WHERE’S THE LOVE
By
NAS
***************
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
CHERRY WINE (FEAT. AMY WINEHOUSE)
***************
Where is he?
The man who was just like me
I heard he was hiding somewhere I can’t see
Where is he?
The man who was just like me
Heard he was hiding somewhere I can’t see
And I’m alone, and I realize that when I get home
I wanna go through my red and my cherry
Yes I’m alone, and I realize when I get home
I wanna go through my red and my cherry
I want some who like the champagne I like
My a-alike, someone to talk me off the bridge any day or night
She teach me how to live, she ain’t afraid of life
Not easily impressed with the rich and famous life
Cause she done been there and heard all the rumors before
She love or she ride out with me on my music tour
She like the herbs natural medicine, she cooking good
She tell me everything is cool and looking good
For real, the world so ill
Yeah I want a girl so real
Who not after material wealth, but get dough still
Or maybe an educator, a lady with etiquette
Who can be from out the hood, or even work for the president
As long as there’s no selfishness
Yes, as long as her love for the people is deep rooted and evident
You can be easily recruited, you’re heaven sent
Your smile, put me on ease
You’re the woman I need, but where is she
I hate when people write me hostile texts on the count of my lifestyle’s perception
Invade my personal life, out of the question, what are they expecting
I be tryna reply them, and they never suppose I get my quiet time in
They think forever I’m rolling in dough, swimming in a pool of cash
God, wouldn’t they know, or am I a fool or as
I’m well known, got people coming at me mad
I had a tell homes, I don’t keep a cell phone
My bad, I drag, off the l and try to silence it
The noise of my head, the curse of the talented
Strong communicator, vagabond, I gallivant around the equator
And that would get me off the radar
It’s so intense, I’m on my Lilo and Stitch
Pour my Pino Grigio with some lime what is this?
An immaculate version of me and my baby
With all respect cause you the only one that gets me
Yeah, yeah, let’s pour some cherry wine
Everything’s good, everything’s fine
Yeah, yeah we bring it every time
Yeah, pour a little cherry wine
Yeah, Hey yo Salaam, yea, I think they know the time
Everything’s good, everything’s fine
Yeah, pour a little cherry wine, yeah
Life is good, life is good, yeah
Life is good, no matter what
Life is good, life is good
Life if good, yeah
No matter what
Life is good
Man who was just like me
I heard he is hiding somewhere I can’t see
And I’m alone
And I realize that when I get home
When I wanna go to my red and my cherry
Yeah-oh-oh-ooooh
The man who was just like me
Cause I know he was hiding somewhere I can’t see
And I’m alone
And I realize when I get home
That I wanna go to my red and my cherry
(Life Is Good)
NASTY
***************
Word
Got some Remy Martin, some good-ass cigars
Check it out
Ayo, late night, candlelight, fiend wit’ diesel in his needle
Queensbridge leader, no equal, I come from the Wheel of Ezekiel
To pop thousand-dollar bottles of scotch, smoke purp, and heal the people
Any rebuttal to what I utter get box-cuttered
Count how many bad honeys I slut, it’s a high number
Name a nigga under the same sky that I’m under
Who gets money, remain fly, yeah, I wonder
Eyes flutter as love when Nas pops up
Stars get starstruck, panties start drippin’
The ways of Carlito, blaze, torpedo cigars
Drop moves, drop clothes
Louis the XIII freaks, women nice size
I ride like Porsches, thick, brown and gorgeous
It ain’t my fault, semiautomatic weapons
I brought the world “Crazy,” I’m rich and I’m girl-crazy
Dick ’em, convince ’em all to praise me
They ideology is confusion, I lose ’em
Fellates me, who hate me? My gun off safety
Since a Tunnel escape key, my jewelry in HD
Silent rage, pristine in my vintage shades
I’m not in the winters of my life or the beginner stage, I am the dragon
Maserati, pumpin’ Biggie, the great legend
Blastin’, I’m after the actress who played Faith Evans
My little Jackie Onassis, dig?
I’m so high, I never land like Mike Jackson’s crib
Best on .45, still crack ya rib sacrilege
When lids talk trash about the nasty kid
Past nasty now, I’m gross and repulsive
Talk money, is you jokin’? Cash everywhere, in my bank, in the sofa
In the walls, in the cars, in my wallet, in my pocket
On the floors, ceiling, the safe, bitch
I got all you envy, but don’t offend
I’m skinny, but still I’m too big for a Bentley
You are your car, what could represent?
