Down And Out
Written by: Michael Turner & Christopher Portugal
[Rap sample with whispered gibberish underneath:]
You are now rocking with the best…
Now I'm back and ready to get ill…
[Whispered sample:] Superbad!
[Double K:]
Yo! I heard somebody said we wasn't West Coast
Well, that's shit 'cause these lousy bastards never come close
They judge books by covers, none of them are butter
([Thes One:] What?) None of them can rap (Right!), all of them are crap
I'm sick of speakin' the situation of everybody and their mom
Wantin' to use hip-hop as an occupation, though
You should give it up and quit talking shit, come to us
Get some beats, and let us show you this… 'cause see…
Y'all be fronting when your songs is bunting
And ours be home-running, fireworks and all, man
We too hardcore to get caught up with that shit
That's right next door, so we stay far from gossip
Don't wanna hear nothing about what this hip-hop guy said
About what some bitch said about us being rude at her party
Man, just buy our latest shit, sit back, and chill
And if not, go and purchase something ill
'Cause the P ain't rapping for no head wraps and vegetarians
That get no respect… ([Thes One:] Crazy!)
I'm representing concrete streets and beats, grass, rocking them ass
And drinking flammables out of shot glass, that's real to me
And it's too real for you, maybe a little Shania Twain, some Celine Dion
You know, fireplace kissing on a date for all you pee-on,
You soap-opera, fake-tag, watch-wearing, no-rapping… stupid…
I don't even know what the fuck I want say to your dumb ass!
([Thes One:] Walkin' around sellin' your tapes and shit!)
([Double K:] Bitch… beat it!)
[PUTS sample:] The-s going places like tourists
Purists, that's what we are…
[Thes One:]
Yo! We was in a record store the other day, me, Double K
And Brother Paul, I heard this dude saying
Our 12" didn't belong on the wall, that we didn't represent L.A.
He's straight-faced with a gold medallion and a fat Pele Pele, I laughed
Our style's not the radio play, yeah, we rip it
But most follow the trends of friends and they skip it
No image, no backpack, headphones, or head wraps
No reverse racism ([Double K:] Take that shit back, black!)
You're darker than me, but far from an authority
And even farther from the struggle, that's why they call you bourgeois
Now, hip-hop's in the house, ay-yo, it's time for your rehearsal
Dressed up in fatigues, you sap Gap commercial, stop stressing
Go hang your collection of repressings, P dig for beats everyday
That's pure essence, moving lessons as a street level entrepreneur
Black and Latino, a two-man operation, fo' sho'
I make the beats, he does the scratching, and we both write the rhymes
Engineer and do the artwork and release it on time to distribution
So no confusion that means we do it all for the fans
Think I'm lying? Check my SoundScan
([Double K:] Ay-yo, I always do my part)
And I do mine for the artform of hip-hop, I love it and live it
And can't stop, this is true underground with the mass appeal of soul
People Under The Stairs, no cliché, rock and roll, it goes…
[PUTS sample:] The-s going places like tourists
Purists, that's what we are…
[Thes One:] So if you been around, you know the sound
And what we believe
If you're tired of that fake shit, than this is what you need
Trying to take it back to '92 and make the people shout
But the P will always be down and out
[Double K:] Ay, don't take it as we dissing or we trying to be tough
We just calling nigga's bluffs and hopefully now they shut up
And let us handle what we handling, this didn't work?
Yo, we beatin' up jerks, you know?
[Double K:] Comin' around here, man? We can't deal with you anymore… Keep that shit up and it's over, alright?… We gone, gonna let you listen to the rest of the song. My man, Thes One, I'm Double K, and we the P. For '9-9 and on, punk, you know? My nigga, Thes One. And Cap'n Kidd Lexus is definitely inside of the heezy-zee!
[Scratched sample:] Oh! Don't want…
[Whispered sample:] Superbad!
[James Brown sample:] It's the way I feel!
[Sung sample:] Oh! Don't want no woman
Telling me how to live my life…
Don't want no woman
Telling me how to live my… oh, I…}
*Important Note: These transcriptions are not verified with P.U.T.S., so there may be errors. We are especially unsure of the greyed-out text. We encourage you to offer your suggestions for lyrics corrections on the site's main page.
Trivia:
- None yet.
This track appears on the following releases:
- American Men, Vol. 1: Unreleased PUTS (2000) (CD) - PUTS Records (PUTS 6004)
- Stealth 03 (2001) (CD compilation) - Stealth Magazine (no catalog number)
- 10 Years Of Thes One (2010/2013) (LP & MP3) - Piecelock70 Records (PL7001)
