BACK WHEN
By
NAS
***************
The ill reminisce and think about the fly days
Nothing like them 80s summer N.Y. days
Hop on the NB5 days
Mopeds, Pro Keds, city split five ways
How it all started, fifth floor apartment
A jigsaw puzzle aerial view of the projects
A kid saw struggle, buried a few of his partners
Now chill in resorts, enjoying massages
Check out the oracle bred from city housing
Nas, I’ll rise the deads by thousands
I remember seeing Shan chilling near his Audi
Hollis Ave, Run and them but I proudly
Put a poster up of Shan and Marley, that was art kid
You love to hear the story how it started
The bubbly I’m pouring wasn’t popped yet
Before there was a audience to watch us
I assure you, there was a process
“You love to hear the story, how it all, how it all got started”
How it all got started, yeah
“You love to hear the story, how it all, how it all got started”
How it, how it all got started
“You love to hear the story how it all, how it all got started”
Hear the story, started off
Started off, started off
How it all got started
“Back when, back when, back when, back when
Back when, back when, back when, back when”
To call them fake today is hate, real niggas extinct
Pac left me inside a rap world with niggas that wink
At other rappers, undercover niggas spit every way
Won’t be surprised if all their rides have federal plates
Let alone their wardrobes and Studio 4 flow
It was real when I appeared, it would’ve been some jaws broke
Nas, my real name, stage name, same thing
How could you let these lames claim king? I’m so ashamed, man
I light a L for Vernon, for niggas who would burn in Hell
For Vernon; 10th Street, 12th Street, Nightmare on Elm Street
Pimps creep, delve deep inside the editorials
Of the ghetto queens, kings, stories true
Who possesses the testicular fortitude
To blow away myths that’s a hindrance to all of you
You blame your own shortcomings on sex and race
The mafia, homosexuals and all the Jews
It’s hogwash point of views, stereotypical
Anti-Semitic like the foul words Gibson spewed
And it’s pathetic, I don’t get the credit I deserve
That’s why I hate doing interviews
But I don’t sweat it, study long, study raw
My man Dion said “Nas over-think the songs he writing”
I’m not a wack performer standing near a corny hype man
I got the Donism in me, I’m here to enlighten
“You love to hear the story, how it all, how it all got started”
How it all got started, yeah
“You love to hear the story, how it all, how it all got started”
How it, how it all got started
“You love to hear the story how it all, how it all got started”
Hear the story, started off
Started off, started off
How it all got started
“Back when, back when, back when, back when
Back when, back when, back when, back when”
STAY
***************
Peace to the Five Percenters, online engine inventors
Shout to them niggas, family men, bringin’ home dinners
Watch out for desperate lonely women, hurt ya happy home
Miserable and alone, kissable, nice to bone
She not the type deserving of a throne
Her beauty is her curse, she fuck for shoes and a purse
Make me a movie first, can watch you on my phone
I shop in Barcelona, I spend some nights in Rome
Feel like a knight from England, that’s what I named my son: Knight
He was born to be one, that’s how my game was won
White 740 Beamer, licked by an angel’s tongue
I’m livin’ dangerous son, she got a man, a famous one
Honey be pocket watchin’, she got a lot of options
Hard to make up her mind decidin’ which baller to rock with
Hot to death, slim pickings, but I’m not impressed
She got the hottest sex, so I guess I’ma just…
Stay
Even though I don’t like you, next Friday night can’t wait to fight you
Locked up I would knife you, don’t fuck with you
Last month I even bucked at you, you got locked
I felt bad, wait, do I got love for you?
I might kill you, but do I got love for you?
