Album: "Legend Of The Liquid Sword" (2002)
I keep your heart is PZA-pumping, the beat is GZA-jumping
The crowd get wild off my style, they want something
The herds start stomping the promoters that be fronting
They sue for Cash Rule but the courts they give 'em nothing
Your soundman came with the feedback like "we need that"
Security's shining flashlights like "where the weed at?"
Stay in your place, see you guys smoke blowing...
GZA - Auto Bio
Album: "Legend Of The Liquid Sword" (2002)
I was born, with the mic in my hand
Then I took it from Medina, to the S.I. land
I pulled up on the block, go out the truck, it was the first of pit stops
The era of the spinnin' tops, the birth of hip hop
That was somethin' I had identified with
So I made it my point to exploit this fly gift then
Myself and RZA made trips to the B.X.
A mass of ferocious M.C.'s and talent T-Rex
Giants...
GZA - Intro (performed by Young Justice)
Album: "Legend Of The Liquid Sword" (2002)
[GZA's son Young Justice]
It was the summer of '77.
New York was just recovering from the raves due to the blackout.
Hip Hop was young and growing rapidly. It was during that time when my father would oftent make journeys accross the waters. From Shaolin on his way to the place where many say this art form started. The ferry, or the boat, as most called it, was a floatin' forum, for...
GZA - Outro (feat. La the Darkman, Timbo King)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
[La the Darkman]
Yeah, killa, The GZA, La
Live, yeah, what yo
My clan is like USA the way we conquer
Lay back, grow more chocolate than Willy Wonka
Stomp ya, till your head bleed, your mouth bleed
Runnin wit the heart of slave that's been freed
Triple Darkness, wild like a killer from Sparfit
Heartless, trained to hit movin targets
Profit, .357 cocked it
Killed you, leave you wit your money...
GZA - Mic Trippin
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
Mic trippin, from rock skipping
Off the local brooks, not knowing
Heavy weight, throwin vocal hooks
Ryming off Apache, the Rza scratch thee
Records borrowed from Home Alone kid known as latchkey
Break beat fanatic, crates deep in attics
Forty-fives marked up, looped with static
Rap ring heavy, each link in my chain, trucks Chevy
Flare ripped from the magic lair, of medley
But deadly I merge...
GZA - Stringplay (Like This, Like That) (feat. Method Man)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
[Method Man]
Uh, and it goes like this
Uh uh uh uh, it goes like that
Now let me tell you who I am
Up early in the morning, dressed in black
Who dat? [echoes]
[Genius/GZA]
Yo, yo, Marvel this theatrical, drama on stage
Broadway classical, led men to rage
Like currents, the beat change and now a flow is strange
You in the arctic wit wolves that viciously main
Thugs that roam clubs, in the dark...
GZA - Feel Like An Enemy (feat. Hell Razah, Killah Priest, Trigga, Prodigal Sunn)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
[Hell Razah]
Yeah, yeah yo
I'm like a whirlwind spinnin wit words of wisdom
In the ghetto only promised a hearse and system
We complete like the solar system
Play your space, I get hungry off of treble and bass and beat breaks
Everyday be a court date recorded on tape
Hell Raizah grab the mic and send your show to a wake
Cut off a snakehead the same way I cut off dead weight
We negotiate wit...
GZA - Publicity
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
Who be first to catch this beat down? My rappages be the source
Ego trip remain victory, and no loss
Rap sheet show you details of wars in streets
Where the most live, catch vibe and blaze heat
Double XL kings who rush through, got right on
Quick to stress ya, sound crew to get a mic on
Math lets the plates spin consecutive hits,
Promoters' face grin the dawn catch fist,
Keep the paper direct...
GZA - Victim (feat. Joan Davis, Njeri Earth)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
[Joan Davis:]
Just another victim
of the... victim
of the ghetto
Just another victim
that's how it goes
ooh
[GZA:]
Heavy foot traffic jam the hallway all day
Adolescence workin for small pay
World so little, he could never leave his block
His home full of riddle, so he always need his glock
He coast with his eye open, keep his metal smokin
Young wasted minds, fiendin on dimes, cokin
Forgot...
GZA - Skit #4
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
A gun is made in America every 6 seconds.
30% of families with children keep loaded guns in the home.
In the United States more than ten children are killed by handguns every day.
Guns are weapons. Don't destroy our children's lifes!
Gary Grice (born August 22, 1966), better known by his stage names Gza (stylized GZA) and The Genius, is an American hip hop artist and founding member of...
GZA - 1112 (feat. Masta Killa, Killah Priest, Njeri Earth)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
[GZA:]
Bobby said, "Fuck spendin 50 on a whip, buy a clip"
Mental flip, we got a thousand tracks thought on a chip
Said he had mad toys to make noise
You split and separate drums like asteroids
The concerned producer sampled this question
Hit him with the beat for the answer, with extra compression
When sound travel, it quickly grab you
And equalizes the pitch up, until it have you
Bugged out,...
