Vol. 1 - In My Lifetime

[jay-z]

Uh-huh, je-je je-je-jeah
Ye-ye-yeah, ye-ye-yeah
How real is this, how real is this
Uh-huh huh, inspect this here, check

Verse one:
I'm from where the hammer's rung, new's cameras never come
You and your man houndin' every verse in your rhyme
Where the grams is slung, niggas vanish every summer
Where the blue vans would come, we throw the work in the can and run
Where the plans was to get funds and skate off the set
To achieve this goal quicker, sold all my weight wet
Faced with immeasurable odds still i get straight bets
So i felt some more something and you nothing check
I from the other side with other guys don't walk to much
And girls in the projects wouldn't fuck us if we talked too much
So they ran up town and sought them dudes to trust
I don't know what the fuck they thought, those niggas is foul just like us
I'm from where the beef is inevitable, summertime's unforgetable
Boosters in abundance, buy a half-price sweater new
Your world was everything, so everything you said you'd do
You did it, couldn't talk about it if you ain't lived it
I from where niggas pull your car, and argue all day about
Who's the best mc's, biggie, jay-z, and nas
Where the drugs czars evolve, and thugs always are
At each other's throats for the love of foreign cars
Where cats catch cases, hoping the judge r and r's
But most times find themselves locked up behind bars
I'm from where they ball and breed rhyme stars
I'm from marcy son, just thought i'd remind y'all

Chorus: {5x}
Cough up a lung, where i'm from, marcy son, ain't nothing nice
Mentally been many places but i'm brooklyn's own

Verse two:
I'm from the place where the chruch is the flakiest
And niggas is praying to god so long that they atheist
Where you can't put your vest away and say you'll wear it tomorrow
Cause the day after we'll be saying, damn i was just with him yesterday
I'm a block away from hell, not enough shots away from straight shells
An ounce away from a triple beam still using a hand-held weight scale
Your laughing, you know the place well
Where the liqour store's and the base well
And government, fuck government, niggas polotic themselves
Where we call the cops the a-team
Cause they hop out of vans and spray things
And life expectancy so low we making out wills at eight-teen
Where how you get rid of guys who step out of line, your rep solidifies
So tell me when i rap you think i give a fuck who criticize?
If the shit is lies, god strike me
And i got a question, are you forgiving guys who live just like me?
We'll never know
One day i pray to you and said if i ever blow, let 'em know
Mistakes ain't exactly what takes place in the ghetto
Promise fulfilled, but still i feel my job ain't done
Cough up a lung, where i'm from, marcy son, ain't nothing nice

Chorus {4x}

Verse three:
I'm from where they cross-over and clap boards
Lost jehovah in place of rap lords, listen
I'm up the block, round the corner, and down the street
From where the pimps, prostitutes, and the drug lords meet
We make a million off of beats, cause our stories is deep
And fuck tomorrow, as long as the night before was sweet
Niggas get lost for weeks in the streets, twisted off weed
And no matter the weather, niggas know how to draw heat
Whether your four-feet or minute size, it always starts out with
Three dice and shoot the five
Niggas thought they douce was live, now hit 'em with trips
And i reached down for their money, pa forget about this
This time around it's platinum, like the shit on my wrist
And this glock on my waist, y'all can't do shit about this
Niggas will show you love, that's how they fool thugs
Before you know it your lying in a pool of blood

Chorus {4x}

Uh-huh uh huh uh
Gee-gee-geyeah
Baby, watchin, streets
Uh-huh uh huh uh
You don't have to look
Uh-huh uh
The streets is watching
Check it, check
Uh-huh uh, check

Look, if i shoot you, i'm brainless
But if you shoot me, then you're famous -- what's a n*gga to do?
When the, streets is watching, blocks keep clocking
Waiting for you to break, make your first mistake
Can't ignore it, that's the fastest way to get extorted
But my time is money, at twenty-five, i can't afford it
Beef is sorted like godiva, chocolates
N*ggaz you bought it, i pull the slide back and cock it
Plan aborted, you and your mans get a pass
This rhyme, you're operating on f*ck time
Y'all n*ggaz ain't worth my shells, all y'all n*ggaz
Tryin to do is hurt my sales, and stop trips to john mcnale
The type to start a beef then, run to the cops
When i see you in the street got, one in the drop
Would i rather be on tour getting a, hundred a pop
Taking pictures with some b*tches, in front of the drop
The streets is watching

