[Chorus: Kanye] And I am (here's to the roc) And they ask me, they ask me, they ask me, I tell them (here's to Rocafella) Raise your glasses, your glasses, your glasses to the sky (here's to the roc) This is the last call for alcohol, for the... (here's to Rocafella) So get your ass up off the wall [Verse 1] The all around the world Digital Underground, Pac The Rudloph the red nosed reindeer of the Roc I take my chain, my 15 seconds of fame And come back next year with the whole fucking game Ain't nobody expect Kanye to end up on top They expected that College Dropout to drop and then flop Then maybe he stop savin' all the good beats for himself Rocafella's only niggaz that help My money was thinner than Sean Paul's goatee hair Now Jean Paul Gaultier cologne fill the air, here They say he bourgie, he big-headed Won't you please stop talking about how my dick head is Flow infectious, give me 10 seconds I'll have a buzz bigger than insects in Texas It's funny how wasn't nobody interested 'Til the night I almost killed myself in Lexus [Chorus] [Verse 2] Now was Kanye the most overlooked? Yes sir Now is Kanye the most overbooked? Yes sir Though the fans want the feeling of A Tribe Called QuestBut all they got left is this guy called WestBetter take Freeway, throw him on tracks with Mos Def Call him Kwa-lI or Kwe-li, I put him on songs with Jay-Z the Gap like Banana Republic and Old Navy, and oooh It come out sweeter than old Sadie Nice as Bun-B when I met him at the Source awards Girl he had with him - ass coulda won the horse awards And I was almost famous, now everybody loves Kanye I'm almost Raymond' Some say he arrogant. Can y'all blame him? It was straight embarrassing how y'all played him Last year shoppin my demo, I was tryin' to shine Every motherfucker told me that I couldn't rhyme Now I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams I use it as my gas, so they say that I'm gassed But without it I'd be last, so I ought to laugh So I don't listen to the suits behind the desk no more You niggaz wear suits 'cause you can't dress no more You can't say shit to Kanye West no more I rocked 20,000 people, I was just on tour, nigga I'm Kan, the Louis Vuitton Don Bought my mom a purse, now she Louis Vuitton Mom I ain't play the hand I was dealt, I changed my cards I prayed to the skies and I changed my stars I went to the malls and I balled too hard 'Oh my god, is that a Black Card?' I turned around and replied, why yes but I prefer the term African American Express Brains, power, and muscle, like Dame, Puffy, and Russell Your boy back on his hustle, you know what I've been up to Killin y'all niggaz on that lyrical shit Mayonnaise colored Benz, I push Miracle Whips
[Chorus] "... last call for alcohol, for my niggaz"
[Outro] So this A&R over at Rocafella, named Hiphop picked the Truth beat for Beanie. And I was in the session with him I had my demo with me. You know, like I always do I play the songs, he's like "Who that spittin?" I'm like "It's me." He's like "Oh, well okay." Uhh, he started talkin to me on the phone going back and forth, just askin me to send him beats And I'm thinking he's trying to get into managing producers cause he had this other kid named Just Blaze he was messin with And um, he was friends with my mentor, No ID And No ID told him, "look man, you wanna mess with Kanye you need to tell him that you like the way he rap" [No ID:] "Yo, you wanna sign him, tell him you like how he rap" I was all, I dunno if he was gassin' me or not but he's like he wanna manage me as a rapper AND a producer [Hiphop:] "I'll sign you as a producer and a rapper"