Shadrach
Samples
- "Rose Royce’s "Do Your Dance" is the first you hear as the intro for the song, with the bass drum and clapping.
- Sly & the Family Stone’s "Loose Booty" comprises most of the song
- Sugar Hill Gang’s, "Sugarhill Groove"
- "Never gonna let ’em say that I don’t love you" - Ballin’ Jack’s "Never Let ’Em Say"
- "Being very proud to be an MC" - "It’s the Joint" by Funky 4+1
- James Brown’s, "The Funky Drummer" is the beat at the end
- Drums and bass from "Hot and Nasty" by Black Oak Arkansas
- "Say What?" is sampled from Trouble Funk’s "Good To Go"
References
- "We love the hot butter. [Say what?] The popcorn." is from the 1979 song King Tim III (Personality Jock) by Fatback Band on the disco album XII. Released several weeks before Rapper’s Delight, this song is often cited as the beginning of recorded hip hop.
- Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - Biblical Characters
- "For those about to rock we salute you..." reference to the AC/DC song "For those about to Rock (We Salute You)"
- Jacoby and Myers - law firm
- Rambo - movie starring Sylvestor Stallone
- Steal from the rich, give it the poor-Robin Hood
- JD Salinger- wrote "Nine Stories," best know for his book "Catcher in the Rye"
- "Charles Dickens-author of A Christams Carol who was paid per word for his works.
- "Colonel’s got the chicken" - Colonel Sanders fast food chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken, now called KFC
- Harry S Truman - President of the US
- Alfred E. Newman -MAD magazine
- Putney Swope - 1960’s movie about a black advertising executive
- "Jerry Lee Swaggert - reference to the fact that Jerry Lee Lewis and evangelist Jimmy Swaggert are cousins.
- Jerry Swaggert, Jerry Falwell - televangelists
- Mario Andretti - race car driver
- Atlantic Antic - Brooklyn’s oldest street fair
- "I think I’m starting to peak now Al" - reference to Al from S.S. Decontrol, a 80’s hardcore straight-edge band from Massachusetts.
- "I once was lost, but now I’m found..." is from the hymm Amazing Grace
- "Who shall inherit the Earth? The meek shall" - from Matthew 5:5; "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth."
- Goodyear tires - automobile tires
- "Riddle me this..." - The Riddler of Batman comics and TV show. When leaving a clue about his crimes for Batman to solve, The Riddler always began with "Riddle me this..."
Lyrics
Riddle me this brother can you handle itYour style to my style you can’t hold a candle to it
Equinox symmetry and the balance is right
Smokin’ and drinkin’ on a Tuesday night
It’s not how you play the game it’s how you win it
I cheat and steal and sin and I’m a cynic
For those about to rock we salute you
The dirty thoughts for dirty minds we contribute to
I once was lost but now I’m found
The music washes over and you’re one with the sound
Who shall inherit the earth the meek shall
I think I’m starting to peak now Al
From S.S. Decontrol and the man upstairs I hope that he cares
If I had a penny for my thoughts I’d be a millionaire
We’re just 3 M.C.’s and we’re on the go
SHADRACH MESACH ABEDNAGO
Only 24 hours in a day
Only 12 notes a man can play
Music for all and not just one people
And now we’re gonna bust with the Putney Swope sequel
More Adidas sneakers that a plumber got pliers
Got more suites that Jacoby & Meyers
If not for my vices my bugged out desires
My year would be good just like Goodyear’s tires
So I’m out pickin’ pockets at the Atlantic Antic
And nobody wants to hear you cause your rhymes are so frantic
I mix business with pleasure way too much
I mean wine and women and song and such
I don’t get blue I gotta mean red streak
You don’t pay the band your friends and that’s weak
Get even like Steven like pulling a Rambo
SHADRACH MESACH ABEDNAGO
Steal from the rich and I’m out robbing banks
Give to the poor and I always give thanks
Got more stories that J.D. Salinger
I hold the title and you are the challenger
I’ve got money like Charles Dickens
Got the girlies in the Couple like the Colonel’s got the chickens
Always go out dapper like Harry S. Truman
I’m madder than Mad’s Alfred E. Newman
*Never gonna let them say that I don’t love you*
My noggin is hoggin all kinds of thoughts
Adam Yoggin is Yauch and he’s rockin of course
Smoke the holy chalice got my own religion
Rally round the stage and check the funky dope musicians
Jerry Lee Swaggert or Jerry Lee Falwell
You love Mario Andretti cause he always drives his car well
Vicious circle of reality since the day you were born
And we love the hot butter on what the popcorn
Sippin on wine and mackin
Rockin on the stage with all the hands clappin
Ride the wave of fate it don’t ride me
*Being very proud to be an M.C.*
And the man upstairs I hope that he cares
If I had a penny for my thoughts I’d be a millionaire
Amps and crossovers under my rear hood
The bass is bumpin from the back of my Fleetwood Brougham D’Elegance
They tell us what to do hell no
SHADRACH MESACH ABEDNAGO