I want you dead under 6 feet of soil
At the same time, want you here to witness me while you in misery
We hate each other, but it’s love, what a thug mystery
Years ago they ate the heart of a slain enemy
We enemies, but your hatred could never enter me
Some seek fame cause they need validation
Some say hatin’ is confused admiration
Spotlight on me, I still look twenty
Still get money, lady killer pushin’ a Bentley
Maybe niggas could see too much of they failures through a nigga who realer
I don’t like you near bruh, but I need you to…
Stay
WORLD’S AN ADDICTION
***************
Lies and the pain
Betrayal, life
In danger’s face
Look what you’re facing, gave your heart away
And all the remedies couldn’t ease the pain
All the hurt and betrayal; need to get away
In a world so cold
You gain your life just to lose your soul
Never thinking twice ’bout what the future holds
All the lies and the games not worth fighting for
The world is an addiction, serving up a fix
The world is an addiction, way too much for me
Snitches and rapists in the street, crime to the fullest
Asking niggas if they got any extra nine bullets
They deny me that, they know the bullets they loan me
Be the same ones that probably had them lying flat stretched out
Letter T
It’s better to dead a beef than let it breathe, then we don’t succeed
Cause then you gotta murder dummies
Waste your time, they allergic to money
I’m never squeamish to blood, we can thug, and get out of hand,
What’s the options?
Only conclusion is shooting, bullets poppin’,
Hoodlums dropping, fear any day that the feds will come knocking
Was young and nervous, asking myself what’s my purpose,
In the back of a patty wagon, bracelets, aching me
Pigs ignoring, I’m asking what precinct they taking me
These cops can’t relate to me, death to prison, empty vacancy
The world is an addiction, serving up a fix
The world is an addiction, way too much for me
Thou shall not be selfish, real nigga commandments,
Know a billionaire he has everything but a fam,
Guess how angry this man gets, had so many bad chicks in his bed,
Strange sex, same sex, has addictions that are sadistic
Chain of events, habits, he puts cocaine on his prick and acts sick
Self-esteem needs boosting alcohol consumption
Nicotine fusion, some athletes juicing
Pastors quote biblical chapters, Psalms
All along he’s into bestiality porn,
And it’s wrong, so I keep the Cali weed in the bong
And I’m strong, but the female anatomy got me sprung
And these women need shoes and bags, cars and condos
Fine clothes, and these fiends needs to get high, so they find dough
To mainline dope, and ya’ll know
The world is an addiction, serving up a fix
The world is an addiction, way too much for me
So many vices, habits, mine of course, bad chicks
My response to any advice on what is the essentials of life
I’m just rebellious, not selfish,
Guess we all share different definitions of what wealth is
I need the best things in life that’s women, that’s cars
Cigars in Venice, bottle on ice, that’s priceless
The other night, just in the emergency room
A patient said she needs to see a doctor soon
Doctor busy operating on a lady who’s sedated
He can barely concentrate, cause he’s newly separated
His estranged wife likes entertaining her acquaintance
In the house they were married in, mad people waiting
Some young, some old, heads and stomachs aching
Filling out an application, cause they all need medication
But the doctor need love or a quick vacation, calling up his travel agent
Same time, premeditating murdering his ex wife
Life, savage ain’t it
Some need Xanax, just to maintain it
We all need faith cause the world keep changing
Let go of the illusion, start some restraining
Just hold on (just hold on)
Just hold on (just hold on)
Just hold on (just hold on)
Just hold on (just hold on)
Just hold on (just hold on)
Just hold on (just hold on)
Just hold on (just hold on)
Just hold on
WHERE’S THE LOVE
***************
At times I window watch at the Wynn hotel
Lots of thinking happens in life, will I win or fail?
Mind of a shooter, CFO also
Ethiopian food flown in, it’s unlawful
Money is attractive, honey dress strapless
Agent Provocateur underwear: she’s classic
Stroll up in the party: titanium black car
Romanian ladies like Casablanca, Casbah
‘Cept we in the VIP area, that’s ours
You know the real rap gods, typical trap star turned rap star
These old heads got stories, the days they was kings
I pray secret indictments don’t take away their dreams
You 16, you could do 20, come home young
Catch 20 years when you 40? Holmes, you’re done
What have we become? Rap stars from trap stars
Black gods to Ansars to Sunnis back to goonies
A 360 in the streets real grizzly
Shooters is cold, kid, the old shit was learning
Student enrollment to focus, yet hooligans roll with
Toasters to pop your medullas off of your shoulders
This ain’t the Truman Show; it’s the human show
Ask the F.B.I. agent at his cubicle
Chewing on his pencil eraser with intents to erase you
It’s U.S.A. against the gangsta, where’s the love?
