[Intro: Nas] They wanna shine on 'em Shine on 'em X 7 Yeah
[Verse 1: Nas] They dug me out the soil in the Mines of the Motherland Now I'm misplaced, one hand to another hand Illegal smugglin', people strugglin' Wish they could just throw me back in the mud again Yeah, guess that's how we got here Slave Trade then the Diamond Trade Every child's afraid When his Mother and Father get sprayed Forced in the Army, young killer Brigade Gets a new name and then he give his nose glue Til' his mind can't take what he's gon' through Lookin' in that dirt for that ice so blue Then The Royal Family, the ice goes to And this thing has to change, feelin' half-ashamed As I rap with my Platinum chain When you shop for a gift for me You think about the misery? The same way we made Apartheid History We can do the same thing to the conflict ice But everybody wanna shine, right?
[HooK: Nas] Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed They wanna Shine on 'em Shine on 'em X 7
[Verse 2: Nas] My VVS glimmers on my chest 200-thou-encrusted watch on my wrist I wonder how people starve to death When God bless the land that lacks the harvest The stone's equality, but they homes are poverty And the whole world ignores the robbery Bought my girl pretty rocks when she's mad at me Tear-drop shaped, uh, perfect Clarity It shocks, so many are killed annually 'Cause of greed, lust, and pure Vanity Stop talkin' and do somethin' about it Every Holiday Season, Jewelry stores crowded Kids snatched from their homes, Mutilated alive Husbands separated from wives, keep a Jesus piece to be fly But back in the day there was a time when they called us shine
[HooK: Nas] Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed They wanna shine on 'em Shine on 'em X 7