Rising to the Top

[Intro]

Good evening to you super listeners

How you doing tonight, all you fly guys and fly girls

Welcome once again to the world famous Mister Magic Rap Attack

And of course I am Sir Juice

[Verse 1]

Way way back before the Hots and the Powers

We used to listen to live mixing for hours

Roxanne Shante, U.T.F.O

Mister Magic Rap Attack some of y'all know

But I was in the shelter in weakness, homeless

Turntableless and microphoneless

Fresh gearless but still I was fearless

And focused on being the dopest MC alive

It's '85, LL's on Def Jam with the best jam and Whodini's on Jive

Man you know I had to survive

New York City was crazy in the 80s but damn it was alive

So here comes the Juice Crew with MC Shan

Shante's already the queen, Marley's already the man

Y'all don't really understand

When you throw on Shante or Shan it got live in the jam

So we went to Mister Magic

If anybody had the power to put you on he had it

We gave up the demo tape, no love lost

But it seems Mister Magic just brushed us off

Somehow we heard we were wack

Every track and that we shouldn't even call back

Right there my jaw dropped, no doubt

But it made me see what I was all about

[Chorus]

And I'll keep rising to the top while my mind go

...give it all you got, give it all you got

I'll keep rising to the top while my mind go

...give it all you got, give it all you got

We'll keep rising to the top while my mind go

...give it all you got, give it all you got

We'll keep rising to the top while my mind go

...give it all you got, give it all you got, give it all you got

[Verse 2]

In the spot new hip-hop at Latin Quarters

And the Union Square and the Rooftop

We used to hear them tools pop in the parking lot

Where it got dark a lot, me and Scott La Rock

But it was all for the hip-hoppers

Salt-N-Pepa answered Doug E Fresh with The Show Stoppa

MC Shan was gonna challenge LL

Shante was battling 3 or 4 groups at the same time, what the hell

Answer records were big then

After Shante did it everybody was trying to spit them

So we spit on

To tell you the truth it was the only way an MC could get on

We answered MC Shan's Queensbridge

A dope jam about where he was from and where he lived

But in the Bronx there was these kids

KRS, Scott La Rock trying to live

[Chorus]

And I'll keep rising to the top while my mind go

...give it all you got, give it all you got

I'll keep rising to the top while my mind go

...give it all you got, give it all you got

We'll keep rising to the top while my mind go

...give it all you got, give it all you got

We'll keep rising to the top while my mind go

...give it all you got, give it all you got, give it all you got

[Verse 3]

This is what an emcee was

We had a strong street buzz, Marley and Shan showed us some love

And love never hurt

Cause while Shan was with Marley we was with DJ Red Alert

Every Friday night, every Saturday night

On the airwaves the battle was right

Under New York nights, smog and lights, jogging at night

The Roxy used to get so hype

You could put on your headset and get what heads ain't get yet

Live MCs going check check

Spitting rhymes over the radio set

These are the days and the ways I can never forget

So I don't forget it

To Marley and Shan I am indebted

For the start of my career these guys could take credit

For my rapping, the whole battle they let it happen

Marley and Shan and Shante could have been gun strapping, cousin

But they wasn't

You know why? 'Cause we was on some real hip-hop

Lets keep it buzzing