Love, I’ll trade you love
I’ve traded fire with you long enough
Is that all you brung? It’s not love
That’s fucked up, but I saved your soul
Roll that up
Sometimes I sit on the bench just to watch the game
Feet on cement, there ain’t a mobster living I could name
Who made it out rich, in his absence I do not proclaim
To not have a heart like wild animals not tamed
Maybe just a typical thug nigga was my rank
‘Cept I had a vision above niggas, what I think
It’s crazy how many brothers come from where I come from
Some made it out big, some dead, some unsung
Shots for soldiers on 23 hours lock-up
Younger generation, they want to mimic and mock us
Laughing, separating themselves like they not us, like
“Cops’ll look at you like they look at me? That’s preposterous”
Ain’t it gangsta how your man made it? I’m humble
One gun, one crazy ass nigga, that’s Jungle
Now we having babies, cause growing up it was just us
No uncles or cousins to fight with us, we was fucked up
But still it was beautiful, the love is mutual
Even though me and Jung ain’t show up to your funeral
I hold your son hand, tell him he the man, we love you
Your pops was king, you have a whole lot to live up to
The G is in your genes, already you tuck
Inherit your dad’s swag, it’s George Jefferson’s strut
Stay flyest, they gon’ want to know what in your diet
Don’t be surprised if they want to check your shit and your vomit
Tell them you let it marinate, they swear you made them a promise
No matter what they do, you just stay a man of honor
I’m a street corner nigga, New York Knicks loyalist
Corona sipper, pass it out, might blow it with you
It ain’t the Truman show; it’s the human show
Ask the F.B.I. agent at his cubicle
Chews on his pencil eraser with intents to erase you
Young brother go and get your paper, I got love
Love, I’ll trade you love
I’ve traded fire with you long enough
Is that all you brung? It’s not love
That’s fucked up, but I saved your soul
Roll that up
Roll that up
BYE BABY
***************
I guess you knew and blew a good thing, baby
Bye baby, I guess you know why I walked away
When we walked to the altar that was an awesome day
Did counselling, couldn’t force me to stay
Something happens when you say I do, we go astray
Why do we mess it up, we was friends we had it all
Reason you don’t trust men, that was your daddy fault
He in the grave, let it go, he no longer living
Said you caught him cheating with mom and other women
Fuck that gotta do with us
Here’s the keys to the newest truck
Birkin bags, we burnin’ cash, now baby do it up
No matter who you fuck, that was before me
Wanted you as my shawty since I saw you screamin’
“Hate you so much right now”
Should’ve saw the man in angry black women
Ashes of a demon, I’m leaving
I guess you knew and blew a good thing, baby (Bye baby)
You know I’m saying bye-bye (Bye-bye baby)
Cause I’m sayin’ bye-bye (Bye baby)
Cause I’m sayin’ bye-bye
I guess you knew and blew a good thing, baby
Bye baby, I guess you know why I had to leave
Seven months in your pregnancy, ’bout to have my seed
Let’s take it back some years, rewind it to the happy years
You and your Star Trak fam, I’m thinking you cats are weird
Same time, different year, I was diggin’ ya flow
Then I tatted you on my arm so niggas would know
I thought no one could stop us, matching gold watches
I was your Johnny Depp, you was my Janis Joplin
Yet, the cuter version, yet I knew you personally
Better than you knew yourself and I knew this for certain
Crib in the Dominican you got away from everybody
You screaming at the racist cops in Miami was probably
The highlight of my life, like “Hi yo look at my wife”
Gangsta, me and twenty cops ’bout to fight, crazy night
Bailed you out, next morning we got clean
Like it never happened and later we at that Heat game
Just another day in the life of two people in love
But it wasn’t enough, so baby guess what
Listen, could you imagine writing your deposition?