GZA - Skit #3
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
"I'm tired of watching people around me get all the good jobs at record labels while I go on interview after interview only to be passed over for someone less qualified but better connected."
"At the Institute of the Music Industry we can teach you all you need to know about how to get a full-time job in the music industry, whether it's A&R, publicity, promotions or marketing, IMI can hook...
GZA - Hip Hop Fury (feat. RZA, Hell Razah, Timbo King, Dreddy Kruger)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
[RZA:]
You crunchy chump crabs get crumbled up like crack rock
fuck wit the Wu we bustin ya whole snot box
Throw ya right ear and ya bitch up in a zip lock
Spazzola to ya fury form of hip hop
[Hell Razah:]
Here's something to advertise, promote it keep the fan satisfied
Load data for the disc drive, ghetto citywide
Leave em paralyzed, they stolen every word I provide
Without no clearence,...
GZA - High Price, Small Reward (feat. Masta Killa)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
[GZA]
I wiped the chrome off wit the dust cloth
'Fore I bust off
What's the cause, life loss, high price to pay
For a small reward, kill for that Bushwick and Horsely broad
I provided the jump cables, through to boost the mini-pack
Based on the drama unfolding in a track
I don't hold back, I spare no one
Swords swing like shogun, now who want it?
You see the truth, then act upon it
Or feel...
GZA - Breaker, Breaker
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
Breaker, breaker, one nine, clear the line
Can you read me? Extorted your rhymes
MC's should expect the worst
But stay alert and shoot first
This is not a test, it's difficulty
Picture closely, the ignorant mostly
Blind, deaf, dumb, your mind left numb
Lost soul who failed to hear the roll of the drum
In the bottom of your bomb shelter, still felt the
Heavy blast that blew off the mask of...
GZA - Crash Your Crew (feat. RZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
[RZA]
Eh yo...
Turn my shit up son too
Yo
[GZA]
You know exactly what I'm talking about,
Y'know?
[Ol' Dirty Bastard]
I'm gonna crash your crew [x8]
[GZA]
Left drink wine, from the purist grapevine
An' rhyme out the mutherfucking mind
Metal shine, light blind, cut the mic line
Catch juice from the (land fo[?])
15 twenty inch woofers blow the manhole
Made the street crack, master feedback
(Allah...
GZA - Skit #2
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
Today's feature story:
The New York Police Department now has the authority to enforce a shoot to kill policy, that will allow officers to utilize the probable cause statement previously applied to not so random searches. Leaders from the African American and Latino communities are outraged at this new policy, stating that the police department has consistently targetted minorities, using the...
GZA - Skit #1
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
You no longer have to stand in front of me to feel my presence, to reach out and touch me,
to offer not only words of support but a comforting hand.
Live my experiences from one thousand miles away.
Feel sand pour out of your hands on the beach in Hawai'i from a subway station in New York.
Share my pain, my joy, my triumphs, and failures.
You don't have to be there to be here.
The Seven...
GZA - Beneath The Surface (feat. Killah Priest, Res, Santigold)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
On a man-made lake, there's a sheet of thin ice
Where unskilled skaters couldn't figure-8 twice
At 16, uncut, direct from the cult
Head on assault, the result, death by the bolt
In a vote, it spoke about the average loss commission
That was seen by a king in a prophetic vision
Like a plane crash from a bomb blast
Special broadcast, slot time with con cash
It kept the jury quiet and now a riot...
GZA - Amplified Sample
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
[Verse:]
The amplified sample, will trample, the leading cancel
That vacate your vessel
Guide this, strenuous as an arm wrestle
Move swift as light, a thousand years in one night
Then flight with insight
Everything I thought of, I saw it happen
Then I rose from the soil to sun blacken
Then came rao czars, left tracks and scarred
A pair of brightness of exploding stars
Gave me goods to taste
No...
GZA - Intro (Beneath The Surface)
Album: "Beneath The Surface" (1999)
As untold truths threaten our existence and reality is cloaked with images of corruption,
In the depths of the cavern of the mind comes another jewel
from the man who brought you "Liquid Swords"
The director of "Shadowboxin'", "4th Chamber" and "Cold World"
He now takes you... Beneath The Surface
Gary Grice (born August 22, 1966), better known by his stage names Gza (stylized GZA) and The...
GZA - B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) (feat. Killah Priest)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
The Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth [3X]
[Chorus: repeat 2X]
Life is a test many quest the universe
And through my research, I felt the joy and the hurt
The first shall be last, and the last shall be first
The basic instructions before leaving Earth
[Verse 1:]
Knowledge this wisdom, this goes back when I was twelve
I loved doing right, but I was trapped in hell
Had mad ideas, sad eyes...
