[Hook: Notorious B.I.G. sample, scratched by Statik Selektah]
"I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
"I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
"I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
"I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
"It's rules to this shit"
[Intro: AZ, over scratches]
Yeah, enough respect –
The Bad Boy, Death Row, No Limit
Rap-A-Lot, Roc-A-Fella, Cash Money, Ruff Ryders
So So Def, The Inc.
And all the incarcerated Scarfaces from ghetto to ghetto
Now introducing to you, a new empire
Quiet Money Records and Hush Management
Formally presents, yours truly
[Verse 1: AZ]
I'm praised for wicked wordplay
Emerge from my herb days
Was boxed in the bird cage
Now flock with the mermaids
A shorty wop, 'til I copped then I turned age
Saw it unfold, certain wars is untold
Unsolved Mysteries, coffins is closed
A carnivore trickery, caution your role
Any slip-ups will be haunting your souls
So never get it twisted, nigga, keep an iron biscuit wit' ya
Beast promoted, the streets is coded
For the naked eye, times is too deep to notice
Yeah, I specialize in rhymes, but I peep the bogus
On every known level, I'm a stone cold rebel
Clothes is crisp, I rose gold the wrist
I was schooled how to tuck, hide, and hold the fifth
How to crush, cut, divide, and supply the sniff
So if the truth ain't me, then the truth can't be
[Hook: Statik Selektah scratches]
[Notorious BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"
[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[Prodigy] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"
[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"
[P.] "The street's is ki's"
[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[P.] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"
[Verse 2: AZ]
From base potter to that hard rock white
We all hustlers, live that hard knock life
Some get knocked, and their heart's not right
Cuffed up in the A.M., and discharged that night
We all know that the narcs ain't nice
But that's the price when your bars ain't tight
The beast within release within, you get caught up, lose trust
You don't speak to friends, you lose lust
Rarely fuck, you just seeking sin
You know thugs stay grizzly and love to get busy
The stakes is high, the bids is long
A few wakes – niggas cry, you live, you gone
If you escape, rules apply, kids is born
And the game won't change, it's the same ol' thang
[Hook: Statik Selektah scratches]
[Notorious BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"
[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[Prodigy] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"
[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"
[P.] "The street's is ki's"
[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[P.] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"
[Verse 3]
And my mind been backwards since puffing on them Backwoods
Stressing on them clappers, and ducking from them crackers
Never been in Napa, never fuck wit' no rappers
I'm so gon' wit it, but I'm so longwinded
Seen the worst, when I seen my first
Body get caught, I was prolly this short
The victim right beside me, stretched on the sidewalk
"But you never seen a man cry, 'til you seen a man die"
The killer shots, the realer the guap
If you guerrilla, then it's similar plots
Then if not, you more familiar, you a squealer
You no dealer, you hot – fuck around, get the whole block locked
But never me, I've been boss playing, cooking up, sautéing
'Til I saw another door, I had to force a nigga way in
Now in all black, wit' the gloves and hat
I'm so deep in it, that I can't turn back
[Hook: Statik Selektah scratches]
[Notorious BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"
[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[Prodigy] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"
[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"
[P.] "The street's is ki's"
[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"
[P.] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"
