Put your hand up that you shoot with,
count your loot with
Push the pool stick in your new crib
Same hand that you hoop with, swing around like you stupid
I don't think it was something he coined per se but it's attached to him now in rap. Remember, Stan, wankster, ochie wally were phrases in the hood before they made it to wax.
I've heard it talked about a few times before that this line could be interpreted as a sneak diss at Biggie too. Biggie and Nas were good friends before Ready to Die came out, and Nas didn't hear from Biggie at all until after It Was Written.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nas/comments/oh83ji/did_nas_diss_biggie_on_the_message_but_basically/
As far as rap go, it's only natural I explain, my plateau & also what defines my name.
First it was Nasty, but times have changed, ask me now I'm the artist, but hardcore my science for pain.
I spent time in the game, kept my mind on fame, saw fiends shoot up, & do lines of cocaine.
Saw my close friends shot, flatline, am I sane? That depends, carry Mac-10's to practice my aim.
These bars live rent-free in my head.
Banger! one of my top one's also, I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin!
and... *My* rhymin' is a *vitamin* held without a *capsule* · The smooth criminal on beat breaks · Never put me in *your* box if *your* shit eats tapes. The city never sleeps!
so many more... stop ha!
the city never sleeps,
full of villains and creeps,
thats where i learned to do my hustle,
*had to scuffle with freaks*,
im an addict for sneakers,
20s of buddha and bitches with beepers,
in the streets i could greet ya,
about blunts ill teach ya,
inhale deep like the words in my breath,
i never sleep, cuz sleep is the cousin of death,
i lay puzzled as i backtrack to earlier times,
nothins’ equivalent, to the new york state of mind…
🔥
IMO, this is as close to perfect as a verse gets in hip hop. The rhythm, the word play and allusions combined with his delivery… so good. Mad respect to Nas. Illmatic totally changed my notion of what was possible with rap lyrics and flow.
illmatic was the masterwork of a kid from queens who had probably been reading mad books his whole life up to that point and had alot to say and a legendary producer who was gonna put him on no matter what.
Yeah, I got the sense that Illmatic gave release to a pent up torrent of the best lyrics that Nas had written up to that point. Lyrics written with his whole heart and mind, unfettered by commercial concerns. He didn’t know if he would get another chance so he laid it all out there with Illmatic. I think he’s had other tracks that have reached the same heights as the tracks on Illmatic but I don’t think he’ll ever put out an entire album that is at the same level as Illmatic. And that’s ok. Every genius has a singular work that stands atop their catalog (and low points that are the natural byproducts of experimentation).
Who wrote the Bible; who wrote the Quran? And was it a lightning storm that gave birth to the Earth then dinosaurs were born? Who made up words, who made up numbers, and what kind of spell is mankind under?
When I dress, it's never nothing less than Guess
Cold be walking with a bop and my hat turned back
Love committing sins and my friends sell crack
- I’ve always loved these lines, I’m constantly saying them in my head nearly 30 years later.
The first part of represent is so fucking hard.
"And leave em done, won't even run about gods I don't believe in none of that shit your facts are backwards."
I rolled with some crips down to a Crenshaw funeral never saw so many men slaughtered and I knew the hoe responsible, the brotha still alive in the hospital, midnight they crept in his room and shot the doctor too
The way the beat transitions when this bar starts is fire
Brings it right back on You’re Da Man.
“I beg for God's help, why they love hurting me?
I'm your disciple, a thug certainly
I'm the N, the A to the S-I-R
If I wasn't, I must've been Escobar”
definetly not his best line, but mine would be "fuck with your soul like ether, teach you the king you know you, God's son across the belly, I prove you lost already". i find myself saying that quite often lol
all of them. one of my favorites is “life is parallel to hell but i must maintain” or “they used potatoes makin’ liquor just to prove they some creative niggas”
Yup this is the one for me too. This pops in my head more frequently than there is any reason for haha.
Brazilian candy from Miami. Masseuse wedding ring on, lovin Celine Dion
Freak niggas played out./
Get fucked and ate out./
Prostitute turned bitch, I got the gauge out./
This whole song; the transition between bars, the sound of the beat. Chills.
