Released: March 3, 1987

Songwriter: Ced-Gee D Nice KRS-One DJ Scott La Rock

Producer: Boogie Down Productions Ced-Gee

[Intro: Scott La Rock]
Yo what's up Blastmaster KRS-One, this jam is kicking
Word, yo what up D-Nice?
(Yo what's up Scott La Rock?)
Yo man we chilling just funky fresh jam
I want to tell you a little something about us
We're the Boogie Down Productions crew
And due to the fact that no-one else out there knew what time it was
We have to tell you a little story about where we we come from

[Hook]
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx

[Verse 1: KRS-One]
Many people tell me this style is terrific
It is kinda different but let's get specific
KRS-One specialize in music
I'll only use this type of style when I choose it
Party people in the place to be, KRS-One attacks
You got dropped off MCA 'cause the rhymes you wrote was wack
So you think that hip-hop had its start out in Queensbridge
If you pop that junk up in the Bronx you might not live
'Cause you're in

[Hook]
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx

[Verse 2]
I came with Scott La Rock to express one thing
I am a teacher and others are kings
If that's the title they earn, well it's well deserved, but
Without a crown, see, I still burn
You settle for a pebble not a stone like a rebel
KRS-One is the holder of a boulder
Money folder
You want a fresh style let me show ya
Now way back in the days when Hip-Hop began
With Coke LaRock, Kool Herc and then Bam
B-boys ran to the latest jam
But when it got shot up they went home and said, "Damn!"
There's got to be a better way to hear our music every day
B-boys getting blown away but coming outside anyway
They tried again outside in Cedar Park
Power from a street light made the place dark
But yo, they didn't care, they turned it out
I know a few understand what I'm talking about
Remember Bronx River, rolling thick
With Kool DJ Red Alert and Chuck Chillout on the mix
When Afrika Islam was rocking the jams
And on the other side of town was a kid named Flash
Patterson and Millbrook projects
Casanova all over, ya couldn't stop it
The Nine Lives Crew, the Cypress Boys
The real Rock Steady taking out these toys
As odd as it looked, as wild as it seem
I didn't hear a peep from a place called Queens
It was '76 to 1980
The dreads in Brooklyn was crazy
You couldn't bring out your set with no Hip-Hop
Because the pistols would go *shots*
So why don't you wise up, show all the people
In the place that you are wack
Instead of tryna take out LL
You need to take your homeboys off the crack
'Cause if you don't, well then
Their nerves will become shot
And that would leave the job up to my own Scott La Rock
And he's from

[Hook]
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx
South Bronx, the South South Bronx

[Outro]
The human TR-808, D-Nice
The poet, the Blastmaster KRS-ONE
The Grand Incredible DJ Scott La Rock
Boogie... Down... Productions
Fresh for '86, you suckers!

Boogie Down Productions

Coming from and named after the “Boogie Down” Bronx, BDP originally consisted of rapper KRS-One (the “Blastmaster”), DJ Scott La Rock, and the “human TR-808”, beat-boxer D-Nice (all pictured above). The personnel and subject matter would change over the years of the group’s existence. They would move from being gangster rap pioneers with their classic debut album, 1987’s Criminal Minded to a more positive and Afrocentric focus on later albums like the 1990 release Edutainment.

While BDP is no longer extant, group leader KRS-One continues to release albums, perform, and even write books.