KRS-One

Released: December 21, 2020

Songwriter: KRS-One

Producer: Mlody

Ima tell you the truth though (Really?)

I like to read a lot
Books be uplifting me
Words help you see a lot
This book was a gift to me
Chuck D presents this day in rap and hip-hop history
It's a reference book and puts important dates in lists for me
Jammelle Shabaz and Tom
A photographic history of hip hop from way way back
His martha gupa's hip hop father, charlie ahern wild style
And fifty cents fifty and more I used to read this to my child

Sometimes I look at my library and I'll smile
Cause if I can't find it on the shelf
I know it's there
Meanwhile, there's other books without the hooks and out looks
I like to cook so I'll read about cooks, I can't live without books
I like books, I recite books, I even write books a lot
Science and rap, ruminations, gospel of hip hop
But let me spit a quick list, a book list, that's really short
The first book that you should get is really a passport
Travel, that's key. But the books cannot lie
Unlock your mind by reading lines of new topics
Place your optics on books of real black knowledge
Beginning with prodigy Woodson, I'm paying homage
His book, Mis-Education of the Negro is essential
For freeing your mind from the slavery that's mental
Turn up this instrumental, you ain't dealing with an amateur
I'm reading Walter Rodney How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
That's the man to thank, high pray
Let's look at The Birth of Black America by Andrew Frank
Take that to the bank
Let me rock again, hip-hop again
Check out Africa: Mother of Western Civilization by Yosef Ben-Jochannan
Check out Black Man of the Nile again by Yosef Jochannan
Civilization or Barbarism by Cheikh Anta Diop and then
Black Indians by William Loren Katz, take it back
Anything by Dr. Cornel West, you need to go get that
Michael Eric Dyson, all his books, go get all of that
Henry Louis Gates, PBS, show support for that
I'm like (??) go with the almanac, books I got the tallest stack
The Brooklyn Public Library, yeah that's where I started at
I read up everything, every book I that I can see
While these others went to college, I got my knowledge for free
Philosophy, Theology, Paleoanthropology
Mythology, economy, I studied these subjects entirely for free
They was free!
You got to see me
It was free! Open your eyes and see! It was free!
You've got to see
Good things in life are free
Don't waste your money

The legendary MC from the South Bronx, New York, Lawrence “KRS-One” Parker has been steadily rapping since 1985. His name stands for “Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone”.

KRS came to rapping only by chance. In the Something from The Art of Rap documentary, he recalls watching an MC cypher when suddenly “a dude” randomly picked him out of the crowd and made fun of him. Feeling compelled to defend himself, KRS performed a little freestyle which impressed the crowd and eventually kicked off his rapping career.

His breakthrough onto the hip hop scene began with “The Bridge Is Over” – an answer record to the popular Queens rapper MC Shan’s song “Queensbridge”. From 1986 to 1992, KRS-One fronted the groundbreaking hip hop group Boogie Down Productions, scoring six top 20 hits on the US Rap Chart. In 1993, he began a solo career spanning three decades, racking up six more top 20 Rap Chart hits with “Sound of da Police”, “MCs Act Like They Don’t Know”, “Step Into A World” and “Men Of Steel” also achieving mainstream pop success on the Hot 100.

more tracks from the album

Between Da Protests [Extended Edition]

From the albums

Between Da Protests [Extended Edition] (2020)
Between Da Protests (2020)

KRS-One popular songs

Free (The Book Song)KRS-One

KRS-One

Between Da Protests [Extended Edition]