It's a business; we got less fans and more critics
Maybe we at a cross
Canibus made one of the dopest diss records but some still say he lost
And I ain't believe my ears when n***as tried to tell me
That KRS-One had a rap beef with Nelly
If rap was alive, we'd be trying to be the best rappers ever
Not the best rapper alive
But you won't get accepted at all if you ain't street tough
Onyx was the hardest 'til Sticky got beat up
Now 'I'm A Thug' is how I got to behave
If I want to be paid, if I want to see praise
You know something's wrong when n***as are getting shot
And you got to sit and wonder if the whole thing's staged
It ain't real no more
Or did we just expand on our audience, maybe we appeal to more
Or, do we just think ya'll are just getting dumber?
We tried to make getting older getting younger
Did we lose our hunger? Something's got to give
Did we outgrow ourselves? Is hip-hop for kids?
If it is, they turn on MTV Cribs
And think, "That's where these motherf**ers really live!"
Or, was it when Lauryn Hill dropped a cla**ic?
So did the Fugees, till Wyclef tapped it
Songs don't do it no more, the sh**'s shocking
Seen it when "Lean Back" had the whole world rocking
Now it's "f** your bars!" if your hook is fly
So we look at Crooked I with a crooked eye
Dope a** rappers ain't seeing no dough
If everything's commercial, where the f** is the show?
But anybody making a dime, see, I'm a wish well
Still we took a big L losing Big L
Or was it when YouTube came in the game?
Now nobodys from their living room can make a name
Or when Indies like Koch came and blew up
n***as at the majors, they literally threw up
To some, it ain't fun no more
You know it's f**ed up when DMC don't talk to Run no more
Too many egos, like we ain't one no more
sh**'s predictable, n***as ain't stunned no more
We starting to see sh** we never seen before
At one point, we even had the magazines at war
Or, was it street DVD's like Smack
Showed you just how stupid your favorite rapper would act?
This sh** get lifeless
When MTV made a list of the hottest and ignored the nicest
Changed the whole steelo
I mean the averaged fan never heard of Goodie Mob or a Cee Lo
But they heard of Gnarls Barkley
And Dr. Carter still say we got a heartbeat
I ain't going to lie, I was scared to d**h, straight up
I started to hear rumors of an OutKast breakup
I was like, "That ain't true, it sounds desperate"
Then started to see Big Boi and 3K separate
Had periods where it was drier than a desert
Are we all k**ing this sh**? Is it a group effort?
Are we alive and well or barely surviving?
Is it R&B's fault? Them n***as is thriving
Then a lot of people go and blame LimeWire
I don't think it's downloading dog, the line's tired
Did the fans just get tired of the outcome?
One dope single and a bullsh** album
So they share albums with each other
Was it Master P with them ugly a** album covers?
Or when we started appearing in the news?
Timberland said they didn't want black n***as wearing they boots
I mean, I know it got foggy, at least blurry
When the label dude got knocked out by Keith Murray
Or was it when we became obsessed with the brand names?
Had the kids trying to buy sh** they can't name
And some think the evidence is ample
Did it start when Puff took advantage of the sample?
Is it all watered down with no fire?
If you had enough money you can buy a ghostwriter
Or the Diamond District, Jacob the Jeweler
Had to buy his watch to be looked at as cooler
f**ing with them trends
Our stupid a**es wasted a hundred grand on sh** that ain't even in
Look, is the game now as bad as it's ever been?
It's not ringtones, just the songs that they represent
I heard all of them
The sad part I wouldn't recognize most these n***as if I saw them
I can't explain it, I don't know what to tell you
Now going Gold is look at as a failure
Maybe old heads in charge just weren't able
DJ's is spinning now with no turntable
Maybe the fans are just bored of us
Or maybe there ain't enough room for all of us
It's like even a friendship will stop at a point
Mike Jones went platinum off of Slim Thug's joint
But there's so many ways to get f**ing rich
Supahead caked off by just s**ing dick
Did we sell out just to get in demand more?
Did we go against everything we used to stand for?
Both are likely
There's two sides to a coin, who you rolling with: Souljah Boy or Ice-T?
Some n***as want to sit around and complain about
I rather an*lyze, seek how it came about
If we could rewind the world
We wouldn't have to watch Flava Flav try to find his girl
Look, today it's all about marketing and promo
I remember VH1 was just for old folks
But no ma'am
If I ain't know better, I would think that mix show is now programmed
We let the power of the dollar annihilate us
Now the size of our chain going to validate us
It's too simple; they can't think we're really deep
I just heard Chris Brown on the A Millie beat
Seen a video, it's called looking a** n***as
Grabbed the remote, tired of looking at n***as
But that let a n***a know if we ain't dead
Then we just half alive, maybe brain dead
Did it start when Capone left Nore?
Nah, he went to jail, that's a whole different story
Or, maybe something's really wrong with our ears
Obie Trice got dropped, so much for +Cheers+
Female emcees, they don't ever hit the target
Somebody said they saw Amil working in a Target
The sad part is we already lost Remy
Or did we go wrong when E-v-e got skinny?
