10 Dear Anniversary Illmatic Platinum Series

Verse 1
Yea, yea, yo, yea, yea, for niggaz up in there moms crib, listening
to this un adultrarated Nas shit wishing it was them instead of me
on this track on this beach wit palm trees, drinks with umbrella straws
telling it raw. Jungle of concrete killas and snakes i was amongst that,
bundles of crack threw this funnel thats black, i want you to vision
threw my telescope, see the hell i wrote, it's rentals when i rap it like
a envolope package, and they was into dope back then. Numbers
pimpin and robbing well they still robbing and pimping.But it's small
change compared to hip hopin and, did i mention millions because of
lit popin, trips, expensive gift shopping ???? Benz, Jeeps, see them
and they bitch got one. Its shockin, you saying no its just ryhming but
all this time it's like organize crime and, for instance there was a time
where there was a line between streets and business, but now peep how
it's mixed in, the beef is now sicknin. Everybody got paper words are
power, because of it the cops hate ya. The Goverment wacthing all of
those who thuging it, they want to lock us up cause the kids are loving
it. Not knowing that most rappers are straight ass and shots rang out
whenever we clash. It's star wars. (star wars)echoed

Chorus
we call it star wars, what happens when
the shots rang out it's called star wars.
we call it star wars.


Verse 2
Caviar never i rather the cajun blackened, catfish no snails simple nigga
to please. Met a bad bitch, dimples in her cheek, she remembers busy
beat battles when it was peace. Caught myself drifting in thought, cause
now its different i thought, niggaz was raised off the shit i record. like i was
brought up off that planet rock, Curtis Blow, James Tarr Smith, Shanen Scott
la rock and the jams why would they fuck wit the dawn. Jehovah witness, he
and his co-defendants i eat dem like lucky charms, wit two percent low fat
milk five percent pro blsck built. It's nothin mother had a mother fuck em,
i don't think about it, niggaz talking there

Verse One:

what up kid? i know shit is rough doing your bid
when the cops came you shoulda slid to my crib
fuck it black, no time for looking back it's done
plus congratulations you know you got a son
i heard he looks like you, why don't your lady write you?
told her she should visit, that's when she got hyper
flip it, talk about he acts too rough
he didn't listen he be riffin' while i'm telling him stuff
i was like yeah, shorty don't care, she a snake too
fucking with the niggaz from that fake crew that hate you
but yo, guess who got shot in the dome-piece?
jeromes niece, on her way home from joes beaches club
plus little rob is selling drugs all the time
hanging out with young thugs that all carry 9's
at night time there's more trife than ever
Whattup with Cormega, did you see 'em, are y'all together?
if so then hold the fort, now i represent to the fullest
say whassup to herb, ice and bullet
I left a half a hundred in your commisary
You was my nigga when push came to shove
One what? one love

Verse Two:

dear born, you'll be out soon, stay strong
out in new york the same shit is going on
the crack-heads stalking, loud-mouths is talking
hold, check out the story yesterday when i was walking
the nigga you shot last year tried to appear like he hurtin' something
word to mother, i heard him fronting
and he be pumping on your block
your man gave him your glock
and now they run together, what up son, whatever
since i'm on the streets i'm a put it to a cease
when i heard you blew a nigga with the [???] for a phone piece
whylin' on the island but now with [???]
better chill 'cos them niggaz will put that ass on fire
last time you wrote you said they tried you in the showers
i maintain when you come home the corner's ours
on the reels, all these crab niggaz know the deal
when we start the revolution all they probably do is squeal
but chill, see you on the next v i
i gave your mom dukes loot for kicks
plus [???] flicks
your brother's buck whylin' in four maine he wrote me
he might beat his case, 'til he come home i play it low key
so stay civilised, time flies
though incarcerated your mind [dies]
i hate it when your mum cries
it kinda wants to make me murder, for real-a
i've even got a mask and gloves to bust slugs
for one love

