Hope - Acapella Version

[Intro: Chrisette Michele]

Hip Hop

It will never die

Hip Hop

It will never, never die

[Verse: Nas]

(Uhh) Ghetto nigga strutting, with nothing but dreams in Queens broke

Mac-10s, you can smell the PCP smoke

Melle Mel told it real, in the music he wrote

Those were the days I remember, we used to be close

Then I was nine, coldest winter I remember

Was slipping in December, two feet of snow

Yeah, that's the East Coast, that black ice

Symbolize the rap life, it was slick and smooth

I understood I had to come from the hood

Doing the Pee Wee Herman, the Smurf

Before them phones chirped

The block's drugs flowing, didn't have your own work

You had to have somebody else's, a small chrome on your pelvis

Starter jacket, Blue Georgetown or Green Celtic

Your girl's too expensive, she want shellfish

Red Lobster was popping, standing on that line forever

I wish somebody would step on my Bally leathers

Now it's whatever

Hip Hop's forever

Kept my radio on 98 or BLS

Had a pre-pubescent lyric gift, but niggas never hear me spit

My little brother tried to warn them, I was a tornado coming

He knew from inside like the eye of a storm, and told my pops about it

He gave us tickets to that Wild Style flick

Double Trouble retarded, we was the proudest

I never had a summer job

Sweeping leaves, socks to my knees

Home-made shorts, cut off Lee's

I ain't work a day in my life

Wiping away eraser off the paper, man

I'm just trying to say it right

Big radio, tape's slowing down

Lower the lights go, battery dead

I got to freeze them 'till they're ice cold

In the freezer later, I'm staring at the speaker

Sunk in them 808s deeper, cleaning my sneakers

With the bristles of a toothbrush, soap and water

I let the shoestrings soak in water

[Bridge: Nas & Chrisette Michele]

(Live Hip Hop, Live) Ain't got nothing to do with Old School

(Live Hip Hop, Live) New School, Dirty South

(Give Hip Hop, Give) West Coast, East Coast, this about us

(Give Hip Hop, Give) This our thing, you know what I'm saying

(Stay Hip Hop, Stay) This came from the gut, from the blood

(Stay Hip Hop, Stay) From the soul, right here, man

(I Pray Hip Hop, Pray) This is our thing, man

(I Pray Hip Hop, Stays) You know? so I say what I say

(Live Hip Hop, Live) And I say what I say, and I mean it

(Live Hip Hop, Live) Y'all take it how you want to take it

(Give Hip Hop, Give) Because if you asking: "Why is Hip Hop dead?"

(Give Hip Hop, Give) It's a pretty good chance, you the reason it died, man

(Stay Hip Hop, Stay) It's a pretty good chance your lame ass, corny ass

(Stay Hip Hop, Stay) Is the reason it died, man

(I Pray Hip Hop, Pray) You don't give a fuck about it, you don't know nothing about it

(I Pray Hip Hop, Stays) You want this paper, be a hustler

(Live Hip Hop, Live) You a hustler, you ain't a rapper, get your paper man

(Live Hip Hop, Live) You know what I'm saying, but this rap shit is real

(Give Hip Hop, Give) Bitch, this shit is real: bitch

(Give Hip Hop, Give) *laughs*

[Outro: Chrisette Michele]

(Stay Hip Hop, Stay)

(Live)

(Stay Hip Hop, Stay)

(Live)

(I Pray Hip Hop, Pray)

(Give)

(I Pray Hip Hop stays)

(Live Hip Hop, Live)

(Stay)

(Live Hip Hop, Live)

(Give Hip Hop, Give)

(Give Hip Hop, Give)

(Stay Hip Hop, Stay)

(Stay Hip Hop, Stay)

(I Pray Hip Hop, Pray)

(I Pray Hip Hop, Stays)