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Artist
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Song
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Lyrics
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1
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Nas
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N.Y. State of Mind
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"I never sleep 'cause sleep is the cousin of death."
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2
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Rakim
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I Know I Got Soul
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"I start to think, and then I sink/Into the paper like I was ink/When I'm writing, I'm trapped in between the lines/I escape when I finish the rhyme."
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3
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Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
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The Message
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"Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge/I'm trying not to lose my head/It's like a jungle. Sometimes it makes me wonder/How I keep from goin' under."
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4
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2Pac
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Dear Mama
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"And even as a crack fiend, mama/You always was a black queen, mama."
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5
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The Notorious B.I.G.
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Juicy
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"We used to fuss when the landlord dissed us/No heat. Wonder why Christmas missed us/Birthdays was the worst days/Now we sip champagne when we thirst-ay."
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6
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Jay-Z
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Moment of Clarity
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"If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be/Lyrically, Talib Kweli/Truthfully, I wanna rhyme like Common Sense/But I did 5 mill' -- I ain't been rhyming like Common since."
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7
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Eminem
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Lose Yourself
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"His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy/There's vomit on his sweater already: mom's spaghetti/He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready/To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting/What he wrote down. The whole crowd goes so loud/He opens his mouth but the words won't come out/He's choking, how? Everybody's joking now/The clock's run out, time's up, over -- blaow!"
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8
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AZ
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Life's a B***h
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"We were beginners in the hood as Five Percenters/But something must have got in us cause all of us turned to sinners."
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9
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Rakim
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Paid in Full
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"Thinkin' of a master plan/Cause ain't nothin' but sweat inside my hand."
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10
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Kendrick Lamar
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Poetic Justice
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"If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it?"
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11
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Lil B
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Real Life
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"Wanna move out the hood and defeat that cancer/I ask how she stay on her feet like dancers/How she keep on adding paint to a life-size canvas."
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12
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Nas
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The World Is Yours
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"I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)/I'm out for dead presidents to represent me."
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13
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Kanye West
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Family Business
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"As kids we used to laugh/Who knew that life would move this fast?/Who knew I'd have to look at you through a glass?/And look, tell me you ain't did it, you ain't did it/And if you did, then that's family business."
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14
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Public Enemy
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Fight the Power
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Elvis was a hero to most/But he never meant sh*t to me. You see/Straight up racist that sucker was, simple and plain/Motherf**k him and John Wayne.
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15
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The Notorious B.I.G.
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You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)
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"You're nobody 'til somebody kills you."
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16
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Eminem
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Renegade
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"See it's easy as cake, simple as whistling Dixie/While I'm waving the pistol at sixty Christians against me/Go to war with the Mormons, take a bath with the Catholics/In holy water, no wonder they tried to hold me under longer."
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17
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Lil Wayne
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6 Foot, 7 Foot
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"Real gs move in silence like lasagna."
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18
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Jay-Z
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99 Problems
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"I've got 99 problems, but a b***h ain't one."
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19
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2Pac
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Hail Mary
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"I ain't a killer, but don't push me/Revenge is like the sweetest joy, next to getting pussy."
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20
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Blu
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The World Is (Below the Heavens)
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"Every man has his own heaven/The difference is the way he envisions it/So if you make your heaven pictureless/By the time you die, you'll be drifting in an imageless field/So fill your heaven full of blessed thoughts/ .../I got a question: If a man can make his own heaven/Then can he make his path to get to it too?
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21
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The Notorious B.I.G.
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Who Shot Ya?
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"I can hear sweat trickling down your cheek/Your heartbeat sound like Sasquatch feet/Thundering, shaking the concrete."
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22
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Kendrick Lamar
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HiiiPower
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"The sky is falling, the wind is calling/Stand for something, or die in the morning."
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23
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Lil Wayne
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I Feel Like Dying
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I can mingle with the stars and throw a party on Mars/I am a prisoner, locked up behind Xanax bars."
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24
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Aesop Rock
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Daylight
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"Life's not a b***h. Life is a beautiful woman/You only call her a b***h because she won't let you get that pussy."
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25
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Raekwon
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C.R.E.A.M.
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"No question I would speed for cracks and weed/The combination made my eyes bleed."
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26
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Ice Cube
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A Bird in the Hand
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"A bird in the hand is worth more than a Bush."
