N.Y. State of Mind _ Nas

[00:01.93] Yeah, yeah

[00:04.32] Ayo Black, it's time, word (word, it's time, man)

[00:07.03] It's time, man (a'ight, man, begin)

[00:11.26] Yeah, straight out the fuckin' dungeons of rap

[00:14.99] Where fake niggas don't make it back

[00:19.48] I don't know how to start this shit, yo, now

[00:22.50] Rappers, I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm

[00:25.19] I be kickin', musician inflictin' composition of pain, I'm like Scarface sniffin' cocaine

[00:30.66] Holdin' an M16, see, with the pen I'm extreme

[00:33.88] Now, bullet holes left in my peepholes

[00:36.01] I'm suited up with street clothes, hand me a .9, and I'll defeat foes

[00:40.01] Y'all know my steelo, with or without the airplay

[00:42.43] I keep some E&J, sittin' bent up in the stairway

[00:45.61] Or either on the corner bettin' Grants with the cee-lo champs

[00:48.28] Laughin' at base-heads, tryna sell some broken amps

[00:50.35] G-packs get off quick, forever niggas talk shit

[00:53.98] Reminiscin' about the last time the task force flipped

[00:57.15] Niggas be runnin' through the block shootin'

[00:59.24] Time to start the revolution, catch a body, head for Houston

[01:01.86] Once they caught us off-guard, the MAC-10 was in the grass, and

[01:05.31] I ran like a cheetah, with thoughts of an assassin

[01:08.18] Picked the MAC up, told brothers "Back up!", the MAC spit

[01:11.11] Lead was hittin' niggas, one ran, I made him back-flip

[01:13.77] Heard a few chicks scream, my arm shook, couldn't look

[01:16.70] Gave another squeeze, heard it click, "Yo, my shit is stuck!"

[01:19.61] Tried to cock it, it wouldn't shoot, now I'm in danger

[01:22.28] Finally, pulled it back and saw three bullets caught up in the chamber

[01:25.73] So, now I'm jettin' to the buildin' lobby

[01:27.59] And it was full of children, prob'ly couldn't see as high as I be

[01:30.76] (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

[01:36.31] And claim some corners, crews without guns are goners

[01:39.25] In broad daylight, stick-up kids, they run up on us

[01:42.10] .45's and gauges, MAC's in fact

[01:44.76] Same niggas will catch you back-to-back, snatchin' your cracks in black

[01:47.60] There was a snitch on the block gettin' niggas knocked

[01:50.87] So hold your stash 'til the coke price drop

[01:53.52] I know this crackhead who said she gotta smoke nice rock

[01:55.30] And if it's good, she'll bring you customers and measuring pots

[01:59.08] But yo, you gotta slide on a vacation

[02:01.19] Inside information keeps large niggas erasin' and their wives basin'

[02:05.14] It drops deep as it does in my breath

[02:07.52] I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death

[02:09.92] Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined

[02:13.11] I think of crime when I'm in a New York State of Mind

[02:17.37] New York state of mind

[02:20.54] New York state of mind

[02:23.20] New York state of mind

[02:25.59] New York state of mind

[02:26.44] Be havin' dreams that I'm a gangsta, drinkin' Moëts, holdin' TEC's

[02:30.36] Makin' sure the cash came correct, then I stepped

[02:33.28] Investments in stocks, sewin' up the blocks to sell rocks

[02:37.00] Winnin' gunfights with mega-cops

[02:38.40] But just a nigga, walking with his finger on the trigger

[02:41.59] Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger

[02:44.72] I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'

[02:47.38] Give me a Smith & Wesson, I'll have niggas undressin'

[02:50.78] Thinkin' of cash flow, Buddha, and shelter

[02:53.19] Whenever frustrated, I'ma hijack Delta

[02:55.85] In the PJ's, my blend tape plays, bullets are strays

[02:58.77] Young bitches is grazed, each block is like a maze

[03:01.44] Full of black rats trapped, plus the Island is packed

[03:04.37] From what I hear in all the stories when my peoples come back black

[03:07.31] I'm livin' where the nights is jet-black

[03:09.72] The fiends fight to get crack, I just max, I dream I can sit back

[03:12.90] And lamp like Capone, with drug scripts sewn

[03:15.56] Or the legal luxury life, rings flooded with stones, homes

[03:18.75] I got so many rhymes, I don't think I'm too sane

[03:21.41] Life is parallel to Hell, but I must maintain

[03:24.06] And be prosperous, though we live dangerous

[03:26.21] Cops could just arrest me, blamin' us, we're held like hostages

[03:30.37] It's only right that I was born to use mics

[03:32.87] And the stuff that I write is even tougher than dykes

[03:35.45] I'm takin' rappers to a new plateau, through rap slow

[03:38.60] My rhymin' is a vitamin held without a capsule

[03:41.60] The smooth criminal on beat breaks

[03:43.87] Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes

[03:47.03] The city never sleeps, full of villains and creeps

[03:49.81] That's where I learned to do my hustle, had to scuffle with freaks

[03:52.48] I'm a addict for sneakers, 20's of Buddha and bitches with beepers

[03:55.94] In the streets I can greet ya, about blunts I teach ya

[03:58.86] Inhale deep like the words of my breath

[04:01.26] I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death

[04:03.95] I lay puzzled as I backtrack to earlier times

[04:06.59] Nothing's equivalent to the New York state of mind

[04:11.09] New York state of mind

[04:13.74] New York state of mind

[04:16.66] New York state of mind

[04:19.32] New York state of mind