Back on the Block (Q vs 808)

Ice-T, let me kick my credential
A young player bred in South Central
L.A., home of the bodybag
You wanna die to wear the wrong color rag
I used to walk in stores and yell, "Lay down!"
You flinch an inch, AK spraydown
But I was lucky 'cause I never caught the hard times
I was blessed with the skill to bust a dope rhyme
All my homies died or caught the pen so
Lost their diamonds, cops towed their Benzos
Livin' that life that we thought was it
Fast lanin', but the car flipped
I'm not gonna lie to you 'cause I don't lie
I just kick thick games, some people say "Why?"
'Cause I'm back on the block, I got my life back
So I school the fools about the fast track
I get static from the sound of my technique
Profanity, the bloody way in which I speak
But the dude knows the streets ain't no kiddie game
You don't know the dude? Quincy's his first name
He told me, "Ice, keep doin' what you're doin', man
Don't give a damn if the squares don't understand
You let 'em tell you what to say and what to write
Your whole career'll be over by tomorrow night
Rap from your heart and your heart's with the street
Rap on my record, man, come in, go send Ice the beat"
The dude is definitely back, what can I say?
The man can roll with Ice-T, a mic check

Back, back on the block
Back, back on the block
Back on the block
So we can rock it with the soul
Rhythm and blues, bebop and hip-hop
Back on the block, back on the block

I'm back on the block, on the screen, I'm on the wax
I'm on the stage, I'm on the scene
I'm on the case just like an attorney
The dude took me on a magic journey
To dance in France, a thong in Rome, born on farmlands in Nebraska
The cold of Alaska, the heat of the motherland
To be with my brother band
On top of a snow-capped mountain I'm scoutin'
What another man saw in a race of people
To see him givin' life for the price of diesel
The highest wisdoms, the richest kingdoms
The Song of Songs, we heard David sing them
He showed me me when I was young and hung out
He showed me makin' love, he done showed me strung-out
He showed me pumpin' iron, standin' on the Rock
But tears came to my eyes when he showed me my block

Stoke is just stoking, mama (Stoke is stoking)
And one by one each woman he kisses
He's kissing and she will fall in love)
Stoke is just stoking, you know (Stoke is stoking)
'Til someone shows that they have enough
Ain't nothing wrong about stoking, 'cause)
Some say they can't take it no more
Coming in, coming in hard, 'cause)
But who did not come through this for
Stoking? (Back on the block to stay)
Some say he ain't gonna be with us
Coming back, coming back to the street)
But do he know you'll never forget us? (Back on the block to stay)

Back up and give a brother room to let poetry bloom
To whom it may concern or consume
As I reminisce before this the bliss did exist
But now he brought about a twist
'Cause I remember reasons of my people bleedin'
Put through slavery and killed for bravery
We shoulda got our freedom much sooner
You never seen a Black man on The Honeymooners
But now somehow we've learned to earn to close the show
The elevation of our people built it so
Jesse Jackson, Miss America, a Black one
No more livin' for just a small fraction
I was once told by the dude that knowledge is a food
To nourish, so I took the clue
This from an Asiatic descendant, Big Daddy is shot
To cue me back on the block

Back, back on the block
Back, back on the block
Back on the block
So we can rock it with the soul
Rhythm and blues, bebop and hip-hop
Back on the block, back on the block

An everlasting omnipresence is my present
State of being, seeing the unpleasant
Sight of righteous souls, live like peasants
The mind starts growth in adolescence
My insight enables me to enlight
The weakest of minds and I put 'em in flight
As I transcend the ascent of descent
Recreate, reincarnate and reset
The powerful scripts of our ancestors
For those that don't know how God blessed us
Because man messed up the media best up
Lies perpetrated as truth and it left us confused
But I've seen it all before
From Babylon to the Third World War
I'm more than a man, I'm more like an entity
Back on the block, and this time my identity's the dude

Stoke is just stoking, mama (Stoke is stoking)
One by one, one by one, my new song
One by one, one by one, my new song)
Stoke is just stoking, you know (Stoke is stoking)
One by one, one by one, my new song
One by one, one by one, my new song)
Ain't no, ain't no, ain't no, ain't no
Coming in, coming in, coming in, no)
No follow, follow, follow, mama (Don't follow, mama, 'cause)
Ain't no, ain't no, ain't no, ain't no
Coming in, coming in, coming in, no)
No follow, follow, follow, follow, follow (Don't follow, mama, 'cause)
(Ohh, ohh, ohh