[Intro]
Wait a minute, that was one part of the good old days
But, ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you the entertainer's side of the good old days
See, first of all, you have to imagine yourselves in a club somewhat like this one
And the emcee would be standing in the wings
They'd call him up, hear the drumroll, you'd hear the drumroll
He'd slide to the bandstand, look back at them too
And it might've looked like this, check it out

[Verse: Brother Ali]
We're making a concept album where the songs all have drums
Words make sense when the raps come
We ran with some good cats with bad luck that sold crack once
Packed guns in they backpack like sack lunch
Cassettes bumping Dolomite and Malcolm, the original man
Farrakhan called me Imam and I kissed him on his hand
Give a damn if a critic on Instagram can understand
If you didn't witness the Million Man, then stuck to Riverdance
Been takin' names, kickin' ass, breakin' chains, skippin' class
Bottom line, I was this advanced when you were pissin' pants
Come here a minute
I been here since it was still danger and fear up in it
If you're insincere, you would never feel secure up in it
Clear intention is to honor how my heroes did it
Not mirror image, I'm their descendant
Spirit clear and present, my skin iridescent
Rockin' kufis in a booth at Juneteenth, looked weird, I'm guessing
You, would you care to tell us why you would dare to embellish?
In the '90s, nineteen with my queen, they're very jealous
We thought being fly was eating Chinese in Perry Ellis
Cloth napkin, Nankin at City Center
And then it's higher learning at the Skyway
Splurgin' on a blue-and-white cab ride instead of a number five today, sah-dah-tay
Might I say I live several lives a day
Lot of people grind and save their lives away to find a way
I ain't papered, I'm just sayin' I've been highly favored, mighty grateful
I'd be thankful if I died today and all of y'all forgot my name
Not a single scar or scrape that I would change
But when they read our book of deeds on the final day, nothing more to say
My teachers call me Ali, Yasiin call me habeeb
Babies call me baba and my wifey call me papi
Ant call me Ali's ass, my older family passed
If they were here, I guess they would probably recall me as
Racing Jason with a Big Wheel on vacation
Tryna locate a boombox to pop my tape in
My eyesight ain't great, but I stay focused on this greatness
I don't know what else you want
Just make sure you list me in that lexicon
[Outro]
They'd call him up, hear the drumroll, you'd hear the drumroll
They'd call him up, hear the drumroll, you'd hear the drumroll
They'd call him up, hear the drumroll, you'd hear the drumroll
Hear the drumroll, you'd hear the drumroll
He'd slide to the bandstand
Hear the drumroll