Released: March 17, 1994

Featuring: Q-Tip

Songwriter: MCA (Rom) Mike D Ad-Rock Q-Tip

Producer: Beastie Boys Mario Caldato Jr.

[Intro: Q-Tip]
Heh heh heh
Uh uh uh uh uh uh-ah
Uh eh eh uh (Woo!)
(Aah) Ooh (Oh) ee (Ah) ah (Eh) ooh (Eh, eh)

[Verse 1]

[Q-Tip]
One-two, one-two, keep it on
Listen to the shit because we keep it 'til dawn
Listen to the Abstract, got it going on
Listen to the ladies, come on and let me spawn
On your eggs, then you go up the river
Listen to the Abstract, that freaky nigga

[Ad Rock]
Now I'm Ad Rock and I shock and I tick and I tock
And I can't stop with the body rock

[Mike D]
See, I've got heart like John Starks
Hitting mad sparks
Pass me the mic and I'll be rockin' the whole park

[MCA]
Well, I'm the M to the C to the A and it's a must
The rhymes that we bust on the topic of lust

[Q-Tip]
And my Moms is not butt, but fuck it
Let me get down to the rhythm
Yes, I get funky and I'm shooting all my jism
Like John Holmes, the X-rated nigga
Listen to the shit cause I am the ill figure
Nobody's getting any bigger than this

[Chorus: Q-Tip]
Get it together
Get-get it together
Get...
Phone is ringing, oh my God
Get it together, see what's happening

[Verse 2]

[Q-Tip]
Ad Rock's down with the Ione
Listen to the shit cause both of them is bony
Gotta do it like this, like Chachi and Joanie

[Ad Rock]
Cause she's the cheese and I'm the macaroni
So why all the fight and why all the fuss?
'Cause ha, I ain't got no dust
Yeah, you know I'm getting silly
Got a Grandma Hazel and a Grandma Tilly

[Mike D]
Well, I'm the Grand Royal prez and I'm also a member
Born on the cusp in the month of November
I do the Patty Duke, in case you don't remember
Well, I freak a funky beat like the shit was in a blender

[MCA]
Well, I'm long gone, word is bond
Don't need a motherfuckin' fool to tell me right from wrong
I don't think I'm slick nor do I play like I'm hard
But I'm-a drive the lane like I was Evan Bernard

[Ad Rock]
And I be working on my game

[Mike D]
Because life is taxing

[MCA]
Gotta get it together

[All 3]
And see what's happening

[Chorus: Q-Tip]
Get it together
Wait a minute, wait a minute (Get)
Wait a minute, (Get it) wait a minute
Get it together
Wait a minute, (Get) wait a minute (Get-get)
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Get it together
Wait a minute, wait a minute
S-see what's happening

[Verse 3]

[Q-Tip]
I go One-Two like my name was Biz Mark
But I had to do the shit, just let me embark
On the lyric and the noun and the verb
Let me kick the shit off cause, yo, I'm not the herb

[Mike D]
Well, it's not the herb but the spice with the flavor to spare
The Moog with the funk for your derriere
While we're on that topic, yes, I like to mention
When it comes to bonin' - woo! - I'm representing

[MCA]
Spacin', zonin', talkin' on the phone and
My brain is roamin' and I don't know where it's goin'
Talking lots of shit, a little tweaking on the weekend (what?)
I gotta to get him by the reins because I know that I'm freaking (yeah)

[Ad Rock]
Well, I'm a funky soul and I'm a Scorpio
And when I get my flow I'm Dr. On-the-Go
So, Q-Tip, what you on the mic for?

[Q-Tip]
Because I had to talk about the times when I rhyme
And when the MC's come in my face, I'm like mace
Because I back them off with the quills
'Cause I have to tell you, nigga, 'cause I'll keep you under prills
Resting on Nine-One-One Sixteenth Ave., off the Farmers Boulevard (yeah)

[Ad-Rock]
Well I'm from Manhattan, MCA's from Brooklyn
Yeah, MCA, your shit be cookin'

[MCA]
Praying mantis on the court and I can't be beat
But, yo, Tip, what's up with the boots on your feet?

[Q-Tip]
Got the Timbos on the toes and this is how it goes
Oh, one-two, oh my god
One-two, oh my god

[Mike D]
I got some shit
I've got the kung fu grip behind my green trap kit
Never, ever, ever smoking crack

[Q-Tip]
Never, ever, ever fucking wack
I eat the fuckin' pineapple Now & Laters
Listen to me now, don't listen to me later
Fuck it, 'cause I know I didn't make it fuckin' rhyme for real
But, yo, technically I'm as hard as steel

[Outro]
Gonna get it together, watch it
Gonna get it together, Ma Bell
I'm like Ma Bell, I got the ill communication
Ma Bell, Got the ill communication
Ma Bell, Got the ill communications (Who's that?)
Ma Bell, Got the ill communication (word 'em up, word-word 'em up)
Ma Bell
Eh-eh
Ah-ah-ha-ha
Keep it on and on

Beastie Boys

The Beastie Boys is a groundbreaking, pioneering, Grammy award winning rap group from New York City that has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. The group has been inactive since the death of founding member Adam “MCA” Yauch in 2012. According to Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer, the name came from the code word ‘beast’, which was yelled whenever a policeman arrived as musicians were selling drugs outside a record shop that doubled as a rehearsal space for bands in the early 1980s.

Originally a punk rock band named The Young Aborigines consisting of Yauch, Kate Shellenbach, Michael “Mike D” Diamond and John Berry, the band renamed themselves Beastie Boys and released the Polly Wog Stew EP shortly before Berry’s exit in 1982. Berry was replaced by Adam “Ad-rock” Horowitz and the band recorded a disco-joke parody of Malcolm McLaren’s “Buffalo Gals” titled “Cookie Puss” the following year. Producer Rick Rubin took an interest in the song, envisioning the group as ‘the first white rap group’ – but without Schellenbach. Rubin founded Def Jam Records soon after and signed the group as a trio.

Their first rap single, 1984’s “Rock Hard”, featured an uncleared sample of AC/DC’s “Back In Black” and was promptly recalled. However, its b-side “Beastie Revolution” was used without authorization in a British Airways commercial, resulting in a $40,000 settlement that the band used to embark upon a full-time rap career.