Uhh
    [Nas]
  Pushin drop-tops, Stacy Lattisaw tapes, the 80's had us all apes
  Youngest gorillas up to bat at home plate
  That was a uncanny era, guns in my pants
  Yeah X-Clan hair, with dreads at the top of my fade
  Homicide and feds on the blocks where I played, b-ball
  That's when I wondered was I here for the cause, or be-cause
  Cause Ray Charles could see the ghetto
  Was told to stay strong and I could beat the Devil
  Cause yo, I used to play Apollo balcony seats
  Watchin niggaz swing razors in the front row, then out in the streets
  The car show, 560's, chemical afros
  Acuras pumpin Super Lover Cee and Casanova
  Live chicks be, asses bustin out of they clothes
  Wearin lip gloss, big door knockers pealin they earlobes
  So where them years go? Where the old gold beers and cheers go?
  But now them shorties here doe, so
    [Chorus]
  The doo rags are back, fitted hats, snorkels and furs
  Riker's Island bustin, still packed, what's the word?
  The drinkers stay drinkin, or puffin they herb
  And I'm, still enjoyin life's ride; one mo' time
  The doo rags are back, fitted hats, snorkels and furs
  Riker's Island bustin, still packed, what's the word?
  The drinkers stay drinkin, or puffin they herb
  And I'm, still enjoyin life's ride; right?
    [Nas]
  Political thugs in shark suits persuade us to pull triggers
  in army boots, yellin "Join the armed forces!"
  We lost the Vietnam War, intoxicated poisons
  Needles in arms of veterans instead of bigger fortunes
  There's still a lot of naked crawlin in the carpet offices
  War in the ghetto, we crabs in a barrel, they torture us
  They won't be servin the beast too long
  The murderers wearin police uniforms, confederate flags I burn
  Beat Street breakers were dancin to the music I chose
  And Peachtree Atlantic crackheads was tootin they nose
  in frozen corners of Chicago, loaded up Llama's children
  with fo'-fo's, and double-revolvers
  We devil incarnates, headed for jail
  Where Shell gas company in South Africa be havin us killed
  Your paper money was the death of Christ
  And all these shorties comin up just resurrect your life
  It's like a cycle
    [Chorus]
    [Nas]
  Niggaz used to wear rags on they hair when it was fried up
  That's when we were lied to, buyin hair products
  Back before my generation, when our blackness started disintegratin
  'til awareness started penetratin
  The styles come from prison, they used potatoes makin liquor
  just to prove we some creative niggaz
  Turnin nothin into somethin, is God work
  And you get nothin without struggle and hard work
  War is necessary to my niggaz in chains
  From Greene to Sing-Sing, I'm wantin y'all to know one thing
  The hardest thing is to forgive, but God does
  Even if you murdered or robbed, yeah it's wrong, but God loves
  Take one step toward him, he takes two toward you
  Even when all else fail, God support you
  I done it, got God sun on my stomach
  My heart and my lungs was affected from Henny's and gettin blunted
  Do your body right and it loves you back
  You only get one life, and yo because of that
  I'm still blazin, goin out for the cause
  Still rockin stockin caps, not for the waves, obeyin no laws
  And it's like that
    [Chorus]