PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A HOOD (REMIX)
M. Berrin, P. Nash, S. Citrin
Produced by Sam Sever and 3rd Bass
Engineered by Kevin Reynolds
Recorded at Chung King Studios, New York, NY
Performed by MC Serch & Pete Nice
Contains samples of the following:
Theme from S.W.A.T. by Rhythm Heritage
 
Verse 1: Prime Minister Pete Nice
Hoods is up so skills is up
It's a stick-up, so why'd you interrupt?
So such spoke material cerebral
I'm eatin cereal with spoons sippin Cepacol
Daddy-O slipped me some cause my breath stank
Wear gold, but no accounts in Swiss banks
Think tanks once rolled on the city streets
I used to meet your moms between the sheets
Universe is versus hoods prospectus
True flam, flammin words on wax discus
So they dismiss this as vulgarity
And whats left they'll point it at the university
Some perk without skills and push a pen
I send surreal scenes where you never been
Looked out, gave you three strikes, you struck out
Pop shit with the 3rd, knock your fronts out
Blew your blunts out you wings stuck up your ass
Gassed you up then slap you with my staff
I seen your skins like to go to the motels
but your ass won't know that the hoe tells
Cause a lip is zipped, I paint pictures
A portrait, a self far from tipsters
My discussion of impression ain't ignorance
So don't label the hoods on appearances
You never thought that a gangsta could talk sense
But this artifice flipped, your beans is spent
Took your papes out your pocket and just stood out
Focus, the portrait of the artist as a hoods-up
 
Verse 2: MC Serch
Portrait painted back in the days
Young strays, posted at the L.Q. on Friday's
Waitin for Dice to give the go ahead
Hawkin 50 cent, puttin heads to bed
for a herringbone hear the tune of the Audio Two
Milk was chillin as I chilled in the back room
Listening to snaps, cuts by Scoob and Scrap
Union Square, to tear up the KRS tracks
Torn up by the Kent, the Clark Dark
as the brothers try to spark
We knocked boots, and the boots got knocked
Three A.M. and it was off to The Rooftop
Hip-Hop Starski, the Masters of Ceremony
Ka-ka-cracked out, was hookin property
Five A.M. it was the S&S
A hundred and forty-fifth street, down on Lennox
Starchild made all the hoes squeal
For a dollar crackheads Armor-Alled your wheels
Whippin home in the sunshine, fun time
but now you can't find
clubs like this that kept the music in the street
And pop rap couldn't get a dime to eat
Yo, they're makin mills, but what about the hood?
A parking lot, where the Latin Quarter stood!
A landmark marked in the cranium
but now I bring it back in front of packed stadiums
Picture painted with the goals and the good
The portrait of an artist as a hood
 
Verse 3: Prime Minister Pete Nice
Inside straight I got your fifty for tricksters
Serch got a list of yours so get the jist of this
Mellon collie movin’ mayhem
Manifestin’ moves over matters at hand
Tried your best but you can’t understand
You’re like Art Garfunkel and eat spam
I drive a yak with a skirt you drive an Edsel
I’m takin turns and I twist em like a pretzel
Non fiction three levels addiction
Spits the hood in the face of the friction
Lift a giggle and I splits you like wood
The portrait of the artist as a hood