I Said Hey lyrics - macklemore

Yo, the first time I heard Digital Underground I was in the first grade

My homie Lace brought it over and he dubbed it on a mixtape

I would do the Humpty Hump and perform to his verses

Twelve years later I learned that Shock-G and him were the same person

I loved Hammer, I can't front he taught me how to dance

Along with Bel Biv Devoe I had Jay Ohs and a pair of zebra pants

But this was the foundation of what would come to be

A life long passion journey and drive; an emcee

Some people ask me what it means, I don't know where to start

It's the deepest connection between my soul and my heart

When I first stepped into a cipher and a jam in the park

I got served, no for real I got served

But see I learned something

Observed others and watched

An urged hunger burst, earned a turn at that park.

I don't care who you are, where you're from or what you believe in

But if you love hip hop I bet it's more or less for the same reason

This is it when you spit you exist in that moment

And if you're sick with that gift then you rip it when you perform it

Then all the shit that you live begins to lift up your shoulders

And the audience well they get to experience where your soul is

The most amazing feeling, rocking the crowd to your anthem

From the front to the back with their motha fuckin' hands up

'Cause I'm an emcee, won't be the first won't be the last

Just another b-boy and I'm a die in my stance

If you got a pen and a pad put your heart down

If you got a record and can crab lay a scratch down

If you got a marker and a can bomb your art now

If you got a floor and you're fast kick that I'll style

If you got a pen and a pad put your heart down

If you got a record and can crab lay a scratch down

If you got a marker and a can bomb the whole damn town

But if you live for hip hop don't ever put your hands down

Don't put your hands down, keep that shit up

We're goin' to rock it like this, do this with me

It goes front, back

Front, back

Front, back

Front, come on

It goes front, back

Front, back

I said front, back

To my people you know it

Now I don't know if it's the clothes, the hoes, or the cars

That makes people rap like they're trapped inside of these bars

This shit ain't complicated man just be who you are

To busy searching for the light and missing the fact that you're a star

Now who's got passion now stand the hell up

'Cause I want to hear somebody rapping who's got it inside their cuts

Or you can get intricate displaying your fancy cadences

But if you're not speaking the truth you might as well not be saying shit

I said who's going to teach the kids?

You'd rather blow up and get famous so you can get some new rims

All the money in the world can help you look like a star

But money can't buy you the heart to go and put inside your bars

And I like nice shit too

Believe me, I got a closet full of Nikes and a whole bunch of Lenore suits

They'll give you the white tees and the icy earring like the whole youth,

Population of hip hop but look beyond it when I record through,

These beats 'cause if I don't speak me

What's the difference between my lyrics and what you hearin' on MTV

People fear that if they're steering away from the mainstream

Then their album won't sell

Well I could give a fuck

I'm just goin' to freestyle and spit what's in my gut

And if you want to you can go and label me conscious

But remember there's a kid at a bus stop beat boxin'

Who's life will be effected by what's inside of his Walkman

If you got a pen and a pad put your heart down

If you got a record and can crab lay a scratch down

If you got a marker and a can bomb your art now

If you got a floor and you're fast kick that I'll style

If you got a pen and a pad put your heart down

If you got a record and can crab lay a scratch down

If you got a marker and a can bomb the whole damn town

But if you live for hip hop don't ever put your hands down