album: Hybrid Theory EP (1999)
genre:

Send "Step Up" Ringtone to Cell

Watch as the room rocks
Mentally moonwalk
Mixed media slang bangin' in your boombox
Verbal violence
Lyrical stylist
In a time when rock/hip-hop rhymes are childish
You can't tempt me with rhymes that are empty
Rappin' to a beat doesn't make you an MC
With your lack of skill and facility you're killing me
And a DJ in the group just for credibility

I heard that some of you are getting help with your rhymes
You're not an MC if someone else writes your lines
And rappin' over rock doesn't make you a pioneer
'Cause rock and hip-hop been collaboratin' for years
But now they're getting randomly mixed-and-matched up
All after a fast buck
And all the tracks suck
So how does it stack up? None of it's real
You wanna be an MC you gotta study the skill

who can rock a rhyme like this?
bring it to you every time like this
who can rock a rhyme like this?
step, step up, step, step up

So you pick up a pen and write yourself a new identity
But mentally you don't have the hip-hop energy
With a tendency to make up stories
It sounded like the only hip-hop you heard was Top 40 (Top 40)
And your record company's completely missin' it
And all the kids are dissin' it for not bein' legitimate

So in a battle you can't hack it
React with whack shit
And get smacked with verbal backflips
Get your ass kicked with a fabulous battle catalyst
It's taken decades for MCs to establish this
You're new to hip-hop
And welcome if your serious
But not on the mic - leave that to the experienced

(spoken)
Using waves of sound, 
the true master paralyzes his opponet, 
leaving him vulnerable to attack.

who can rock a rhyme like this?
bring it to you every time like this
who can rock a rhyme like this?
step, step up, step, step up

who can rock a rhyme like this?
bring it to you every time like this
who can rock a rhyme like this?
step, step up, step, step up, step up

(spoken)
After years of painstaking research
By the world's leading sound scientists
We here at the Sound Institute have invented
A reliable audio weapons system.
Actual movement of musical sound in space is
Used to carefully attack
And neutralize the cellular structure of the human body
The question must be asked...

who can rock a rhyme like this?
bring it to you every time like this
who can rock a rhyme like this?
step, step up, step, step up

who can rock a rhyme like this?
bring it to you every time like this
who can rock a rhyme like this?
step, step up, step, step up, step up

(spoken)
Mixed media
Mixed media
Mixed media
Step up to the microphone
...and you do it like this
...and you do it like this
Step up to the microphone
Mixed media
...and you do it like this
Mixed media
Step up to the microphone
Mixed media
...and you do it like this
Mixed media
Step up to the microphone
...and you do it like thiiiiiiisssss.......[slow & fade] 

Send "Step Up" Ringtone to Cell