Verse One:
  
   Follow me into a solo
   Get in the flow - and you can picture like a photo
   Music mixed mellow maintains to make
   Melodies for MC's motivates the breaks
   I'm everlastin, I can go on for days and days
   With rhyme displays that engrave deep as X-rays
   I can take a phrase that's rarely heard, FLIP IT
   Now it's a daily word
   I can get iller than 'Nam, a killin bomb
   But no alarm - Rakim will remain calm
   Self-esteem make me super superb and supreme
   But for a microphone still I fiend
   This was a tape I wasn't supposed to break
   I was supposed to wait, but let's motivate
   I want to see who can keep followin and swallowin
   Takin the making, bitin it and borrowin
   Brothers tried and others died to get the formula
   But I'ma let ya sweat - you still ain't warm
   You a step away from frozen, stiff as if ya posin
   Dig into my brain as the rhyme gets chosen
   So follow me and were ya thinkin' you were first?
   Let's travel at magnificent speeds around the Universe
   What could ya say as the Earth gets further and further away
   Planets are small as balls of clay
   Astray into the Milky Way - world's outasight
   Far as the eye can see - not even a satellite
   Now stop and turn around and look
   As ya stare in the darkness, ya knowledge is took!
   So keep starin soon ya suddenly see a star
   You better follow it cause it's the R
   This is a lesson if ya guessin and if ya borrowin
   Hurry hurry step right up and keep followin
   The Leader
  
   Verse Two:
  
   This is a lifetime mission, vision of prison
   Aight listen
   In this journey you're the journal I'm the journalist
   Am I Eternal? Or an eternalist?
   I'm about to flow long as I can possibly go
   Keep ya movin cause the crowd said so
   Dance - cuts rip ya pants
   Eric B on the blades, bleedin to death - call the ambulance
   Pull out my weapon and start to squeeze
   A magnum as a microphone murderin' MC's
   Let's quote a rhyme from a record I wrote
   (follow the leader) Yeah - dope
   Cause everytime I stop it seems ya stuck
   Soon as ya try to step off ya self-destruct
   I came to overcome before I'm gone
   By showin and provin and lettin knowledge be born
   Then after that I'll live forever - you disagree?
   You say never? Then follow me!
   From century to century you'll remember me
   In history - not a mystery or a memory
   God by nature, mind raised in Asia
   Since you was tricked, I have to raise ya
   From the cradle to the grave, but remember
   You're not a slave
   Cause we was put here to be much more than that
   But we couldn't see it because our mind was trapped
   But I'm here to break away the chains, take away the pains
   Remake the brains, reveal my name
   I guess nobody told you a little knowledge is dangerous
   It can't be mixed, diluted; it can't be changed or switched
   Here's a lesson if ya guessing and borrowing
   Hurry hurry, step right up and keep following
   The leader
  
   Verse Three:
  
   A furified freestyle, lyrics of fury
   My third eye makes me shine like jewelry
   You're just a rent-a-rapper, your rhymes are minute-maid
   I'll be here when it fade to watch you flip like a renegade
   I can't wait to break and eliminate
   On every traitor or snake - so stay awake
   and follow and follow, because the tempo's a trail
   The stage is a cage, the mic is a third rail
   I'm Rakim the Fiend of a Microphone
   I'm not HIM, so leave my mic alone
   Soon as the beat is felt, I'm ready to go
   So fasten your seatbelt, cause I'm about to flow
   No need to speed slow down to let the leader lead
   Word to daddy, indeed!
   The R's a rollin stone, so I'm rollin
   Directions is told, then the rhymes are stolen
   Stop buggin', a brother said, dig em, I never dug 'em
   He couldn't follow the leader long enough so I drug 'em
   into danger zone, he should arrange his own
   Face it, it's basic, erase it, change ya tone
   There's one R in the alphabet
   It's a one-letter word and it's about to get
   More complex from one rhyme to the next
   Eric B be easy on the flex
   I've been from state to state, followers tailgate
   Keep comin but you came too late, but I'll wait
   So back up, regroup, get a grip, come equipped
   You're the next contestant - clap ya hands, you won a trip!
   The price is right - don't make a deal too soon
   How many notes could you name this tune?
   Follow the Leader is the title, theme, task
   Now ya know, you don't have to ask
   Rap is Rhythm And Poetry, cuts create sound effects
   You might catch up if you follow the records E. wrecks
   Until then keep eatin and swallowin
   You better take a deep breath and keep followin
   The leader.