Nas - N.Y. State of Mind(2007)

[00:09.67] Yeah, yeah
[00:10.16] Ayo, Black—it's time, word (Word, it's time, man)
[00:10.59] It's time, man (Aight, man, begin)
[00:10.92] Yeah—straight out the fuckin' dungeons of rap
[00:14.46] Where fake niggas don't make it back
[00:16.77] I don't know how to start this shit, yo—now;
[00:22.46] Rappers; I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm
[00:25.47] I be kickin', musician inflictin' composition
[00:27.91] Of pain, I'm like Scarface sniffin' cocaine
[00:30.17] Holdin' an M16, see, with the pen I'm extreme
[00:33.74] Now, bullet holes left in my peepholes
[00:35.90] I'm suited up with street clothes, hand me a 9 and I'll defeat foes
[00:38.98] Y'all know my steelo, with or without the airplay
[00:42.35] I keep some E&J, sittin' bent up in the stairway
[00:44.72] Or either on the corner bettin' Grants with the cee-lo champs
[00:48.00] Laughin' at base-heads, tryna sell some broken amps
[00:51.15] G-packs get off quick, forever niggas talk shit
[00:53.21] Reminiscin' about the last time the task force flipped
[00:56.18] Niggas be runnin' through the block shootin'
[00:59.31] Time to start the revolution, catch a body, head for Houston
[01:02.97] Once they caught us off-guard, the MAC-10 was in the grass, and
[01:05.09] I ran like a cheetah, with thoughts of an assassin
[01:07.10] Picked the MAC up, told brothers "Back up!" — the MAC spit
[01:10.87] Lead was hittin' niggas, one ran, I made him back-flip
[01:14.01] Heard a few chicks scream, my arm shook, couldn't look
[01:17.23] Gave another squeeze, heard it click, "Yo, my shit is stuck!"
[01:19.81] Tried to cock it, it wouldn't shoot, now I'm in danger
[01:22.22] Finally pulled it back and saw three bullets caught up in the chamber
[01:25.88] So, now I'm jettin' to the buildin' lobby
[01:27.91] And it was full of children, prob'ly couldn't see as high as I be
[01:30.56] (So, what you sayin'?) It's like the game ain't the same
[01:33.05] Got younger niggas pullin' the triggers, bringin' fame to their name
[01:37.26] And claim some corners, crews without guns are goners
[01:38.76] In broad daylight, stick-up kids, they run up on us
[01:42.09] .45's and gauges, MAC's in fact
[01:44.22] Same niggas will catch you back-to-back, snatchin' your cracks
[01:46.33] In black, there was a snitch on the block gettin' niggas knocked
[01:50.64] So hold your stash 'til the coke price drop
[01:54.18] I know this crackhead who said she gotta smoke nice rock
[01:56.63] And if it's good, she'll bring you customers and measuring pots
[01:59.11] But yo, you gotta slide on a vacation
[02:01.92] Inside information keeps large niggas erasin' and their wives basin'
[02:04.34] It drops deep as it does in my breath
[02:07.69] I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death
[02:11.18] Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
[02:13.55] I think of crime when I'm in a New York State of Mind
[02:16.49] New York state of mind
[02:19.13] New York state of mind
[02:21.47] New York state of mind
[02:23.56] New York state of mind
[02:27.55] Be havin' dreams that I'm a gangsta, drinkin' Moëts, holdin' TEC's
[02:30.83] Makin' sure the cash came correct, then I stepped
[02:32.86] Investments in stocks, sewin' up the blocks to sell rocks
[02:37.25] Winnin' gunfights with mega-cops
[02:39.30] Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger
[02:42.77] I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'
[02:45.57] Give me a Smith & Wesson, I'll have niggas undressin'
[02:50.22] Thinkin' of cash flow, Buddha and shelter
[02:53.29] Whenever frustrated, I'ma hijack Delta
[02:56.15] In the PJ's, my blend tape plays, bullets are strays
[02:58.81] Young bitches is grazed, each block is like a maze
[03:01.63] Full of black rats trapped, plus the Island is packed
[03:04.72] From what I hear in all the stories when my peoples come back
[03:06.78] Black, I'm livin' where the nights is jet-black
[03:09.70] The fiends fight to get crack, I just max, I dream I can sit back
[03:12.09] And lamp like Capone, with drug scripts sewn
[03:16.19] Or the legal luxury life, rings flooded with stones, homes
[03:19.23] I got so many rhymes, I don't think I'm too sane
[03:22.04] Life is parallel to Hell, but I must maintain
[03:26.48] And be prosperous, though we live dangerous
[03:27.26] Cops could just arrest me, blamin' us; we're held like hostages
[03:29.85] It's only right that I was born to use mics
[03:32.51] And the stuff that I write is even tougher than dykes
[03:34.49] I'm takin' rappers to a new plateau, through rap slow
[03:39.52] My rhymin' is a vitamin held without a capsule
[03:41.59] The smooth criminal on beat breaks
[03:44.25] Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes
[03:47.32] The city never sleeps, full of villains and creeps
[03:50.11] That's where I learned to do my hustle, had to scuffle with freaks
[03:52.43] I'm a addict for sneakers, 20's of Buddha and bitches with beepers
[03:54.10] In the streets I can greet ya, about blunts I teach ya
[03:56.27] Inhale deep like the words of my breath
[04:01.35] I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death
[04:04.14] I lay puzzled as I backtrack to earlier times
[04:06.82] Nothing's equivalent to the New York state of mind
[04:08.85] New York state of mind
[04:12.81] New York state of mind
[04:14.38] New York state of mind
[04:17.86] New York state of mind
[04:20.69]