Do you remember the music before the influence/
When students/ of the genre spoke it more fluid/
When the tampering of vast samples was legal/
When neighborhood beef was settle by battling people/
Back when the DJ was still the most intricate part/
When the beat box was still considered an art/
When battles over breaks/ gave rights to take names/
And the shake of some paint/ turned buildings into frames/
This was before ad spots/ before the endorsements/
Before the cash crop/ when each word was important/
Before hip hop music climbed to the top of the charts/
But now it’s all about there wallets they forgot about there hearts/
Hook by illtreats
Verse 2 Glad2mecha
Verse 3
Sometime id like to sit down at the bus stop/
To get away from the bling bling and the gunshots/
And get back to the groups, Aiddas shoes and puma jackets/
Back to when rapping was more than just rapping/
The lesson that life gives and the essence of rhyming/
The answer is golden but question is priceless/
How much to do I love it/ well I love it enough/
Not to be able to tell you just how much I love it/
And I’ll always be a rapper/ with quarter inch adapters/
A needle as a finger tips/ my mind a sampler/
And they say hip-hop is dying and I say it isn’t/
It won’t die if you stop looking at it like a business/
credits
from Labor of Love,
released September 14, 2012
Ill treats, Glad2Mecha, scott allen
Songwriter and producer CRFT celebrates his spirituality and family on this thoughtful debut LP, featuring Blu, nobigdyl, and more. Bandcamp New & Notable May 10, 2022