Released: August 6, 2002

Songwriter: Kanye West Scarface

Producer: Kanye West

[Verse 1]
I started small time, dope game, pushin on the corner
Twenty cent cook-up, fifty flippers if you want 'em
Full of formaldehyde, my clothes wreakin marijuana
Cops rollin up on us, my neighborhood's like a sauna
Pistol-grippin, insurin won't nobody run up on us
But if they do, fuck 'em, we murderous nickel-dome 'em
I ain't playin no games, I'm on a mission fo' the change
Motherfuck being a lame, I'm ten toes in the game - deep
I can't slip, this whole world want me sleep
See I hustle like a predator and prey on the weak
And playin for keeps, 'cause see, it's a thin red line
Between a nigga gettin his and me gettin mine
And plus I'm a nigga with that feelin like it's my time
And anybody standin' in the way of that is dyin'
I bust nine—how many times I gotta warn you?
I ain't the one, be pushin buttons in the sight of my gun
I'm the real live version of the Corleone family
So I spit this clearly, so you hoes'll understand me

[Scarface]
One wrong move, and I'ma have to leave you for the goons
Catch you slippin asleep in your bedroom and then (Explosion)
Get you Audi, now what the fuck was this dude thinkin?
You can cheat the rules of the streets, and not leave stinkin?

[Hook]
I can squeeze without blinkin, I'm a cold-blooded nigga
Bank robber (ooooh) I'm a natural born killer
Drug dealer, anything it took to survive
Even if it took a nigga to die, I'm a gangsta, right?

[Verse 2]
I got a brick from a sucker that he wanted to move
But the whole while I'm cookin I'm like, "Fuck this dude"
It's on, thirty-six zones of my own
Keep the money fo' myself and take the work back home
Call that nigga on the phone, "Ay", I just got knocked
And the cops was askin bout you, come get me hot
Never showed, so fuck him and the money that I owed
I got a get rich quick scheme, steppin on the dope
It's cold, but that's it, I'm on it like I want it
And twenty-eight cash and change, the whole game on it
That means I'm on my feet and I can front the homies D
Break 'em off a couple of C, and double up they fee
Takin over, shoot up they spot, make it hot
And when the cops dry it out, put my work on the block
And if they wanna ride for they corners we ride right with 'em
Dummy move, whole thing, the goon squad get 'em

[Hook]

[Verse 3]
No mo' petty rock hustlin, I'm in for the run
And I'm fo'sho I'm gon' be murdered for this shit that I done
But I'mma die standin up cause I'm a stand up nigga
Fuck dyin like a bitch on my knees, I'm a killer
So don't nobody cry cause I was destined to get it
Just remember, I'm the one who took the dope game and flipped it
And pimped it, and destroyed everything in the way
Of me seein first motherfuckin light of the day
A trigger man, deadly as fuck with a loaded AK
Spot my enemy and kill him the American way
I turned a dream into reality, with a fuck you mentality
Silencin all these niggas in the neighborhood who challenged me
Family grievin from they loved one's mortality
He ain't got a reason to die then kill him, it's a tragedy

[Hook]

Right?

Scarface

Brad Terrence Jordan is better known as the legendary rapper/producer Scarface. Hailing from the South Acres neighborhood of Houston, Texas, Scarface entered the rap game as DJ Akshun before he joined the rap group Geto Boys on Rap-A-Lot Records for the group’s 1989 sophomore album Grip It! On That Other Level. In 1991, the Geto Boys released their biggest single “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” and Scarface released his debut solo album Mr. Scarface is Back, which achieved gold status.

Scarface went on to release several critically acclaimed albums, including The Diary (1994), The Untouchable (1997), My Homies (1998), and The Fix (2002), which received a rating of 5 Mics from The Source magazine. In 2000, he was named the president of Def Jam South, and one of his first signings was Ludacris. In 2001, Scarface was named Lyricist of the Year at The Source Awards and he was honored with the I Am Hip Hop lifetime achievement award at the BET Hip Hop Awards in 2015.

He also is a published author, releasing his memoir Diary of a Madman in 2015.