What's up with Jacki-O, Rah Digga? That I can't figure
And Trina ain't been the same since +Nan n***a+
I know it had to do something to his heart beat
When Lady of Rage started doing Steve Harvey
I know we caught a little trauma
Somewhere between Yo Yo, Boss, and Lil Mama
Lot of females found another way to extort
Most of our video models have turned escort
Do anything to see dough
So they'll exchange s** with an artist or director for a lead role
Or should we get back to basics?
Where's the Rakims or the Master Aces?
The Big Daddy Kanes, or did we never recover
From Dre not being on the side of Ed Lover
Or when rap dude started signing their friends
Instead of going out and trying to find n***as with sk**?
Seen it happen when D-12 put out +Purple Pills+
And while the whole hood laughed, them n***as sold a mil
Some of us ain't prepared for something so lucrative
I just heard Yung Berg say some stupid sh**
Like we almost caught one in the torso
When each Bone Thugs member took they own crossroads
Some disagree, some got to see the same
Or maybe Hip-Hop died on Aailyah's plane
If it relocated where did it move to?
I still Love H.E.R. the way Common used to
Or did Bill O' Reilly come f** up the spirit
With negative remarks about everybody's lyrics?
Spend all this time dissing us
n***a you 95-years old, motherf**er shouldn't be a listener
Lost Jam Master, who was +Tougher Than Leather+
Or did it start when Treach started f**ing Pepa?
As our jeans got tighter and our tee's got longer
I'm trying to figure which age group do we belong to
Or did we all go astray the second Dr. Dre left N.W.A.?
I mean in my opinion we was on easy street
When he was beefing with Eazy-E
Or did we get f**ed up when producers found a way to cheat?
Signing unknown n***as to start making their beats
If you sell your own sh** it got to go for cheap
Put my name on it so the price increase
Or, is it cause everybody's so self-centered?
Is that the reason Hip Hop itself ain't centered?
Or have we already seen this sh** with our own eyes?
Rico Suave, Hammer, and Vanilla Ice
Everybody want in the game so in return
You got label executives f**ing their interns
And anybody looking at that new Vibe bracket
Should see that they don't know a thing about this rap sh**
Or maybe we should of stopped being proud
When there was no more Rawkus and no more Loud
Tried to get conscious around Vote or Die
So they made it look like all our votes was lies
As the years go on it's like we keep getting more voids
We got lost when we lost one of the Lost Boys
I knew we was impersonating a fraud
When Kay-Slay smacked my man at the awards
Regardless, it's our fault as artists
Running with entourages who act like they ain't never left the projects
Who do we want to target
Will they put an Uncle Murda CD in a Wal-Mart or a Target
We got the nerve to not want to hear Ras Ka**
But f** with V.I.C. "Get Silly" and that trash
I felt ashamed
When J-Kwon told me he ain't like Raekwon cause he stole his name
Was back when everybody in the club got +Tipsy+
Now every contract got to be 360
So f** eating better scrape the plate
Now every beat got to at least have an 808
Did the lights get dim when we first heard Mims
And said "Another New York rapper on the South tip"?
Is it overcrowded?
They keep saying, "If it's so f**ed up, then do something about it"
I doubt it, there's just one thing they don't understand
That job is way bigger then just one man
Or maybe all of these pleas that it's deceased
Is false and it's right where it needs to be?
Maybe we built on something that'll last forever
See 'Face and Geto Boys just got back together
Maybe no one can stop us, even other genre's now jock us
We even doing songs with the rockers
How is that the feeling?
Kanye's +Amazing+, Wayne just sold a Million
We closer to a ceiling
How are we in a coma
When we the only business you can excel without a diploma?
Technology changed, made everything simple
MySpace is now a dude's bio slash demo
Aside from this rap we generating more money
We took it global and penetrated other countries
So let's celebrate, sip some Cris
Some more sh** we embrace just to end up dissed
Go and buy the bar out so we can all get bent
Let's go and cop a bunch of cars just to still pay rent
Or here's another bright idea to entertain
Let's go and put our face on the bottom of a chain
Are some of us just n***a rich, with n***a money?
While j**s keep laughin, "Look at these n***a dummies"
Should Hip Hop be a stepping stool
Till we find another role we can step into?
Some of us doing movies as a matter of fact
And some never stopped to plan life after rap
I mean, as a whole did we stop moving further
Around the time Snoop Dogg went on trial for murder?
Or was it Scarface creating these clonies?
30 years later everybody's still Tony
Maybe anybody complaining is deranged
Can you expect something to grow and not change?
We're socially accepted, deviated our old route
To simplify the term we all sold out
I think I figured out who's to blame
Started out Obama, ended up McCain
So we Kurt Cobained ourself and we're defeated
So next time they ask "who k**ed it?" tell them "we did"