*chorus*
When the, streets is watching
Blocks keep clocking
Waiting for you to break, make your first mistake
Can't ignore it

Now it's hard not to kill n*ggaz
It's like a full time job not to kill n*ggaz, can't chill
The streets is watching you, when you froze your arms
N*ggaz wanna test you and your gun goes warm
Can't get caught with your feet up, gotta keep your heat up
Sweet n*ggaz running 'round swearing sh*t is sweeter
Once you're tagged lame the game is follow the leader
Everybody want a piece of your scrilla, so you gotta keep it realer
Kidnap n*ggaz wanna steal ya
Broke n*ggaz want no cash, they just wanna kill ya
For the name, n*ggaz don't know the rules
Disrespectin the game, want you to blow your cool
Force your hand, of course that man's plottin
Smarten up, the streets is watching, it's on

*chorus*

My street mentality flip bricks forever, know me and money
We like armed co-defendants, n*gga we stick together
Sh*t whatever for this cheddar ran my game into the ground
Hustle harder to see if indictment time came around
Now you can look up and down the streets and i can't be found
Put in twenty-four hour shifts but, that ain't me now
Got a face too easy to trace, n*ggaz mouths got slow leaks
Had to hide between my workers, couldn't play those streets
She got his face like mercury you jerkin me? hectic
Had to call upon my wolves to send, n*ggaz the message
I said this: 'let's play fair and we can stay here
I'm trying to transform you boyz ii men like daycare'
Hey there's money to be made and, n*ggaz got the picture
Stopped playing with my paper and, we got richer
Then hard times fell upon us, half of my staff
Had warrants, the other half, in the casket lay dormant
I felt like life was cheating me, for the first time
In my life i was getting money but it was like my concious was eating me
Was this a lesson god teaching me? was he saying that?
I'm playing the game straight from hell from which few came back
Like bad coke, pimp or die, was my mindframe bad
Was n*ggaz thinkin simplify was turning cocaine crack?
Ain't a whole lot of brain to that, just trying to maintain a stack
And knock a lot like two trains that's on the same track
'fore i get my life together like the oars i bring back
In the bottom of the pot where no, water gets hot
Got my transporter take it 'cross the border then stop
Set up shop with a quarter of rock, here's the plan
For three straight weeks, n*ggaz slaughtered the block
But you know the game is 'lluted, f*cked up me and my dues
One drop can wipe a n*gga out, faster than the cops
And this unstable way of living just, had to stop
Half of my n*ggaz got time, we done real things
By ninety-four became the subject of half of y'all n*ggaz rhymes
Public apoligies to the families of those caught up in my street
But that's the life for us lost souls brought up in the streets
The life and times of a demonic mind, excited with crime
And the lavish luxuries that just excited my mind
I figured, 'sh*t why risk myself i just write it in rhymes
And let you feel me, and if you don't like it then fine'
The mindstate, of a n*gga who boosted the crime rate
So high in one city they send national guards to get me
Ya dig?

The streets

{***jay-z , (sauce)***}

Jay-z talking: sauce mothafuckin, jigga, jigga feel this...

