The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Yeah, nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Yeah, nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
I'm back in shit, packin' shit, while stackin' shit
If anyone steps up askin' shit, I'm blastin' shit
You gon' fade me, but swingin' like Peter Parker
Motherfuck the shop, I'll wreck the Goddamn barber
Forget your dreams about being with fans hugged up
You couldn't be a dope MC if you said his rhymes drugged up
I told you once, but you forget, so here's a flashback
"You couldn't be shit, if you came out my ass crack"
Stop frontin', kid, you know you ain't paid
And the only mic you wrecked was that kid you fought in first grade
Ain't nothin' lyrical about you but your lies
So cut the shit, 'cause you're startin' to draw flies
Get played like my five-year-old's newborn toys
Don't know shit about Chicago, but I could still make Illa Noyz
Like Robin Leech I display stylish ways
That's rough like my face when I haven't shaved in days
Listen up, all these words take heed
When iron cock and squeeze, no more MC's breathe (none)
I'm sick of this, here's my final diss
Fuck you dim niggas, you ain't shit like piss
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes (Slim Shady)
My Smith & Wessy got you layin' in some alley messy
Got your family lookin' for your ass on Sally Jessy
We squash beef in the Mo when you ain't breathin' no more
Leavin' your skull split like Steven Seagal
Let the cat out, flat out, Detroit's a madhouse
So I don't get offended when I hear my city badmouthed
We quick to pull the gat out and set it
And leave you with more shit missin' than a Lil' Kim radio edit
Stick up kids be tryna live paid
You get your crib sprayed with twenty-seven bullets in your rib cage
Get the gauge, cock it back, empty them pockets, Jack
Or I'ma send you flyin' like a rocketpack
Murder you for a bag of chips and a chocolate snack
Break into your crib, steal your shit and lock it back
Ten-year-old kids be standin' on the block with gats
Just for livin' nowadays'll get you flocked with bats
Where I'm from, you know what I'm sayin'? That's some old Detroit shit
Y'all wouldn't know about that shit though
Unless you come to my city, you know what I'm sayin'?
See where we live
'Cause we shine
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
MCs put Detroit up in their rap songs
'Cause without us their careers wouldn't last long
So like a generation, we've been passed on
Now its our time to shine, put your glasses on
Got these A&R's at labels with binoculars
Lookin' in, jockin' us and not jockin' yours
Too many groups follow trends, unoriginal
Usin' loops that transcend every bitch in you
Don't ever try to say this is a ghost town
One million rappers in this bitch, they need to slow down
Evaluate the situation, all the rest are killers
Fly hoes out on Jefferson with the drug dealers
Two years in the joint, nobody's touchin' Hush
Try to say you put us down, but you're under us
Now who the fuck are you? It's just coincidental
When you rhyme, you're even worse than the instrumental
You're just a phone-tapper with no backbone
Talkin' shit, I got a clique that only pack chrome
Have your ass gone, nowhere to run when we hit
Next time you'll think twice of who you fuckin' with
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Life's a B up in the D
Before the Slim Shady EP CD
Never suckin' static
Every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Yeah, nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Yeah, nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
I'm back in shit, packin' shit, while stackin' shit
If anyone steps up askin' shit, I'm blastin' shit
You gon' fade me, but swingin' like Peter Parker
Motherfuck the shop, I'll wreck the Goddamn barber
Forget your dreams about being with fans hugged up
You couldn't be a dope MC if you said his rhymes drugged up
I told you once, but you forget, so here's a flashback
"You couldn't be shit, if you came out my ass crack"
Stop frontin', kid, you know you ain't paid
And the only mic you wrecked was that kid you fought in first grade
Ain't nothin' lyrical about you but your lies
So cut the shit, 'cause you're startin' to draw flies
Get played like my five-year-old's newborn toys
Don't know shit about Chicago, but I could still make Illa Noyz
Like Robin Leech I display stylish ways
That's rough like my face when I haven't shaved in days
Listen up, all these words take heed
When iron cock and squeeze, no more MC's breathe (none)
I'm sick of this, here's my final diss
Fuck you dim niggas, you ain't shit like piss
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes (Slim Shady)
My Smith & Wessy got you layin' in some alley messy
Got your family lookin' for your ass on Sally Jessy
We squash beef in the Mo when you ain't breathin' no more
Leavin' your skull split like Steven Seagal
Let the cat out, flat out, Detroit's a madhouse
So I don't get offended when I hear my city badmouthed
We quick to pull the gat out and set it
And leave you with more shit missin' than a Lil' Kim radio edit
Stick up kids be tryna live paid
You get your crib sprayed with twenty-seven bullets in your rib cage
Get the gauge, cock it back, empty them pockets, Jack
Or I'ma send you flyin' like a rocketpack
Murder you for a bag of chips and a chocolate snack
Break into your crib, steal your shit and lock it back
Ten-year-old kids be standin' on the block with gats
Just for livin' nowadays'll get you flocked with bats
Where I'm from, you know what I'm sayin'? That's some old Detroit shit
Y'all wouldn't know about that shit though
Unless you come to my city, you know what I'm sayin'?
See where we live
'Cause we shine
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
MCs put Detroit up in their rap songs
'Cause without us their careers wouldn't last long
So like a generation, we've been passed on
Now its our time to shine, put your glasses on
Got these A&R's at labels with binoculars
Lookin' in, jockin' us and not jockin' yours
Too many groups follow trends, unoriginal
Usin' loops that transcend every bitch in you
Don't ever try to say this is a ghost town
One million rappers in this bitch, they need to slow down
Evaluate the situation, all the rest are killers
Fly hoes out on Jefferson with the drug dealers
Two years in the joint, nobody's touchin' Hush
Try to say you put us down, but you're under us
Now who the fuck are you? It's just coincidental
When you rhyme, you're even worse than the instrumental
You're just a phone-tapper with no backbone
Talkin' shit, I got a clique that only pack chrome
Have your ass gone, nowhere to run when we hit
Next time you'll think twice of who you fuckin' with
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Life's a B up in the D
Before the Slim Shady EP CD
Never suckin' static
Every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Nigga, every time I pick up the microphone I drug it
When I bust on the mic, I bust with real hard rhymes
Real rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
We Shine Lyrics as written by Jermaine Harbin Daniel Carlisle
Lyrics © O/B/O DistroKid
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.