Released: February 22, 2012

Songwriter: Yasiin Bey

Producer: Kanye West MIKE DEAN Hit-Boy Anthony Kilhoffer

[Intro]
Live from America
Yasiin, Yasiin, y'all seen
N.I.P, sing it

[Verse 1]
Poor so hard, my clean clothes look grimy, pretty women don't mind me
So what's fifty grand to a young nigga like me? More than my annual salary
Poor so hard, this shit crazy, walk outside the whole world hate me
Nervous stares at the thoroughfare, surveillance cameras, police tracing
Poor so hard, this shit weird, we be home and still be scared
There's grief here, there's peace here, easy and hard to be here
Psycho, liable to turn Michael, take your pick, Myers, Myers, Myers, same shit
Poor so hard, got holey socks, dope block on my stove top
Jumbotrons for astronauts, high in orbit off planet rock, say
Poor so hard, this chopper too, we starving Marvin, you hot food
There's birds of prey, no escape, open-air prison, local zoo
Poor so hard, who getting faded? Little Maurice in the sixth grade
No mama, no father, role model the dope game, say
Poor so hard, bitch behave, standing behind the deuce-deuce-trey
Ice-cold, heat blow, closed casket, cold case

[Hook]
Poor so hard, that shit cray

[Verse 2]
These young bloods is looking scary at the mall
They wearing pants, you can still see they drawers
They rob a nigga in the bathroom stall
They took his life cause he ain't want to take it off
Poor so hard, that shit cray, ain't it, Bey? Diabetics, fish filet
Poor so hard, your house so cold, nigga, it ain't spring
Every winter landlord fuckin' with my heat again
Bougie girl, grab your hand, show you how to do this ghetto dance
Fuck your French, we ain't in France, I'm just saying
Prince Williams ain't do it right, if you ask me
If I was him, I'd put some black up in my family
Fake Gucci, my nigga, fake Louis, my killa
Real drugs, my dealer, who the fuck is Margiela?
Doctors say I'm the illest, I ain't got no insurance
It's them niggas in poorest, be them rebel guerillas, huh

[Interlude: Malcolm X]
I don't worry, I tell you
I am a man who believed that I died 20 years ago
And I live like a man who is dead already
I have no fear whatsoever of anybody or anything

[Hook]

[Verse 3]
To the kings and queens and everyone in every place, yo
Don't get caught up in no throne, don't get caught up in no throne
Don't get caught up in no throne
Towers of Babylon rise up and so they shall fall
As it was written before, amen, so it goes on
Don't get caught up in no throne, don't get caught up in no throne
Don't get caught up in no throne
These devils out here lying, acting like the people ain't dying
We silver and they gold, ain't never saved a soul
Don't get caught up in no throne, don't get caught up in no throne
Don't get caught up in no throne
Signs through the earth and through the heavens, lunar, solar eclipses
We seeking for forgiveness and safety for our children
Don't get caught up in no throne, don't get caught up in no throne
Don't get caught up in no throne, Allah is in control

Yasiin Bey

Yasiin Bey, (born Dante Terrell Smith) formerly known by his stage name Mos Def, is an actor and hip hop artist from Brooklyn, New York. He is one of the founding fathers of conscious hip hop and half of the duo Black Star. Beginning in 2012, he ditched his stage name Mos Def in favor of Yasiin Bey,

I began to fear that Mos Def was being treated as a product, not a person, so I’ve been going by Yasiin since ‘99. At first it was just for friends and family, but now I’m declaring it openly.

He made his musical debut in 1998 as a part of Black Star (see Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star), and then released his first solo album in 1999, Black on Both Sides.