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  1. Tracks
  2. Rakim
  3. The Master
  4. Uplift

TRACK

Rakim

Uplift

Release date: 30th November 1999

From The Master
Spotify
More on Rakim

About This Track

"Uplift" is a track by Rakim, from the album The Master, released 30th November 1999. Full lyrics are available below.

About the Artist

Rakim

Rakim

Lyrics

Uplift

[Chorus: Sample]

"Levantaré"

[Verse 1]

Yeah, it's just ghetto, kid test the devil to hit the next level

Wish they was a rebel with cerebral mettle

Inflex the bezzle with the peddle to the metal

In a thug's paradise where love have a price

So we love for life like thugs love the night

They sell drugs for ice for the Benz with the bug lights

Some hug mics to the world, hung like parasites

But life's lethal, and might mislead you

A sneak preview, watch what we do and what the hood teach you

I still see through the eye of a needle

So I can watch people

Because love backwards is evil

[Chorus: Sample]

"Levantaré"

[Verse 2]

Yo, what's this? Yo bust this. Yo it's time to uplift

They think all we do is bust clips and puff splifs

And plush whips and clutch chips and touch chicks

Flaunt rocks like Fort Knox and hawk blocks

Taunt cops with more props we want not

Panhandling with your mans and them

Scrambling, gambling, plans to win

While the cops clock 'em, fiends flock 'em

Women watch 'em, traders wanna top 'em

Ay yo what's the problem

Before the narcs knock em obviously playas plot to rob em

The ghetto got 'em, my man said it's rough at the bottom

[Chorus: Sample]

"Levantaré"

[Verse 3]

Ghetto alert, let's do whatever work to get rid of the curse

We went from 1st to America's worst

On this competitive turf, now let's inherit the earth

Let's form plots with one another, and call shots

From 12:00 o'clock 'til the next ball drop

All year around cause we suffer nonstop

You think it's rough at the bottom, it's even rougher on top

My peeps gonna have to reach and turn for me

And everybody's side of the street'll be sunny

Ain't nothing funny, burn plenty of firm honeys

And earn money and watch the century turn 20

[Chorus: Sample]

"Levantaré"

[Verse 4]

We all should, from the woods to the big city and the small hood

Everybody should be welcome to the ball if we all could

But we fall cause we brawl, yo it ain't all good

We need to play right, stay tight with ya air alight

Keep your game tight, no need to play trife

Get cheese from the daylight to the late night

And it's shouldn't take death to appreciate life

Before a lot perish, we got to cherish if Allah let us

Get proper nourish 'til the block flourish

In this metropolis, stay on top of this

You know what the prophet is, be prosperous

[Chorus: Sample]

"Levantaré"

[Verse 5]

Now we networking

Respect the next person, it'll be less hurting

Or left lurkin, while we kept our dreads working

Connect set for certain, total networking

Last chance to advance and stash grands

If you have plans to have fam and mad land

Own shine, condone crime or hold 9s

I know what the problem is, killing our own kind

To my flame throwers, train sober, remain soldiers

Stay sane so these pretty dames can hold us

Terror terrain rollers and Range Rovers so the train goers

Claim your fame, maintain, till your game's over

[Chorus: Sample]

"Levantaré"

[Verse 6]

Ghetto alert, let's do whatever work to get rid of the curse

We went from 1st to America's worst

On this competitive turf, now let's inherit the earth

There's more prize for one another, and call shots

12:00 o'clock 'til the next ball drop

All year around plus they shuffle nonstop

You think it's rough at the bottom, it's even rougher on top

My peeps gonna have to reach and turn for me

And everybody's side of the street'll be sunny

Ain't nothing funny, burn plenty and burn money

And earn money and watch the century turn 20

[Chorus: Sample]

"Levantaré"

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From The Master

1999
Listen
Album
The Master
The Master
Rakim
Release year
1999
  1. —Real Shit
  2. —Uplift
  3. —Finest Ones
  4. —Flow Forever
  5. —I Know
  6. —How I Get Down
  7. —It's a Must
  8. —L.I. interlude
  9. —We'll Never Stop
  10. —Waiting for the World to End
  11. —State of Hip Hop Interlude
  12. —When I B on tha Mic
  13. —Intro (The Master)
  14. —It's the R
  15. —I'll Be There
  16. —Strong Island
  17. —All Night Long
Watch the music video

Rakim — Uplift

Rakim — Uplift
3:10

 

Uplift

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Albums & EPs

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2025

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  8. EARLY (PENDULUM SWING)
  9. EFFECT MODE (LOVE IS THE MESSAGE)
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Credits

Production & Engineering

Writer
Rakim, Ron “Amen-Ra” Lawrence, The Mighty V.I.C.
Producer
Ron “Amen-Ra” Lawrence, The Mighty V.I.C.
Bass
Ron “Amen-Ra” Lawrence
Executive Producer
Dino Delvaille, Rakim
Mixing Engineer
George Karras
Overdub Editor
Ron “Amen-Ra” Lawrence
Percussion
The Mighty V.I.C.
Programmer
The Mighty V.I.C.
Recording Engineer
Adam Hawkins
READ MORE ABOUT RAKIMREAD MORE ABOUT RAKIMREAD MORE ABOUT RAKIMREAD MORE ABOUT RAKIM
READ MORE ABOUT RAKIMREAD MORE ABOUT RAKIMREAD MORE ABOUT RAKIMREAD MORE ABOUT RAKIM
Linkin Park’s Steve Aoki and Rakim collaborations were never opposite experiments
Features

Linkin Park’s Steve Aoki and Rakim collaborations were never opposite experiments

From ‘A Light That Never Comes’ to Rakim’s bridge on ‘Guilty All the Same’, Linkin Park used collaborators to extend a hybrid approach rather than choose between electronics and heaviness.

28 Sept 2026 • 7:55 am