Step Up★
★Linkin Park Lyrics

Watch as the room rocks men only moon walk
Observing the crowd dance in a distinctive fashion

Mixed media slang, banging in your boom box
Blending different forms of music with explicit language in your music player

Verbal violence, lyrical stylist
Creating harsh yet skilled lyrics

In a time when rock hip hop rhymes are childish
At present, rock and hip hop don't rhyme well enough

You can't tempt me with rhymes that are empty
Empty lyrics won't entice me to listen

Rapping to a beat doesn't make you an Emcee
Merely rapping doesn't make one a skilled MC

With your lack of skill and facility you're killing me
You're frustrating me with your lack of talent and ingenuity

And a DJ in the group just for credibility
Including a DJ in a group just to look legitimate

I heard that some of you are getting help with your rhymes
Rumors suggest you have help writing your lyrics

You're not an Emcee if someone else writes your lines
If someone else writes your rhymes, you're not a true MC

And rapping over rock doesn't make you a pioneer
Incorporating rock into hip hop isn't really innovative

'Cause rock and hip hop have collaborated for years
Hip hop and rock music have a history of combining

But now they're getting randomly mixed and matched up
Nowadays, hip hop and rock are being combined without thought

All after a fast buck and all the tracks suck
This is all for profit and the music is terrible

So how does it stack up? None of it's real
It doesn't compare, and none of it seems genuine

You want to be an emcee you've got to study the skill
To be a true MC, you need to practice and learn the art

Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Who can perform a verse as well as this?

Bring it to you every time like this?
Deliver it consistently the way I do?

Step, step up, step, step up
Step up your game and improve your skills

So you pick up a pen and write yourself a new identity
You attempt to create a new persona by writing

But mentally you don't have the hip hop energy
You lack the creativity and originality required for hip hop

With a tendency to make up stories
Your tendency is to fabricate stories

Sounding like the only hip hop you've heard is top 40
You sound like you've only heard popular mainstream hip hop music

And your record company is completely missing it
Your record label doesn't understand the true essence of hip hop

All the kids are dissing it for not being legitimate
The younger generation is criticizing it for being fake

So in a battle you can't hack it, react with whack shit
You can't compete and respond poorly with terrible verses

And get smacked with verbal back flips
You'll get roasted and ridiculed with clever rhymes and insults

Get your ass kicked by fabulous battle catalysts
You'll be defeated by great battle MCs

It's taken decades for emcees to establish this
It's taken many years for MCs to perfect this craft

You're new to hip hop and welcome if your serious
You're new to hip hop and welcome if you're truly dedicated

But not on the mic leave that to the experience
But you're not ready to perform on the mic yet, leave that to the experienced

Using the waves of sound the true master
The true master manipulates sound waves to their benefit

Paralyzes his opponents, leaving him vulnerable to attack
Overpowers their opponents and makes them susceptible to defeat

After years of pain staking research
After many years of meticulous research

By the world's leading sound scientists
By the top scientists in the field of sound

We here at the sound institute have invented
We at the Sound Institute have developed

A reliable audio weapons system
A dependable system for utilizing sound as a weapon

Actual movement of musical sound
Using the physical movement of sound waves

In space used to carefully attack and neutralize
To delicately strike and eliminate targets in space

The cellular structure of the human body
The structure of human cells

And the question must be asked
We must inquire

Who can rock a rhyme like this?
Who can perform a verse as well as this?

Bring it to you every time like this?
Deliver it consistently the way I do?

Step, step up, step, step up
Step up your game and improve your skills

Mixed media step up to the microphone
Experiment with different music genres and styles on the mic

And you do it like this
And do it with skill and panache