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What's Going On - Eric B. & Rakim



     
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What's Going On Lyrics


What's going on?What's happening, it's been so long, what's going on
And what's going wrong? The good old days are gone
You forgot your plot and your plans as a young man
You invented a scam even you don't understand
You rig the enigma, can't figure it out
You change the route, now you're in doubt
You use to cut class, smoked grass, still passed
Figured you was all that but that ain't last
The times is harder, the drugs is heavier
You say whatever, the more, the merrier
Smoke chokes your dreams and blurs your scenes
Now a young man fiend change his plan to schemes
No more good times, no more time
Too far to find, you're almost blind
You can't see what spot that the trap is in
(Hey bra!)What's happening
You had it mapped out, your plans get torn
You stayed up for days and now your dreams are gone

You said you quit, stated your word is bond
(Hey bro) what's going on?What's going on?My neighborhood don't look so good
I'll find a way out yeah, I would if I could
But the government is doing a project
So I live in the projects
Where we fight for elbow room to the doom
Try to live long but you die too soon
I might not be alive to see 25
Taught at ten to make money and strive
I sold tapes at school and made some ends
Met a lot of skins and even made some friends
Cool, 'cause now I got a crew to run wit
Break a couple of rules, have crazy fun wit
But every now and then, they give my knuckle game a test
But I won't fess, I just get rid of the stress
And then shake hands like a man
'Cause it's a family thing, only the crew would understand
But you had a one on one fight wit drugs
When we ain't cool no more, we buss slugs
Clip after clip, until one of us is gone
(Hey bra!) what's going on?What's going on?The crime rate in New York State elevate
A city filled wit hate, more deaths accumulate
Drug wars daily, alot of blood spilt
Kids on the playground shot down and kilt
Nobody wants to live on the 1st floor no more
'Cause stray bullets explore
We're killing ourselves off slowly but surely
And at the end of the year, I'm sure many more'll be
Rubbed out in a quest for clout
The rest'll be drugged out, this is bugged out
Half of the projects is dead or locked up
Kids getting kidnapped and then found chopped up
Human abortion create distortions
And that's just a portion, you know that we're lost when
Babies are addicted to drugs when they are born
(Hey bra!) what's going on?
(Hey bra!) what's going on?
(Hey bra!) what's going on?

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