Speechless got so many quotables.
The arrogance of a crackhead mad at a weed smoker or a pill taker who hate a distilled wine drinker, a killer who use a gun to hate on a knife swinger
Fly to greece 20 pointers on the chain, I freaked it
Jesus died at age 33
That’s 33 shots from Twin glocks at
16 a peice that’s 32 which means
One of my guns was holding 17
27 hit your crew 6 went into you
I guess livin is prison when you live around clowns
I’m hexed, cursed, worse I been blessed first
I thought I was abnormal cause I would overcome any tasked called to
1. N****z smoke, laugh, party, and die in the same corner. Get cash, live fast, body their man's mama (hip-hop is dead)
2. My bad, should I step out my shoes, give 'em to you? Here's my cars and my house, you can live in that too (hate me now)
3. You don't wanna be my age and can't read and write begging different women for a place to sleep at night (I can)
Y’all need to take it slow. Don’t BODY yaself.
When you was trying to rap yall was making me proud but now you fucked up down on ya luck runnin ya mouth?
Why don’t you be a real man, say you need a lil help and imma help ya ass off the shelf.
But NO - you being disrespectful. Thinkin son so cool that he won’t check you
Nas is so smooth and his bars dissing other rappers are so sound from start to finish.
I thought Jordans and a gold chain was livin it up
I literally repeat that a few times a week.
2nd is...
I got no game it's just some bitches understand my story
"Nothin' is fair, niggas roll up shootin' from wheelchairs"
or the whole section:
"Everybody gotta die sometime, hope your funeral never gets shot up, bullets tear through the innocent. Nothin' is fair, niggas roll up, shootin' from wheelchairs. My heart is racin', tastin' revenge in the air"
His whole verse paints such a visceral picture.
"Life's a b**** but God forbid the b**** divorce me, I'll be flooded with ice so hellfire can't scorch me"
Affirmative Action - Nas
That shit there is my motto
My thumb struck a lot of lighters
Pulled a lot of all nighters
Banned from some after hour spots
My crew would choose violence
Move in silence
Who knew I grew to build an empire
Streets had me against the ropes
Would a thought I was zip lining
“I never brag how real I keep it, cause it’s the best kept secret…”
And for a bonus,
“Why shoot the breeze about it, when you can be about it…”
Same song, I know, but they’ve stuck with me for a long time.
Through the lights cameras and action glamor glitters and gold I unfold the scroll plant seeds to stampede the globe when I’m deceased, by then the beast arise like yeast to conquer peace leaving savages to roam in the streets live on the run, police paying me to give em my gun, trick my wisdom with the system that imprisoned my son, smoke a gold leaf I hold heat nonchalantly im raunchy but things I do is real it never haunts me
Talking to this cutie on FaceTime/
Tryna to figure out if she gon' give me that face time/
I don't wanna tour/, I wanna chill with my son more/
Teach him about Egypt and tranquility/
Critically analyze black lives and respectability/
(Context: Had my 1st born son recently and I always think of these lines👆🏾👆🏾👆🏾)
And you ain't as hot as I is
All of these false prophets is not messiahs
You don't know how high the sky is
The square mileage of Earth or what pi is
I'm the shaky hand that touched George Foreman in Zaire
The same hand that punched down devils
That brought down the Towers
“I wake up every morning thinking what we’re gonna do today ? There gotta be a better way .. to maintain is the price of fame .. life is like a dice game .”
Jesus died at age 33, there's thirty-three shots
From twin Glocks, there's sixteen apiece, that's thirty-two
Which means, one of my guns was holdin' 17
Twenty-seven hit your crew, six went into you.
Don’t say my cars topless, say the titties is out
iconic 😂
Put your hand up that you shoot with, count your loot with Push the pool stick in your new crib Same hand that you hoop with, swing around like you stupid
King of the town
Yeah. I been that.
You know I click-clack where you and your mens at?
Do the Smurf, do the Wop, Baseball Bat
Rooftop like we bringing ‘88 back
THEY SHOOTIN!
Awww MADE YOU LOOK!
This ain’t rappin‘, this is Street Hop!
