[Nas]

Crime, life, bitches, money

Time..

For my Braveheart's.. my Braveheart's

Uhh, uhh, uhh.. what, what, what?

One time.. two times..



From "Breaking Atoms" to "Illmatic", to goin platinum

Shit did change course since rippin it with Main Source

Nine-one, nine-two, time flew

Out of the blue, time for a new young king to rule

Younger frame, older state of mind

Find my name on a page in your Qu'ran, I learned that, in '89

When I was slingin cocaine and baby 9's

Put it in rap and I gave y'all a way to rhyme

God guides us, from public assistance to high rises

Condos, houses where y'all can't find us

Move on your cliques in silence, and wet it up

My meal everyday was a slice and 7-Up

Took advice from a street legend

Identities have been changed, to protect the innocent

Witnessin niggaz mistakes, visits at niggaz wakes

Cause jealousy infiltrates and seals your fate



[Chorus]

Look way deep inside yourself

Discover the diamond inside, find ya wealth

Once you get it, you gotta live it the limit

Niggaz never wanna see you with it, FUCK THEM THO'

Niggaz can't come close enough to touch the dough

The lifestyle I live is untouchable

So we clutch a few, guns that'll touch your crew

Cause we learned to do what the hustlers do



[Nas]

Different ways to come out the hood - in cuffs or a casket

or crazy, or shootin three pointer baskets

Or maybe - it's the rap shit, all type of tactics

we use to get dough, some choose kickin in doors

I asked a reverand, my mother and a best friend

less than ten years ago for me to get dough

What y'all recommend is either dope weed or blow

Cause high school was slow, and jewelry was hot

Duckin truancy cops, trains I hopped, to make it downtown

Cisco in my veins, pissed between trains

Canal Street, just lookin at rings

Outside through a glass, went in the store and asked

how much it cost, Korean man brushin me off

for some other big time customer, probably a hustler

who looked down at my small chain and chuckled up

I said, "I'll be just like you soon, motherfucker what?"



[Chorus]



[Nas]

To them niggaz who get life and throw a smile at the judge

Wildest thugs, who blow trial, exiled from the hood

Keepin bitches, comin through on visits

You will survive, them weak freaks think you finished

You first time in you known for poppin your toast

By your third year in you forgotten by most

Niggaz wife cut them out of they life, niggaz don't write

Friends actin like they don't be gettin your kites

It be ill, niggaz comin home and no time to get killed

Not even home a month and they get peeled, backwards

in they own backyard or in the park

One to the head, two to the heart, you should be smart

In the projects, who gon' die next?

Hoodrats know who let the gats blow and who keep cashflow

Like the niggaz know the rats, with some good asshole

Blunts be a good-ass roll while passin your 'dro



[Chorus]



[Nas]

Feel me?

One time, huh, two times, uhh uhh uhh

What what what? Uhh uhh uhh..