Released: October 21, 1997

Featuring: Canibus

Songwriter: Trackmasters Canibus Nas Nature AZ

Producer: Curt Gowdy Trackmasters

[Intro: Nas]
You ever dance with the Devil under the pale moonlight?
Desperados traveling
What the fuck's up, son?
We could do this, word up, we could do this

[Chorus: Nas]
Spent too many nights on the Henny getting right
Breaking big face Bennies, betting against the friendly dice
I can't call it, it's going too good to spoil it
Tell it like it is, the raw shit never recorded
Spent too many nights on the Henny getting right
Breaking big face Bennies, betting against the friendly dice
I can't call it, it's going too good to spoil it
Tell it like it is, the raw shit never recorded

[Verse 1: Canibus]
At a thousand degree Celsius, I make MC's melt
Fuck my record label, I appear courtesy of myself
Let me explain how I maintain thresholds to pain
I walk across the Sun barefoot, looking for shade
I rearrange your rib-cage like a twelve gauge at close range
And change the position of your brain
My hard raps penetrate through your hardhats and all that
Nigga, get ya wig peeled back
I scalp you like the Indians on horseback
Running Bull will hit you harder than running back
Stunning man with brave and cunning raps
Swiftly running laps around 48 tracks
Like uncut crack, you fiends keep coming back
Heads is flipping like acrobats on gym mats
From wax to analogue tapes to digital DATs
It's critical, black, the Canibus is ill like that
In fact, perhaps you should quit rap
Instead of always tryna diss back
If niggas keep telling you that your shit's wack
I rip raps, hardcore raps wrestle you to the floor mat
Put you in the figure-four, break your thorax
Jump off the top turnbuckle and land on your back
'Til I hear it snap, or crack, or the ref says "Chill, black"
You get clapped bringing the wrong raps to combat
Like bringing a paint gun to a shoot out with real gats
Y'all niggas is wack, rapping over microphone feedback
My intelligence begins where yours peaks at
From Fox Boogie in the see-through brassiere to Nasty Nasir
My nigga Nature'll explain it further if it's not clear

[Break: Nas & Foxy Brown]
Millionaire look at the sky make sure it's still there
Ice grill stares and my jewellery is in every year
Pierre Cardin back in a Dapper Dan time
Now flex, angle wrecks, Foxy rock Anne Klein

[Pre-verse: Nas]
Initiated to the Firm shit, real thugs learn quick
Sit back and feel the ultimate hit
Initiated to the Firm shit, real thugs learn quick
Sit back and feel the ultimate hit

[Verse 2: AZ]
Yo, lock in, do the knowledge, follow the doctrine
We clocking, on your airwaves, keeping it rocking
Blaze up, make fire, light your Purple Haze up
Betcha tired bitch ass niggas need to be caged up
So raze up, fuck the playing, I'm sick of laying
I can picture spraying off an SK, shells ricocheting
Snatched up, in Supreme Court, eyes half-shut
Co-defendant caught a life sentence, see him crack up
React what? Who will bail two mill'?
Nigga, cool, still bet I'll be home before the news will
Blast fuse and leave purple Frank Matthews
Perhaps you confuse the concept, black, cash rules
Incog', another homo, D’s involved
Known freeze, condo seize, seven keys dissolved
Daily routines, speaking up for niggas who sling
Hand-to-hand on them street corners, claiming you king
It's time to lock this, join with us, let your Glock spit
Guzzle the toxic, only fake niggas dry snitch
Get your guns out, it don't take much for me to dumb out
Play one route, lay ya shit down and run south

[Verse 3: Nature]
What's the cause of this shit? More statistics
Deeper than the laws of physics
Malibu sand and gorgeous bitches
Weed from 1-2-5, my whole crew live
A true Desperado, one that never choose sides
And shows sympathy, just QB, an entity
Stock exchange, top of the game, watch you mention me
Image is nothing, just obey your thirst
I blaze the Purple Haze, sit in a daze then display a verse
For those concerned or just eager to learn, I speak for The Firm
When zoning, keep the cheeba to burn
Stashing my riches, pass traditions like Olympics pass the torch
Flip shit so y'all could picture my thoughts
I'm drifting, it's type ill waking up, looking like Phil
Twenty years younger, same hunger, same ice grill
Genetically, form grade A pedigree
Born to carve rhymes, a swift tongue helped to set it free
Theoretically, peep how we bless this, young and restless
Guns and Westerns, learning to connect through lessons
From Kufis to caps, niggas shoot back
It's a proven fact, '97's mine, y'all niggas move back

[Chorus: Nas]
Spent too many nights on the Henny, getting right
Breaking big face Bennies, betting against the friendly dice
I can't call it, it's going too good to spoil it
Tell it like it is, the raw shit never recorded

The Firm

The Firm was a group consisting of Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature. The Firm first appeared on “Affirmative Action” from Nas' 1996 album It Was Written, but instead of Nature, the song featured original member Cormega, who left the group due to creative and financial issues. The group released their only album, The Album, on Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment in 1997, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and achieved gold status. The original lineup of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown and Cormega reunited on the track “Full Circle” from the 2020 Nas album King’s Disease.

Nas spoke about the beginning and end of The

AZ was my man and he told me about Foxy Brown; drove me to Brooklyn to meet her at her house. I wanted to put the Firm together and she fit perfectly.