Released: May 31, 1994
Songwriter: Pete Rock Nas
Producer: Pete Rock
[Produced by Pete Rock]
[Chorus: Pete Rock + Nas]
(It's yours)
Whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
[Verse 1: Nas]
I sip the Dom P, watchin' Gandhi 'til I'm charged, then
Writin' in my book of rhymes, all the words past the margin
To hold the mic I’m throbbin', mechanical movement
Understandable smooth shit that murderers move with
The thief's theme, play me at night, they won't act right
The fiend of hip-hop has got me stuck like a crack pipe
The mind activation, react like I'm facin'
Time like Pappy Mason, with pens I'm embracin'
Wipe the sweat off my dome, spit the phlegm on the streets
Suede Timbs on my feets makes my cipher complete
Whether cruisin' in a Sikh's cab or Montero Jeep
I can't call it, the beats make me fallin' asleep
I keep fallin', but never fallin' six feet deep
I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for dead presidents to represent me
[Chorus: Pete Rock + Nas]
Whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
[Verse 2: Nas]
To my man Ill Will, God bless your life (It's yours)
To my peoples throughout Queens, God bless your life
I trip, we box up crazy bitches, aimin' guns in all my baby pictures
Beef with housing police, release scriptures that's maybe Hitler's
Yet I'm the mild, money-gettin' style, rollin' foul
The versatile, honey-stickin', wild, golden child
Dwellin' in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled
Or caught by the devil's lasso, shit is a hassle
There's no days for broke days when sellin' smoke pays
While all the old folks pray to Jesús, soakin' they sins in trays
Of holy water, odds against Nas is slaughter
Thinkin' a word best describin' my life to name my daughter
My strength, my son, the star will be my resurrection
Born in correction, all the wrong shit I did, he'll lead in right direction
How you livin'? Large or broke on charge cards and mediocre?
You flippin' coke or playin' spit, spades, and strip poker?
[Chorus: Pete Rock + Nas]
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
Yo, the world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
[Bridge]
Break it down
It's yours, it's yours
It's yours, it's yours
[Verse 3: Nas]
I'm the young city bandit, hold myself down single-handed
For murder raps, I kick my thoughts alone, get remanded
Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne
I'm deep by sound alone, caved inside, 1,000 miles from home
I need a new nigga for this black cloud to follow
‘Cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow
Tryin' to maintain, I flip, fill the clip to the tip
Picturin' my peeps not eatin' can make my heartbeat skip
And I'm amped up, they locked the champ up, even my brain's in handcuffs
Headed for Indiana, stabbin' women like the Phantom
The crew is lampin' Big Willie style
Check the chip-toothed smile, plus I profile wild
Stash loot in fly clothes, burnin' dollars to light my stoge
Walk the blocks with a bop, checkin' dames, plus the games people play
Bust the problems of the world today
[Chorus: Pete Rock + Nas]
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this? (Yeah)
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
[Outro: Nas & Pete Rock]
(Break it down) Yeah, aight
To everybody in Queens, the foundation (It's yours)
The world is yours
To everybody uptown, yo, the world is yours (It's yours)
The world is yours
To everybody in Brooklyn
Y'all know the world is yours (It's yours)
The world is yours
Everybody in Mount Vernon, the world is yours (It's yours)
Long Island, yo, the world is yours (It's yours)
Staten Island, yeah, the world is yours (It's yours)
South Bronx, the world is yours (It's yours)
Aight
[Chorus: Pete Rock + Nas]
(It's yours)
Whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
[Verse 1: Nas]
I sip the Dom P, watchin' Gandhi 'til I'm charged, then
Writin' in my book of rhymes, all the words past the margin
To hold the mic I’m throbbin', mechanical movement
Understandable smooth shit that murderers move with
The thief's theme, play me at night, they won't act right
The fiend of hip-hop has got me stuck like a crack pipe
The mind activation, react like I'm facin'
Time like Pappy Mason, with pens I'm embracin'
Wipe the sweat off my dome, spit the phlegm on the streets
Suede Timbs on my feets makes my cipher complete
Whether cruisin' in a Sikh's cab or Montero Jeep
I can't call it, the beats make me fallin' asleep
I keep fallin', but never fallin' six feet deep
I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for dead presidents to represent me
[Chorus: Pete Rock + Nas]
Whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
[Verse 2: Nas]
To my man Ill Will, God bless your life (It's yours)
To my peoples throughout Queens, God bless your life
I trip, we box up crazy bitches, aimin' guns in all my baby pictures
Beef with housing police, release scriptures that's maybe Hitler's
Yet I'm the mild, money-gettin' style, rollin' foul
The versatile, honey-stickin', wild, golden child
Dwellin' in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled
Or caught by the devil's lasso, shit is a hassle
There's no days for broke days when sellin' smoke pays
While all the old folks pray to Jesús, soakin' they sins in trays
Of holy water, odds against Nas is slaughter
Thinkin' a word best describin' my life to name my daughter
My strength, my son, the star will be my resurrection
Born in correction, all the wrong shit I did, he'll lead in right direction
How you livin'? Large or broke on charge cards and mediocre?
