Released: July 2, 1996

Songwriter: Nas DJ Premier

Producer: DJ Premier

[Produced by DJ Premier]

[Intro]
Damn
Look how muh-fuckers use a nigga
Just use me for whatever the fuck they want
I don't get to say shit
Just grab me, just do what the fuck they want
Sell me, throw me away
Niggas just don't give a fuck about a nigga like me, right
Like I'm a f-, I'm a gun, shit
It's like I'm a motherfucking gun
I can't believe this shit
Word up, word up

[Verse 1]
I seen some cold nights and bloody days
They grab me, bullets spray
They use me wrong, so I sing this song to this day
My body is cold steel, for real
I was made to kill, that's why they keep me concealed
Under car seats, they sneak me in clubs
Been in the hands of mad thugs
They feed me when they load me with mad slugs
Seventeen precisely, one in my head
They call me Desert Eagle, semi-auto with lead
I'm seven inches, four pounds, been through so many towns
Ohio to Little Rock to Canarsie, living harshly
Beat up and battered
They pull me out, I watch as niggas scattered
Making me kill, but what I feel, it never mattered
When I'm empty, I'm quiet, finding myself fiending to be fired
A broken safety, niggas place me in shelves, under beds
So I beg for my next owner to be a thoroughbred
Keeping me full up with hollow heads

[Chorus]
How you like me now? I go blaow
It's that shit that moves crowds, making every ghetto foul
I might have took your first child
Scarred your life, or crippled your style
I gave you power, I made you buck-wild
How you like me now? I go blaow
It's that shit that moves crowds, making every ghetto foul
I might have took your first child
Scarred your life, or crippled your style
I gave you power, I made you buck-wild

[Verse 2]
Always I'm in some shit
My abdomen is the clip, the barrel's my dick
Uncircumcised, pull my skin back and cock me
I bust off when they unlock me
Results of what happens to niggas shock me
I see niggas bleeding, running from me in fear
Stunningly, tears fall down the eyes of these so-called tough guys
For years, I've been used in robberies
Giving niggas heart to follow me
Placing peoples in graves, funerals made 'cause I was sprayed
I was laid in a shelf, with a grenade
Met a wrecked-up TEC with numbers on his chest that say
Five-two-oh-nine-three-eight-five and zero
Had a serial defaced, hoping one day police would place
Where he came from, a name or some sort of person to claim him
Tired of murdering, made him wanna be a plain gun
But yo, I had some other plans, like the next time the beef is on
I make myself jam right in my owner's hand

[Chorus]
How you like me now? I go blaow
It's that shit that moves crowds, making every ghetto foul
I might have took your first child
Scarred your life, or crippled your style
I gave you power, I made you buck-wild
How you like me now? I go blaow
It's that shit that moves crowds, making every ghetto foul
I might have took your first child
Scarred your life, or crippled your style
I gave you power, I made you buck-wild

[Verse 3]
Yo, weeks went by and I'm surprised
Still stuck in the shelf with all the things that an outlaw hides
Besides me, it's bullets, two vests and then a nine
There's a grenade in a box, and that TEC that kept crying
'Cause he ain't been cleaned in a year, he's rusty, it's clear
He's 'bout to fall to pieces 'cause of his murder career
Yo, I can hear somebody coming in
Open the shelf, his eyes bubbling
He said it was on, I felt his palm troubled him
Shaking, somebody stomped him out, his dome was aching
He placed me on his waist, the moment I've been waiting
My creation was for Blacks to kill Blacks
It's gats like me that accidentally go off, making niggas memories
But this time, it's done intentionally
He walked me outside, saw this cat
Cocked me back, said, "Remember me?"
He pulled the trigger but I held on, it felt wrong
Knowing niggas is waiting in Hell for him
He squeezed harder, I didn't budge, sick of the blood
Sick of them thugs, sick of wrath of the next man's grudge
What the other kid did was pull out, no doubt
A newer me in better shape, before he lit out, he lead the chase
My owner fell to the floor, his wig split
So fast, I didn't know he was hit, it's over with
Heard mad niggas screaming, niggas running, cops is coming
Now I'm happy, until I felt somebody else grab me
Damn!

Nas

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.