Follow the leader

[00:27.76] Follow me into a solo, get in the flow

[00:30.03] And you can picture like a photo

[00:31.53] Music mix, mellow maintains to make

[00:33.52] Melodies for emcees, motivates the breaks

[00:34.81] I'm everlasting, I can go on for days and days

[00:37.78] With rhyme displays that engrave deep as x-rays

[00:40.28] I can take a phrase that's rarely heard

[00:42.28] Flip it - now it's a daily word

[00:44.77] I can get iller than 'Nam, I kill and bomb

[00:46.82] But no alarm - Rakim'll remain calm

[00:49.28] Self-esteem makes me super, superb and supreme

[00:51.28] But for a microphone, still I fiend

[00:53.28] This was a tape, I wasn't supposed to break

[00:56.54] I was supposed to wait, but let's motivate

[00:57.03] I want to see you keep following and swallowing

[00:58.53] Taking and making, biting and borrowing

[01:02.55] Brothers tried and others died to get the formula

[01:04.28] But I'mma let you sweat, you still ain't warm, you a

[01:06.52] Step away from frozen, stiff as if you're posing

[01:08.52] Dig into my brain as the rhyme gets chosen

[01:10.78] So follow me and while you're thinking you were first

[01:13.03] Let's travel at magnificent speeds around the universe

[01:15.28] What could you say as the Earth gets further and further away

[01:17.27] Planets as small as balls of clay

[01:19.78] Astray into the Milky Way, worlds out of sight

[01:21.76] Far as the eye can see not even a satellite

[01:23.78] Now stop and turn around and look

[01:26.06] As you stare in the darkness, your knowledge is took

[01:28.28] So keep staring, soon you suddenly see a star

[01:30.78] You better follow it, 'cause it's the R

[01:32.78] This is a lesson if you're guessing and if you're borrowing

[01:34.81] Hurry hurry step right up and keep following the leader

[01:54.78] This is a lifetime mission, vision a prison

[01:56.53] Aight, listen

[01:59.26] In this journey you're the journal, I'm the journalist

[02:01.28] Am I eternal? Or an eternalist?

[02:03.52] I'm about to flow long as I can possibly go

[02:05.78] Keep you moving 'cause the crowd said so

[02:07.78] Dance! Cuts rip your pants

[02:09.78] Eric B on the blades bleeding to death, call the ambulance

[00:00.00] Pull out my weapon and start to squeeze

[00:00.00] A magnum as a microphone, murdering emcees

[00:00.00] Let's quote, a rhyme from a record I wrote

[00:00.00] (Follow the leader) Yeah, dope

[00:00.00] 'Cause every time I stop it seems you're stuck

[00:00.00] As soon as you try to step off you self-destruct

[00:00.00] I came to overcome before I'm gone

[00:00.00] By showing and proving and letting knowledge be born

[00:00.00] Then after that I live forever. You disagree?

[00:00.00] You say never? Then follow me

[00:00.00] From century to century, you'll remember me

[00:00.00] In history, not a mystery or a memory

[00:00.00] God by nature, mind raised in Asia

[00:00.00] Since you was tricked, I have to raise ya

[00:00.00] From the cradle to the grave

[00:00.00] But remember - you're not a slave

[00:00.00] 'Cause we was put here to be much more than that

[00:00.00] But we couldn't see because our mind was trapped

[00:00.00] But I'm here to break away the chains, take away the pains

[00:00.00] Remake the brains, rebuild my name

[00:00.00] I guess nobody told you a little knowledge is dangerous

[00:00.00] It can't be mixed, diluted, it can't be changed or switched

[00:00.00] Here's a lesson if you're guessing and borrowing

[00:00.00] Hurry, hurry step right up and keep following the leader

[00:00.00] A furified freestyle - lyrics of fury

[00:00.00] My third eye make me shine like jewelry

[00:00.00] You're just a rent-a-rapper, your rhymes are minute-maid

[00:00.00] I'll be here when it fade, I'll watch you flip like a renegade

[00:00.00] I can't wait to break and eliminate

[00:00.00] On every traitor or snake, so stay awake

[00:00.00] And follow and follow because the tempo's a trail

[00:00.00] The stage is a cage, the mic is a third rail

[00:00.00] I'm Rakim, the fiend of a microphone

[00:00.00] I'm not him, so leave my mic alone

[00:00.00] Soon as the beat is felt, I'm ready to go

[00:00.00] So fasten your seatbelt, 'cause I'm about to flow

[00:00.00] No need to speed, slow down and let the leader lead

[00:00.00] Word to daddy...indeed

[00:00.00] The R's a rolling stone, so I'm rolling

[00:00.00] Directions is told then the rhymes are stolen

[00:00.00] Stop buggin' a brother said dig him, I never dug him

[00:00.00] He couldn't follow the leader long enough so I drug him

[00:00.00] Into danger zone he should arrange his own

[00:00.00] Face it, it's basic, erase it change your tone

[00:00.00] There's one R in the alphabet

[00:00.00] It's a one letter word and it's about to get

[00:00.00] More complex from one rhyme to the next

[00:00.00] Eric B. be easy on the flex

[00:00.00] I've been from state to state, followers tailgate

[00:00.00] Keep coming but you came too late, but I'll wait

[00:00.00] So back up, regroup, get a grip, come equipped

[00:00.00] You're the next contestant, clap your hands, you won a trip

[00:00.00] The price is right don't make a deal too soon

[00:00.00] How many notes, can you name this tune?

[00:00.00] Follow the leader is a title/theme/task

[00:00.00] Now you know, you don't have to ask

[00:00.00] Rap is Rhythm and Poetry, cuts create sound effects

[00:00.00] You might catch up if you follow the records E wrecks

[00:00.00] Until then keep eating and swallowing

[00:00.00] You better take a deep breath and keep following the leader