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Step Back - Eric B. & Rakim



     
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Step Back Lyrics


See if you can step to this
(Back to the lab)
Now try to do this step (Back to the lab)
And make sure the pace is kept
And this ain't as smooth as I'ma get
Nice and easy but hard to catch on to
Move with melodies, rhymes to respond to
The mic's in front of me, so you know it's gonna be
Rough and rugged, plus I'm smooth as I wanna be
I'm somethin' like sippin' on Dom Perignon
So absorb the song, til the rhyme's all gone
My beats and speech original, you can't find these
Eighty-nine is mine, so is the nineties
Tellin you what you need to know and more
You're unsure? On tour, I explore
From street to street, to speak, from beat after beat

My cypher's complete, when I build with people I meet
So here's the info straight from the source in fact
Paid the cost to be the boss, step back!
Give me room to exercise the mind
Three-hundred and sixty degrees'll be fine
The weight of the world is what we hold
That's a six, followed by twenty-one zeroes
Six ? sums is a lot of weight
My truth is the strength and my thought won't break
What it take, concentration, to rebuild our
Nation but we got to have mind power
And we can make it work, because I know we can
And if somethin' go wrong, make another plan
It's up to us, so strive and be wise and
When we reach the top, don't stop risin'
And I'll keep comin' up with more of
The most requested songs that you all love
Reach out and touch the mic, take control
Still gettin' "Paid" and I still got "Soul"
And the only thing I ever wanted you to follow was poetry
Mind takes X-rays, so listen closely
From the darkness came the light, clear out of a dark night
Now I'm here to spark the mic
Send out truth, for other groups and substitutes
With run-on rhymes and weak dubs and loops
They'd rather hear the arsonist, they insist
No need to reminisce, see if you can step to this
(Back to the lab)
Step back
(Back to the lab)
(Back to the lab, without a mic to grab)
So just step
(Back to the lab)
(Back to the lab, without a mic to grab)
Just step, the rhymes create energy
Charged up, by the cut, and it's sendin' me
For a trip through the mind so I can locate
A laid back rap at a slow rate
It ain't hard at all, cause I invented it
As the days go on, you hear them with it
Brother bustin' braincells, thinkin' of a rap
With the same old style, we had enough of that
We all need somethin' to step to
And don't forget to, cause I won't let you
Dance without hopin' that this come on next
And if it go off, the DJ can't flex
Cause here's the tempo, I'ma regulate the pace
Here's the step, go find some space
And what we gonna do is in unison, kick!
Shake your head, you're influenced with music
By now you're intoxicated, cause I prove I made it
The pep your step so soon you get rejuvenated
From side to side, you pause and clap
But if you came to rap (step back)
(Back to the lab, without a mic to grab)
(Back to the lab, without a mic to grab)
(Back to the lab)
---
Lyrics powered by lyrics.tancode.com
written by Griffin, William / Barrier, Eric
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Royalty Network

Enjoy the lyrics !!!
Eric B. & Rakim were a hip-hop duo from New York City, New York, United States composed of DJ Eric Barrier (born November 8, 1965) and MC Rakim (born William Michael Griffin Jr.). The duo went on to release 4 studio albums with their 1987, Paid In Full being regarded as one the most influential albums in Hip Hop. In 1988, they released their second album titled, Follow The Leader. They later continued two release two more albums in 1990, Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em and in 1992, Don't Sweat The Technique in which they went on to split in that same year.

Eric B. & Rakim were almost universally recognized as the best DJ & MC duo. Not only was their chemistry superb, but individually, each represented the absolute peak in their respective skills. Eric B. was a hugely influential DJ and beatmaker whose taste for hard-hitting James Brown samples touched off a stampede through the Godfather of Soul's back catalog that continues up to the present day. Rakim, meanwhile, still tops fan polls as the greatest MC of all time. He crafted his rhymes like poetry, filling his lines with elaborate metaphors and complex internal rhymes, and he played with the beat like a jazzman, earning a reputation as the smoothest-flowing MC ever to pick up a mic. His articulation was clear, his delivery seemingly effortless, and his influence on subsequent MCs incalculable. Together, their peerless technique on the microphone and turntables upped the ante for all who followed them, and their advancement of hip-hop as an art form has been acknowledged by everyone from Gang Starr to the Wu-Tang Clan. While certain elements of their sound might come off as slightly dated today, it's also immediately clear how much of a hand Eric B. & Rakim had in leading hip-hop into the modern age.

Eric B. was born Eric Barrier in 1965 in Elmhurst, Queens; his future partner, William Griffin, Jr., was born in 1968 and also hailed from the suburbs of New York, specifically Wyandanch, Long Island. At age 16, Griffin converted to Islam and adopted the name Rakim Allah. Barrier played trumpet and guitar early on, but switched to the turntables in high school, and eventually landed a job as the mobile DJ for radio station WBLS. It was there that he met Rakim, and the two officially formed a partnership in 1985. Their first single -- "Eric B. Is President" (an ode to Barrier's DJ skills) b/w "My Melody" -- was released on the tiny Harlem-based indie label Zakia. It was a street-level sensation during the summer of 1986, and the duo was picked up by the larger 4th & Broadway imprint. The equally monumental singles "I Ain't No Joke" and "I Know You Got Soul" sampled James Brown and his cohort Bobby Byrd, respectively, and their utter funkiness began to revolutionize the sound of hip-hop. Moreover, Rakim's line "pump up the volume" on the latter track was in turn sampled itself, becoming the basis for M/A/R/R/S' hit of the same name.

In 1987, 4th & Broadway issued the duo's full-length debut, Paid in Full; accompanied by a mighty underground buzz, the record climbed into the Top Ten on the R&B LP charts (as would all of their subsequent albums). Additionally, the British DJ duo Coldcut remixed the title cut into a bona fide U.K. smash. The exposure helped make "Paid in Full"'s drum track one of the most sampled beats this side of James Brown's "Funky Drummer"; it provided the foundation for Milli Vanilli's "Girl You Know It's True," among many other, more credible hits. On the heels of Paid in Full, Eric B. & Rakim signed with MCA subsidiary Uni and consolidated their reputation with another landmark hip-hop album, 1988's Follow the Leader. The title cut took its place among the classic singles already in their canon, and Jody Watley soon tapped the duo for a guest spot on her 1989 single "Friends," which brought them into the pop Top Ten for the first and only time.

The 1990 follow-up Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em proved relatively disappointing from a creative standpoint, although 1992's slightly jazzier Don't Sweat the Technique was a more consistent affair that bolstered their legacy. As it turned out, the record also completed that legacy. The duo's contract with MCA was almost up, and they had discussed the possibility of each recording a solo album. Unfortunately, the resulting tension over the future of their partnership ultimately destroyed it. In the aftermath of the breakup, various legal issues prevented both parties from starting their solo careers for quite some time.

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Eric B. & Rakim