Step Up

[Verse 1: Mike Shinoda]
Watch as the room rocks, mentally moonwalk
Mixed media slang banging in your boom box
Verbal violence, lyrical stylist
In a time when rock/hip-hop rhymes are childish
You can't tempt me with rhymes that are empty
Rapping to a beat doesn't make you an emcee
With your lack of skill and facility, you're killing me
And a DJ in the group just for credibility
I heard that some of you are getting help with your rhymes
You're not an emcee if someone else writes your lines
And rapping over rock doesn't make you a pioneer
Cause rock and hip hop have collaborated for years
But now they're getting randomly mixed and matched up
All after a fast buck and all the tracks suck
So how does it stack up? None of it's real
You want to be an emcee you've got to study the skill.

[Hook (2x): Mike Shinoda]
Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Bring it to you every time like this? [2x]
Step, step up, step, step up
[Verse 1: Mike Shinoda]
So you pick up a pen and write yourself a new identity
But mentally you don't have the hip hop energy
With a tendency to make up stories
Sounding like the only hip hop you've heard is top 40
And your record company is completely missing it
All the kids are dissing it for not being legitimate
So in a battle you can't hack it, react with whack shit
And get smacked with verbal back flips
Get your ass kicked by fabulous battle catalysts
It's taken decades for emcees to establish this
You're new to hip hop and welcome if your serious
But not on the mic; leave that to the experienced.

(Using the waves of sound the true master paralyzes his opponents, leaving
Him vulnerable to attack)

[Hook (2x): Mike Shinoda]

(After years of pain staking research by the world's leading sound
Scientists, wehere at the sound institute have invented a reliable audio
Weapons system. Actual movement of musical sound in space used to carefully
Attack and neutralize the cellular structure of the human body, and the
Question must be asked.)

[Hook (2x): Mike Shinoda]