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27
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Big Daddy Kane
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Ain't No Half Steppin'
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"Brain cells are lit. Ideas start to hit/Next the formation of words that fit/At the table I sit, making it legit/And when my pen hits the paper. Ahh sh*t!"
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28
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Snoop Dogg
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Gin and Juice
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"Rollin' down the street, smokin' indo, sippin' on gin an juice/Lay back with my mind on my money and my money on my mind."
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29
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Eminem
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The Way I Am
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"And since birth I've been cursed with this curse to just curse/And just blurt this berserk and bizarre sh*t that works/And it sells and it helps in itself to relieve/All this tension dispensing these sentences/Getting this stress that's been eating me recently/Off of this chest and I rest again peacefully."
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30
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Cage
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Agent Orange
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"Pour beer out for yourself because you're walking dead/I'll burn your house down like a f**king Talking Head."
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31
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Lil Wayne
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I Feel Like Dying
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"Swimmin' laps around a bottle of Louie the Thirteenth/Jumpin' off of a mountain into a sea of codeine/I'm at the top of the top, but still I climb/And if I should ever fall, the ground will then turn to wine."
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32
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2Pac
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Changes
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"First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal to brothers/Give 'em guns, step back and watch 'em kill each other/It's time to fight back, that's what Huey said/Two shots in the dark, now Huey's dead."
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33
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Earl Sweatshirt
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Chum
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"Trying to make it from the bottom. His sins/Feeling as hard as Vince Carter's knee cartilage is."
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34
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Jay Electronica
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The Pledge
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"The radio is just a stereo like a house ain't a home."
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35
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Common
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Retrospect for Life
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"I look into mother's stomach, wonder if you are a boy or a girl/Turnin' this woman's womb into a tomb/But she and I agree, a seed we don't need/You would've been much more than a mouth to feed/But someone I would've fed this information I read/To someone my life for you I would've had to leave/Instead I led you to death."
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36
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MC Ren
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F**k the Police
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"F**k the police, and Ren said it with authority/Because the n***as on the street is a majority."
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37
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Prodigy
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Shook Ones (Pt. II)
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"For all of those who wanna profile and pose/Rock you in you face, stab your brain with your nose bone."
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38
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Kid Cudi
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The Prayer
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"And if I die before I wake/I pray the Lord my soul to take/But please don't cry/Just know that I have made these songs for you."
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39
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Cage
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Ballad of Worms
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"I tell her keep her head up/Even though I gotta hold it up for her/And she seizure when she try and get up."
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40
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Masta Killa
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Da Mystery of Chessboxin'
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"Homicide's illegal and death is the penalty/What justifies the homicide when he dies?"
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41
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J. Cole
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Villematic
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"You hate it before you played it. I already forgave you."
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42
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Shad
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I Don't Like To
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"Y'all cowards couldn't rap this dope with a Zig-Zag."
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43
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Run D.M.C.
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My Adidas
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"My Adidas walk through concert doors/And roam all over coliseum floors."
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44
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Hopsin
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The Ill Mind of Hopsin
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"The term real n***as publicly used/And I need to know what it means 'cause I'm f**king confused/Are you one for always busting your tool with nothing to lose/And something to prove to homies up in your crew?/Is it because you're selling drugs to get loot/And brag about how you done been shot and stabbed, like it's fun to be you?/But your life's a struggle, right? And you just hustling through/Nah, you hamster-ass n***a. You just stuck in a loop."
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45
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K'naan
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Strugglin'
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"My life owes me. Like an overdose, I'm slowly/Drifting into the arms of trouble, then trouble holds me."
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46
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Scarface
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No Tears
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"I got this killa inside of me/I can't talk to my mother so I talk to my diary."
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47
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Lauryn Hill
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Zealots
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"And even after all my logic and my theory/I add a "Motherf***er" so you ignorant n***as hear me."
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48
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CL Smooth
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They Reminisce Over You
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"T to the R-uh-O-Y, how did you and I meet?/In front of Big Lou's, fighting in the street/But only you saw what took many time to see/I dedicate this to you for believing in me."
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49
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Wale
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Is There Any Love?
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"You n***as so-so like a seamstress."
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50
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Mos Def
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Mathematics
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"Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients/Youngbloods can't spell, but they could rock you in Playstation."
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