Born on the wrong side of the tracks
In one of New York's less salubrious shacks
Playing outside with a chum or two
Up on Sedgwick Avenue
Made up a game, a duel of sorts
Beats, and rhymes, and then retorts
Word spread in months, so fast that it seemed
That everyone was at it
It rather took off, and so it went
We all knew one of the five elements
Then a shiny suit thought, wait a minute
There just might be something in it
Packed it, seld it, let it rot
Blamed it for society's lot
Now it's all hard to defend
The hell thing's gone quite round the bend
So hip-hop was to blame after all
As it appears, everything's entirely hip-hop's fault
Hip-hop decided to homogenize itself
And base itself in violence and wealth
Hip-hop decided to become its lowest traits
And sell them to the public over everything that's great
Hip-hop decided that misogyny and greed
Would be the sort of thing that America would need
Hip-hop worshiped the cult of me
Hip-hop chose to ignore Chuck D
Hip-hop's a 40 billion dollar industry
So now all the ghettos live in prosperity
Traded power for visibility
Let hip-hop become a new colony
These are the choices that hip-hop made
All by itself, no-one tried to dissuade it
Hip-hop decided to put money first
Yet Kool Herc can't afford a nurse
So, hip-hop was to blame after all
I thought I'd say it as no-one else has the gall
Yes, it's all hip-hop's fault, you see
And not the three companies who decide what you hear and see