[Intro: repeat 2X] No idea's original, there's nothin new under the sun It's never what you do, but how it's done What you base your happiness around material, women, and large paper That means you inferior, not major
[Nas] If niggaz could look inside my mind, you'll find where bodies are buried, first look past the hotties who dimes Go to the center, enter with caution, past the braincell graveyard where weed's responsible for memory loss Let's witness, the horrific, the stench'll make you nauseous See what I seen every day I live with this torture Lightin spliffs up to stay high like 24 hours Sleep with my heat, wash with my gun in the shower My tongue is power, it thrills women, kills demons Long as I'm still breathin I'm still winnin, I'll teach 'em The hood converted from trey bags to 20's a girl Everybody had money, every summer was real ill Four-finger rings, dope dealers, 'caine/Kane "No Half Steppin'" with flat tops when Rakim reigned Radios on card tables, Benetton, the Gods buildin Ask for today's mathematics, we Allah's children And this was goin on in every New York ghetto Kids listened, Five Percenters said it's pork and Jell-o We coincide, we in the same life, maybe a time difference on a different coast, but we share the same sunlight Your part of the world, might be like colors and gangs While on my side, brothers'll murder for different things But it all revolve around drugs, fame and shorties Stuck for your bling, stripped for your chain, the same story From, Czechoslovakia to Texas metropolis Them, treacherous rocksters in the Mexican mafias Be scrappin with tats on they back, violent wars Nothin less than a lethal injection if ever caught Courtrooms, eagles and flags, American style While in our world, the ghetto stays incredibly foul Watchin for paint chips, don't want no led in yo' child But them gangstas put lead in yo' child, the bezzy be out The chain be like a hundred K Shinin since Roxanne Shante' made "Runaway"; that's been a minute Genesis is deep, my features are that of a God It's not a facade it's a fact, these rappers wanna be Nas My Exodus doesn't exist I'll never leave the streets, it's all in my mind Even with sleep I'm duckin nines in my dreams Si-rens, wide awake, why'd I think it would change Can't hide when you famous or even try to do the same things like Somebody's always watchin, my life Before I, walk out the door I size up every option Eyes cut every direction, it's like God or guns Which is better protection? Can't decide, that's a hard one I mean they wanna see me in prison, the chains bamboozled Headline readin "Rapper Slain From a Man Shootin"