Nas

Songwriter: Nas

Producer: DJ Green Lantern

[Hook: Nas sample & Jay-Z sample]
Cops keep firing, in my environment
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls
Cops keep firing, in my environment
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls
(Green Lantern!)
Cops keep firing, in my environment
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls
I’d like to see them fall, guilty for doing raw
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls

[Verse 1: Nas]
Now all you hypocrites, witness the injustice
Conversations taped illegally, then they cuff us
U.S. attorneys, public defenders send us off to hard prison time
Whether you innocent or did the crime
Say you come from Hooters, cops pursue you hard
Run your place, put guns in your face
Put you in the car for nothing (Green Lantern!)
Now you struggling, tied up, standing in line-ups
Call your lawyer, they charge you for murder
Why? ‘Cause these liars
Say you shot another man in his driveway
Guilty, just for being Black on a Friday
Polygraph test, you’re failing, because you’re nervous
Charged with murder you didn’t commit, then they serve ya
Fifteen years, maximum security
Slashing, stab wounds, broken bone, injuries
You were placed there intentionally
Either you bang or you miss me
Listen to me, this is true!

[Hook: Nas sample & Jay-Z sample]
Cops keep firing, in my environment
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls
Cops keep firing, in my environment
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls
Cops keep firing, in my environment
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls
I’d like to see them fall, guilty for doing raw
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls

[Verse 2: Nas]
Death sentences is cold as see-your-own-breath temperatures (Invasion!)
When your old life and the ten-point program didn’t mix
Panthers, founded October ’66
Next year, police arrest the Minister of Defense
Newton, for shooting and killing a pig in Oakland
“Free Huey, the sky’s the limit!” became the slogan
Jail bars open, then Huey told ‘em:
“Let my brothers free with me and slam the jail bars closed then”
I go then to say today, “Where are those men?”
Slaughtered by COINTELPRO and coke, and
Heroin, this era we in, we think we chilling
In our Harry Winston, in our high-priced clothing
Some of these P.D.s is tired of us
They got they orders from they higher-ups to line us up
From age and up, then they fire on us
The inconvenient truth got them lying to us
The Evil Genius!

[Hook: Nas sample & Jay-Z sample]
Cops keep firing, in my environment
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls
Cops keep firing, in my environment
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls
Cops keep firing, in my environment
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls
I’d like to see them fall, guilty for doing raw
Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls

[Outro: Nas & Paul Mooney sample]
You still wanna be a nigga too?
White folks shouldn’t’ve made up “nigga,” I didn’t make it up. It’s too bad. I say “nigga” a hundred times every morning. It makes my teeth white. “Nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga.” I ain’t scared of that word

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, known to one and all as Nas, is one of hip-hop’s best-known, most mercurial, and lyrically blessed figures ever to touch the microphone. Since his heart-stopping debut turn on Main Source’s “Live at the Barbeque,” Nas has delivered countless beautifully structured, thought-provoking, keenly observed verses.

Growing up in Queens, NY, Nas never really performed in big crowds—he kept to himself. Nas used a different type of vernacular that others didn’t understand, which helped him to stand out from other rappers from his era.

With every ensuing album, Nas always reminds fans that he’s still the same Queensbridge MC who crafted one of the greatest albums of all time, and arguably the bible of Hip-Hop, Illmatic.

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