It’s been a long journey for Mickey Factz. In the late aughts, his buzz was deafening, as he was heralded by digital publications, named a 2009 XXL Freshman and signed to a major record company poised to drop an album. Unfortunately, due to label politics, things stalled and he would have to wait 7 years for that album to be released.

In music, particularly Hip-Hop, 7 years is an eternity. Many had not heard of J. Cole or Kendrick Lamar at that point, and an MC named Drake, closely associated with Houston at the time, was just starting to bubble. For many artists, such a stint would be a career killer. Last week, however, Mickey defied the odds and The Achievement: circa ’82 hit stores, with an assist from Pharoahe Monch’s W.A.R. Media. The album contained features from such respected veterans as Styles P, Phonte, Blu, Smoke DZA and more.

Mickey Factz & Styles P Stage A Rap Battle On “Vs” & We Win (Audio)

As part of his victory lap, Factz paid a visit to the Sway In The Morning show and participated in the Friday Fire Cypher series. Beginning at the 1:45 mark, he commences a 5-minute verse that is loaded to the max with references to video games, TV series and films so dense, they require multiple rewinds, and maybe even some help from Genius. In fact, after the verse, Sway holds up the show to call Genius’ Rob Markman to ask that the verse be added to the site and annotated.

Mickey Factz & Phonte Prove Some MCs Actually Love Their Women (Audio)

It is what Sway says after the verse and before the call to Markman, however, that is sure to cause a stir. “I’ve seen the greats. Jay Z done rapped on our show. Nas done rapped on our show. Lauryn Hill done rapped on our show. Kanye rapped on our show…I gotta do my top 10 list on our shows, and I need to include Wake Up Show too, because I’m putting you in the Wake Up Show realm of the G Rap’s and what we felt when we heard them rap on our show.” Those are powerful words from the veteran on-air personality who has hosted everybody–EVERYBODY–relevant in Hip-Hop, over the last quarter century, on his shows.

Whether or not Heads agree with the assessment, Factz’s lyrics do require reading, after listening, just to see how richly layered they are. There are countless references that are sure to fly over even the most astute listener’s head. Regardless of its ranking, it is a true gem for any fan of lyricism, and a definitive statement that Mickey Factz is back.

Here are the full lyrics.