JAY-Z

Songwriter: JAY-Z

Producer: Just Blaze

[Verse One]
The allure of breaking the law
Was always too much for me to ever ignore
I've got a thing for the big-body Benzes, it dulls my senses
In love with a V-Dub engine
Man, I'm high off life, fuck it, I'm wasted
Bathing Ape kicks, Audemars Piguet wrist
My womenfriends get tennis bracelets
Trips to Venice, get their Winters replaced with
The sun...it ain't even fun no more, I'm jaded
Man, it's just a game, I just play it to play it
I put my feet in the footprints left to me
Without saying a word, the ghetto's got a mental telepathy
My brother hustled so - naturally -
Up next was me...but what perplexes me
Shit, I know how this movie ends! yet still I play
The starring role in "Hovito's Way"

[Hook]
"In the valley of my world
You'll be my only girl"
Once again it's the life, Oh no!
"In the valley of my world
You'll be my only girl"
Once again it's the life, Oh no!

[Verse Two]
I'm like a Russian mobster, drinking distilled vodka
Until I'm under the field with Hoffa...it's real
Peel the top up like a toupée
Mix the water with the soda
Turn the pot up, make a soufflé
All of y'all can get it like group-page on your 2-way
I'm living proof that crime do pay
Say "hooray" to the bad guy, and all the broads
Putting cars in their name, for the stars of the game
Putting 'caine in their bras and their tomorrows on the train:
All in the Name of Love
Just to see that love locked in chains and the family came
Over the house to take back everything that they claimed
Or even the worse pain is the distress
Learning you're the mistress only after that love gets slain
And the anger and the sorrow mixed up leads to mistrust
Now it gets tough to ever love again
But the allure of the game, keeps calling your name
To all the Lauras of the world, I feel your pain
To all the Christies in different cities and Tiffany Lanes:
We all hustlers in love with the same thing

[Hook]

[Verse Three]
I'm like Pookie in New Jack, cleaned up with the roof back
On the other side of the tracks I produce crack
Still a fiend no less, for the green i just
Go through a thing I guess, brings out my best
Brings out my worse, just the gift and the curse
No one said it would be easy, nigga livin is work
It's hard to not style in the Arnage, or fuck the Arnage
When the Benz doors lift up from the floor
And every night fake willies wanna match ya ball
But I'm far out of reach like Abdul-Jabbar
I'm so into this life, you know who I are
Every corner, every hood, nigga ghetto superstar
It's the life

[Hook]

Having sold over 100 million records worldwide, and holding the solo artist record of 14 Billboard 200 #1 albums, Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter is possibly the most talented, accomplished and respected rapper of all-time. He has released 13 studio albums and five collaborative albums over his 30-year career.

Three of his albums, Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, and The Black Album, are considered landmarks in the genre, with all of them featured in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Hov has won 21 Grammy Awards from sixty-four nominations, making him the 10th most awarded artist of all-time.

Legendary for never writing down his lyrics, JAY-Z’s flow is considered one of the greatest to grace the genre, his wordplay and metaphorical ability is unmatched, and his live shows push the envelope of what it means to be a hip hop artist. His MTV Unplugged appearance introduced the idea of having a full band (The Roots) backing up a hip hop artist at major concerts, and during his 2004 documentary Fade to Black he doubled down, selling out Madison Square Garden (in mere minutes) while featuring an enormous live band performance.

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