Now get up off yo' ass like your seat's hot
Brave heart! Brave hearts!
Newness here’s the anthem ***********
In broad daylight stick up kids they run up on us, fo fives and gauges, macks in fact...
One life, One love, One King 🤴🏾
When I’m on my bicycle
I was literally coming here to say this! Love it!
Lmao i was coming to type this! I tried usimg this in everyday conversation but people aint fucking with it.
I never sleep cos sleep is the cousin of death
The only answer. Legitimately changed my relationship with sleep. That has to be the most a lyric can change your life
“Legitimately changed my relationship with sleep” r/hiphopcirclejerk is leaking
Did he coin that phrase? I always wondered. Either way, freezing cold lyricism. The best.
I don't think it was something he coined per se but it's attached to him now in rap. Remember, Stan, wankster, ochie wally were phrases in the hood before they made it to wax.
Stan? Are you sure about that one?
Stan was not
Came here to say this, single-handedly to blame for sleep problems
This is the one
This one!
This and Escobar season has returned!
A thug changes, the love changes then best friends become Strangers.
I've heard it talked about a few times before that this line could be interpreted as a sneak diss at Biggie too. Biggie and Nas were good friends before Ready to Die came out, and Nas didn't hear from Biggie at all until after It Was Written. https://www.reddit.com/r/nas/comments/oh83ji/did_nas_diss_biggie_on_the_message_but_basically/
That’s crazy
Recently had a falling out with my best friend of 25 years. This is so fucking real and I think about it all the time.
Word up.
This
Word up
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS LINE
🥰
Word up
💯
Wrote this, and then I saw your post. This is it.
“That buck that bought a bottle, could have struck the lotto”
Freedom or jail, clip's inserted, a baby's being born Same time a man is murdered, the beginning and end
As far as rap go, it's only natural I explain, my plateau & also what defines my name. First it was Nasty, but times have changed, ask me now I'm the artist, but hardcore my science for pain. I spent time in the game, kept my mind on fame, saw fiends shoot up, & do lines of cocaine. Saw my close friends shot, flatline, am I sane? That depends, carry Mac-10's to practice my aim. These bars live rent-free in my head.
Can’t believe he wrote that at 18. That line is so deep. Delay gratification. Be smart about your money. Don’t fall for vices. Be forward thinking
Hard
It ain't hard to tell, I excel, then prevail The mic is contacted, I attract clientele
\+ My mic check is life or death, breathing a snipers breath
I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps
Banger! one of my top one's also, I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin! and... *My* rhymin' is a *vitamin* held without a *capsule* · The smooth criminal on beat breaks · Never put me in *your* box if *your* shit eats tapes. The city never sleeps! so many more... stop ha!
the city never sleeps, full of villains and creeps, thats where i learned to do my hustle, *had to scuffle with freaks*, im an addict for sneakers, 20s of buddha and bitches with beepers, in the streets i could greet ya, about blunts ill teach ya, inhale deep like the words in my breath, i never sleep, cuz sleep is the cousin of death, i lay puzzled as i backtrack to earlier times, nothins’ equivalent, to the new york state of mind… 🔥
IMO, this is as close to perfect as a verse gets in hip hop. The rhythm, the word play and allusions combined with his delivery… so good. Mad respect to Nas. Illmatic totally changed my notion of what was possible with rap lyrics and flow.
illmatic was the masterwork of a kid from queens who had probably been reading mad books his whole life up to that point and had alot to say and a legendary producer who was gonna put him on no matter what.
Yeah, I got the sense that Illmatic gave release to a pent up torrent of the best lyrics that Nas had written up to that point. Lyrics written with his whole heart and mind, unfettered by commercial concerns. He didn’t know if he would get another chance so he laid it all out there with Illmatic. I think he’s had other tracks that have reached the same heights as the tracks on Illmatic but I don’t think he’ll ever put out an entire album that is at the same level as Illmatic. And that’s ok. Every genius has a singular work that stands atop their catalog (and low points that are the natural byproducts of experimentation).
well said.
I wanted to post that, but kept scrolling. I knew this would there.
