Released: July 14, 1998

Featuring: Busta Rhymes Maze Spliff Star

Songwriter: Spliff Star Jay Garfield Busta Rhymes Nashiem Myrick N.O.R.E. Maze

Producer: Jay Garfield Nashiem Myrick

[Intro]
Word up, Busta Bus, my motherfuckin nigga, man. (Bus) Yeah, this one nigga
Right there

[Verse 1: Noreaga]
What, what, yo, you know N.O.R.E., type a nigga stay real trump
I ain't the type to fight a nigga, just blaze you up
What the fuck? All you niggas wanna say what, what
While you halfway thugs soundin' halfway butt
If you ain't with Busta Bus then shut the fuck up
Niggas is snakes, in other words just like jakes
Yo, I sell raps, used to sell crack on crates
It's like a stock that shot, oh look what it dropped
Yo, I hate to have to send my niggas all in you spot
Like Spliff Star, shootin' right all in your car
Busta Bus plug the engine, with bananas
Even if they lose our sight we still got cameras
We play the game like the movie, smoke Lucy
B.I.G. gone, but my favorite song still Juicy

[Verse 2: Busta Rhymes]
Yo, ya-yo, yo closed caption, son don't even know what's happenin'
Before the 2nd thought, make you feel the wrath of my clappin'
(Boom!) Fire flashin';, two holes up in your head matchin'
Dope fiend in the corner, itch from eight scars scratchin'
(Huh) We make the nutter butter, thick creamy shit from the gutter
Paranoid these niggas, flip and make they heartbeat flutter
You's a sucker, (ha) lace you up with my box-cutter
Your mother love your other son like you ain't even his brother
Pussy nigga, I flip up to the max on you, nigga
Pose the violent threat immediately, black on you nigga
Ski maskin', fuck whatever question you askin'
Busta Rhyme and Nore connect on the train, we attachin'
Hold your corner, violatin 'cross the border (huh)
Try to catch my jewel, spyin' with your tape recorder
Fuck is wrong with you?! Don't you know we raw till the end?
Battlefield shit, Flipmode Squad, CNN

[Chorus: Busta Rhymes (Noreaga)]
Busta Rymes (What, what!) Noreaga (What, what!) Flipmode (What, what!)
Thugged Out (What, what!) Spliff Star (What, what!) Busta Rhymes (What, what!)
Noreaga (What, what!) Thugged Out (What, what!) Flipmode (What, what!)
Busta Rhymes (What, what!) Noreaga (What, what!) Thugged Out (What, what)
Spliff Star (What, what!) Flipmode (What, what!) Busta Rhymes (What, what!)
Noreaga (What, what!)

[Verse 3: Maze]
(What, what) Yo, it's the same as any, in this game you wanna lose
Jump out the Ac, run up with the Uz', don't move Magically Maze
Lyrically invade like a SWAT raid, top grade rockin' wallaby suede
I'm always coppin', poppin', three in the air
For my niggas not here
Locked in Whitney, tipsies
Specifically, and twist me when it's Cristy

[Verse 4: Noreaga]
Let me go again, make sure the shit's soakin'
Thugged Out and Flipmode is like next of kin
Yo, we do what up, sendin' 'em niggas that will screw it up
What! Handle your business, God, even if ?Kalu? what up
I rock Clarks, on and off, like John Starks
What? Shoot at your face, God, aim at your heart
Yo, from Indiana to Atlanta, God we got this
Jose Luis, thugs just put me in the hotlist
I rip shows, but never gotta go at hoes
Stay travellin', playin' click, just stay froze
I got the left arm, stay in the game like Montan'
My thug charm is everywhere now, dot com
Hear me anytime, you can access it
W dot Nore, yo, suck my dick
Peep me with Akinyele, yo, fuckin' for free
On some thug shit, my thugs stay fuckin' with me
What!

[Verse 5: Spliff Star]
Yo, every battle
Nigga I got your gat, so let me splatter
Into smithereens
Throw some bullets in his jeans
Another thug story, I bust my gun for N.O.R.E
Snap a nigga neck, now the law lookin' for me
I'm thugged out, bugged out, blow your fuckin' mug out
No di-doubt, I see you can't eat what you dish out
Watch, I reach in your soul, nigga and pull the bitch out
Watch my tech rise, feel the shells that it spit out
I'm warnin' you, send twenty niggas deep to corner you
Dressed in black
From Brook' to Iraq
Blastin' Mack 10's, I be killin' ya Benz
Live coverage at ten, on CNN

Chorus *order differs slightly*

What,what!

N.O.R.E.

Queens rapper Noreaga (also known as N.O.R.E.) was one of the most distinctive voices of the late ’90s hardcore hip-hop scene. He found critical and commercial success, both as a member of the duo Capone-N-Noreaga and as a solo artist, well into the 2000s.

Born Victor Santiago, Jr., to a Puerto Rican father and black mother, N.O.R.E. was raised in the Lefrak City housing projects in Queens, New York. In the early ’90s, while serving a sentence for attempted murder at the Green Haven Correctional Facility, he befriended Queensbridge native Capone. Once released, the two began rapping together under the mentorship of Juice Crew veteran Tragedy Khadafi, appearing in The Source Magazine’s “Unsigned Hype” column in 1995.

The duo attracted widespread attention in 1996 with the release of the single “L.A., L.A..” The song—a response to Tha Dogg Pound’s “New York, New York”—is considered a key record in the infamous East Coast/West Coast battle. Only 18 at the time, Noreaga’s unorthodox style of rapping immediately stood out. VIBE Magazine described his flow as “staggered, high-pitched parrot riffs.” The Source called it “word association-style poetics.” Capone-N-Noreaga’s debut The War Report was released by Penalty/Warner in June 1997 to critical acclaim.