Released: September 23, 2002
Songwriter: Barry White The Alchemist Nas
Producer: The Alchemist
[Intro]
Uhh, uhh
Uhhh, uhhh, uhhh
[Chorus]
No idea's original, there's nothing new under the sun
It's never what you do, but how it's done
What you base your happiness around? Material, women, and large paper
That means you inferior, not major
No idea's original, there's nothing new under the sun
It's never what you do, but how it's done
What you base your happiness around? Material, women, and large paper
That means you inferior, not major
[Verse]
If niggas could look inside my mind, you'll find
Where bodies are buried, first look past the hotties who dimes
Go to the center, enter with caution, past the brain cell graveyard
Where weed's responsible for memory loss
Let's witness, the horrific, the stench'll make you nauseous
See what I seen every day I live with this torture
Lightin' spliffs up to stay high like 24 hours
Sleep with my heat, wash with my gun in the shower
My tongue is power, it thrills women, kills demons
Long as I'm still breathin' I'm still winnin', I'll teach 'em
The hood converted from trey bags to 20's a girl
Everybody had money, every summer was real ill
Four-finger rings, dope dealers, 'caine/Kane
No Half Steppin' with flat tops when Rakim reigned
Radios on card tables, Benetton, the Gods buildin'
Ask for today's mathematics, we Allah's children
And this was goin' on in every New York ghetto
Kids listened, Five Percenters said it's pork in Jell-o
We coincide, we in the same life, maybe a time difference
On a different coast, but we share the same sunlight
Your part of the world might be like colors and gangs
While on my side, brothers'll murder for different things
But it all revolve around drugs, fame and shorties
Stuck for your bling, stripped for your chain, the same story
From, Czechoslovakia to Texas metropolis
Them treacherous rastas in the Mexican mafias
Be scrappin' with tats on they back, violent wars
Nothin' less than a lethal injection if ever caught
Courtrooms, eagles and flags, American style
While in our world, the ghetto stays incredibly foul
Watchin' for paint chips, don't want no lead in yo' child
But them gangstas put lead in yo' child, the bezzy be out
The chain be like a hundred K
Shinin' since Roxanne Shante' made Runaway; that's been a minute
Genesis is deep, my features are that of a God
It's not a facade it's a fact, these rappers wanna be Nas
My Exodus doesn't exist, I'll never leave the streets, it's all in my mind
Even with sleep I'm duckin' nines in my dreams
Si-rens, wide awake, why'd I think it would change
Can't hide when you famous or even try to do the same things
Like, somebody's always watchin'
My life before I, walk out the door I size up every option
Eyes cut every direction, it's like God or guns
Which is better protection? Can't decide, that's a hard one
I mean they wanna see me in prison, the chains bamboozled
Headline readin' "Rapper Slain From a Man Shootin'"
Uhh, uhh
Uhhh, uhhh, uhhh
[Chorus]
No idea's original, there's nothing new under the sun
It's never what you do, but how it's done
What you base your happiness around? Material, women, and large paper
That means you inferior, not major
No idea's original, there's nothing new under the sun
It's never what you do, but how it's done
What you base your happiness around? Material, women, and large paper
That means you inferior, not major
[Verse]
If niggas could look inside my mind, you'll find
Where bodies are buried, first look past the hotties who dimes
Go to the center, enter with caution, past the brain cell graveyard
Where weed's responsible for memory loss
Let's witness, the horrific, the stench'll make you nauseous
See what I seen every day I live with this torture
Lightin' spliffs up to stay high like 24 hours
Sleep with my heat, wash with my gun in the shower
My tongue is power, it thrills women, kills demons
Long as I'm still breathin' I'm still winnin', I'll teach 'em
The hood converted from trey bags to 20's a girl
Everybody had money, every summer was real ill
Four-finger rings, dope dealers, 'caine/Kane
No Half Steppin' with flat tops when Rakim reigned
Radios on card tables, Benetton, the Gods buildin'
Ask for today's mathematics, we Allah's children
And this was goin' on in every New York ghetto
Kids listened, Five Percenters said it's pork in Jell-o
We coincide, we in the same life, maybe a time difference
On a different coast, but we share the same sunlight
Your part of the world might be like colors and gangs
While on my side, brothers'll murder for different things
But it all revolve around drugs, fame and shorties
Stuck for your bling, stripped for your chain, the same story
From, Czechoslovakia to Texas metropolis
Them treacherous rastas in the Mexican mafias
Be scrappin' with tats on they back, violent wars
Nothin' less than a lethal injection if ever caught
Courtrooms, eagles and flags, American style
While in our world, the ghetto stays incredibly foul
Watchin' for paint chips, don't want no lead in yo' child
But them gangstas put lead in yo' child, the bezzy be out
The chain be like a hundred K
Shinin' since Roxanne Shante' made Runaway; that's been a minute
Genesis is deep, my features are that of a God
It's not a facade it's a fact, these rappers wanna be Nas
My Exodus doesn't exist, I'll never leave the streets, it's all in my mind
Even with sleep I'm duckin' nines in my dreams
Si-rens, wide awake, why'd I think it would change
Can't hide when you famous or even try to do the same things
Like, somebody's always watchin'
My life before I, walk out the door I size up every option
Eyes cut every direction, it's like God or guns
Which is better protection? Can't decide, that's a hard one
I mean they wanna see me in prison, the chains bamboozled
Headline readin' "Rapper Slain From a Man Shootin'"
more tracks from the album
From the albums
- The Lost Tapes (2002)
- Best of Nas (Anniversary Edition) (2020)
Nas popular songs
- 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