Protect Ya Neck Lyrics

[Verse 4: U-God]
Ooh! What? Grab my nut, get screwed
Oww! Here comes my Shaolin style
True B-A-ba-B-Y-U
To my crew with the "Suuuuuuu!!"

[Interlude: Ol' Dirty Bastard & RZA]
Yeah, yeah, yeah
(Watch your step, kid)
(Watch your step, kid)
C'mon, baby baby, c'mon, baby baby
(Watch your step, kid)
Protect ya neck
(Watch your step, kid)
(Watch your step, kid)
C'mon, baby baby, c'mon
(Watch your step, kid)
(Watch your step, kid)
Yo! You best protect ya neck!

[Verse 5: Ol Dirty Bastard]
First things first, man, you're fuckin' with the worst
I'll be stickin' pins in your head like a fuckin' nurse

I'll attack any nigga who's slack in his mack
Come fully packed with a fat rugged stack
Shame on you when you step through to
The Ol' Dirty Bastard straight from the Brooklyn Zoo
And I'll be damned if I let any man
Come to my center, you enter the winter

Straight up and down, that shit is packed jam
You can't slam, don't let me get fool on him, man
The Ol' Dirty Bastard is dirty and stinkin'
Ason Unique rollin' with the night of the creeps

Niggas be rollin' with a stash, ain't sayin' cash
Bite my style, I'll bite your motherfuckin' ass!
[Verse 6: Ghostface Killah]
For cryin' out loud, my style is wild, so book me
Not long is how long that this rhyme took me
Ejectin' styles from my lethal weapon
My pen that rocks from here to Oregon
Here's more again! Catch it like a psycho flashback
I love gats, if rap was a gun, you wouldn't bust back
I come with shit in all types of shapes and sounds
And where I lounge is my stompin' grounds
I give an order to my peeps across the water
To go and snatch up props all around the border
And get far like a shootin' star
'Cause who I are is livin' the life of Pablo Escobar
Point-blank as I kick the square biz
There it is, you're fuckin' with pros, and there it goes

[Verse 7: RZA]
Yo! Chill with the feedback, black, we don't need that!
It's 10 o'clock, ho, where the fuck's your seed at?!
Feelin' mad hostile, wearin' Aeropostale
Flowin' like Christ when I speaks the gospel
Stroll with the holy robe

Then attack the globe with the buckus style, the ruckus
Ten-times-ten men committin' mad sin
Turn the other cheek and I'll break your fuckin' chin!
Slayin' boom-bangs like African drums
(We'll be!) Comin' around the mountain when I come
Crazy flamboyant for the rap enjoyment
My clan increase like black unemployment
Yeah! Another one dare!
G-Gka-Genius — take us the fuck outta here!

[Verse 8: GZA]
The Wu is too slammin' for these Cold Killin' labels
Some ain't had hits since I seen Aunt Mabel
Be doin' artists in like Cain did Abel
Now they money's gettin' stuck to the gum under the table
That's what you get when you misuse what I invent
Your empire falls and you lose every cent

For tryna blow up a scrub
Now, that thought was just as bright as a 20-watt light bulb
Should've pumped it when I rocked it
Niggas so stingy, they got short arms and deep pockets
This goes on in some companies
With majors, they're scared to death to pump these
First of all, who's your A&R?
A mountain climber who plays an electric guitar?
But he don't know the meanin' of dope
Money's lookin' for a suit-and-tie rap
That's cleaner than a bar of soap

And I'm the dirtiest thing in sight
Matter of fact, bring out the girls and let's have a mud fight!

[Outro x4: RZA]
You best protect ya neck!

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About

Genius Annotation

“Protect Ya Neck” is Wu-Tang’s debut single. The track is featured on the group’s debut album Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers.

Originally pressed up by the Wu on their own label in 1992, the track generated enough buzz to get the Clan a deal with Loud Records and release it with “Method Man” on its B-side.

The “Protect Ya Neck/Method Man” single made The Source’s 100 Best Rap Singles list and Pitchfork included “Protect Ya Neck” at number 5 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What has Meth said about the song?
Genius Answer

Meth told Complex,

RZA came to us and said, ‘I’m doing this record. I wanna do this record with all of ya.’ Wu-Tang was supposed to be just him, Ol’ Dirty, and GZA. All of us collectively, was just gon’ be on the posse cut. ‘Protect Ya Neck’ was supposed to be the posse cut. So, everybody that showed up with $100 got on the record.

But it wasn’t just anybody, it was dudes that fucked with each other. Every Friday we’d be up in RZA’s house making joints. Dirt Dog and GZA came about later on. GZA was already established, so niggas wasn’t doing songs with GZA like that. It was just the Park Hill niggas: myself, Chef, U-God every now and then, Inspectah Deck. Streetlife was there back in the day too, he was on this shit named ‘6 Man Symphony.’

We all paid our $100 to get on the joint to pay for the studio time. Niggas was hustling on the block at the time, so $100 was like sell 10 cracks and you in. That’s how that song came about.