Verse Three:

sometimes i sit back with a budda sack
mind's in another world thinking how can we exist through the facts
written in school text books, bibles, etcetera
fuck a school lecture, the lies get me vexed-er
so i be ghost from my projects
i take my pen and pad for the week and hittin' nails while i'm sleeping
a two day stay, you may say i need the time alone
to relax my dome, no phone, left the 9 at home
you see the streets have me stressed something terrible
fucking with the corners have a nigga up in belle vue
or h.d.m., hit with numbers from 8 to 10
a future in a maximum state pen is grim
so i comes back home, nobody's helping shorty
do i roll them two phillies together and the friends we call them oowops
he said nas, niggaz cold be bustin' off the roof
so i wear a bullet proof and pack a black tres-deuce
he inhailed so deep, shut his eyes like he was sleep
started coughing when i peeked to watch me speak
i sat back like the mack, my army suit was black
we was chillin' on these bitches where he pumped his loose cracks
i took an l when he passed it, this little bastard
keeps me blasted he starts talking mad shit
i had to school him, told him don't let niggaz fool him
'cos when the pistol blows a shot that's when a murder be the cool one
tough luck when niggaz are struck, families fucked up
could've cought your man, but didn't look when you bucked up
mistakes happen, so take heed never bust up
if the crowd catch him solo, make the right man bleed
shorty's laugh was cold blooded as he spoke so foul
only twelve trying to tell me that he liked my style
then i rose, wiping the blunts ash from my clothes
then froze only the bolder herb smoke through my nose
and told my little man that i'm a go cyprose
there's some jewels in the skull that he can sell if he chose
words of wisdom from nas try to rise up above
keep an eye out for jake shorty what
one love

"Life's A Bitch"
(feat. AZ the Visualiza)

[A] Aiyyo, wassup wassup let's keep it real son
Count this money, yaknowhatI'msayin?
[N] Yea yea
[A] Aiyyo, put the Grant's over there in the safe yaknowhatI'msayin?
[N] Yea yea
[A] Cause we spendin these Jackson's
The Washington's go to wifey, you know how that go
[N] I'm sayin, that's what this is all about right?
Clothes, bankrolls, and hoes yaknowhatI'msayin?
Yo then what man, what?? [echoes]

[Verse One: 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 the schwepervesence 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 Two: 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]

(Check that shit)
Aight fuck that shit, word word
Fuck that other shit, youknowhatI'msayin?
We gon' do a little somethin like this, yaknahmsayin?
(Is they up on this?)
Keep it on and on and on and on and..
KnowhatI'msayin? Big Nas, Grand Wizard, God what it is?
(What it is like?) Hah, knowhatI'msayin?
Yo go 'head, do that shit nigga

[Nas]
I rap for listeners, blunt heads, fly ladies and prisoners
Henessey holders and old school niggaz, then I be dissin a
unofficial that smoke woolie thai
I dropped out of Kooley High, gassed up by a cokehead cutie pie
Jungle survivor, fuck who's the liver
My man put the battery in my back, a differencem from Energizer
Sentence begins indented.. with formality
My duration's infinite, moneywise or physiology
Poetry, that's a part of me, retardedly bop
I drop the ancient manifested hip-hop, straight off the block
I reminisce on park jams, my man was shot for his sheep coat
Childhood lesson make me see him drop in my weed smoke
It's real, grew up in trife life, did times or white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes, and knife fights invite crimes
Chill on the block with Cog-nac, hold strap
with my peeps that's into drug money, market into rap
No sign of the beast in the blue Chrysler, I guess that means peace
For niggaz no sheisty vice to just snipe ya
Start off the dice-rollin mats for craps to cee-lo
With sidebets, I roll a deuce, nothin below (Peace God!)
Peace God -- now the shit is explained
I'm takin niggaz on a trip straight through memory lane
It's like that y'all .. it's like that y'all .. it's like that y'all