Divorce Lawyer telling you how this thing gonna be ending?
With you paying out the ass, and I’m talking half
Not some but half. No serious, half
Half of your soul, half of your heart you leaving behind
It’s either that or die, I wanted peace of mind
And all I seen was selfish cowards, under they breath
Saying “why did Nas trust her?”, but look at yourself, speak louder bruh
You live with your babymoms and scared to make an honest woman out of her
And make her your bride, fake bitch you ain’t even alive
At least I can say I tried plus enjoyed the ride
Plus we got our little boy, my little joy and pride
He got my nose, my grill, your colour, your eyes
Next go round I hope I pick the truest type and watch me do it all again
It’s a beautiful life, aight
Goodbye
ACCIDENT MURDERER (FEAT. RICK ROSS)
***************
You cocked back, you thought you had it planned
You thought you had your man
He saw you comin’, he ran when you tried to blast that man
Missed him by inches, he sprinted
Some of his boys on the corner was who your bullets entered
Two of ’em pull through, but one didn’t, son’s finished
You took the life of him
The part about it that’s crazy, you was aight with him
Tight with him, why was he in the way?
Why was he standin’ next to the enemy that specific day?
His style never hollas loud, stays reclusive
Good dude, got that look like he always about to do shit
Side of his mouth toothpick, one eyebrow raised
Got into it with dude who still tried to live out his old wild out days
They never had no probs
Somehow they rubbed each other wrong like a bad massage
These two different personalities had to collide
Niggas could not aim and innocent niggas died
You ask why, cause of a…
Accident murderer
Act like you killed on purpose
Liars brag, you put work in
You ain’t mean to murk him, your gun’s a virgin
Streets are full of them, read the bulletin
Accident murderer
You just an accident murderer
We grew up doin’ graffiti
Now hollows heads gettin’ heated
Seated in foreign cars, constantly gettin’ weeded
Proceeded to count profits, I know they got on binoculars
But fuck ’em all, we ballin’ ’til they come lock us up
Twenty to life, I’m clubbin’ blowin’ twenty tonight
We the Marlboro, Marley Marlin’ all through the night
Addicted to wealth, never cold turkey to war
Snatch a tech off the shelf, live forever that’s Insha’Allah
Memoirs of a rich nigga
Sweat suits, gold chains, old drug dealers
New Benz, chrome rims off a show killer
You niggas accidental shoppers in back of the limo
Pay your ties, stay alive, can’t be dodgin’ my clique
Hundred check, I use your bitch for some bargainin’ chips
In a hole, sell your home, nigga go sell your soul
This forty-five in control, God forgives and I don’t
Accident murderer
Act like you killed on purpose
Liars brag, you put work in
You ain’t mean to murk him, your gun’s a virgin
Streets are full of them, read the bulletin
Accident murderer
You just an accident murderer
Accident murderer
Accident murderer
You just an accident murderer
Yo, for my nigga that got killed, got hit up
Vodka spills on the concrete, light a swisha
We miss ya
And for that girl who never made it home, shot in the dome
How they gon’ kill that beautiful sista?
Violent adolescents, homicidal with weapons
Not a lot of knowledge inside of they minds, that I’m guessin’
Tell me who you impressin’?
Shooters I knew them when they was babies, I used to test them
Make ’em throw up they hands, choke ’em out playin’ in wrestlin’
Watch ’em grow to a man, I see them now they reppin’
But they cold-blooded, homie, wonderin’ where the respect went
Can’t play with these little niggas, gangsta little niggas
Can’t hang with these little niggas, they killin’, they reckless
Wish I could build with him, but will he change really?
Some real killers, I think of Wayne Perry
Fake ’til my nigga draws, what you want a name? Tell me
You ain’t mean to kill him, it wasn’t necessary