[AZ:] Aiyyo, wassup wassup let's keep it real son Count this money, yaknowhatI'msayin? [Nas:] Yea yea [AZ:] Aiyyo, put the Grant's over there in the safe yaknowhatI'msayin? [Nas:] Yea yea [AZ:] Cause we spendin these Jackson's The Washington's go to wifey, you know how that go [Nas:] I'm sayin, that's what this is all about right? Clothes, bankrolls, and hoes yaknowhatI'msayin? Yo then what man, what? [echoes]
[Verse 1 - AZ the Visualiza:] Visualizin the realism of life and actuality Fuck who's the baddest a person's status depends on salary And my mentality is, money orientated I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it Cause yeah, we were beginners in the hood as five percenters But somethin must of got in us cause all of us turned to sinners Now some, restin in peace and some are sittin in San Quentin Others such as myself are tryin to carry on tradition Keepin this schwepervesent street ghetto essence inside us Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us Even though, we know somehow we all gotta go But as long as we leavin thievin we'll be leavin with some kind of dough So, and to that day we expire and turn to vapors Me and my capers'll be somewhere stackin plenty papers Keepin it real, packin steel, gettin high - Cause life's a bitch and then you die
[Chorus - AZ the Visualiza:] Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we get high Cause you never know when you're gonna go Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we puff lye Cause you never know when you're gonna go Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we get high Cause you never know when you're gonna go Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we puff lye [-> chorus #1 echoes at the end]
Cause you never know when you're gonna go Life's a bitch and then you die [-> chorus #2 includes these lines, echoes at the end]
[Verse 2 - Nas:] I woke up early on my born day, I'm twenty years of blessing The essence of adolescent leaves my body now I'm fresh in My physical frame is celebrated cause I made it One quarter through life some God-ly like thing created Got rhymes 365 days annual plus some Load up the mic and bust one, cuss while I puffs from My skull cause it's pain in my brain vein money maintain Don't go against the grain simple and plain When I was young at this I used to do my thing hard Robbin foreigners take they wallets they jewels and rip they green cards Dipped to the projects flashin my quick cash And got my first piece of ass smokin blunts with hash Now it's all about cash in abundance, niggaz I used to run with Is rich or doin years in the hundreds I switched my motto - instead of sayin fuck tomorrow That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto Once I stood on the block, loose cracks produce stacks I cooked up and cut small pieces to get my loot back Time is Illmatic keep static like wool fabric Pack a four-matic that crack your whole cabbage
[Chorus]
[Olu Dara plays trumpet until fade]
AZ - Mo Money Mo Murder (Feat. Nas)
We bigger than the Jews.. bigger than the Irish.. you can run the whole fuckin country! YOU could be the next John D. Rockerfeller
"Nobody noticed us, nobody gave a shit.. but the bigger we get, the more we're TAKING from other people.."
[Nas] Yo, in a mahogany, black scenery that was lightning and rain drops I'm tied up in the basement cocaine spot like Bangkok I'm blindfold, Vietnam type mind control this torture His accent sounds like the rarest culture Askin me, my atrophy stabbin me gradually Says his attribute, was satanic, masonic, ironic I felt reminded of my fast life ventures and winters, blinded til the flashlight enters
[AZ] Yo Dunm, before the sun set Call connect get all the tech's I'm vexed, this nigga stall for sex Lost respect, let's off his neck My calibre, got me thinkin on a higher algebra See me I'm just as foul as ya but you ain't got no style in ya I'm into bigger cheddar, G's and better, Armarett-ah's Armani sweaters, plus these crabs could never dead us
[Chorus: AZ x2]
Mo money, mo murder, mo homicide You catch that body nigga, better have that alibi You never know it might just be yo' time you take yo' ride to them pearly white gates, (now) watch that suicide
[AZ] Now government official Got you sippin Cristal in crystal You fish you foul so you fell and took your fam witchu I'm out to get you, guaranteed every shell'll hit you Plus I'm on some shit too Layin down whose-ever witchu Mafioso, the New York City 90's era Sosa AZ, you know my culture Now my wolves is out to ghost ya
[Nas] Scent of a rose on the graveyard for real now The stakes is up a half a mil now I tried to grab him with his shield down Four walked in, they're crazy paid up Sharp but straight up Gators from Barbados, never seen nobody play those Lay-Low's what they called him, his head baldin Sippin cappucino, spilled on his silk suits, was scaldin Laugh was vulgar, canvas paintings of the Isatollah And on his arm he wore a priceless vulture Tobacco pipe smoker, Escobar your life is over Justify the righteous nova Bullets flew out his right shoulder Corpse leavin a foul odor, The Firm Volume 1 adjourned Bring it to a closure
[Chorus]
[Nas] So now you're rollin wit us, like co-defendents, no phony business So know the difference - from supreme solo it's the styles ancient as Moses scriptures It's Latin Kings, Black Kufis, and White Jesters amongst us Crime invades the minds of youngsters Where it's pitch black they can't see you Godfather 3, fallin for dead, in a cathedral
[AZ] Now you're forced to listen I got the mind of a grad from Princeton Play your position, or soon you'll be lost and missin It's far from fiction My presence is like that of a christian With ammunition puttin states under submission Street addiction, got me tied in thorough with buroughs Still in the ghetto, but in the cut where it's mellow Incognito, on the lee-low, like Carlito Cause we know, niggaz don't really want us to see doe You never know it might just be yo' time you take yo' ride to them pearly white gates, watch that suicide
[Chorus x2]
[Nas] Homicide, mo homicide Mo suicide, mo homicide..
[music fades] [untitled 1:18 length song starts]
Born alone, die alone.. [x4]
[AZ] All alone in this wilderness Who can figure life as ill as this? My vision's blurred from guerilla's mist Gun sprays, trey's left a portion of my crew in graves Niggaz that would screw in ways unknown to these dudes today Intelligence, kept us all away from state evidence cause it's evident, this world is controlled on dead presidents Never hesitant, I'm soulless, filled with coldness Born to uphold this til I'm left dead from oldness
