10 of the Best Lyrics From Black Thought’s Funkmaster Flex Freestyle
In case you didn't know, this guy Black Thought is pretty good at this whole rhyming thing. If you've been living under a rock, then you definitely know now. In a freestyle heard 'round the world, The Roots' own world-conjurer (his lyrics alone are magical) reaffirmed his status as one of the rap game's premier technicians when he stepped to the mic on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 radio show.
Donning shades and the disposition of a rap legend, the Philadelphia rhymer darted through and around the classic Havoc-produced Mobb Deep instrumental ("The Learning (Burn)") with an extended barrage of deftly constructed rhyme schemes, epic self-mythologizing, and dizzying wordplay.
"I never thought I'd be getting long in the tooth/My OG told me 'Boy you better go and live your truth'/I am a walking affirmation, that imagination/And focus and patience get you closer to your aspiration/And just 'cause they give you shit don't mean you have to take it/My words capture greatness, sworn affidavits/Yours truly, the celestial being/You stay seeing pulling up in a fresh European/High-stepping out of a dress to a tin/Not another got more soul, unless you Korean," he spits midway through the 10-minute verse.
Today, XXL takes the time to look through the 10 best lyrics in Black Thought's undeniably dope freestyle, which is easily one of 2017's best. See what we came up with below.
"I am a walking affirmation, that imagination/And focus and patience get you closer to your aspiration"
"Ayo, my new name is 85 X's/’Cause I'm the rap game certified specialist/When I was reckless I was worried ’bout the guest list/I'm helping rappers everywhere fulfill a death wish"
"Pentamine, I'm made of elements you can't combine/I'm at a level of intelligence you can't define/Einstein, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Tesla/Recording artist slash psychology professor"
"I don't fake it ’til I make it, I take it to the limit and break it/Never tinted what I'm about I represent it/Infinite just like Chase is, been a million places/Conversation is how beautiful my face is"
"Y'all some jolly good Hollywood squares/I'm like, ahem, approach the author with your offering/I spoil rappers rotten like my only offspring/Being His excellency gets to be exhausting"
"My mother was a working class, very loving woman/Who struggled, every dinner could've been the last summer/I come home, chasing good for nothing half-cousins/And then walk in the crib to the smell of crack cooking"
"Remember, we walk past the teacher, take the chalk and laugh/We wrote punishments, I will not talk in class/Now it's pistols punishing people for talking fast/And all these innocent bystanders is hauling ass"
"Fools swear they're wise, wise men know they're foolish/We was headed for the web even before computers/I never thought you would give me a reason to do this/Cain and Abel, Jesus and Judas/Caesar and Brutus, I see intruders will avert your eyes/I told you keep out of the hood, circumcise/How could you sleep?/I always thought you were the first to ride"
"To be an icon wearing slippers made of pythons/Get mine quicker ’cause I'm slick as a pipeline/Transporting the oil, tribulation and toil/Hit the operation, but I'm back on the soil"
"Gun firing flares, sirens glare/I'm in an iron chair with people who care/Don't get the lion share/When I don't give a fuck, then I ain't fair"
More From XXL
