Released: October 3, 2000

Featuring: Donell Jones

Songwriter: Guru Donell Jones

Producer: DJ Premier

{[*"If you ain't real about it, don't talk"* -] Baby Thad}

[Guru]
It's ninety degrees on the corner, in the summer heat
Dreamin of beach houses, mad ladies and Hummer jeeps
Got another beep now it's time to watch a brother creep
And pull another scam, not hit the man but the brothers deep
Ain't tryin to stay in this life for too long
You tellin me that I'm bound to lose, but you wrong
I'm too strong, plus me and my team's got a true bond
I'll stay in these streets, you stay in the house where you belong
Yo who's wrong, you never had to live in my shoes
And my view's, that every second is vital
The way I see nigga's the way I G it
A raw ghetto entrepeneur, yeah I be it
Not as glamourous, as the gangster flicks
I'll show you some gangster chicks that hold me down we get rich
And get this, bet this, I'm after payola
The loot, the paper, til my hustlin days are over

[Hook: Donell Jones]
I'm a hustler, a hustler hmm
Gotta get the dough to win
And I'm a baller yeah, baller
Shot call-errr
I pack plenty of steel, plenty of steel
For niggas that wanna be actin ill
All the player haters stay, off my nuts
While I'm/we handlin business

[Guru]
Illegal business, I need to invest in somethin legit
This money's comin too quick, I copped a house and two whips
Who switched it, not me, I'm keepin it real
Keepin the steel while the envious watch hungry, I'm eatin my meal
Late nights, there ain't no time for stage frights
This ain't fiction, it's my mission to get paid alright?
No need to speak about greed, long as I'm feedin my seed
Then I'm completin the deed, so I'm keepin this cheese
High-priced lawyers, I'm too nice for ya
Never touchin the work no more, too precise for ya
Controllin the town, holdin it down
I'm the Master Allah Now, I'm showin you style
I go in your file, and make you hard to locate
Delete all your data don't disregard your fate
I'll off you then I'm off with a honey like suave bola
Shit I'm livin this life, til my hustlin days are over

[Hook]

[Guru]
Bouncin in and out of town, hope I don't step out of bounds
Chicks love to crowd around cause of my rep, how that sound?
Enemies are growin in numbers, hopin to catch me slumber
I wonder; how many are hopin to take me under?
NARC's and Feds, throwin darts at my head
Some new cats tryin to make me part with my bread
Now I'm in a zone worse than Nino in Sugar Hill
Now I'm all alone, the piper wants me to foot the bill
Now I'm facin the judge, my name on a folder
In jail for life, my hustlin days are over

{*["If you ain't real about it, don't talk"* -] Baby Thad}

[Hook]

{*["If you ain't real about it, don't talk"* -] Baby Thad}

[Donell Jones]
Oh yeah
Yeah yeah yeah, uhh
Uhh.. ooohoooohwooooohhh
Get the paper, get the dough
Cause I'm hustlin
Gotta get the paper, get the dough
Cause I'm hustlin
And I'm a hustler
And I'm a baller, yeah
I pack plenty of steel
So all the player haters stay, off my nuts
While we handlin business
Oh yeah, ohooooohhhhhohhhhhh
Mmmmmmm ohhh ohhh, oh yeah
If you're with me, throw your guns in the air
Whoahoahaohohhhhohhhhhh, ohhh yeah

Guru

Keith Elam, known as the Guru, is best known as the rapping half of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr alongside producer DJ Premier. His name is a backronym which stands for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal, a reference to The Nation of Gods and Earths (Five Percent Nation) and the Supreme Alphabet.

Guru hails from Boston but settled in Brooklyn, New York, where he and Texas-born DJ Premier set the foundation for Gang Starr. The duo released six albums together between 1989 and 2003. The monotone MC also released solo albums during and after his run with Gang Starr, most notably the four volumes of his Jazzmatazz series, featuring live jazz musicians on a number of the songs.

On April 19, 2010, Guru died from cancer after having been in a coma for almost two months. He was 48 years old.