[Intro: AZ (samples)] Yeah... "the city" This is serious, here "number one" New York! It's beyond the 5 boroughs "keep it real" "I get ill" "Number one" This will rock! "the city" "I gotta get in"
[AZ] This is that, Riker's Island, not slipping rap flows For them box bitten bing monsters, sniffin' that blow Block covers know the style, triple that dough Forty cal. for them cock suckers, sittin' back slow What y'all know about coke pies, give 'em that low I mouth them before the bowtie resemble cash flow Rap NY, no lie, my side is back Ghost, so hot Crooked cops are searching your asshole, it's the drop That freeze n*ggaz right where they stand for the gwap N*ggaz'll play Pac and pop with they man, it don't stop We up top, but we locked and landing He roadblock, he flow shots, get Ghost and scram Gingerbread n*ggaz on the run from feds Sh*t is sick, pretty chicks'll put a gun to ya head Never a vic', either think quick or end up dead Cuz when we flip, what's left to be said? New York New York, New York, New York
[Chorus x2: samples *scratched by DJ Premier*] "New York, New York" "Number One" "New York, New York" "Keep it real" "I get ill" "New York, New York" "Number one" "New York, New York" "The city" "I gotta get in"
[Raekwon] You know the town stupid, this is all authentic ground You can get poked, grabbed and choked, then shot up, for product Bank holders stay in the lab, too many dumb n*ggaz is scheming You can get murked up in the cab Shout out to n*ggaz that be jerking tags, rollin' in Jags Good boy leathers, hood boys'll blast you N*ggaz that carry ones and hit grass And love hip hop, the sh*t that bring money outta ziplocs Protect your dome, I'm warning you, what harm I do to the kid I have you on the floor with ya armor loose Break the raw down and sign truces Then switch the next muthaf*ckin' date, f*ck all excuses When you see me it's real, I'm just a natural born hustler The castle where they wrap you in plastic, duke So every soldier that's armed, remind your general It's critical, you might stay a night, if you pretendable
[Chorus x2]
[Ghostface Killah] Yo, we was raised in the dead arm district Before guns was called biscuits, Stapleton was on that hood sh*t Live from the New York borough, keeping it thorough Bunch of snakes in the grass, stay creepin' like squirrels Cuz a snitch gon' crack that nut, don't give a f*ck Did ten hours long and try to wrap us up He dry snitching, post up in the whip with a fly wisdom Hopped out to get a dutch, but he left with his wig splitten We from New York, my city never sleeps (No) We runnin' with a hundred heats When beef pop off, we ain't the one to speak Dressed in all black, driving six feet hurses With sixteen n*ggaz, dropping sixteen verses Big faces, bolgin' outta big green purses Stuck ya man for his vegi's and his lame ass circus So I dare n*ggaz act up, y'all n*ggaz act up Now like cars in reverse, y'all better back up