The Breakthrough

[LL Cool J]

Knuckleheads spreadin' gossip all over town

Every time I drive by you're just standin' around

Hundred-bottles in your pocket, forty-dog in your hand

Don't you know you're just a worker and your boss is my man?

L.L. this, L.L. that, soon as I walk in the place

I wanna take my gun and shoot you in your muthafuckin' face

You're playin' me too close with the schemin' and games

I guess the beef and the bullshit is the price of fame

Movies, records, goin' on tour

Twenty-thousand people hip-hoppin' on the floor

Whole parties body-rockin', and everything's chill

Get back to New York, and the suckers act ill

See I fought with the devil, made a promise to God

I have experience in goin' all the way to the top

It's harder harder than hard

All the suckers are barred

You used to try to talk down now your ego is scarred

See the problem is you want what another man has

His car, his wife, or his razzamatazz

But that's weak, you gotta do work on your own

Cuz when you're rich you got friends

But when you're poor you're alone

So get your own on your own, it'll strengthen your soul

Stop livin' off your parents like you're three years old

Instead of walkin' like you're limp and talkin' yang about me

Why don't you take your monkey-ass and get a college degree?

Or write a rhyme and ride a bike and try to live carefree

Hope my message reaches you before you're seventy-three

A old man, when people ask you what you did with your life

You'll say "I hated L.L. and I carried a big knife"

Every day is a chase, every day is a race

And every day you're being overpowered by my bass

Too much juice to be a deuce, I had to be a ace

It's like the fire's in my eyes and the gun's in my face

I'm stompin' stupid knuckleheads until they bleed

I'm the leader of the show, so it's up to me to lead

I'mma lead you away from drugs and petty crime

Lead you away from wack beats and rhyme

Lead you to that ticket line

So you can come in my show and watch the stars shine

Get busy, not dizzy, wanna teach the young

The last man who didn't listen ended up gettin' hung

Not that I killed him, it's just

He didn't wanna trust

The words of a master that's why you must

Take heed to the speech, it's gonna reach your ear

Don't try to say you can't hear cuz the words are clear

Throwin' flurries, punks scurry and I bury the rest

You better hurry up and rock a rhyme and give it your best

Cuz tonight's the night we gonna see the big fight

Twelve-gauge on the stage in case it don't go right

E-Love drives a tank, he's strong like a truck

If you're cryin' while you're dyin' we ain't givin' a fuck

L.L. Cool J is on the microphone

Tellin' all you punk ducks "Leave me the hell alone"

Cuz I'm rated X, born to snap necks

Straight up and down, no special effects

I'm the professor, the teacher, the hip-hop dean

If Russia bombed the U.S., they'd be scared to touch Queens

Cuz that's where I live, and this is what I give

Turnin' top-notch crews into fugitives

They run, they frightened, they hide from King Titan

Like a sniper when he's shootin' or a viper when he's bitin'

Here I am, tellin' the truth

And I'm spreadin' the word to my fellow youth

It goes man-to-man and jam-to-jam

I got hip-hop, rock, and love song fans

All you petty MC's in the state of New York

Gettin' a thousand for a show but you still wanna squawk

Can't get a decent contract, your beats ain't workin'

Dogged-out Pumas plus you're manager's jerkin'

Your mic sounds weak, remember that skeezer

I'm badder than Napoleon, Hitler or Caesar

I'm a hitman, but I'm not for hire

Fly girl's desire, the man you admire

Not only on the stage, I rock in the park

And I'm a killer in the daytime, and worse after dark

So don't never ever mess with the king of the sound

L.L. Cool J, the baddest around