Chorus
This goes out to my brooklyn crew put ya guns up in the air if ya feel
Me
(if ya feel me) fuck 'em all day fuck 'em all night we don't love these
Hoes

(this goes out to my brooklyn crew put ya guns up in the air if ya feel
Me)
If ya feel me (fuck 'em all day fuck 'em all night we don't love these
Hoes)

Verse 1
Yeah (if ya want some put ya guns up it's on)
Ladies know that when the sun's up i'm gone
(fuck them bitches though digits though)
Fuck, now if i bring it niggas know whaat
(all black gat with the mack out)
I take shorty to the rest blow her back out
Sun dress undress throw her back out (biotch)
(in & out like a crack house) keep it moving
(face off with the .38 scraped off)
Keep shorty maced can't throw a 4-4 eight ball
Know your place (so it starts when ya least expect)
(the yeast infect) you don't imitate bitches
(piece protected) so i hear you hate bitches?
(love the dough, ya flow irritate niggas)
Fuck them though, it's all out and
Have a fall out i fucked ya girl
(on top now we call out fuck the world)
(face off!)

Chorus
(this goes out to my brooklyn crew put ya guns up in the air if ya feel
Me)
If ya feel me (fuck 'em all day fuck 'em all night we don't love these
Hoes)

This goes out to my brooklyn crew put ya guns up in the air if ya feel
Me
(if ya feel me) fuck 'em all day fuck 'em all night we don't love these
Hoes

Verse 2
(i apologize ladies i'm lovin' ya right)
You must be used to me trickin' but we fuckin' tonight
(no wine no dine) no wheelin' the whip
All night long just feelin' the dick be-i-itch
(sauce mothafuckin' slayin' i'm sayin' with no delayin')
(can you beat that? i eat that) you just playin'
Nigga you neva know what a chick could do
(pull the trigga too) check the shit jigga do
(my crew) mackin' the same bitch (i do)
(back man stack grands) daddy like i you
(love them hoes jigga?) ha how that sound?
Women start to fall we all bat around
Let my whole team hit it (scatter 'round)
You never seen wit it (pat 'em down)
Check for cream in it (these riches)
Got nu'hin to do wit these bitches
(nothin' y'all can do to stop these digits)
(face off!)

Chorus
This goes out to my brooklyn crew put ya guns up in the air if ya feel
Me
(if ya feel me) fuck 'em all day fuck 'em all night we don't love these
Hoes

(this goes out to my brooklyn crew put ya guns up in the air if ya feel
Me)
If ya feel me (fuck 'em all day fuck 'em all night we don't love these
Hoes)

Verse 3
(can i touch that?) what's that? leave it for dead.
Keep ya arm over ya face my nigga (keep ya head)
(keep a mind to survive if ya sleep ya dead)
Stay fly 'til ya die nigga deep with prayer
(with each word ya say i guess the beef is dead)
Ladies & gentlemen (like impeach the prez)
(val kilmer style nigga draw heat with feds)
(broad day like de niro shoot all day)
I'm the man fuckin' the tracks and you just foreplay
Get a hit i, i come through, blow up, you spit out
What keep it cocked faithfully like salop
With one in the drop don't get hit up
(i be the 4-5th flamer hoes bitch shamer)
(clap cats a snitch she'll give ya whole click name up)
Look i done came up (and) thought a whole game up
Meet me in the square with one in the chamber
(the face off nigga)

Chorus
This goes out to my brooklyn crew put ya guns up in the air if ya feel
Me
(if ya feel me) fuck 'em all day fuck 'em all night we don't love these
Hoes

(this goes out to my brooklyn crew put ya guns up in the air if ya feel
Me)
If ya feel me (fuck 'em all day fuck 'em all night we don't love these
Hoes)

This goes out to my brooklyn crew put ya gun up (in the air) if ya feel
Me
Fuck 'em all day (fuck 'em all night) we don't love these hoes

<"track masters" is whispered softly 8x in background>
(this goes out... put ya guns up in the air) if ya feel me if ya feel
(fuck 'em all day fuck 'em all night we don't love these hoes) yeah!!

This goes out (to my brooklyn crew)...

