[Chorus: KRS-One]
We keep showin you, and showin you, and showin you
This is what it is!
We gon' flow with you, you know it's true, hip-hop
This is what it is!
We keep showin you, and showin you, and showin you
This is what it is!
We gon' flow with you, you know it's true, hip-hop
This is what it is!

[KRS-One:]
A man once said that the streets are watchin us
If this be the truth we must keep hip-hop in us
They'll never topple us
You done heard them thugs, now it's time to hear from the philosophers
Buildings fallin, employment stallin us
Now it's time, the future is callin us
Television is boring us
Radio is whorin us, lurin us with a chorus plus
You can't even trust
The church, the synagogue, they all deceivin us
It's time to believe in us
To believe in a hip-hop lifestyle that agrees with us
No squeeze or bust (bo! bo!) you find ease with us
The DJ's, the MC's is us
The ice we've seen enough
It's time for hip-hop and this is what it is!

[Chorus]

[KRS-One:]
You know we lead a movement, it's called "I Am Hip-Hop"
Cats debate about it, but I am hip-hop
Cats wanna talk about but I am hip-hop
My cats in New York like "I am hip-hop"
My cats in Atlanta like "I am hip-hop"
Cats in Miami like "I am hip-hop"
Chi-Town like "I am hip-hop"
All over L.A., "I am hip-hop"
Keep the rawness; the gutter the real
The movement's growin like corn in the field
KRS-One was born with the steel
I'm on top of my game like Shaquille O'Neal
No surprises, hip-hop come in all sizes
Now watch as KRS rises up, up-up, up and away~!
Now you critics mouth shut, got nothin to say
And that's good for the kids, cause hip-hop
This is what it is!

[Chorus]

[KRS-One:]
Stay focused... focused...
Stay focused... oh, oh!
Yeah, uh-huh, focused...
Yo, look, look! This is what it is
Y'all need to stop confusin the kids
Makin 'em think you gotta do a bid to be hip-hop
Man that ain't it
Rob a nigga, kill a nigga, man that ain't shit
How you figure, how murder make you hip?
You need to hop to the bookstore and look for Kris
Anything by KRS-One
Will lead you to peace, to love, to unity & havin fun
Y'all know, but, some of y'all don't
And some of y'all won't that's why only some of y'all dope
The rest of y'all, food for the Gods
I eat everything but pop's cause I don't eat lard

[Chorus: except for the very last three words]