GZA - I Gotcha Back (feat. RZA)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Chorus: GZA and RZA]
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggaz that front, they be pullin stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggaz who front (they be pullin stunts)
I was always taught my do's and don'ts
For do's I did, and for don'ts, I said I won't
I'm from Brooklyn, a place where stars are born
Streets are shot up, apartment buildings...
GZA - Swordsman
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Chorus:]
When a motherfucker steps out his place
And gets slapped in his motherfuckin face
Just because the motherfucker tried to base
The g.o.d., the g.o.d.
And while I see his whole click passes by
Motherfuckers think they qualify
And for those niggaz want to try
The g.o.d., the g.o.d.
[Verse 1:]
Yo
I'm not caught up in politics
I'm no black activist on a so-called scholar's dick
I come through...
GZA - Investigative Reports (feat. U-God, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Intro/Outro: U-God]
(here we go, come on)
(a, a battle was fought, in brooklyn...)
(hessian soldiers killed 3,000 men; much of the fighting
Took place in what is now prospect park in greenwood cemetary,
As well as the park slope and gowanas neighborhoods.)
(this was the first battle, of america.)
Rugged rhymsters, crooked crimesters
Dime droppers, twenty-five-to-lifers
Backstabbers, low blowers
Illegal......
GZA - Hell's Wind Staff / Killah Hills 10304 (feat. RZA, Masta Killa, Dreddy Kruger)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Killah Hills intro features RZA, Ol Dirty Bastard, and "Grey Ghost"]
(...the skill of Shaolin)
[RZA:] Yes the good life, you know [clinks glass]
[GZA:] What the fuck is that, hell's angels?
[Ol Dirty singing in the background]
(Ahh Mr. Bobby Steels, Tony Starks on line one for Mr. Bobby Steels)
[RZA:] Steels over here, Steels over here
Peace, Starks what's going on baby?
Yeah everything is lovely...
GZA - Shadowboxin' (feat. Method Man)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Intro: Method Man/Johnny Blaze]
(special technique) Fuck that
(special technique of shadowboxing) God damn
(The GZA, god damn!)
(The GZA, god damn!) Pledge allegiance to the hip-hop!
(Method, god damn!) I pledge allegiance to the hip-hop
(Maximilli-on, Maximilli-on)
(Uh, yeah, ahh, uh) Johnny Blaze
I pledge allegiance to the hip-hop
(Johnny Blaze) Maximilli-on
Maximilli-on
[Verse 1: Method Man/Johnny...
GZA - 4th Chamber (feat. Ghostface Killah, Killah Priest, RZA)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Intro: LP version only, taken from the movie "Shogun Assassin" (1980)]
Choose the sword, and you will join me
Choose the ball, and you join your mother... in death
You don't understand my words, but you must choose
[baby gurgling]
So... come boy, choose life or death
[Verse 1: Ghostface Killah]
The only man a hoe wait for
is the sky-blue Bally kid, in '83, rocked Taylor's
My Memorex performed tape...
GZA - Labels (feat. RZA, Masta Killa)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Intro: RZA]
Lot of people, you know what I'm sayin, they be gettin misinformed
Thinkin everything is everything, that you could just get yourself
A little deal, whatever, youknowhati'msayin you gonna get on you
Gonna get rich. and all these labels be trying to lure us in like
Spiders, into the web, knowhati'msaying. so sometimes people gotta
Come out and speak up, and let people understand, that...
GZA - Cold World (feat. Life, Inspectah Deck)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Intro: (first three lines LP only)]
I had a bad dream
Don't be afraid, bad dreams are only dreams
What a time you chose to be born in...
[Life]
Babies crying brothers dying and brothers getting knocked
Shit is deep on the block and you got me locked down
in this cold, cold world...
[GZA]
It was the night before New Year's, and all through the fucking projects
Not a handgun was silent, not even...
GZA - Gold (feat. Method Man)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Intro: Method Man]
Aiyyo shorty, yo that's my word
Oh, y'all smellin y'all piss now y'all think y'all gold
Yo anybody get caught playin
Over here, I'm returnin em that's my word that they be blasted
Anything from two-twenty to one-forty, that's mine
Y'all need to step the fuck off
Y'all niggaz ain't crazy for real
[Chorus: Genius]
Yo, the fiends ain't comin fast enough
There is no cut that's pure...
GZA - Living In The World Today (feat. RZA, Method Man)
Album: "Liquid Swords" (1995)
[Intro: RZA]
Yo (yeah) check it out son, check it out son
Yo, (wu, can I get a soo) live in the place to be
You got the capital g
G to the a-m-c
Givin a mad shout out to the ranch crew from the old school
And we gonna take y'all back, knowhati'msayin?
Lyrical sorcerors right here, the fathers, the cream of the crop son
(yo check it)
[Chorus: The Genius]
Well if you livin in the world today
You...