You flippin' coke or playin' spit, spades, and strip poker?
[Chorus: Pete Rock + Nas]
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
Yo, the world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
[Bridge]
Break it down
It's yours, it's yours
It's yours, it's yours
[Verse 3: Nas]
I'm the young city bandit, hold myself down single-handed
For murder raps, I kick my thoughts alone, get remanded
Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne
I'm deep by sound alone, caved inside, 1,000 miles from home
I need a new nigga for this black cloud to follow
‘Cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow
Tryin' to maintain, I flip, fill the clip to the tip
Picturin' my peeps not eatin' can make my heartbeat skip
And I'm amped up, they locked the champ up, even my brain's in handcuffs
Headed for Indiana, stabbin' women like the Phantom
The crew is lampin' Big Willie style
Check the chip-toothed smile, plus I profile wild
Stash loot in fly clothes, burnin' dollars to light my stoge
Walk the blocks with a bop, checkin' dames, plus the games people play
Bust the problems of the world today
[Chorus: Pete Rock + Nas]
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this? (Yeah)
The world is yours, the world is yours
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine—whose world is this?
(It's yours)
[Outro: Nas & Pete Rock]
(Break it down) Yeah, aight
To everybody in Queens, the foundation (It's yours)
The world is yours
To everybody uptown, yo, the world is yours (It's yours)
The world is yours
To everybody in Brooklyn
Y'all know the world is yours (It's yours)
The world is yours
Everybody in Mount Vernon, the world is yours (It's yours)
Long Island, yo, the world is yours (It's yours)
Staten Island, yeah, the world is yours (It's yours)
South Bronx, the world is yours (It's yours)
Aight
Illmatic 10th Anniversary Platinum Edition
- N.Y. State of Mind
- The World Is Yours (10th Anniversary Remix)
- Life’s a Bitch (10th Anniversary Remix)
- It Ain’t Hard to Tell (10th Anniversary Remix)
- Star Wars
- On the Real
- The Genesis
- One Time 4 Your Mind
- Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)
- It Ain’t Hard to Tell
- Represent
- One Love
- Life’s a Bitch
- The World Is Yours
- Halftime
- One Love (10th Anniversary Remix)
- Illmatic (1994)
- Tony Hawk’s Underground Soundtrack (2003)
- Illmatic 10th Anniversary Platinum Edition (2004)
- The Wackness (Music from the Motion Picture) (2008)
- Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap Soundtrack (2012)
- NBA 2K13 Soundtrack (2012)
- Illmatic XX (2014)
- Dope: Music from the Motion Picture (2015)
- Best of Nas (Anniversary Edition) (2020)
- N.Y. State of Mind
- Ether
- Life’s a Bitch
- The World Is Yours
- The Message
- It Ain’t Hard to Tell
- One Love
- If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)
- Represent
- Nas Is Like
- Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)
- Halftime
- One Mic
- Affirmative Action
- Daughters
- Cherry Wine
- I Can
- Made Nas Proud [Let Nas Down Remix]
- EPMD 2
- Hate Me Now
- The Don
- everything
- One Time 4 Your Mind
- Bye Baby