Radio DJ Gary Byrd (who also wrote lyrics to Village Ghetto Land and Black Man) collaborated with Stevie again in 1983. Stevie provided the music and did a vocal cameo performance.

Man this is from waaaaay back.... so music and rap is as old school as you can get ...one of my all time fave rap tracks.. and up til today this most likely IS my most played 12 inch of 'em all... and... of course there was the instrumental version on the backside ...so ya know... back then.. in my closet... when I sure no one could be listening... thank god no tapes exist here! ...still could give you ALL the lyrics by heart though




Gary Byrd & the G.B. Experience feat. Stevie Wonder - "The Crown"

Uh, people of the world wherever you be
Welcome to Cosmic University
Where life is the journey and love is the trip
And the study of them will make you hip
I’m professor of the rap and when I speak
I guarantee that my lines will not be weak
They say a mind is a terrible thing to waste
That’s why I’m here and on the case
Rapping up every mind with a special degree
In socio-psycholo G.B.E
The Gary Byrd Experience is my course
When you take my class you will feel the force
‘Cause I know the roots that the rap is from
When I speak to you I am not dumb
Hear my rap and begin to dance
And I promise you this, you will advance

You may have seen the Raiders of the Lost Ark
But you still left the theater in the dark
So clap your hands to the beat as the Wondersound
And the G.B.E. shine on the crown

You wear the crown
I wear the crown
So proud to say
That we all wear the crown
The crown

I said once upon a time in Alkebu
With the kings and queens who look like you
It was a land of sun with a golden shine
A place that once was yours and mine
Home of a many great dynasty
Who created the science and astronomy
When the Romans came to study man
And the Greeks found out about the plan
In case you wonder what else they did
The Alkebulans created the pyramids
And before Napoleon couldn’t even blink
In Alkebu there stood a giant sphinx
Some say they came from outer space
But they are a part of the human race
If you know the place where they can be found
And you may be the one who can wear the crown

You wear the crown
I wear the crown
So proud to say
That we all wear the crown
The crown

I wear the crown
You wear the crown
So proud to say
That we all wear the crown
Get down

I wear the crown
You wear the crown
So proud to say
That we all wear the crown
Get down

I do recall so very well when I was just a little boy
I used to hurry home from school, I used to always feel so blue
Because there was no mention in the books, we read about my heritage
So therefore any information that I got was education
Bums, hobos at depot stations, I would listen with much patience
Or to relatives who told the tales that they were told to pass ahead
Ah, but then one day from someone old, I heard a story never told
Of all the kingdoms of my people, and in how we fought for freedom
All about the many things we have unto the world contributed
You wear the crown

[We wear the crown]
We wear the crown

It’s not Star Wars, it’s not Superman
It’s not the story of the Ku-Klux-Klan
The crown will appear in the G.B.E., but it’s never seen on your TV
It’s in black and white in your gold mind
A picture so old it defies time
Alex Haley drew it in his book
It’s what Kunta kept in his other foot
Ghana Songhay and old Mali
They are the roots of your own family tree
Kingdoms so vast and knowledge wise
They remove cataracts from human eyes
And yet today some refuse to see
And live in fear of their discovery
Now in fourteen hundred and ninety-two
Columbus sailed to ocean, true
But years before in Alkeu
A ship set sail with a chocolate crew
2000 years before Colombo came
The Olmecs paid tribute to their fame
Stone heads with faces eight feet high
That the Hulk could not lift to his thigh
But the facts historians avoid
First to arrive was the Africoid
It may shock the House and Shockley, too
And if you’re not prepared, it may shock you
While some had doubts that the world was round
In America guess who wore the crown

You wear the crown
I wear the crown
So proud to say
That we all wear the crown
The crown

I wear the crown
You wear the crown
So proud to say
That we all wear the crown
Get down

You wear the crown I wear the crown

That was a cut.

lennytunia said:

Is it still Imhotep Gary Byrd? Hey, I didn't know Chuck Leonard passed? And let's not forget Jerry Bledsoe and Vy Higginson. And remember when Frankie Crocker signed off? He'd play King Pleasure's "Moody's Mood for Love." Wow!" Thanks for taking me back.

I was only listening to this yesterday.

If you don't have it, you should!

http://homepage.ntlworld....ecrown.zip