Microphone Mathematics: Kevin Beacham Breaks Down T La Rock’s Bust These Lyrics

Esteemed Rap Brainiac Kevin Beacham delivered this suburb breakdown of T La Rock‘s ‘Bust These Lyrics’ today, in the third part of his ‘Microphone Mathematics’ special on the Lyrical King:

In terms of lyrical masterpieces, that is masterfully and undisputedly achieved with “Bust These Lyrics”. A very strong argument could be made for this being the most lyrical song of T La Rock’s career. Before I defend that theory I have to recognize the rugged production. The drums are like a jackhammer at half-speed. The sampled pieces from the intro of “It’s Yours” and the repeated vocal sample infused into the beat can be symbolic of the screams and yelps of the competition as T La Rock verbal assaults relentlessly. All of these theories are adequately explained in the hook, “Hard Rapping, Funky Beats, Def Scratching, No Gimmicks/Put your ears to the speakers and bust these lyrics!”

The first verse tackles a subject that he had covered in bits and pieces previously, but gets deeper into the root of it and the emotional aggression that it ignites. Imitation is not always a source of flattery as The Supper Rapper contends, “I’m attacking weak Rappers, periodically destroying/T La Rock, imitators have become so annoying/I Turn on my radio which I keep on the shelf/Every station I turn to I keep hearing myself/I hear myself on records I never made/I’m not dumb my mind is sharper than the butchers blade!”

His second verse has him visiting his abstract prose approach where rhymes intersect at non-traditional intervals for a couple bars before reverting back to stringent rhyme tactics, “I use the mic like a belt, beat Rappers like children/And then I condescend/Graciously pretend to step off, though I may pretend to be thru/But this part of my strategy/This illusion-ing with pre-planned tactics/Will protect myself like you do with prophylactics/Ingenious ideas to despair my foes (?)/I stalk em and hawk em no matter where they go/I’m the notorious fear inflictor/I’m the mongoose, you’re the boa constrictor/I’m good, you’re garbage, we’re easy to distinguish/I will be the victor, you prefer to relinquish (?)/Huh! I’m ready to commence annihilation/My mind is now morbid, there’s no rehabilitation/I’m a Rapper killer with the strength of a gorilla/A brutal slayer, clone of Attila/The Hun, you better run, punk flee while you can/My orders to kill, there’ll be no count demands/I’m entering the boundaries of insanity/Grotesque actions altering humanity/Disgusted to the fullest at all enemies/Bold Rappers who dare battle me are a tease/I’m a professor of war, honorable veteran/Strategy coordinator, acute Militarian/Profound I’m bound to increase in my strength/And definitely there’ll be no lengths/Of you s**t talking Rappers who don’t even know me/You’re as fictional to me as Obi Wan Kenobi!”

That verse blew my mind in ’87! It still blows my mind now! There are so many great quotes in there. Every time I heard the “Mongoose/Boa Constrictor” comparison I remember this childhood cartoon, perhaps the same thing that inspired him to write it. Then we goes into the darker imagery, which hadn’t really been explored quite this detailed before in battle rhymes, he gets graphic with visions of being the clone of Attila The Hun, killing with zero concerns for body counts, and partaking in actions that can alter humanity. SAY WHAT!! Then he closes it off with a excellently used multi-syllabic scheme of “…Know Me/…Kenobi”, to satisfy the MC as well as the Star Wars nerd in me. This verse was a huge influence on me and is one of my favorite verses of the 80s.

Not surprisingly, nothing else in this song reaches the same heights of that verse, but the closing ceremonial words achieve poetic excellence of their own merit, “I have un-measurable power, unbelievable force/I bring more pleasure to the mind than sexual intercourse/Rhyming is my specialty, Rapping I’ve perfected/Considered dead Rappers I seek-ed and resurrected/That climax of my power is beyond extreme/I have the mind of a scientist to program dreams/Like a magnet I attract, keep jams well packed/Like a hypodermic needle my lyrics extract/All bad thoughts, repulsing ideas/Anxiety ??? I stimulate like beer/Most lyric writers are well out of my league*/Like history…all my lyrics intrigue/The thought of Rap on the air was considered remote/If you had leukemia there was no antidote/As the world evolves many problems are solved/To keep this good thing going I’ve become involved/Join with me, Lou, and Greg, my comrades/As a team our dream is too make you glad/Remain a part of the Hip Hop world/That goes to every man and woman. Every boy and girl!”