Before Hip Hop (Premix) Lyrics – Ice Cube

Read the full Before Hip Hop (Premix) lyrics by Ice Cube along with the music video, song credits, release information and other details about the song.

[Intro: Ice Cube]
Yeah, s*it
The fu*k you talking ’bout?

[Chorus: Ice Cube]
Before hip-hop, n!ggas got shot
Before hip-hop, n!ggas smoked rocks
Before hip-hop, my uncle had a drop
Before hip-hop, homies stood on the block
Before hip-hop, people smoked weed
Before hip-hop, I’ll get you what you need
Before hip-hop, pimping was going

Before hip-hop, b!tches was hoeing

[Verse 1: Ice Cube]
My style is hostile, your style is docile
I pull them Glocks out, forgot to box out
I grab the rebound, I claim to be down
The guppy, he drown ’cause homie’s thee clown
My pronouns will throw rounds, heartbeats will slow down, yeah
Where’s the showdown? Your hood is a ghost town
I’m a Ghostbuster, hit you with the whole cluster
Turn you into mustard, General Custer
Chief Blackfoot kick a black rock
‘Cause somehow they responsible for crack rock
Somehow they wanna blame it on hip-hop
Before I could talk, they used to Crip walk
They used to roll dice, they used to flash ice
Fu*k with a chick, she’ll cut your ass twice
They used to pay the price, they used to go to jail
Hip-hop ain’t the reason why we catching hell

[Chorus: Ice Cube]
Before hip-hop, girls got knocked
Before hip-hop, that pu*sy used to pop
Before hip-hop, they was on molly
Before hip-hop, n!ggas caught a body

[Interlude: Ice Cube]
Hm, s*it
Yeah, right, yeah
What you talking ’bout?

[Verse 2: Ice Cube]
They tell you and me it was lots of unity in the Black community
That s*it is lunacy
They tried to ruin me, got me for my jewelry
What they did to me, police got immunity
Early ’70s, got him for his leather piece
Khakis hella creased, it was lots of jealousy
Boys’ bathroom was like a platoon
The girls’ bathroom was like a saloon
Squabbles all year, September to June
N!ggas on weed, water and shrooms
N!ggas OD’d, had gangs and goons
Down to send a coon (Zoom) straight to the moon
N!ggas would holler “Give me a dollar, n!gga”
He wanted more than a dollar, didn’t take no scholar
Yeah, motherfu*kers had the Chevy Impala
And they crashed out like, “Fu*k you, your honor” (Fu*k you, your honor)
It all happened (B!tch) before they start rapping
If they say I’m lying, motherfu*kers is capping
N!ggas be crying like they was the captain
But I don’t give a fu*k, hand that b!tch a napkin

[Bridge: Ice Cube]
They mad at the mirror, but the mirror don’t lie
Before hip-hop, it was a drive-by
Before hip-hop, n!ggas used to die
Before hip-hop, mamas used to cry
They mad at the mirror, but the mirror don’t lie
Before hip-hop, it was a drive-by
Before hip-hop, n!ggas used to die
Before hip-hop, mamas used to cry

[Chorus: LL Cool J & Ice Cube]
Before Hip Hop, Martin, Mega, Malcolm shot
Before Hip Hop, street profits with choppers and drug spots
Before Hip Hop, heroin flooded parks and back blocks
Before Hip Hop, s*x burned and scorched the world, watch
Before Hip Hop, blood splashing, fascist, food smarts
Before Hip Hop, corporate ba*tards count cash, no heart
Before Hip Hop, fred Hampton got blammed in his own spot
Before Hip Hop, that’s why I don’t give a damn if you understand me or not
Before Hip Hop, I used to dream of selling coke

[Verse 3: LL Cool J & Ice Cube]
Sip of Pepsi on a jet ski, ice like Gretzky, big boats
Slice ’em, food chain, chef it up, Wolfgang
Got the recipe for your destiny, let me explain
No little boy moves
Don’t let them toy with your food
Don’t play with your aims, like a Barbie you can lose
Teach you how to read the room like literary heirlooms
Reading hands like Braille
Corporations for sale, short sighted, tall tales
My people in private jails
While these guppies and kitty guppies acting like born whales
In waters where LL, riptide, farewell
Hard to stay current, only serpents and cartels
Gotta dive deeper, learn to float
Catch a reefer, spotting sharks
After dark, it’s an art, Mona Lisa
(Before Hip Hop) Martin laid in Ebenezer
You lucky I’m rocking parties
Your body be in a freezer

[Verse 4: Chuck D & Ice Cube]
Listen here
Before Hip Hop, brothers still reach for the trunk
It wasn’t just bass, it wasn’t just funk
Sideline for the sidewalks, talking all that junk
Before Hip Hop, they funk you right on up
(Before Hip Hop) We fought until we got taught
The law putting both our black asses in court
(Before Hip Hop) Records still got bought
.33s and .45s, before New York
Crime news at 9, no neighborhood support
(Before Hip Hop) We all still came up short
Before Hip Hop, the cameras, we still got caught
Drank, smoke, told mama jokes
Before Hip Hop, cops, we still got choked
(Before Hip Hop) We still was broke
Before guns, money and that goddamn coke
But don’t blame it on Hip Hop, ’cause we still got hope

[Outro: Ice Cube]
They mad at the mirror, but the mirror don’t lie
Before hip-hop, it was a drive-by
Before hip-hop, n!ggas used to die
Before hip-hop, mamas used to cry