Then and Now

I listened to long play and wax records back when I was little
Them 45s where you put that round piece in the middle
Collecting football cards from anywhere I could find them
8-tracks playing straight through ‘cause you couldn’t rewind them
Catchin' whoopings with that switch, yeah, that might be me
‘member when grandma used to have that black and white tv?
A clothes hanger was the antennae, no, this ain’t a joke
We used to sit it on top of the big tv that was broke
Rotary phones, man, I ain’t seen one of those in a while
Seems like the number used to take us five minutes to dial
You’d be like *brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*, man, I wish I could show ya
And you’d be hot when you mess it up and have to start over
Gettin' poked by the loose springs comin' out of your mattress
Wearing' them tough skinned jeans with them thick knee patches
Plastic covering that good couch, better not sit there
And hot combs got the house smelling like burnt hair so yeah
Years pass and the planet keep spinnin' ‘round
A lot’s changed when I think about then and now
I love the past and the present and I mean it y’all
I’m glad I’ve been here long enough to where I’ve seen it all
Years pass and the planet keep spinnin' ‘round
A lot’s changed when I think about then and now
I love the past and the present and I mean it y’all
I’m glad I’ve been here long enough to where I’ve seen it all
Before the world was like it is now, some of us remember
Summer days, no air condition, box fan in the window
If you was driving and your beeper started beepin' like that
You pulled over to use the payphone to call people back
Wasn’t no GPS system through your cell connection
If you was lost, you had to stop and ask folks for directions
Hung your drawers on that clothesline without no thought
And back then we used to know people’s phone number by heart
And if a song came on the air and you ain’t purchased it yet
You could tape it off the radio, straight to cassette
After school, everybody at that arcade, man
Twenty quarters lined up on that Pac Man game
And schoolteachers could paddle you with pieces of wood
And if you had an Atari, man, you was big in the hood
Good Times and Fred Sanford, man, that sh— still funny
And food stamps used to come in books like real money so
Years pass and the planet keep spinnin' ‘round
A lot’s changed when I think about then and now
I love the past and the present and I mean it y’all
I’m glad I’ve been here long enough to where I’ve seen it all
Years pass and the planet keep spinnin' ‘round
A lot’s changed when I think about then and now
I love the past and the present and I mean it y’all
I’m glad I’ve been here long enough to where I’ve seen it all
If you at the mall, lookin' for a new girlfriend
Wasn’t no lockin' numbers in, you better have you a pen
No computer for the DJ, just beats full of bass
It was actual turntables, they was reachin' in crates
Encyclopedias was Google searches in those days
If I had internet way back then, I’da made straight A’s
VCRs to DVRs, having cable was rare
The hood looked out for the hood, people actually cared
Your homie had a busted up car, you’d straight ride in it
And if you did do some dope, you didn’t take pride in it
A lot of things change over generations, it’s wild
We was scared of our parents, now parents scared of the child
Even the hoop game is not the same as when I was little
What used to be a carry then is now a regular dribble
Evolution good or bad, I understand that trend because I’m not even the same
person I was back then so
Years pass and the planet keep spinnin' ‘round
A lot’s changed when I think about then and now
I love the past and the present and I mean it y’all
I’m glad I’ve been here long enough to where I’ve seen it all
Years pass and the planet keep spinnin' ‘round
A lot’s changed when I think about then and now
I love the past and the present and I mean it y’all
I’m glad I’ve been here long enough to where I’ve seen it all