Uhh...
Uhh, yeah
Won't stop niggaz
"somehow the rap game remind me of the crack game" --> nas
Jigga! feel me
People, told ya motherfuckers, told ya
"see that rap shit is really just like sellin smoke" --> outkast
Uhh, roc-a-fella
Geyeah

We treat this rap shit just like, handlin weight
What they want we give it to em, what they abandon we take
Hit a rapper with consignment, let him know it's at stake
Put his ass in the studio, let him cook up a cake
When it's hot, get on my money spot in every state
Like the wiz in camelot, the mom-and-pop's is the gate
But first we scope shit, advertise in every area
Let the fiends know hey, we got some dope shit
Gon' need a middle man, so we look to radio
Let em test the product, give em a promo show
Just a breeze, not enough to catch a real vibe
Then we drop a maxi single and charge em two for five
Ain't tryin to, kill em at first just, buildin clientele
So when the album drops the first weeks it's on sale
But when demand grows it's time to expand yo
You don't want no garbage papi it's ten grand per blow, fo' sho'

"somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game" --> nas
"see that rap shit is really just like sellin smoke" --> outkast
(repeat 3x)

Ge-ge-geyeah
I got that uncut raw to make a fiend's body jerk
Got your whole block now, pumpin my work
My cd's is like keys for you willie's who
Like to floss my cassette tapes in sixty-two's
And my singles like gems, you know the treys
Get you high for a while, but the, high don't stay
You need another fix, you better cop these last two bricks
Cause when this shit flip, i'ma get on some other shit
Never pitchin for a label, jigga's the hook-up
You know my shit is fish scale, y'all niggaz is cook up
Just blow up, scream my name from brooklyn to da-kota
They know my shit stretch without the baking soda
Went from an eighth, to a quarter, to a half a key
Priority's work wasn't right so i switched factories
Now i'm the new nigga, who figured i'd get the game locked
Now watch how the prices of your cocaine drop, ha ha

"somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game" --> nas
"see that rap shit is really just like sellin smoke" --> outkast
(repeat 4x)

*cuts and scratches*

How can you fairly assess something from the outside looking in?
There's gotta be them times you'll be wrong. nah mean?
How can a mother fucka go round and hate a nigga
He never even met that he dont even know and shit?
I think this rap shit is all beef

Y'all dont even know every day i'm livin with stress
Got up out the streets you think a nigga could rest
Can't even enjoy myself at a party unless
I'm on the dance floor hot ass vest
You think i'm freakin' these chicks right?
I'try not to brush against they chest
You get a lawsuit for shit like that, i feel trapped
Swear to everything when i leave this earth
It's gon' be on both feet, never knees in the dirt
You could try me fucka but when i squeeze it hurts, fine
We'll lose two lives, yours and mines
Gimme any amount of time dont let ms. carter grieve
At the funeral parlor drippin' tears on my sleeve
Told the judge didn't budge it was him or me
And i ain't trying to be hard but i'm guilty as charged
Put my mercy on this court and my faith in god
And pray hard none of my nephews wanna be stars...lucky me

Chorus: karen anderson

You only know what you see,
You dont understand what it takes to be me.

I hate all girls with alterior motives
That's why i'm twenty plus years old, no sons no daughters
Hate putting my life in the hands of fake promoters
Hear the hate in my voice right? i hate that you noticed
Niggas wanna strip to the bone for shit you own
Hate a nigga like that faggot, get your own
Hate that i can't roam the street without the clip and chrome
Knowing one day im'a have to flip, c'mon
You know the shit don't stop 'til the crist don't pop
And you have to kill a nigga and your wrist don't lock
I'm trapped the whole worlds against me in fact,
It aint no turning back. bring it on
Hate the price of fame cause it cost too much
Can i live without y'all niggas saying i floss too much?
Hate the way you make this hate flow all through us
Steady looking for flaws through us.... lucky me

Chorus: karen anderson, jay-z

You only know what you see,
You dont understand what it takes to be me
You only know what you see,
(since i was 4 years old, i been told, everything that glitters ain't gold)
You dont understand what it takes to be me
(and now that i've arrived
I see those truths unfold before my eyes in this world so cold)