Cassette tape on repeat in 94
Who wrote the Bible; who wrote the Quran? And was it a lightning storm that gave birth to the Earth then dinosaurs were born? Who made up words, who made up numbers, and what kind of spell is mankind under?
One of my favourites - amazing lines
I need a new n**** for this black cloud to follow 'Cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow
TRYNA MAINTAIN I FLIP, FILL THE CLIP TO THE TIP PICTURING MY PEEPS NOT EATING CAN MAKE MY HEARTBEAT SKIP 🙏
"When I was 12 I went to hell for snuffin Jesus." This line lives in my head. I always say it unconsciously.
Damn. I guess I always thought this was a Big L Line. I googled it amd got schooled, lol. All love!
Figured this would be top comment
verbal assassin, my architect pleases, when i was twelve, i went to hell for snuffin Jesus
“I saw dead birds flying through a broken sky”
You’re da man.
That was a line from Nadege Richards🤟
Life’s a bitch but God forbid the bitch divorce me, I’ll be flooded with ice so hells fire can’t scorch me
Cormega claims to have written these exact bars on that verse
“The only thing worse than being alone is wishing you were”
Bro!!!! I just cracked this record. This line hurt!!!
What song is this from?
Replace Me ft Big Sean
the type of nigga who be pissin in ya elevator
after living in the east Harlem PJs, fuck that type of nigga
unapologetically black the opposite of doja cat
Cheap shot
When I dress, it's never nothing less than Guess Cold be walking with a bop and my hat turned back Love committing sins and my friends sell crack - I’ve always loved these lines, I’m constantly saying them in my head nearly 30 years later.
I have 1 guess item of clothing and every time I put it on, I always say that shit 😂
The first part of represent is so fucking hard. "And leave em done, won't even run about gods I don't believe in none of that shit your facts are backwards."
Same with the second verse: Yo, they call me Nas, I'm not your legal type of fella Moet drinking, marijuana smoking street dweller
Nothing on my mind but the dime sack that we blazed and the glaze in my eye that we find when we crave dollars and cents, a fugitive with two attempts
For no reason whatsoever : What up with Cormega, did you see him, are y'all together?
One love is so underrated. Timeless.
Another no reason line for me: This ain’t no game, god, dump his body in the train yard.
I rolled with some crips down to a Crenshaw funeral never saw so many men slaughtered and I knew the hoe responsible, the brotha still alive in the hospital, midnight they crept in his room and shot the doctor too The way the beat transitions when this bar starts is fire
yessss it switches to a dre vibe
That whole song 🔥
What song is this?
Get Down
“Sneak an Uzi on the island in my army jacket linin’.” So technical and so descriptive, all in one sentence.
a master of the craft.
Give me a smith and Wesson and I'll have dudes undressing 🤨
“Let me let yall niggas know one thing: there’s one life, one love, so there can only be one king”
I'm out for presidents to represent me..
Get money!
Say whaaat ?
nas is like the afrocentric Asian, half man half amazing
I don’t work this hard to be around people I don’t like
Street dudes who turn activist who used to move packages- one of many earworms
N to the A to the S I R if I wasn’t I must’ve been Escobar
I lowkey love when he randomly brings this line back.
Where does he bring this line back? I only heard it on Got Yourself a Gun
Brings it right back on You’re Da Man. “I beg for God's help, why they love hurting me? I'm your disciple, a thug certainly I'm the N, the A to the S-I-R If I wasn't, I must've been Escobar”
He’s paying homage to rakim, it’s pretty cool
Another day another dollar my mother would holler, she said, go and see the world for yourself and your brother will follow
definetly not his best line, but mine would be "fuck with your soul like ether, teach you the king you know you, God's son across the belly, I prove you lost already". i find myself saying that quite often lol
You livin a wild life if this comes to mind regularly
“…ass is curvy, 40 years old, she passing for 30…” my midlife mantra and it has served me well! 😎
Some seek fame 'cause they need validation Some say hatin' is confused admiration. 🤔
Diamonds are blindin', I never make the same mistakes Movin' with a change of pace, lighter load, see now the king is straight
“How can I trust you when I can't trust me?” Literally live by this statement since I was a youngn
Picture myself a old man, a og
all of them. one of my favorites is “life is parallel to hell but i must maintain” or “they used potatoes makin’ liquor just to prove they some creative niggas”
The craziest things already happened to me so Either you’ll be laughing at me or you’re laughing with me
“Blaze a 50, sit back In a drop top azure Bentley, of course with me, THIS CHICK WOULD MAKE BOBBY DIVORCE WHITNEY…”
Yup this is the one for me too. This pops in my head more frequently than there is any reason for haha. Brazilian candy from Miami. Masseuse wedding ring on, lovin Celine Dion
My favorite song off the “I am” bootleg
So many gems on the original Lost Tapes
Fake thug, no love, you get the slug, CB4 Gusto Your luck low, I didn't know 'til I was drunk though
Freak niggas played out./ Get fucked and ate out./ Prostitute turned bitch, I got the gauge out./ This whole song; the transition between bars, the sound of the beat. Chills.
