piano playing for 1:02 before the beginning of the main song*
  
  [Eric B] "Clap your hands" cut and scratched 6X
  [Rakim] Put your hands together... clap your hands
  
  Verse One: Rakim
  
  This is for thousands of people who came
  A show from road to road you're entertained
  I don't even have to say my name
  Cause when the place is ripped in half, I'm to blame
  Masses of posses packed up schemin
  Ladies lovely and keep on screamin
  Go Rakim, go Rakim, go
  It won't be long then it's on with the show
  I'm late, so hit the brakes and park the Benzito
  Double oh seven, incognito
  Sneak in the back door, lookin for the stage
  When I get on you react in a rage
  People from side to side and front to back
  won't dance, if the MC's wack
  The crowd go psycho even if I don't move
  Some like the groove cause I'm so smooth
  Then somethin happens, feet start tappin
  You can't hold back when Rakim's rappin
  The man you've been waitin for, rougher than ever
  Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together
  
  [Eric B] "Clap your hands" cut and scratched 8X
  [Rakim] Clap your hands
  
  Verse Two: Rakim
  
  I create em, take em, shake em, then make em clap to this
  Most of you rappers, can't even rap to this
  I made it faster, you tried to master
  Syncopated styles, words flowin after
  Measures of metaphor definitions of more than one
  Take it both ways, I'll be here when you're done
  Remember as the rhyme goes on it's rougher
  Soon as I stop, you had enough of
  Followin footsteps, you better turn back soon
  Sucker MC's suck rhymes like vacuums
  The style remains the same, the words is changed
  Bitten, rewritten, recited and rearranged
  Sing along if your tongue is strong, it gets sore
  Sing when I'm gone and it'll break your jaw
  Wisdom flows so swift, I'm Asiatic
  Is it a gift, or automatic
  Static, I don't cling
  I got a tip of my own and I don't sing
  Don't understand, here's an example
  and why MC's and DJ's sample
  Cause we don't have a band, it's just my voice and his hands
  That's what hip-hop was, it still stands
  The records we use are from mom's and pop's collection
  Find a break from a dope selection
  And go to the store, then buy one more
  So my DJ can mix cause that's what his hands are for
  Years later hip-hop got contracts
  The chance to put actual facts on wax
  A mind's the coach, the physical form's the team
  The top's the destination, I'm the cream
  And still I rise with somethin pumpin and somethin clever
  Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together
  
  [Eric B] "Clap your hands" cut and scratched (7X)
  [Rakim] Clap your hands... clap em, clap em
  
  Verse Three: Rakim
  
  Now who's the man with the masterplan?
  With stacks of verbal attacks so clap your hands
  Rhyme written in graffiti xeroxed on blueprints
  Students influenced are now a nuisance
  You couldn't fight it, you had to clap to this
  You got excited, you almost snapped your wrist
  The rhymes was written for the crowd's enjoyment
  When I'm with this you can't toy with
  The def jam juicer rough rhyme producer
  Loads of lyrics get you loose, then looser
  The man so smooth and world so rough
  Eric is throwin and sewin rippin restitchin the cuts
  Microphone your majesty, no one's bad as me
  Seems the tragedy, Rakim had to be
  Thinkin of some def view of a video
  Visions are vicious, and I'll let the city know
  Whoever's frontin they know, nothin to say though
  so lay low, musical forms are kickin' like Kato
  Don't get near it, hard as you ever hear it
  I know it's fearified, but don't fear it
  And try to predict which rhyme you can kick
  You're quick to pick your best, for the mic is lit
  Instead of goin with the flow like you're supposed to go
  And enjoy the show and yo, put your hands together
  
  [Eric B] "Clap your hands" cut and scratched 6X
  [Rakim] Clap your hands... put your hands together
  CLAP YOUR HANDS! *echoes*