Released: May 25, 1993

Songwriter: Big Daddy Kane George Clinton Garry Shider David Spradley Doug E. Fresh Ice Cube Eric Sadler Harold Beane William Bell

Producer: Big Daddy Kane

[Verse 1]
It's hell up in Harlem, my main man just caught a bad one
Wetted by a magnum when he didn't have none
That goes to show you that even when you're respected
Brothers'll still try ya if they think you're butt-naked
So, I went uptown to get the low down
To see who made the whole thing go down
Word on the streets had it
Some kids from the Bronx with automatics came to start static
Some new jacks at the game
Try'na to get a name had a point to prove
Wrong move
So I can't wait to get em all straight
It's a big payback when I retaliate
(Whoo) Steam, I gotta let it off
And I can't wait to set it off
To avenge my main man that's gone
And as sure as my name is Kane, word is bond
The beef is on

[Chorus]
(Once again it's on)
[(You got beef)] x 3
(...you better save it for the mothafuckin meat market) x 2

[Verse 2]
It's time to show them how to get hard
Callin' a hit squad and pull all these clown's ciddard
For tryin to friddont and fiddake the middood
But when I get riddude - awesome dude
So I took a little trip to Brooklyn
Bedstuy Do-Or-Die is where I was lookin'
For my boys from Roosevelt, Albany, and Marcy
Plus I got a posse over in Canarsie
I'm talkin' about ill brothers that don't play
They sit around watchin' Scarface all day
So here we go, headed up to they scene
Twenty deep in a van like the A-Team
We rolled up to see what this joint's about
When one of my boys in the van just pointed 'em out
So without delay we reacted
And started shootin' like it was target practice
When they saw that we wasn't messin' around
One tried to run, so I had to chase him down
I caught the kid by the corner store deli
Kicked him in the belly like I was Jim Kelly
I did his jugular vein something violent
Came back to see my crew made the rest silent
We sent fifteen bodies to Trapper John
'Cause the beef was on

(You send your boys in I send em back in a paperbag)

[Verse 3]
Many screamed about a homicide
But when I came to shut em down all the drama died
I plead insanity when I got a jam with me
And we roll like the Corleone family
I bring the boys that'll bring the noise
In the aftermath everything's destroyed
Like a crew of barbarians
And brothers that want beef, I make em vegetarians
So don't even front and try to put it as if you're ruff
Cos soon as I see ya, best believe i'ma call your bluff
And everyone else that tried to press up on me tuff
Have fallen and they can't get up
My game is a ill one
Cos i'm a real one
Lorda mercy
Nuff controversy
A gangster, a con
A pimp and a don
Waitin for the beef to be on

Big Daddy Kane

Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968) better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is a Grammy Award-winning rapper from Brooklyn, New York. He started his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew collective led by producer Marley Marl and rapper Biz Markie. Kane is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MCs in hip-hop, having an impact on respected rappers such as Common, JAY-Z, and The Notorious B.I.G.

He is known for his quick flow and hardcore lyricism on tracks like “Raw” and “Set It Off” as well as the laid-back flow of “Smooth Operator” and “Ain’t No Half Steppin',” along with New Jack Swing dance songs like “I Get the Job Done.” He made appearances in the movies Posse and The Meteor Man, and he won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1991 as a performer on the Quincy Jones track “Back on the Block.”

While he said KANE stood for King Asiatic Nobody’s Equal, BDK also said the following regarding his stage