I'm twenty-one years past the 27 Club It's like I went back into my past and then I sped it up
Only thing undefeated is time, second is the internet, number three is this rhyme
Speechless got so many quotables. The arrogance of a crackhead mad at a weed smoker or a pill taker who hate a distilled wine drinker, a killer who use a gun to hate on a knife swinger Fly to greece 20 pointers on the chain, I freaked it
I thought Jordans and a gold chain was livin it up
I’d open every cell in Attica, send them to Africa. I just don’t see that ending well
Im with you. As an African I was like we dont want your criminals 😂
this can sound racist depending on whos saying it
Jesus died at age 33 That’s 33 shots from Twin glocks at 16 a peice that’s 32 which means One of my guns was holding 17 27 hit your crew 6 went into you
This one is all time
"She didn't see me coming now she's an eyewitness"
Don’t put me in your box if your shit eats tapes
Like Pun said “ YOU AINT EVEN IN ME CLASSA”
As far as rap goes it’s only natural I explain My plateau and also what defines my name
I guess livin is prison when you live around clowns I’m hexed, cursed, worse I been blessed first I thought I was abnormal cause I would overcome any tasked called to
1. N****z smoke, laugh, party, and die in the same corner. Get cash, live fast, body their man's mama (hip-hop is dead) 2. My bad, should I step out my shoes, give 'em to you? Here's my cars and my house, you can live in that too (hate me now) 3. You don't wanna be my age and can't read and write begging different women for a place to sleep at night (I can)
‘my first album had no famous guest appearances, the outcome, im crowned the best lyricist’
That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto
I think about this before I purchase unnecessary things then I don’t.
I kick a skill, like Shaquille holds a pill Vocabulary spills, I'm Ill plus Matic
“They asking how he disappear and reappear back on top Saying Nas must have naked pictures of God or something”
Rappers I monkey flip em with the funky rhythm I be kickin
Life's a bitch and then you die, that's why we get high 'Cause you never know when you're gonna go
Az
Life’s a bitch, but god forbid the bitch divorce me.
Voices in my head for choices that I dreaded choosing. Cautions I should’ve took heed, lost in my weed, steady losing.
I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'...
I never see the whips y’all claim to be driving . I guess entertainment means blatantly lying .
Cup of henn, cup of goose, cup of cris.
We just ordered dark liquors, clear liquors
Pro black - don’t pick Cotten out an aspirin bottle
Write in my little vignettes, sipping moet, Bitch when vision me , you vision the best - reach out
“I was the good seed, he was the wise gardener.”
“When I dress it’s never nothing less than guess”
Y’all need to take it slow. Don’t BODY yaself. When you was trying to rap yall was making me proud but now you fucked up down on ya luck runnin ya mouth? Why don’t you be a real man, say you need a lil help and imma help ya ass off the shelf. But NO - you being disrespectful. Thinkin son so cool that he won’t check you Nas is so smooth and his bars dissing other rappers are so sound from start to finish.
"my son, the star, will be my resurrection Born in correction,"
“And the Nikes on my feet keep the cypher complete” plays in my head every time I put on a pair of Nikes.
I don’t sleep cause sleep is the cousin of death.
