stock options. Aw shit you made me switch gears and lose my sense of humor It's proof that I should've just ended sooner But now you know what's coming out in the future So my name is Flip now go out and spread the rumor.

CASH & FLIP: We living life to the fullest No matter what Bernard Brothers got' still get ours No matter what road you take Could be the one to make you, one to break you Cash & Flip got take you... CASH: Living life on the edge My feet tryna step but still slipping like there's ice on the ledge Looking down can't stand the pressure... FLIP: ...but even if we fall Cash & Flip will still land together Stand forever, like our words are branded letters Stamped in leather with messages that can't be weathered CASH: Can't even measure the greatness of two brothers That's spitting such ill language can't do nothin but hate this FLIP: Look it up in the pages between the lines So caught up in the Matrix but you don't read the signs CASH: While we design the rhyme that people trying to keep confined FLIP: Speak lines to free the mind CASH: Duckin on the grind in these streets of crime FLIP: All the time seeking to find a peak to climb CASH: If you're mind's up to the test-- FLIP: --then time will do the rest CASH: Just find what you do best-- FLIP: --and ride it to success. CASH & FLIP: We living life to the fullest No matter what Bernard Brothers gon' still get ours No matter what road you take Could be the one to make you, one to break you Cash & Flip gon take you... CASH: More cash to get, more ass to whip FLIP: No asterisk, just straight cash and flip CASH: Get it all is all I know so I'ma do what I gotta Pursuing my motto today in case I lose it tomorrow FLIP: Cuz everyday could be your last So when you see the past flashback don't be surprised Just keep your eyes open, the prize focused And your dreams alive so you don't lead a life hopeless CASH: Cuz when the night approaches you can't be asleep kid Never let death see you weakness [that's weak shit] These streets get me paranoid I'm on the lookout FLIP: All I got is my pen and pad, tryna avoid the crook route CASH: Forget a shootout-- FLIP: Yo, let's have a verbal spit out And if you ain't got the skill-- CASH: Ni99a get out. FLIP: Word. CASH: What. Word? Man don't nobody say that anymore... CASH & FLIP: We living life to the fullest No matter what Bernard Brothers gon' still get ours No matter what road you take Could be the one to make you, one to break you Cash & Flip gon take you.