Songwriter: Lo Ground & Top General Sounds Live Squad Nas

Producer: Lo Ground & Top General Sounds Live Squad

[Intro]
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that

[Chorus]
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
(Street rules and jewels'll help teach a hungry crew)
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
For, you wack MC's!
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
(In a world of the monkey-see, monkey-do)
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
For, you wack MC's!
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
(In a world of the monkey-see, monkey-do)
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
For, you wack MC's!

[Verse 1]
Yeah, yeah
Italiano model, trained like Cus D'Amato
Guard ya plan, recline low, black Milano
Blessed, God, feelin' Kosher
One in the top of the toaster, proper ghost ya
My gun is cocked in the holster, dumped quick
Chasin' my dick made a bum bitch rich, stylish
Heard ya naked in jail flicks
Mamacita, Black Widow, Turner be a back seater
Satin pillows, a pimpstress in willow
Cookin' my blow and head slow, eyes swellin'
Disorder the grain, I gotta split my wife melon
So I can see the seven seas of my circumference
[?], polishin' pistols like a gunsmith
Clever, my mama told me, "Take cheddar
By slugs and drugs, whatever calculate better"
When cake's measured, lock the front door, secure
See the gleamin' white crystal when it's pure

[Chorus]
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
(Street rules and jewels'll help teach a hungry crew)
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
For, you wack MC's!
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
(In a world of the monkey-see, monkey-do)
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
For, you wack MC's!

[Verse 2]
Yeah, yeah
Fuck the snake hoes
And jealous ass niggas that smash your Benz windows
Detectin' fake nigga signals
Yo, live niggas get it, too
Scarin' rappers like the Fed time Gotti was acquitted to
Blood-shot red eyes, high, yellow envelopes of lye
Openin' cigars, let tobacco fly
Kicks matchin' my shit, my gun on
Thinkin' a name for my man's unborn
Spillin' Puerto Rican rum on imaginary graves
Put my hat on my waves
Latter Day Saints scream religious praise
Heat graze the baby, yo, foul shit made a welfare mom crazy
Mo' bodies drop by the ratio, paces blow
Grizzly thoughts for makin' dough
Haitian bitch cast a spell on my life for cash-flow
So, now it's on, never wasted a slug
Time is money, when it comes to mine, take it in blood

[Chorus]
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
(Street rules and jewels'll help teach a hungry crew)
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
For, you wack MC's!
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
(In a world of the monkey-see, monkey-do)
I made it like that, I bought it like that, I'm livin' like that
For, you wack MC's!

[Outro]
Yeah, yeah, foggy and shit, trees lit up errywhere
It's like that there, yanahmean?
Executive class material
Most official Queens representative on the motherfuckin' jid-oint
This is how it's goin' down
Sun-up to sun-down, put ya gun down

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.