Lyrics of 'Back On The Block' by Quincy Jones

Back
Back on the block
Back
Back on the block

Back on the block
So we can rock
With the soul
Rhythm
Blues
Be-bop and hip hop
Back on the block
Back on the block

Ice-T, let me kick my credentials
A young player
Bred in South Central
LA, home of the bodybag
You wanna die
Wear the wrong color rag
I used to walk in stores
And yell: "Lay down!"
You flinch an inch
AK spray down
But I was lucky
Cause I never caught the hard time
I was blessed with the skill
To bust a dope rhyme
All my homies died or caught the penzo
Lost their diamonds
Cops towed their Benzos
Livin that life
That we thought was it
Fast lanin
But the car flipped
I'm not gonna lie to ya
Cause I don't lie
I just kick thick game
Some people say: why?
Cause I'm back on the block
I got my life back
So I school the fools
About the fast track
I get static from the style of my technique
Profanity
The blatant way in which I speak
But the Dude knows
The streets ain't no kiddie game
You don't know the Dude?
Quincy's his first name
He told me:
"Ice, keep doin what you're doin, man
Don't give a damn
If the squares don't understand
You let'em tell you what to say
And what to write
Your whole career'll be over
By tomorrow night
Rap from your heart
And your heart's with the street
Rap on my record, man
Kimiko, send Ice the beat"
The Dude is def no doubt
What can I say?
The man can roll with Ice-T or Michael J

Back
Back on the block
Back
Back on the block

Back on the block
So we can rock
With the soul
Rhythm
Blues
Be-bop and hip hop
Back on the block
Back on the block

I'm back on the block
On the screen
I'm on the wax
I'm on the stage
I'm on the scene
I'm on the case just like an attorney
The Dude took me on a magic journey
To dance in France, alone in Rome
On the farmlands of Nebraska
The cold of Alaska
The heart of the Motherland
To be with my brotherman
On top of a snowcapped mountain I'm scoutin'
What another man saw in a race of people
To see him give his life for the price of equal
The highest wisdoms
The richest kingdoms
The song of songs we heard David sing them
He showed me me when I was young and hung out
Showed me making love
Even showed me strung out
He showed pumpin' iron standing on a rock
But tear came to my eyes
When he showed me my block

Back, back
Back, back on
Back, back on
Back, back
Back on the block
Back, back
Back on
Back, back
Back on the block

Stoki ke Stoki, Mai-bo
(Stoki, Stoki)
Wam babma, wam bamb'u mandisa
(Wam bamba, wam bamb'u mandisa)
Stoki ke stoki, mai-bo
(Stoki, Stoki)
Wam bamba, wam bamb'u mandisa
(Wam bamba, wam bamb'u mandisa)
M'yeke, yeke, yeke, wena
(Kh a'mye, Kha'myeke wena)
'Yo khala, khala, khala - U mama
('Yo khal'u mama khe)
M'yeke, yeke, yeke, wena
(Kh a'mye, Kha'myeke wena)
'Yo khala, kha, 'yok 'shaya u Baba
('Yok 'sha y'u Baba khe)

Back up and give the brother romm
To let poetry bloom to whom
It may convern or consume
As I reminisce before this
The bliss that exists
But now we brought about a twist
'Cause I remember reading of my people bleeding
Put through slavery and killed for bravery
We should have got our freedom much sooner
You never seen a black man
On the "Honeymooners"
But now somehow we learn to earn
To grow, to show
The elevation that our people built is so
Jesse Jackson, Miss America, a black one
No more livin' for just a small fraction
I was once told by the Dude
That knowledge is a food
To nourish
So to conclude
This from an Asiatic descendant
Big Daddy is shocked
Yo Q, we Back on the Block

Back
Back on the block
Back
Back on the block

Back on the block
So we can rock
With the soul
Rhythm
Blues
Be-bop and hip hop
Back on the block
Back on the block

An everlasting omnipresence in my present
State of being seeing the unpleasant
Sight of righteous soul live like peasants
The mind stunts growth in adolescence
My insight enables me to enlight
The weakest of minds and put it in flight
As I transcend, ascend and descend
Recreate, re-incarnate and re-send
The powerful spirits of our ancestors
For those that don't know how God blessed us
Because man messed up
The media dressed up
Lies perpetrated as truths
And it left us confused
But I've seen it all before
From Babylon to the Third World War
I'm more than a man
I'm more like an entity
Back on the Block
And this time my identity is The Dude

Back, back, back, back on
Back, back on
Back, back, back on the block
Back, back, back on
Back, back, back on the block

Back on the block
Back, back on
Back, back, back, back
Back on the block
Back, back
Back, back
Back on the block
Back, back on
Back, back
Back, back on
Back on the block
Back, back
Back, back
Back, back
Back on the block

"I would content that rap is
The rap is here to stay!"