Nas

Released: July 2, 1996

Songwriter: Nas

Producer: Lo Ground Live Squad Top General Sounds

[Produced by Live Squad, Lo Ground & Top General Sounds]

[Chorus]
{*whispered*}
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder

[Verse 1]
It's sort of like the conclusion to Color Purple
Niggas is losing, confusion, with one-time on pursuit moves in
Grabbing niggas up in this movement to rule shit
Cop versus the block, shorties is schooled quick
Lesson number one: If you're arrested and hung
Where niggas is from, gotta keep a lid on your tongue
It's like silent murder, I hit blunts hard like Ray Mercer
The violent words of a Prince in a Palace of Persia
The cognac plurger plus the trees
But who's the foul one to make his nose take a freeze?
And got enough gall to rock ice in all hype
Used to be a general but just lost his stripe
Pipe dreams and white fiends and all-nighters
Collect calls from lifers, Astoria wars with Cypress
Since I got a problem with the law-writers
I kick some more items just to explore horizons
The palm lady dreamt of this day
So I'mma play the crib close, smokin' with the big toast and lay

[Chorus]
{*whispered*}
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder

[Verse 2]
They say the arms of Nicky Barnes would be enough to blast
A lot of rich niggas fell and started pumping gas
Was it the mind of CIA that bumped off Malik Shabazz?
Fuck what they teach in class, I'mma reach the mass
Strap up, no back up, it's jungle tactics
Living practice, out of line niggas get smacked backwards
So wear it if the cap fits, folded up money and mad clips
Are stacked right under my mattress
To smoke a nigga like a Hughes Brothers motion picture
Niggas getting open, crews roping older niggas
April fools, they laugh, the jokes on the benches
Seeds outside, my nigga spoke on his sentence

[Chorus]
{*whispered*}
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder

[Verse 3]
My right-handers never play too close to cameras
It's night time, scandalous, circle the loud gamblers
Peace-making niggas pep talk
The Beast making niggas walk off the hot avenues with they brew
Time to get this loot countless
'Cause, son, it ain't no youth fountains
Niggas take cash and shoot, bounce and
Pakistanians are took hostage
Locked up inside a linen closet, known for spending pies up
What's the flavor when your neighbors do jake favors?
Locking real niggas down and letting fake players
Roam around the projects, it's lyrical logic
I dilute, the weak can inject the right composite
When plotting on murderous schemes
It seems I'm ghostly called by the essence of Queens
The palm lady dreamt of this day
So I'mma play the crib close, smokin' with the big toast and lay

[Chorus]
{*whispered*}
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder
Silent, silent murder

[Outro]
And Cain killed his brother Abel
When God accepted Abel's offering and not his
Abel's offering showed that Cain was not giving his best to God
And Cain's jealous anger drove him to murder
Drove him to murder

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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