[Intro: Nas]
Yo, Preem, play me that Billy Joel joint
[Chorus: Billy Joel]
Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood
But I'm taking a Greyhound
On the Hudson River line
I'm in a New York state of mind
[Verse 1: Nas]
Steel toe, construct walk, Nike shorts at night at court
Stress'll cut your life short, I'm from egg rolls and duck sauce
Where the feds rolled on Dutch Schultz, City Island, and Sei Less
Plenty talent, the kids stay blessed, gamble and make bets
Throw on some DMX, his words, they live in all of us
Some get deportеd, some die young, but it's all a rush
On part two, I left you with two of my friеnds
And now our goals is that our sons don't end in juvenile pens
Rikers should be closed, MDC to Beacon
Wear ice if you real, or they'll rob you and pawn your piece in
If you was locked down for a while, it's a different place now
They buildin' hotels where it once was a Devil's playground
Michelin star's cool, but the streets is cookin' that beef stew
That chopped cheese too, screwface how we smile
They want us gone, but that's fine
'Cause we really outside, for now and all time
That New York state of mind
[Chorus: Billy Joel & Nas]
Some folks like to get away (Part three, three times for NYC)
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood (What a city)
But I'm taking a Greyhound
(Knicks, Mets, Yanks, Jets, Nets, Giants, Islanders, Rangers)
On the Hudson River line
I'm in a New York state of mind (The world)
[Verse 2: Nas]
And we got fit, jumpin' up
Hittin' pull-ups and dips on scaffoldings
Potholes still be hard in our whips
Never ending night life, supermodels, events, some art galleries
I can name some clubs that no longer exist
The Limelight, the Tunnel, and the Palladium
All night, we stayed in them fly
Wave in the sky if you was made in N.Y
And wouldn't trade it to the day that you die
The most hated and I think we know why, now
Rappers we know as legends drift and float to Heaven
Some are living in present-day, I miss '87
In Queens, was a teen then, a kid with a chain
Holdin' a pen and wrote pain, we'll never see this again, so
I let Ring replace the peepholes
I'm suited in boutique clothes, we're just inclined to defeat foes
The five boroughs where real life is defined, y'all know the time
When I'm in the New York state of mind
[Chorus: Billy Joel & Nas]
Some folks like to get away
(Opposition tease walk in The Garden, mockingly rockin' Timbs and a Nas tee)
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood
(They only trollin' and that's fine, 'cause we outside for the third time, that New York State of Mind)
But I'm taking a Greyhound
On the Hudson River line
(Wipe your feet when you step in my house, though, ha-ha-ha-ha)
I'm in a New York state of mind (Let 'em know, yeah)
[Outro: Rakim]
New York State of Mind
New York State of Mind
New York State of Mind
New York State of Mind
New York State of Mind
New York State of Mind
New York State of Mind