As far as the order went, I don’t know how that shit happened but it just happened. We all went in there one after the other after the other and it just fit. It wasn’t no ‘Go back in and put his verse here and move his verse there.’

Instead of saying, ‘Make me cough,’ I wanted to be different so I said, ‘Make me [Cough].’ I just felt like saying it like that. It was myself, a MC named King Just, and a few others who used to use sound effects in our rhymes. It was a Park Hill thing.

[As far as the sound effects on the beat], none of that shit was there at first. After the song was done and we heard it, I heard all that shit. You know why [RZA] did it? Because of curses and for edits. The kid’s a genius.

If anything had RZA’s stamp on it, those sound effects over curse words did. That’s the whole reason why Prodigy got so much flack over using that shit. That’s something nobody ever did before. Next thing you know, you see them on everybody’s fucking record.

What did Wu-Tang Clan say about "Protect Ya Neck"?
Genius Answer

That one right there is definitely a classic song. It’s one of my favorites. That’s really my first time of hearing eight cats on one record, number one. That’s the introduction of our careers right there. That record definitely made the biggest statement for us. That record was put together crazy. When we got in the studio it’s like we were rhymin’ to another beat. That’s how RZA works. He may think of something right after he makes the beat and go back and re-tweak the beat though. I didn’t rhyme to that part of the beat when I was rhymin’. It was just a different bounce, but at the end of the day it was definitely just one of the illest songs ever made in my eyes.

It wasn’t no order. When you hear us say we witty and unpredictable it’s for reasons like that. Only because, we understand RZA’s a beat maker, but at the same time RZA is a composer, so he was just playing with things and trying different things. So that was really scrambled together as a record. Like, probably the only one that was there with him helping him co-produce at the time was Dirty if I’m not mistaken, ‘cause Dirty had a lot to do with the production back then off the first album.

Number one, being from Staten Island, the forgotten borough, this is what gets us excited. This is what makes us feel like we underestimated or underrated, so it was definitely about smashing anything and everything that come in our way, but we definitely wanted to be heard the right way.

via Complex

Credits
Produced By
A&R Director
Video Director
Copyright ©
Phonographic Copyright ℗
Performance Rights
Arranger
Programmer
Mixing Engineer
Mastering Engineer
Engineer
Recorded At
Firehouse Studios (Brooklyn, New York City)
Release Date
December 14, 1992
Songs That Sample Protect Ya Neck
Es tut weh by Bushido, Textbook Menace by The Middle Class Vandal, Winter Winds by Apathy & O.C. (Ft. Chum The Skrilla Guerilla & Marvalyss), Καθίκια (Kathikia) by XOY Team (GRC), 1992 by The Hood Internet, Das ist echt by TaiMO, Break Fool by Nick Wiz (Ft. Shadowz In The Dark), Posse Track (2014 Golden Era Records Cypher) by Golden Era Records (Ft. ADFU, Briggs, Funkoars, Hilltop Hoods, K21 & Vents (AUS)), Chaos by Vents (AUS) (Ft. Hilltop Hoods), Legendary Weapons by Ghostface Killah (Ft. AZ & M.O.P.), Mixmasterpiece: Muzik's Worst Nightmare (Side A) by Mix Master Mike, Raise Hell by M.O.P., WudźTangClan by O.S.T.R., Dirt by DJ Format, Abdominal, Wu-Tang Reunion by Wu-Tang Clan, Speeding Bullets by Soul Khan (Ft. Akie Bermiss), The Worst by Onyx (Ft. Killa Sin, Method Man, Raekwon & X1), Worst Nightmare by Demigodz, Get This Low by Jedi Mind Tricks (Ft. Black Thought), Nuthin' to Do by Common, The Lyrical Blunt by Propo'88 & BlabberMouf, Pioneer The Frontier by Wu-Tang Clan, Pop Shots by Ol' Dirty Bastard, National Threat by DC the Midi Alien (Ft. East Coast Avengers), M.O.A.N. by 60 Second Assassin (Ft. Sunz of Man), Rock Steady by Tony Touch (Ft. Method Man, Raekwon & U-God), Rah Rah Shit by Torae & Marco Polo, Pimp C by Butter Bullets, Keith Murray & Redman - Freestyle by Funkmaster Flex (Ft. Keith Murray & Redman), Floating Labels by Wugazi (Ft. Fugazi & GZA), Wu-Tang Martial Expert by Cilvaringz (Ft. RZA), Verbal Slaughter by Cella Dwellas (Ft. Inspectah Deck), Conclusion by Wu-Tang Clan, Even If by Method Man, Boss Mode by Knife Party, Air Guitar by Drapht, Redlines by Funkoars, Debris Told Me by Hilltop Hoods (Ft. Trials), #Cougarswag by Heath McNease (Ft. Krum), Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide by Gravediggaz, Protect Ya Neck by Lauriana Mae & Medina (East New York) by Masta Killa
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