"and our next contestant will be mr. vocab malone, come on down!"
I - i look around my city / and what do i see?
An army of / itty-bitty nitty mc's
A mob of minstrels / who be mobbing instrumentals
They wanna stack they funds / but they lack the fundamentals
They dentals is gold / they records is not
They flow is lukewarm / but they thinking that they hot
You ask who i speak of? / who do i mean?
I'm talking lotsa cats / in the local rap scene
It ain't just in phoenix / so please don't take no pity
Local laughables / dominate your every city
So open up your eyes / and look around you
You'll see that these / clowns also surround you
Scores and scores / you never noted it before?
They're clones, so it's like / the brand new star wars
There's little biggie smalls / 22 tupacs
Unreal slim shadies / little kiddie rocks
Wu-tangs that gang bang / and claim fame with fake chains
And whatever other rapper / that you feel free to name
They bite 'em for a fee / cause the style ain't for free
And the cost is the loss / of their identity
"ay yo, lil homey, what you think of me?" ("ese" voice)
Uhhh, you're my favorite "local mc"
"ay yo, lil homey, what you think of me?" ("g" voice)
Uhhh, you're my favorite "local mc"
Local mc's, local mc's
Local mc's, vocal mc's
Trapped in the chokehold of fame and sin
Uhhh, excuse me, what's your name again? (2x)
Why you wanna do / that hallucinogen?
Why you feed the need / for the juice and the gin?
Why you wanna sin / with your loose tooth grin?
In the sound booth / that's your very best friend
Instead it's "kill the soundman"! / and "soundman, you're wack"!
Then you scold the promoter / hope to be asked back?
Go past your time limit / tell the host to shut up?
Then yell at the crowd / cause they didn't stand up?
Was'up with that? / you ain't got no bmi
E-mail on your ibm / to say you ride like a bmx
Huffy "puffy" in the head / imitating dmx,
Xzibit common courtesy / for once in your life
And sit down and shut up / and watch the other local acts tonight
I said, sit down and shut up / and watch the other local acts tonight - that's right!
(quote from a live performance during the 2002 national poetry slam phoenix semi-qualifier)
This poem is dedicated to all the local mc's, that forget they're local
"voice" cutting:
You're my favorite local, local - "mc"