Way Back - Tanya Stephens

I wanna take you way back to when a girl on a mike’s worth

Wasn’t determined by the length of her skirt

I mean way back to creativity, before MTV before BET

I mean way back before recycling shit, when the props that you got was for your

writing and shit

Let’s rewind before the hype when you used to be low key

To be a singer you had to actually know key

I mean way back to before people made a job of seeing who’s best at

impersonating Bob

I mean way back to when you sweat blood on every line

To get one good song didn’t cost sixteen ninety nine

To be considered deep you had to actually say stuff

And if it wasn’t good disc jockeys didn’t play stuff

I mean way way, Marvin Gaye way back, and I pray that you will

Come with me, let us journey past this melody

Give us room to exercise our minds

Take you to another place another time, better hooks better rhymes

Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind

Come with me, let us journey past this fallacy

Give us room to exercise our minds

Take you to another place another time, better hooks better rhymes

Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind

Well it’s ironic that the chronic that I smoke got me singing shit that’s

bionic every note

That it’s affecting my judgement is what some people would hope

But I’m not tripping, I’m on a journey, come along now let’s float

I used to be excited going to the record store, but these days I stay pacing

the floor

Somebody please take me back to when the artistes were poor

Cause when they made less they gave us so much more

Let’s take it back to a ballroom, cloudy microphone… Smokey Robinson,

Nina Simone

James Brown was still occupying the throne when the songs weren’t sold off

videos alone

Way back to when a star attitude wasn’t defined by somebody being rude

To when it was a pleasure definitely not a task

To greet a fan with a smile and sign a damn autograph

I mean way back to before you used to drive the Maybach

You dreamt about a mil but never made that

When you made some shit that we could play back

I mean way back to a whole ‘nother time, further back than your grandad’s

hairline

I mean way back, wont you say that you will