Featuring: K-Ci & JoJo Outlawz

Songwriter: E.D.I. Mean Big Syke Yaki Kadafi Mopreme Shakur 2Pac

Producer: Johnny J

[Intro: 2Pac]
I hope it can work out tonight wasssup
I know we been seein' each other for a long time
And (hahaha) I'm hopin' tonight can be the night
Yeah, that's right

[Verse 1: 2Pac]
Another shady mission, had enough of shady tricks
You're so suspicous like watching pictures in hazy vision
Tonight is love making, take you any place you wish
Today we're satisfied, yesterday we've stolen kisses
Blind insanity, perfect pictures of me and my family
Not understanding the destiny, had they planned for me?
If I have kids, will I live to see them grow?
Though I don't know
I live the life of a thug nigga until the day I go
No broken promises, a sacred bond broken
I know I'll die alone, but yet and still I'm hopin'
Visions of prisons, maybe I'll be forgiven
I know it's better in Heaven, ‘cause being here ain't livin'
Close my eyes and see nothing but pain, the world is crazy
Still, looking for a queen to plant seeds and have babies
Maybe I'll be the one, or just maybe I'm lost
You'll never know being cautious, if you play your cards right

[Chours: K-Ci and Jo-Jo]
If you play your cards right, everything will be alright
If you play your cards right, tonight will be the night
If you play your cards right, everything will be alright
If you play your cards right, tonight will be the night

[Verse 2: Big Syke]
I'm always in the mix
Life is full of tricks
I guess, tryin' my best
Nothing less, before I lay to rest
My quest and future I'm mourn like a new born baby
Intense and seldom to the world I'm so crazy
My daddy raised me to be a man, do the best I can
He said you won't succeed in life without a plan
It's hard to take my people trade me
With Indian hate, can't wait better change before it's too late

[Verse 3: Mopreme]
They got me at the bottom of a deck, searching for my Ace
I can't take too many chances, ain't much love in my place
Full of torment and soul, and it's written all in my face
Hollow inside, a crooked smile is the only trace
A mission slightly incomplete
Misconceptions of success and defeat
I roam these dark streets alone
Searching for yo homie, smokin' til I'm gone
When I need someone to kind of lay my burdens on

[Chours: K-Ci and Jo-Jo]
If you play your cards right, everything will be alright
If you play your cards right, tonight will be the night
If you play your cards right, everything will be alright
If you play your cards right, tonight will be the night

[Verse 4: E.D.I. Mean]
December 30 in nineteen-ninety feen yeah
My reincarnation steps in, born into a world that don't love itself, but the love is wealth
My little nigga listen closely, if you don't remember nothing else
Just remember that life ain't nothing but a game
A gamble, and how you play yo hand will sho' explain
For what's ever
In times you gone journey into a crossroad, get lost tho'
Keep on bailin' and let 'em see you up in floss mode

[Verse 5: Yaki Kadafi]
Mysteriously it seems
Through my deepest thoughts and dreams
It's all wrong, Pop too long gone
And now way it seems I'm stranded on my own
Abandoned here in a zone
Protect my throne
Pow like king Al Capone style
Fake no jacks on this grind
Coked up with crack I get mine
Living life as a Don, Guess Gortex, Louis Vuitton
With my future behind me, livin' with these snakes
Sent here to blind me, one day I know my future's gonna find me
Am I crying?

[Chours: K-Ci and Jo-Jo]
If you play your cards right, everything will be alright
If you play your cards right, tonight will be the night
If you play your cards right, everything will be alright
If you play your cards right, tonight will be the night

[Outro: Pac talking]
Would you be patient, and you take your time
And you finess it, 9 times out of 10
Homeboy you gon' wake up with your breakfast in bed
But if you rush and you just be manhandlin'
You can and yo ass can go home tonight Haha
Play your cards right

2Pac

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an actor and a highly influential rapper who is considered by many to be the greatest of all-time due to the revolutionary spirit and thug passion he mixed into his music. During his music career, he made appearances in movies such as his acclaimed debut in Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), and Above the Rim (1994).

Born in Harlem, New York City to Black Panther Party members Billy Garland and Afeni Shakur, Tupac would later move to Baltimore before settling in the Bay Area cities of Oakland and Marin City in the late 1980s. There, he joined his first rap group Strictly Dope with Ray Luv before connecting with Shock G and Digital Underground. He was a roadie and backup dancer for the group before his breakthrough performance on their 1991 song “Same Song.”

2Pac released his debut album 2Pacalypse Now in 1991, which featured intense storytelling on singles such as “Trapped” and “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” His sophomore album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z featured one of his signature songs, the Digital Underground-assisted “I Get Around.” After working on the Thug Life group album in 1994, 2Pac released Me Against the World the following year, which is considered by many to be his best album, peaking at #1 on the Billboard 200 and receiving a Grammy nomination—all while he sat in prison.

more tracks from the album

2Pac Unreleased

From the album