Criminal Minded

Boogie Down Productions will always get paid
Will take the wackest song and make it better
Remember to let us into your skin
'Cause then you'll begin – to master
Rhymin', rhymin', rhymin'

Criminal minded, you've been blinded
Lookin' for a style like mine, you can't find it
They are the audience, I am the lyricist
Sometimes the suckas on the side gotta hear this

Page, a rage, and I'm not in a cage
Free as a bird to fly up out on stage
Ain't here for no frontin' just to say a little somethin'
Ya suckas don't like me 'cause you're all about nothin'

However, I'm really fascinatin' to the latter
My all-around performance gets better and better
My English grammar comes down like a hammer
You need a style, I need to pull your file

I don't beg favors, you're kissin' other people's –
I write and produce myself just as fast
Keep my hair like this, got no time for Jheri curls
Attractin' only women, got no time for little girls

'Cause girls look so good
But their brain is not ready, I don't know
I'd rather talk to a woman
'Cause her mind is so steady, so here we go

I'm not a musical maniac or b-boy fanatic
I simply made use of what was upstairs in the attic
I've listened to these emcees back when I was a kid
But I bust more shots than they ever did

I mean this is not the best of KRS, it's just a section
But how many times must I point you in the right direction
You need protection, when I'm on the mic
Because my mouth is like a 9 millimeter windpipe

You're a king, I'm a teacher, you're a b-boy, I'm a scholar
If this was a class, well it would go right under drama
See kings lose crowns but teachers stay intelligent
Talkin' big words on the mic but still irrelevant

Especially when you're not, college material
Wake up every morning to your Lucky Charms cereal
DJ Scott LaRock has a college degree
Blastmaster KRS writes poetry

I won't go deeper in the subject 'cause that gets me bored
It's a shame to know some emcees on the mic are fraud
Sayin' styles like this, to create a diss
But if you listen, who you dissin'?

See I am a musician
Rappin' on the mic like this to me is fine
'Cause if I really want to battle I will pull out a 9
You can see that Scott LaRock and I are mentally binded
In other words we're both Criminal Minded

We're not promotin' violence, we're just havin' some fun
He's Scott LaRock, I'm KRS-One
Never off-beat 'cause it don't make sense
Grab the microphone, relaxed and not tense

You waited, debated, and now you activated
A musical genius that could not be duplicated
See I have the formula for rockin' the house
If you cannot rock a party, do not open your mouth!

It's that simple, no phony cosmetics to your pimple
Take another look because the gear is not wrinkled
The K, the R, the S, the O, the N, the E
Sayin' rhyme from '87 not from 1983

Well versed, to rehearse, and my rhymes are my curse
Originality come first but the suckers get worse
Allow me to include I have a very stable mood
Poetic education of a high altitude

I'm not an emcee, so listen, call me poet or musician
A genius when it comes to makin' music with ambition
I'm cool, collected with the rhyme I directed
Don't wanna be elected as the king of a record

Just respected by others as the man with the solution
An artist of the 80's came and left his contribution
On wax, relax, there's 24 tracks
After years of rockin' parties now I picked up the knack

Because everything that flows from out my larynx
Take years of experience and bottles of Beck's
I cannot seem to recollect the time I didn't have sex
Is it real? Or is it Memorex?

I'm livin' in a city known as New York State
Sucka emcees gotta wait while I translate
I hang with real live dreads with knowledge in their heads
People with ambition and straight up musicians

Although our lives have been so uprooted
I have it included, you all get zooted
So take each letter of the KRS-One
Means Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone

You look at me and laugh, but this is your class
It's an all-out discussion of the suckas I be crushin'
So now you are awakened to the music I be makin'
Never duplicated, and also highly cultivated

Don't get frustrated 'cause nothin' has been traded
Only activated, it came out very complicated
Not separated, from my DJ
Ya see my voice is now faded

I'll see you folks around the way
Criminal minded

Criminal minded
Criminal minded
Criminal minded