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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

NaSty: The Best of Nas



     Photo: HipHopFightsBack.com

           some people really are...still dreaming            
                                
 Still Dreaming 
(Featuring KanYe West & Chrisette Michele)
     
V2:
How you a man waitin' for the next man to get rich
Yo' plan is to stick out yo' hand real quick? 
So if he feed ya family and he serve you shit
Then he need that head you get and he deserve your b***h 
Since you wishin' cash fall from the sky all ya life
Dwellin' on the past when you was alright 
When you was gettin' cash but wasn't too bright
Now ya luck down you feel like bustin' them shells 
Nobody owe you, can't do nothin' for self
Want niggas to show you, how to come up wit' green 
I schemed since I'm 14s, what the f**k was your dream?
Rental cars, little broads, sayin' you was seen 
With little niggas, little chain, you was doin' ya thing
How high was I? 
You the thousandth guy 
That came around thinkin' we can see, eye to eye
We on a different echelon, coulda got bread together 
Now you gets deaded on
[Lyrics: Rap Genius]

       From NaS’ eighth studio album Hip Hop Is Dead, released December 15, 2006 on Def Jam Recordings (Wikipedia). NaS’ first verse speaks about a man, or men in general who are “dreaming.” Who’ve either had it all and lost it, or who merely plan to live the rest of their lives looking for handouts from the next man. He talks about those who at one point had money, but wasn’t too bright when they had it and eventually lost it all in bars 6-8. Since they no longer have the money they once had, they’re now back at square one committing petty crimes to get money. NaS compares himself at age 14 to his counterparts, stating that he always had bigger dreams, even as a kid. "Scheming” even, while others had smaller dreams like stuntin’ in rental cars, and spending money on jewelry and women, just to be seen on the scene. He ends the verse saying that now, those same guys are down to nothing while NaS continued to work at something bigger. Now they want to be down with him...still dreamin’



Photo: ek-lec-tik.com


   life's a b***h, and then you die...
                                                   
   Life's a B***h 
(Featuring AZ)

V1:
Visualizing the realism of life in actuality
Fuck who's the baddest, a person's status depends on salary
And my mentality is money-orientated
I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it
Cause yeah, we were beginners in the hood as 5 percenters
But somethin' musta got in us cause all of us turned to sinners
Now some rest in peace and some are sittin' in San Quentin
Others such as myself are trying to carry on tradition
Keeping this Schweppervescent street ghetto essence inside us
Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us
Even though, we know somehow we all gotta go
But as long as we leaving thievin'
We'll be leavin' with some kind of dough, so
Until that day we expire and turn to vapors
Me and my capers, will be somewhere stackin' plenty papers
Keeping it real, packing steel, getting high
Cause life's a bitch and then you die
[Lyrics: Rap Genius]

   From NaS’ debut studio album Illmatic, released April 19, 1994 on Columbia Records (Wikipedia). As dope as NaS' verse is, it's impossible to ignore AZ's presence on this record. Not only is AZ the only artist featured on this album, it was also his debut verse, which subsequently jump started his career. While NaS' verse focuses primarily on his own life, AZ's verse is so pure because he provides a broad view of his perspective on life in general – specifiacally life in the hood. My favorite lines are bars 4-6 where AZ declares that his peers who didn't make it will live on through him. He further reflects on how things have changed over time, and how the people in the community have gone from going from 5 percenters (The Five-Percent Nation, sometimes referred to as the Nation of Gods and Earths, is an American organization founded in 1964 in the Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, by a former member of the Nation of Islam named Clarence 13X) to sinners – “something must have got in us.” He closes the verse by continuing his message of working hard, making money with his team and living right because simply put, life’s a bitch, and then you die.



Photo: soulculture.com

wheres the love?
                                                   
 Where's The Love
(Featuring Cocaine 80s)

V1:
At times I window watch at the Wynn hotel
Lots of thinking happens in life, will I win or fail?
Mind of a shooter, CFO also
Ethiopian food flown in, it's unlawful
Money is attractive, honey dress strapless
Agent Provocateur underwear: she's classic
Stroll up in the party: titanium black card
Romanian ladies like Casablanca, Casbah
'Cept we in the VIP area, that's ours
You know the real rap gods, typical trap star turned rap star
These old heads got stories, the days they was kings
I pray secret indictments don't take away their dreams
You 16, you could do 20, come home young
Catch 20 years when you 40? Holmes, you're done
What have we become? Rap stars from trap stars
Black gods to Ansars to Sunnis back to goonies
A 360 in the streets real grizzly
Shooters is cold, kid, the old shit was learning
Student enrollment to focus, yet hooligans roll with
Toasters to pop your medullas off of your shoulders
This ain't the Truman Show; it's the human show
Ask the F.B.I. agent at his cubicle
Chewing on his pencil eraser with intents to erase you
It's U.S.A. against the gangsta, where's the love?
[Lyrics: rap Genius]

   From the deluxe edition of NaS’ eleventh studio album Life is Good, released July 13, 2012 on Def Jam Recordings (Wikipedia). Even though the strength of both verses is impeccable, NaS lays the foundation for the entire record in the first verse of song. The opening of the first verse delves into the allure of money, women, and the perks of being a successful rapper. A few bars later however, NaS provides the flip-side to that same lifestyle; highlighting that it can be a trap as well. He questions what these artists have become. From black gods to Ansars (Islamic for 'helpers') to drug dealers and rappers. From Sunni’s (another branch of Islam, which also refers back to the Five-Percenters) back to goonies. NaS sheds light on the cycle of good and evil that plagues young black men. he ends the first verse with the same lines as he ends the second one:  
“This ain't the Truman Show; it's the human show
Ask the F.B.I. agent, at his cubicle
Chewing on his pencil eraser, with intents to erase you
It's U.S.A. against the gangsta, where's the love?
NaS closes the verse with the 4 lines that gave this song meaning. He exposes the incessant yet covert agenda of the F.B.I. and their involvement with the arrests and killings of rappers.

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