Released: September 24, 2002

Songwriter: Yasiin Bey

Producer: Kanye West

YO!

[Verse 1]
Good evening ladies and gents, close and distant fam
Let me break it down for ya'll exactly who I am...(CAV)
That brotha straight off of Myrtle Ave
That dude that make the other dude say that's my man, (CAV)
It ain't nuttin' I want I can't have
The haters know it's real and that's why they mad
They struggle so hard while I just lay back
They sound under pressure, sweaty and straight wack
I rock like this because I ain't that, (CAV)
Tell the players I'm taking the game back...
Matta fact tell the coaches, the GMs, and owners
Shut down the stadiums, it's over
I make the cat's in the back draw closer
Get the comp choked up like white folks on Oprah
Yeah you dope, but (CAV) it's more doper
More skill, more style, and more focus
I hit the lab with good shit to smoke up
And tell the sound man where I wanna go from
Blow up, skit sheet across the notepad
School em' all from the drop out to post grads
What history book you do or don't have
There's only two eras of rap, pre and post CAV
Now you know that
Stop the train, there's no place for the game left to go at

[Hook]
Cavee is my name but you can call me, (CAV)
It's all the same abbreviated or whole
Shout it out so it don't be a secret to folk it go, (CAV)
Short for Cavee but I'm not from Cali
I'm from the rotten apple, dirty streets and alleys
Bed-Stuy Brooklyn doin' it exactly, Get at me!!!

[Verse 2]
Holla!!...Like Missy and Ja Rule
Ain't a crowd in the world that CAV cannot move
Hot dude, cats was thinkin' it's not true
But come front row at the show, I got proof
I went from sellin' candy in junior high school
To servin' spoony g for the fiends to gnaw to
Got sent upstate on a bus, (Not cool)
In the yard thinkin' damn should've listen to ma duke
Come home in 99, what the fuck I'm gonna do
I won't move bundles, I got a new hustle
I quit pie baking, started rhyme makin
Buildin' up my rep to be one of the five greatest
And I ain't saying CAV the best nigga out there
But until he appear, I'm sittin' in his chair
And I'mma need a few moments just to get in ya'll ear
To make you forget that dude was ever even here
I got two words for the world: Be prepared
I got three words for your girl: Don't be scared!
And when they ask where the real hip-hop, IT'S OVER HERE!
And when they ask where Brooklyn at, HOLD YA EARS!
It's like YEAH! Chris Antione Vashon
Capricorn hit em' off with the classic bong and then I'm gone...

Ridin' back to Brook-Lan... boyeeeeee

Yasiin Bey

Yasiin Bey, (born Dante Terrell Smith) formerly known by his stage name Mos Def, is an actor and hip hop artist from Brooklyn, New York. He is one of the founding fathers of conscious hip hop and half of the duo Black Star. Beginning in 2012, he ditched his stage name Mos Def in favor of Yasiin Bey,

I began to fear that Mos Def was being treated as a product, not a person, so I’ve been going by Yasiin since ‘99. At first it was just for friends and family, but now I’m declaring it openly.

He made his musical debut in 1998 as a part of Black Star (see Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star), and then released his first solo album in 1999, Black on Both Sides.