Not Pop

I was taught never let em see you sweat
I ain't cried in years
Icewater in my veins
So much for blood, sweat and tears
From up in the upper tier
Who succumbs to peer pressure appears to separate the puppets from the puppeteers

Paid me a couple dues
Throughout I ain't never take no number two
Penned me a couple tunes

A few numbers for comforting the troubled youth

The sisters and brothers who never budge from in front of tubes

I couldn't count or list

Close encounters with cowards and counterfeits that exist
In the biz

You move in Rihanna and Ciara midst
Rare are moments where motives are clear as a Sierra Mist

And every line I wrote
From the top of the album to the bottom of liner notes

Every word of ebonics word is bond as a solemn oath
And stronger than solid oak
(C'mon let's go)

I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME

I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME

LISTEN TO ME
(IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE)

I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME

I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
LISTEN TO ME

I don't refer to hip hop as "the game"
Ain't no playing taking place
Cats coming the same
None are spayed, none are chaste
Who's calling the plays?
Who replayed and who replaced
Who's counting your change?
WAMU changed into Chase
Rats packed in a maze
Some malaise, some'll race
Fat sacks of the haze
Some are sprayed, some are laced
Few capital gains

Lower case, the lower caste
Seems like there's no escape
So we turn saved to handle the pain
One day in heaven
And throw hands when they play "one eight seven"
Among tricks of the trade of well paid reverends

Is don't break that all it takes is one brave peasant

To stop saving up bread and go save brethren
To stop chasing the papes and just stay present
To stop making complaints and go make legend
And I am him
(Let that sentence set in)

I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP

LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
LISTEN TO ME
(IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE)

I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
LISTEN TO ME

Let me slow it down
I'm just starting up
They tell me dumb it down
I tell em smarten up
I gave the cartons up
I gave the sparking up
We the Spartans sun
Pardon us
Me and my partners
They try to target us

Claim they can't market us
Market what?
We already all in the clubs
Core is on the cut
We already on the cusp
That's because
At the core, at the crux
We're cut from a cloth

Never wore, never once

And sip from a cup that runneth over such my homies got homes overrun with rust
So what's the rub?
The constant hustle and bustle and run and rush
In roles of Run and Russell
In other words Run and Rush
Brothers done run amok
Ask who are we to judge
But we gon readjust
(Sun . . . one)

I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
LISTEN TO ME
(IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE)

I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
I GET IT POPPING BUT IT'S NOT POP
LISTEN TO ME
LISTEN TO ME