Too Godly to be a Bugatti, you honestly
Must design me somethin’ Tommy Mottonic from Queens had before the ’90s
Drug dealer call, rush to the bar
Move, niggas, we don’t give a fuck who you are
Black card heavy like a magnet, in my stitched denims
Pretty women see them them saggin’
Bet a hundred stacks, niggas’ll run it back
Just havin’ fun, I ain’t even begun to black
Light another blunt in fact
(Nasty)
Nasty kid
(Nasty)
Yeah
(Nasty)
The kid!
(Nasty)
Nasty kid
For the hustlers, thick as yellow bitches for the suck of it
Got a bunch of niggas in prison braggin’, sayin’ “It was Nas I used to hustle wit'”
I display fashions while my lungs engage hashes, guns on my waist past his
Since I’m cakin’ up, put funds in my safe, laughin’
And joining the niggas passin’ you niggas was straight assin’
Excuse the vulgarity, I’m still not fully adjusted
Or used to the new fans hearin’ me spit rapidly
I never see the whips niggas be claimin’ they drivin’
I guess entertainment means blatantly lyin’
Fake it ’til you make it, I’ve driven those toys
Been in the wars, in the streets, cops kickin’ in doors
For my deen niggas, your flow cheap as limousine liquor
I’m no fake rap CD listener, sit back and roll a mean swisher
For my Gs, tell these clowns make room for the king, nigga
YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND
***************
Yeah, Harlem, Bronx, Brooklyn
Let’s make a bet, I know the reason you ain’t make it yet
You say you set, but you ain’t see the tedious ingredients
That go inside of a rider, you hiding from problems and
You never knew how to make dollars
You couldn’t make orders at a drive-through McDonald’s
I was fly at the Apollo with black Jason, ’89 with a bottle
Niggas jealous of Jason, dark green seven forty, no tint
Rollie on wrist, gleaming he rock the baldy
Used to ride with him to Brooklyn, Lewis, and Halsey
Cop chocolate thai, Vernon style and burn it down
My nigga hype in the federal joint, verdict out
20 years getting money in the dirty south
That’s alleged, you see my nigga’s a stand up dude
So I’m yelling free my nigga
My nephew godfather Malik, he jammed up too
For what his hands usually call for, but he ain’t do it
Who you are ain’t in the recipe to what I am
Cause where I’m from, man, what I see
You wouldn’t understand where I been and what I do
No matter how you try you never can
Cause where I’m from and what I see
You wouldn’t understand where I been, where I been
You ever been on the other end of a robber’s revolver?
Not me, call me Lucky Nas Casalana
All been shot in the medulla oblongata and survived
And praised God with a bullet, I never collided
Some did and they lived, I salute the gods
Moet spilling, splash my mistake on my Timb boots for y’all
N.Y. nigga, Adidas, jogging suit
Shelltoes, slim, fly nigga
Hudson River, rent a boat, t-shirt with a dinner coat
A vintage Fila like I’m the ghost of Domencio
On any day getting throwed in a tinted vehicle
Like a old BK gangsta, but I’m the CEO
Of Nasty Nas Enterprise, mastermind, made men
My success symbolizes loyalty, great friends
Dedication, hard work, routine builds character
In a world full of snakes, rats and scavengers
Never make choices out of desperation, I think through it
Break through walls like Pink Floyd
And drink fluids of all kind of alcohol, y’all
Vineyards in France, yachts out in Cannes
Who you are ain’t in the recipe to what I am
Cause where I’m from, man, what I see
You wouldn’t understand where I been and what I do
No matter how you try you never can
Cause where I’m from and what I see
You wouldn’t understand where I been, where I been
Now holla at a millionaire
Rollie, Hublot and Audemar, deciding which one to wear
Who to screw, what to drive, 550 with the cream guts inside
Or the Super Sport Range truck is fly
Diamond ring on my knuckles like fire, bitch
Gat’s on us, I don’t really trust these guys
Spend a couple bucks a night on bottles on cuties
If she beautiful, the lustful type, I’ll hit it and bust inside
Fuck it, I’ma die one day, they gon’ probably make that day a holiday
Until then, let’s go on a shopping spree
Speaking for my real niggas, only OGs
Certified who kill niggas when put in that seat
But tonight we on chill, nigga, chill mode
Spill more Spades, listen to Jeezy and Hov, some Rozay
It’s like we always on the grind with no brakes
So tonight we gon’ act like we on vacation with this on rotation
Who you are ain’t in the recipe to what I am (word)
Cause where I’m from, man, what I see
You wouldn’t understand where I been and what I do
(Y’all wouldn’t understand)
No matter how you try you never can
(You wouldn’t last a day in my shoes, homie)
