featuring Lonnie Liston Smith *



* featured artists on this album were jazz musicians



[Guru]

Down the backstreets down the backstreets

Down the backstreets down the backstreets

(I'm walkin down the backstreets)

Down the backstreets down the backstreets

Down the backstreets down the backstreets

(I be walkin down the backstreets)



Yo here goes some info on my flow and how I move

to a def groove, I keep my rep smooth

On the down-low, I travel with my mind to the street

Concrete, like the gravel I'm in deep

So I gotta hit ya from a real perspective

Cause anyone who's talkin that crap, will surely get his

I'm not the one to act flashy

Cause man where I be at, we don't have to be classy



Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(I'm walkin down the backstreets)

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(I be walkin down the backstreets)

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(Walkin down the backstreets)

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(I be walkin down the backstreets)



Check it stupid

While you're out there, on the main streets frontin

Your game's week, so I'm huntin you down clown

Cause you need to learn somethin

All that bluffin, won't get you nothin but killed

No mission fulfilled, because there's others who will

get jealous, hell if they can take clout from you, they'll do it

So that's what I'm about to do, I'll step to it

and strip you of your pride (your pride)

And then I'll stick and I'll rip you up from all sides

or possibly I'll let you slide, slime

Cause you'll set your own death in just a matter of time

Yeah, and I'll be somewhere on the sidelines, y'know



Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(Walkin down the backstreets)

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(I be walkin down the backstreets)



So when you're lookin for me, here's where I'll be

I'll be walkin down the backstreets in your vicinity

Cause I been out here for a few

So all that you're doin, ain't really nothin new (nothin new)

I peeped the way you always perpetrate

You're so phony, you make me wanna regurgitate

Since you're ridin so high, you're bound to fall

while I stand tall, and you don't get no props at all out here



Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(walkin down the backstreets)

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(I be walkin down the backstreets)

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(Walkin down the backstreets)

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(It's the backstreets)

Down the backstreets, down the backstreets

(In your backstreets)



Down the backstreets, is a mind state

Cause I don't have to be a pop star to rhyme great

I've been out here observin things

So now all fake gangsters and pranksters I'm servin

YouknowhatI'msayin? I'm the king

Come down the backstreets where it's dark

I'ma snatch your heart

So get a handle on life and quit livin so trife

Or else we're gonna have to run up, and SMACK all the weak

Comin straight from the backstreets

And I'm out, ninety-three, it's all me