Hip hop tends not to be backwards about coming forwards, or indeed to have many problems about the blowing of its own metaphorical trumpet. But what is the most egotistical/ boastful of all rap lyrics?
My own personal nomination is KRS One's Ah Yeah, with the following lines, which could be viewed as somewhat self-aggrandising:
This is not the first time I came to the planet
But everytime I come, only a few could understand it
I came as Isis, my words they tried to ban it
I came as Moses, they couldn't follow my commandments
I came as Solomon, to a people that was lost
I came as Jesus, but they nailed me to a cross
I came as Harriet Tubman, I put the truth to Sojourner
Other times, I had to come as Nat Turner
They tried to burn me, lynch me and starve me
So I had to come back as Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley
They tried to harm me, I used to be Malcolm X
Now I'm on the planet as the one called KRS
(PS: I've given the search engine a go on this one, but couldn't seem to find any similar threads)
― M Carty (mj_c), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 07:07 (twenty-one years ago)
Haha, that KRS-One lyric is quite funny, since he was 15 when Bob Marley died.
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 08:28 (twenty-one years ago)
And with all that wisdom and experience behind him, he still couldn't save Scott La Rock from getting shot.
― Donnie Smith The Quiz Kid, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 08:32 (twenty-one years ago)
I love those KRS lyrics - search also his classic 'in hip hop's atomic structure I am the nucleus.'
― pete b. (pete b.), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 10:12 (twenty-one years ago)
he's not saying he's no.1, oh sorry he lied/
he's number 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
― Symplistic (shmuel), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)