Cause where I’m from and what I see (yeah)
You wouldn’t understand where I been, where I been
True B nigga, yeah
For my hood niggas, yeah, yeah
To my man Eric B., what up, yeah
The whole city, I see you
To my man Big Slate in the fed joint
My man Spunk, free my niggas
All my niggas, yeah
Club Vernon, I see you
I see you, yeah
And Baltum, I see you
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
A QUEENS STORY
***************
Rest in peace to Black Just
Riding through Jamaica, Queens in his black truck
Timbs was 40 below, waves to the side of his dome
Definition of good nigga, yo
Gangsters don’t die, niggas only become immortal
Angels don’t only fly, they walk right before you
In front of you, it’s foul what this money could do
Cash corrupts the loyal
I hung with E-Money, too, the fucking truth
Fucking with Stretch from Live Squad
I could’ve died the same night that Stretch died
I just got out of his ride
He dropped me off and drove to Springfield
November thirtieth, another Queens king killed
It fucked me up, y’all
I was just trying to make it with Steve Stoute
The legal way, drug-free route
Back in the days, they was sleeping on us
Brooklyn keep on taking it, Manhattan keep on making it
Trying to leave Queens out
But we was pulling them beams out, them M3’s out
Pumping bringing them D’s out
Rastas selling chocolate weed inside of a weed house
Colosseum downstairs, gold teeth mouth
Astoria warriors, 8th Street, twin buildings
Vernon, can’t even count the Livingston children
Justice in Ravenswood, nice neighborhood
Caught sleeping out there, be a wrap, though
Bridge niggas be up in Petey’s ten racks, yo
A simple bet on a serious cash flow
Get money, Manolo, welcome home, Castro
Queens-bridge unified all I ask for
Let’s do it for D.U, say what up to Snatch, yo
I just salute real niggas when I pass through
Niggas is very hungry for that bank robbery
Bury money, trying to get to a Benz from a Hyundai
The Queens Courthouse right next to the cemetery
Niggas’ rap sheets look like obituaries
You be starving in Kew Gardens
Bolognas and milk from a small carton
You could still feel chills from the team
On 118, my nigga Ben fly by like it’s a dream
His face on his Shirt Kings
Laced in a pinky ring, in his black Benz murking
Back when Black Rock & Ron was on the map
Cheeba in yellow sacks, dope sold in laundromats
Thugs bark, getting amped from weed
Over the heart of champions, see
Ever since back then, a nigga been about the dough
(You all know how the story go)
Any other real niggas in the world besides us, I ask?
Probably is, but odds are we’ll never cross paths
Put your glass high if you made it out the stash spot
And here to tell a story and celebrate the glory
Drinks in the air for my niggas not here
This how we do, I see you D.U
Queens to the heavens, salute the hood legends
Crack the Patron, Hennessy, and Glenlivets
Champagne bottles drowning out the sorrows
Hope the memories’ll get us through tomorrow
I’m a real O.G cause back in nine-three
Niggas couldn’t fuck with me, sipping ‘gnac since I was little
Laid back in a rental
Mouth shining, Eddie’s gold caps all up in the dental
Nigga getting money now, but you know I’m still mental, but not simple
Put your glass high if you made it out the stash spot
And here to tell your story and celebrate the glory
Drinks in the air for my niggas not here
This for the fallen soldiers
Hold it down, I told ya
Pop another bottle and keep the smoke rolling
Watch the con realest channel his mom’s spirit
Goosebumps cover me, mother’s here, I could feel her
Blood of Christ covers me, our savior and healer
Drug prices up or down, I know a few dealers
And some accident murderers, they act like they killed on purpose
Liars brag they put work in
You ain’t mean to murk him, your gun’s a virgin
Better stay on point, if not, it’s curtains
Bebo Posse reincarnated through me, probably
If music money didn’t stop me
I never claimed to be the toughest
Though I’m to blame for a few faces reconstructed
It’s the game that we was stuck with
Now I’m the only black in the club with rich Yuppie kids
Sad thing, this is the top, but where the hustlers went?
No familiar faces around, ain’t gotta grab the musket
It’s all safe and sound, champagne by the bucket
Where them niggas I shouted out on my first shit?
Bo cooking blow, fucking slay that, where Turkey went?
Old videos show niggas that was murdered since
Another reason to get further bent
Put your glass high if you made it out the stash spot
And here to tell your story and celebrate the glory
Drinks in the air for my niggas not here
This for the fallen soldiers
Hold it down, I told ya
Pop another bottle and keep the smoke rolling