The Message

About The Message

"The Message" is a song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. It was released as a single by Sugar Hill Records on July 1, 1982 and was later featured on the group's first studio album, The Message. "The Message" was the first prominent hip hop song to provide a social commentary rather than the self-congratulatory boasting or party chants of earlier hip hop. The song's lyrics describe the stress of inner city poverty. "The Message" took rap music from the house parties of its origin to the social platforms later developed by groups like Public Enemy, N. W. A, and KRS-One. Melle Mel said in an interview with NPR: "Our group, like Flash and the Furious Five, we didn't actually want to do "The Message" because we was used to doing party raps and boasting how good we are and all that."The song was written by Duke Bootee and Melle Mel.. The stanza "A Child is Born" was taken from an early Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five track, "Superrappin'" from 1981 on the Enjoy label. more »

Year:

2005

4:47

6,933 Views

Playlists:

#12

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It's like a jungle, sometimes it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 
It's like a jungle, sometimes it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 

Broken glass everywhere 
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care 
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise 
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice 

Rats in the front room, roaches in the back 
Junkie's in the alley with a baseball bat 
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far 
'Cause a man with the tow-truck repossessed my car 

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge 
I'm trying not to loose my head 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 

Standing on the front stoop, hangin' out the window 
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow 
Crazy lady, livin' in a bag 
Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag 

Said she danced the tango, skipped the light fandango 
A Zircon princess seems to have lost her senses 
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps 
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home 

She went to the city and got social security 
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own 

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge 
I'm trying not to loose my head 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 

My brother's doing bad stole my mother's T.V. 
Says she watches to much, is just not healthy 
All my children in the daytime, Dallas at night 
Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight 

Bill collectors they ring my phone 
And scare my wife when I'm not home 
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation 
Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station 

Neon King Kong standin' on my back 
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac 
Midrange, migrained, cancered membrane 
Sometimes I think I'm going insane, I swear I might hijack a plane! 

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge 
I'm trying not to loose my head 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 

My son said daddy I don't want to go to school 
'Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool 
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper 
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper 

I dance to the beat, shuffle my feet 
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps 
'Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny 
You got to have a car in this land of milk and honey 

They push that girl in front of a train 
Took her to a doctor, sowed the arm on again 
Stabbed that man, right in his heart 
Gave him a transfer for a brand new start 

I can't walk through the park, cause it's crazy after the dark 
Keep my hand on the gun, cause they got me on the run 
I feel like an outlaw, broke my last glass jaw 
Hear them say you want some more, livin' on a seasaw 

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge 
I'm trying not to loose my head, say what 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 
A child is born, wih no state of mind 
Blind to the ways of mankind 

God is smiling on you but he's frowning too 
'Cause only god knows what you go through 
You grow in the ghetto, living second rate 
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate 

The places you play and where you stay 
Looks like one great big alley way 
You'll admire all the number book takers; 
Thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money makers 

Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens 
And you want to grow up to be just like them 
Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers 
Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers 

You say I'm cool, I'm no fool 
But then you wind up dropping out of high school 
Now you're unemployed, or non-void 
Walking around like you're pretty boy Floyd 

Turned stickup kid, look what you done did 
Got send up for a eight year bid 
Now your man hood is took and you're a Maytag 
Spend the next two years as an undercover fag 

Being used and abused, and served like hell 
Till one day you was find hung dead in a cell 
It was plain to see that your life was lost 
You was cold and your body swung back and forth 

But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song 
Of how you lived so fast and died so young 
So
Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge 

I'm trying not to loose my head 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder 
How I keep from going under

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Duke Bootee

Duke Bootee was an early hip hop and rap producer, who produced some of the most early and important rap records[citation needed] more »

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