Chorus: repeat scratches 4X

"Now let me take a trip down memory lane" -] BizMarkie
"Comin outta Queensbridge"

[Nas]
One for the money
Two for pussy and foreign cars
Three for Alize niggaz deceased or behind bars
I rap divine Gods check the prognosis, is it real or showbiz?
My window faces shootouts, drug overdoses
Live amongst no roses, only the drama, for real
A nickel-plate is my fate, my medicine is the ganja
Here's my basis, my razor embraces, many faces
Your telephone blowin, black stitches or fat shoelaces
Peoples are petrol, dramatic automatic fo'-fo' I let blow
and back down po-po when I'm vexed so
my pen taps the paper then my brain's blank
I see dark streets, hustlin brothers who keep the same rank
Pumpin for somethin, some uprise, plus some fail
Judges hangin niggaz, uncorrect bails, for direct sales
My intellect prevails from a hangin cross with nails
I reinforce the frail, with lyrics that's real
Word to Christ, a disciple of streets, trifle on beats
I decifer prophecies through a mic and say peace.
I hung around the older crews while they sling smack to dingbats
They spoke of Fat Cat, that nigga's name made bell rings, black
Some fiends scream, about Supreme Team, a Jamaica Queens thing
Uptown was Alpo, son, heard he was kingpin, yo
Fuck 'rap is real', watch the herbs stand still
Never talkin to snakes cause the words of man kill
True in the game, as long as blood is blue in my veins
I pour my Heineken brew to my deceased crew on memory lane

Chorus

"Comin outta Queensbridge" -] scratched

The most dangerous MC is..
"Comin outta Queensbridge" -] scratched

The most dangerous MC is..
"Comin outta Queensbridge" -] scratched

The most dangerous MC is..
"Comin outta Queensbridge" -] scratched

The most dangerous MC is..
Me numba won, and you know where me from

Take it to da bridge, to da muh fucking bridge.
Queensbridge in da mother fucka.
it ain't hard to tell, it ain't hard to tell
it ain't hard to tell
Verse 1
The buddha monk's in your trunk, turn the bass up
Nas, stories by Aesop, place your loot up, parties I shoot up
Nas, I analyze, drop a jew-el
Inhale from the L, school a fool well, you feel it like braille
It ain't hard to tell, I kick the skill like Shaquille holds a pill
Vocabulary spills I'm Ill
plus Matic, I freak beats slam it like Iron Shiek
Jam like a tech with correct techniques
So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me
Scannin while you're plannin ways to sabatoge me
I leave em froze like her-on in your nose
Nas can rock well, it ain't hard to tell
Chorus

What's a beat if da ryhme don't click, i spit ryhmes like i'm sick
dying lost in a pit. The only way i can escape is by vocals,
verbalizing stripes, stabing ears like a knife called life.
The prohet of da gutter, lyrics a silk major butter, i flow never stutter,
clever poetic brothers on a mission, dishing all ne perps
to fraud. Gramps listen, to what the experts record. Burn
ya pin and pads, mics we need not, well i be packing like a
rasta in the weed spot. Hittinh ya hearts like a holatip
verbaly illing, minds muniplated my raps are nickel plated i
illistarted x rated to move out. Nas the parlayer state you
on a new route. The suicide poetry realeased from a cell
where the myths clientell i excell it ain't hard to tell.
Chorus

I blessed with the Finesse to express like shakespear
the blocks cape fear, drop metaphors when da breaks clear.
My mic check is life or death, breathin a sniper's death
I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps
Deep like The Shinin', sparkle like a diamond
Sneak a uzi on the island in my army jacket linin
Hit the Earth like a comet, invasion
Nas is like the Afrocentric Asian, half-man, half-amazin
Cause in my physical, I can express throuh song
Delete stress like Motrin, then extend strong
I drank Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell
From the spliff that I lift and inhale, it ain't hard to tell
(Chorus)fades

"It's yours!" --] T La Rock

Chorus: Nas, Pete Rock

[PR] Whose world is this?
[Nas] The world is yours, the world is yours
[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this? "It's yours!"
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this?
[Nas] The world is yours, the world is yours
[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this?

