Hard to Be Hip Hop

Verses alternate between Classified and Maestro starting with Maestro

Yo Class how you doing? Dude, I'm back in the Fax

I'm taking time off the act and I gotta relax

I need a new beat

Yo Freshtro I got a few treats

You been up in the city long?

Nah, only two weeks

Cool well, I'm sorry 'bout the weather

It's been raining all week I hope it gets a little better

Either way Class listen, I got a ill vision

'bout a song I'm working on, you think you got the right rhythm?

Man c'mon, you know I got some **** that'll break your neck

I used up what I want but you can take what's left

Don't give me ******** dog, you know I blazed a set

You know you got something saved for Wes

I got a ill concept hip hop

How to pay a real line? This is why

1987 I be reppin in the ciphers and the sessions

And I still be gettin stressin

You know it's hard to be hip hop

And ain't nobody stayin real

Don't pay bills when you showcase skill

Ain't nobody living off of doing windmills,

I'm painting train rails, that's real

It's hard to be hip hop

You know it's hard to be hip hop

It's hard to be hip hop

You know it's hard to be hip hop

But we gotta be hip hop

I got no gassy grills, so my raps ain't real

Cause I don't pack steel through my tracks appeal

And to the mass appeal watch how fast they fail

Yeah I'm hip hop son, that's how my casket's sealed

It's hard in a culture when the fans are fickled

Understand my issue, your old man will diss you

One minute you're whack and then your jam's official

And then they switch again,

Two bottles of cancer hit you

First they loved L.L.

Then they hated him

And then they loved him again

Then they degraded him

So lately, basically, I don't know if I can play to win

Survival of the fittest, let me see what kind of shape I'm in

Yo 'stro when I was younger like 19

I could spend all day writing rhyme schemes

Spittin', freestylin', cypherin' the streets

But now I got responsibilities

Yo it's hard to be hip hop

You know it's hard to be hip hop

It's hard to be hip hop

You know it's hard to be hip hop

But we gotta be hip hop

No this is not an illusion

No this is not an illusion

No this is not an illusion

No this is not an illusion

Cats are killing me Luke

Thinking life's like a video shoot

They ain't spittin' the truth

True, I got a similar view

But I guess that's the damage the industry do

I'm 28 unemployed, a grown ass man

Still trying to rap with no fall back plan

Go all out fan you got nothing to lose

'cause only to yourself you got something to prove

Yeah we gotta be hip hop it's all that we know

Blaze up the shelto' 'stro

Yo on with the show

Get the drum track going

Yeah enough small talk

But whatever you drop, keep it hot

It's gotta be hip hop

You know it's hard to be hip hop

It's hard to be hip hop

You know it's hard to be hip hop

But we gotta be hip hop, gotta be hip hop