Verse One:



Follow me into a solo

Get in the flow - and you can picture like a photo

Music mixed mellow maintains to make

Melodies for MC's motivates the breaks

I'm everlastin, I can go on for days and days

With rhyme displays that engrave deep as X-rays

I can take a phrase that's rarely heard, FLIP IT

Now it's a daily word

I can get iller than 'Nam, a killin bomb

But no alarm - Rakim will remain calm

Self-esteem make me super superb and supreme

But for a microphone still I fiend

This was a tape I wasn't supposed to break

I was supposed to wait, but let's motivate

I want to see who can keep followin and swallowin

Takin the making, bitin it and borrowin

Brothers tried and others died to get the formula

But I'ma let ya sweat - you still ain't warm

You a step away from frozen, stiff as if ya posin

Dig into my brain as the rhyme gets chosen

So follow me and were ya thinkin' you were first?

Let's travel at magnificent speeds around the Universe

What could ya say as the Earth gets further and further away

Planets are small as balls of clay

Astray into the Milky Way - world's outasight

Far as the eye can see - not even a satellite

Now stop and turn around and look

As ya stare in the darkness, ya knowledge is took!

So keep starin soon ya suddenly see a star

You better follow it cause it's the R

This is a lesson if ya guessin and if ya borrowin

Hurry hurry step right up and keep followin

The Leader



Verse Two:



This is a lifetime mission, vision of prison

Aight listen

In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist

Am I Eternal? Or an eternalist?

I'm about to flow long as I can possibly go

Keep ya movin cause the crowd said so

Dance - cuts rip ya pants

Eric B on the blades, bleedin to death - call the ambulance

Pull out my weapon and start to squeeze

A magnum as a microphone murderin' MC's

Let's quote a rhyme from a record I wrote

(follow the leader) Yeah - dope

Cause everytime I stop it seems ya stuck

Soon as ya try to step off ya self-destruct

I came to overcome before I'm gone

By showin and provin and lettin knowledge be born

Then after that I'll live forever - you disagree?

You say never? Then follow me!

>From century to century you'll remember me

In history - not a mystery or a memory

God by nature, mind raised in Asia

Since you was tricked, I have to raise ya

>From the cradle to the grave, but remember

You're not a slave

Cause we was put here to be much more than that

But we couldn't see it because our mind was trapped

But I'm here to break away the chains, take away the pains

Remake the brains, reveal my name

I guess nobody told you a little knowledge is dangerous

It can't be mixed, diluted; it can't be changed or switched

Here's a lesson if ya guessing and borrowing

Hurry hurry, step right up and keep following

The leader



Verse Three:



A furified freestyle, lyrics of fury

My third eye makes me shine like jewelry

You're just a rent-a-rapper, your rhymes are minute-maid

I'll be here when it fade to watch you flip like a renegade

I can't wait to break and eliminate

On every traitor or snake - so stay awake

and follow and follow, because the tempo's a trail

The stage is a cage, the mic is a third rail

I'm Rakim the Fiend of a Microphone

I'm not HIM, so leave my mic alone

Soon as the beat is felt, I'm ready to go

So fasten your seatbelt, cause I'm about to flow

No need to speed slow down to let the leader lead

Word to daddy, indeed!

The R's a rollin stone, so I'm rollin

Directions is told, then the rhymes are stolen

Stop buggin', a brother said, dig em, I never dug 'em

He couldn't follow the leader long enough so I drug 'em

into danger zone, he should arrange his own

Face it, it's basic, erase it, change ya tone

There's one R in the alphabet

It's a one-letter word and it's about to get

More complex from one rhyme to the next

Eric B be easy on the flex

I've been from state to state, followers tailgate

Keep comin but you came too late, but I'll wait

So back up, regroup, get a grip, come equipped

You're the next contestant - clap ya hands, you won a trip!

The price is right - don't make a deal too soon

How many notes could you name this tune?

Follow the Leader is the title, theme, task

Now ya know, you don't have to ask

Rap is Rhythm And Poetry, cuts create sound effects

You might catch up if you follow the records E. wrecks

Until then keep eatin and swallowin

You better take a deep breath and keep followin

The leader