I sip the Dom P, watchin Gandhi til I'm charged
Then writin in my book of rhymes, all the words pass the margin
To hold the mic I'm throbbin, mechanical movement
Understandable smooth shit that murderers move wit
The thief's theme, play me at night, they won't act right
The fiend of hip-hop has got me stuck like a crack pipe
The mind activation, react like I'm facin time like
Perry Mason with pens I'm embracin
Wipe the sweat off my dome, spit the phlegm on the streets
Suede Timb's on my feets, makes my cypher, complete
Whether crusin in a six-cab, or Montero Jeep
I can't call it, the beats make me fallin asleep
I keep fallin, but never fallin six feet deep
I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for dead presidents to represent me

Chorus: Nas, Pete Rock

[PR] Whose world is this?
[Nas] The world is yours, the world is yours
[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
[PR] Whose world is this?
[Nas] The world is yours, the world is yours
[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this? "It's yours!"
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this?
[Nas] The world is yours, the world is yours
[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this?

To my man Ill Will, God bless your life "It's yours!"
To my peoples throughout Queens, God bless your life
I trip we box up crazy bitches aimin guns in all my baby pictures
Beef with housin police, release scriptures that's maybe Hitler's
Yet I'm the mild, money gettin style, rollin foul
The versatile, honey stickin wild, golden child
Dwellin in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled
Or caught by the devil's lasso, shit is a hassle
There's no days, for broke days, we sell it, smoke pays
While all the old folks pray, to Je-sus' soakin they sins in trays
of holy water, odds against Nas are slaughter
Thinkin a word best describin my life, to name my daughter
My strength, my son, the star, will be my resurrection
Born in correction all the wrong shit I did, he'll lead a right direction
How ya livin large, a broker charge, cards are mediocre
You flippin coke or playin spit spades in strip poker

"It's yours!"

Chorus: Nas, Pete Rock

[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
[PR] Whose world is this?
[Nas] The world is yours, the world is yours
[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this? "It's yours!"
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this?
[Nas] Yo, the world is yours, the world is yours
[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this? "It's yours!"
[PR] Break it down

*Pete Rock cuts and scratches "It's yours!"*

I'm the young city bandit, hold myself down singlehanded
For murder raps, I kick my thoughts alone, get remanded
Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne
I'm deep by sound alone, caved inside in a thousand miles from home
I need a new nigga, for this black cloud to follow
Cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow
Trying to maintain, I flip, fill the clip to the tip
Picturin my peeps, now the income make my heartbeat skip
And I'm amped up, they locked the champ up, even my brain's in handcuffs
Headed for Indiana stabbin women like the Phantom
The crew is lampin big Willie style
Check the chip toothed smile, plus I profile wild
Stash through the flock wools, burnin dollars to light my stove
Walk the blocks wit a bop, checkin Danes plus the games
people play, bust the problems of the world today

"It's yours!"

Chorus: Nas, Pete Rock

[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
[PR] Whose world is this?
[Nas] The world is yours, the world is yours
[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this? "It's yours!"
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this?
[Nas] Yeah... the world is yours, the world is yours
[PR] It's mine, it's mine, it's mine
Whose world is this? "It's yours!"
Break it down

Yea aight?
To everybody in Queens, the foundation "It's yours!"
The world is yours
To everybody uptown, yo, the world is yours "It's yours!"
The world is yours
To everybody in Brooklyn
Y'all know the world is yours "It's yours!"
The world is yours
Everbody in Mount Vernon, the world is yours "It's yours!"
Long Island, the world is yours "It's yours!"
Staten Island, yea the world is yours "It's yours!"
South Bronx, the world is yours "It's yours!"
Aight

*Pete Rock keeps cuttin and scratchin "It's yours!" to fade*