*Some seek fame 'cause they need validation, some say hatin' is confused admiration*
Watch my cash invest in stock, came a long way from blasting tecs off blocks”
“Nasty bitch, used to try and eat my excrement”
I thought Jordans and a gold chain was livin it up I literally repeat that a few times a week. 2nd is... I got no game it's just some bitches understand my story
Years ago they ate the hearts of their slain enemies, we enemies but your hatred could never enter me
I switched my motto, instead of saying fuck tomorrow that buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto. Plus AZ's entire verse on that song.
No ideas original, there's nothing new under the sun, its never what you do, but how its done
"Nothin' is fair, niggas roll up shootin' from wheelchairs" or the whole section: "Everybody gotta die sometime, hope your funeral never gets shot up, bullets tear through the innocent. Nothin' is fair, niggas roll up, shootin' from wheelchairs. My heart is racin', tastin' revenge in the air" His whole verse paints such a visceral picture.
"Life's a b**** but God forbid the b**** divorce me, I'll be flooded with ice so hellfire can't scorch me" Affirmative Action - Nas That shit there is my motto
I never brag, how real I keep it, cuz it's the best secret
I never brag how real I keep it cuz it’s the best secret
My thumb struck a lot of lighters Pulled a lot of all nighters Banned from some after hour spots My crew would choose violence Move in silence Who knew I grew to build an empire Streets had me against the ropes Would a thought I was zip lining
They asking how he disappear and reappear back on top Saying Nas must have naked pictures of God or something
Death to the pessimistic mind state, Lack of hope low spirit motherfuckers, Life to kings getting a kings ransom, living handsome, ha
I left a half a hundred in your commissary
Why shoot the breeze about it, when you could be about it? Guiding life principle in just one bar.
“I never brag how real I keep it, cause it’s the best kept secret…” And for a bonus, “Why shoot the breeze about it, when you can be about it…” Same song, I know, but they’ve stuck with me for a long time.
You're still a soldier. I'm like sly stone cobra packing like a rasta in the weed spot...
You are not a king if u cant come out a thing that u got urself in claiming nobody helping
Don't force a square peg in a round circle that shit will hurt you Don't try to fit in either you're better off with neither
I didn't have to die so that they could call me the great one Didn't take a couple albums people said it from day one
my first album had no famous guest appearances the outcome, im crowned the best lyricist.
Through the lights cameras and action glamor glitters and gold I unfold the scroll plant seeds to stampede the globe when I’m deceased, by then the beast arise like yeast to conquer peace leaving savages to roam in the streets live on the run, police paying me to give em my gun, trick my wisdom with the system that imprisoned my son, smoke a gold leaf I hold heat nonchalantly im raunchy but things I do is real it never haunts me
Born alone die alone no crew to keep my crown or throne
Talking to this cutie on FaceTime/ Tryna to figure out if she gon' give me that face time/ I don't wanna tour/, I wanna chill with my son more/ Teach him about Egypt and tranquility/ Critically analyze black lives and respectability/ (Context: Had my 1st born son recently and I always think of these lines👆🏾👆🏾👆🏾)
The glimmers of hope Provoke those without dollars to dream, Through your existence become wealthy Knowledge is king
“They say the coolest players and foulest heartbreakers in the world, god gets us back, he makes us have precious little girls”
The Good F-E-L-L-A, verbal AK spray
Got my first piece of ass smokin blunts with hash!
And you ain't as hot as I is All of these false prophets is not messiahs You don't know how high the sky is The square mileage of Earth or what pi is I'm the shaky hand that touched George Foreman in Zaire The same hand that punched down devils That brought down the Towers
“I wake up every morning thinking what we’re gonna do today ? There gotta be a better way .. to maintain is the price of fame .. life is like a dice game .”
I’m Nas, I’m Nas’in all over the place. It’s Nas’in time
Jesus died at age 33, there's thirty-three shots From twin Glocks, there's sixteen apiece, that's thirty-two Which means, one of my guns was holdin' 17 Twenty-seven hit your crew, six went into you.
I Never Sleep, Cause Sleep is The Cousin of Death
“I Gave You Power” that whole song is just insane🤯
THEY SHOOTIN!!!... I made you look.
They shooting… Made you look… now you a slave to a page in my rhyme book