14 - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You

Milkbone - Keep It Real - 1995

Showbiz  AG   Next Level

Lords Of The Underground - What I'm After

Pete Rock Feat CL Smooth Lost Boyz Keith Murray A Tribe Called Quest & Gang Starr - 90s Cypher

Take It Slow Ras Balance

Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick (Cool like Dat) (1992)

About the degradation of hip-hop music and culture which took place in the early 1990s with the rise of gangsta-rap when many rappers "sold out" for pop mainstream acclaim to chase money, disregarding the art forms roots. Common compares the degradation of hip-hop to a woman which he met in his youth and fell in love with. He follows this woman through different stages of her life, but as she grows older she starts to lose her identity and originality to become more popular and chase a life that is far less wholesome than what Common had known her to be. Eventually this woman becomes famous and world-renown {mainstream success). The woman (hip-hop) falls off so hard she becomes unrecognizable to Common, whom he loved since her youth. 

I met this girl when I was 10 years old
And what I loved most she had so much soul
She was old school when I was just a shorty
Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me
On the regular, not a church girl, she was secular
Not about the money, those studs was mic-checkin' her
But I respected her, she hit me in the heart
A few New York niggas had did her in the park
But she was there for me, and I was there for her
Pull out a chair for her, turn on the air for her
And just cool out, cool out, and listen to her
Sittin' on a bone, wishin' that I could do her
Eventually if it was meant to be, then it would be
‘Cause we related, physically and mentally
And she was fun then, I'd be geeked when she'd come around
Slim was fresh, Yo, when she was underground
Original, pure, untampered, a down sister
Boy, I tell you, I miss her

Now periodically I would see
Ol' girl at the clubs, and at the house parties
She didn't have a body, but she started gettin' thick quick
Did a couple of videos and became Afrocentric
Out goes the weave, in goes the braids, beads, medallions
She was on that tip about stoppin' the violence
About my people she was teachin' me
By not preachin' to me but speakin' to me
In a method that was leisurely, so easily I approach
She dug my rap, that's how we got close
But then she broke to the West Coast, and that was cool
Cause around the same time, I went away to school
And I'm a man of expandin', so why should I stand in her way?
She probably get her money in L.A.
And she did stud, she got big pub, but what was foul
She said that the pro-black was goin' out of style
She said, "Afrocentricity was of the past"
So she got into R&B, hip-house, bass, and jazz
Now black music is black music and it's all good
I wasn't salty, she was with the boyz in the hood
Cause that was good for her, she was becomin' well-rounded
I thought it was dope how she was on that freestyle shit
Just havin' fun, not worried about anyone
And you could tell by how her titties hung

I might've failed to mention that this chick was creative
Once (The man) got to her, he altered her native
Told her if she got a image and a gimmick
That she could make money, and she did it like a dummy
Now I see her in commercials, she's universal
She used to only swing it with the inner-city circle
Now she be in the burbs, lookin' rock and dressin' hippie
And on some dumb shit when she comes to the city
Talkin' bout poppin' Glocks, servin' rocks and hittin' switches
Now she's a gangsta rollin' with gangsta bitches
Always smokin' blunts and gettin' drunk
Tellin' me sad stories, now she only fucks with the funk
Stressin' how hardcore and real she is
She was really the realest, before she got into showbiz
I did her, not just to say that I did it
But I'm committed (girl, he's committed) but so many niggas hit it
That she's just not the same lettin' all these groupies do her
I see niggas slammin' her, and takin' her to the sewer
But I'ma take her back, hopin' that the shit stop
‘Cause who I'm talkin' about, y'all, is hip-hop

I used to love H.E.R quit fuckin' up the shit, y'all buss it

You ain't got your woman in check, man?
I think you’re overstepping your bounds just a little bit
I can't do this anymore

Common - I Used to Love Her (1994)

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - What's Next On The Menu?

Nas - The World is Yours (1994)

Pharoahe Monch feat. Common & Talib Kweli - The Truth (1999)

14 - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You

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