Nigga see you in the street, pretend to be friendly
But i know any type of success breeds envy
I know in the back of your mind your conjuring ways to hen me
Leave my friends in a circle pouring out henny
But g's is heaven bound so how i'm gon' receive
Anything y'all pour to the ground next time throw it up
And ain't nothing changed so even in my afterlife i show it up
Dont grieve for me my art remains
Like a dart from the speaker to your heart
Spiritually through the portal now my words as a mortal
Plan to leave without a fight i plant a seed i give life
Though i can't see past the girls greed to call her wife
Next time your thinking heist better be precise
Cause i'm fully prepared. one of us is gon' leave here
I have no regrets even though i wanna see grow
My godsons boogie, sonny and rimo

Chorus x 4

[jay-z]
Real niggaz do real things
Hangin with the honies is the song i sing
Real niggaz do real things
On the road to riches and diamond rings
Real niggaz do real things
Bustin my toast off the roof drinkin 90 proof til spring
Real niggaz do real things, check

We started out makin, small time bacon
Two little niggaz bakin, talkin bout whippin cakes
Get clothin and big cheddar, hopin it gets better
We had no knowledge of this shit we just was with whatever
In front of your buildin clockin, thought i was makin a killin
Right in front of your children, eightball in my side pocket
They was corrupt too, disrespectin the fiends i used to
Look up to, take it or leave it, fuck you
In different parts of the planet, oakland to new york
I'm hollerin lifetimes, he hollerin life's too $hort
Parallel lives and jew-els held high
To the range, to the rove, get exchanged, for your souls
You know how the game goes, slang to get g's
And speak in chinese everybody gains the same dough
Get your shit scarred fuckin with my sick squad
From marcy, to the bay y'all, we get large, keep in charge

On the road to riches and diamond rings
Real niggaz do real things
Hangin with the honies is the song i sing
Real niggaz do real things
On the road to riches and diamond rings
Real niggaz do real things
Bustin my toast off the roof drinkin 90 proof til spring
Real niggaz do real things

[too $hort]
So now you own a record label, i got one too
We on a roll now, can't nobody stop our crew
You can treat us like convicts, you know we got records
On the shelf and on the charts the double deckers
The fat donkey house down the block, belongs to me
You criticize the way i walk, you wanna see my bankbook?
I'm not a crook, i flipped the script and changed my ways
So i can get paid, everday
I see the same old shit, i see in the streets
I know you think i'm sellin keys but i only sell beats
Dopefiend music, it's drug related
You can buy it on the corner get a radio and play it
It always sounds better when you turn it up loud
Rap music let these motherfuckers know what we about
I know these gay ass record labels keep fuckin niggaz
It's just like in the streets main, how much you get?

[jay-z]
On the road to riches, and diamond rings
Real niggaz do real things
Hangin with the honies is the song i sing
Real niggaz do real things
On the road to riches and diamond rings
Real niggaz do real things
Bustin my toast off the roof drinkin 90 proof til spring
Real niggaz do real things

[too $hort]
That's right, i been a hustler for a long time
Always got the right beats, never saying wrong rhymes
I started off with nothing ended up with everything
Now we sip hennessee in first class on every plane
Ask jay-z, he know what i'm sayin
Always see me at the bank and yes i'm goin again
There ain't no dollar amount, that can make me happy
Fine women, a big house, a truck and a caddy

[jay-z]
Now peep, how sweet, niggaz lives can get
Put beef aside, the east and westside connect
$hort dawg, and jigga with the, fo'-fo' flow
I got love for y'all motherfuckers y'all just don't know
I know y'all got a thing for them rag six-fo's
I like the five speed drops pop the clutch then go
If you want it, keep ballin, and if you jealous stop
I want biggie to rest in peace, as well as 'pac
How real is that?

On the road to riches and diamond rings
Real niggaz do real things
Hangin with the honies is the song i sing
Real niggaz do real things
On the road to riches and diamond rings
Real niggaz do real things
Bustin my toast off the roof drinkin 90 proof til spring
Real niggaz do real things
And i'm out

[too $hort] beyotch! $hort dawg's in the house
[jay-z] jigga
[too $hort] much love
[jay-z] $hort dawg, get your money main
[too $hort] all the way from the west coast
[jay-z] uhh, how real is that