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I Am Hip Hop - Jazzed Version
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I Am Hip Hop Production: Infamous
poetry spoken word hip ho
Legacy Leonard acclaimed spoken word artist, poet, and singer that combines poetry for social change and conscious elevation with song and rhythms.
In 1995, at the age of 15, Legacy Leonard made her debut as a spoken word artist at the Detroit Institute of Arts. She blends a variety of socially conscious, revolutionary, and thought provoking poetry with song and soul, painting the pictures of the world and society as seen through her eyes. Her passion for the art is surpassed only by her passion for change and revolution. She is an Urban Griot that believes the Power belongs to the People. Enter the mind and heart of Legacy through the art of her compelling and controversial spoken word...
Song Info
Genre
Hip-Hop • Spoken Word
Charts
Peak #9,615
Peak in subgenre #170
Author
Legacy Leonard
Rights
2004
Uploaded
February 17, 2005
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.3 MB • 128 kbps • 3:38
Story behind the song
This is written in the voice of Hip Hop expressing her rage against being denigrated, disrespected, and commercialized.
Lyrics
Turn off the radio! Turn off that bullshit! Yeah, Dead Prez got that shit right Changing stations while changing insights Dusting deceit off tarnished tracks Tuning into the truth & Dropping the dead signals from dead air From listening to too many poisonous tunes That got my people crooning ignorance Inside depraved shells of existence Insistent on pounding that bullshit Into the minds of street babies Rattling thumps of ghetto funk That allows street punks to glide on by In fly rides with rims spinning While their lives are continuously spinning out of control How many times has a soul been sold to soil the streets? Bleeding break beats over concrete Where heartbeats cease Bass burning the flesh from my bones Blood blushes the gravel and glass skyline Tinting my eyes red with rum That these streets forever thirst Lyrics lace me into a lifeless limbo I suddenly become the symbol of sacrilege Impale me on the crucifix that cats rock around their necks As if that reminder of death Will resurrect their dead consciousness I am screaming and seething with each demon Airwaves assaulting my senses Bullshit raps raping my reason Reality deceiving as my mind is receding Receiving sensory overload from sensationalism Exploit my womanhood into your favorite bling bling bitch Let me slow motion For this brother that promises to make me an overnight celebrity Cuz I’m one of them girls down for riding the D Sex me up Shut me up Shut me down Break me down Reduce my existence to another justification of instant gratification Commercialize me and brutalize me With another hit of these bullshit lyrics Blast that shit loud enough for my ancestors to hear it So they may weep for my demise Brothers and sisters I am Hip Hop betrayed Every time another rabid rap gets played Envision me as your Queen Legs splayed as slave masters violate me repeatedly Slimed with their demon semen Implanting monstrosities in the womb of my creativity Strangling our collective voice through the manipulation of soulless sounds Killing the remaining vestige of cultural consciousness Just for you to flash and floss and call yourself the boss But no one will reminisce over you once your bullshit hits Fade from the farce of this existence you’re living Take me back to the days of basement sessions Street corner ciphers When battle raps were wit matches & Cats used their minds and their words as swords Instead of poisonous knives Before remixes of repercussive sins stole lives Before I was sold out as an industry whore When I was the voice and the heart of Black youth Broadcasting the truth of your struggles and glories Write me and rock me as your redemption song Make me your melodic muse Infuse life back into the lyricism of the ghetto griots Resurrect me from the shame and pain that stains my soul Give me back my name I am Hip Hop Turn off the radio! Turn off that bullshit! * Sampled lyrics by Dead Prez from “Turn Off The Radio”
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