[Chorus: Emily]
I see people hating other people
Tell me what's the reason
That your kid is hungry, you ain't got no money
What's the reason?
[Verse 1: Nas]
By the time of age nine I'm already decidin'
If I can protect mommy from the hood by fightin'
Or usin' a knife, or a gun when I'm twenty-one
By then them hoods woulda pushed their way in our apartment
And we'd die then, so I been a young nervous wreck in the projects
Watchin' them older niggas pass pot and get high, man
I'm just a young boy, snot nose, hair nappy
Cops ride by, squeezin' their trigger fingers at me
So I would go to school and try to get good grades
Teacher wrote mommy and kicked me outta school for havin' braids
So she cussed them, said "My son ain't no motherfuckin' hoodlum"
They judged us, thinking that we dumb 'cause where we come from
Got a little older and now I see
Young niggas wanted by the powers that be (powers that be)
[Hook: Emily]
I see people hating other people
Tell me what's the reason
That your kid is hungry, you ain't got no money
What's the reason?
For these wars we're fighting with each other
Season after season
When you're workin' hard, but there ain't nothing comin'
What's the reason?
[Verse 2: Nas]
Uh, picture a Black nanny and a baby in a basket, pushin' down 5th Ave
She never had it, it's not her's to begin with
She gives it breakfast, baths, and dinners
Treats it so tender, while her own kids live alone, at home, with no phone on
Ain't had a good meal in so long, but so long as mommy's a maid
Cookin' and cleanin', she wanna feed her kids and her kids are dreamin'
"Where's my daddy? Who's my daddy? Have you seen him?"
I could imagine them asking – "What type of human being
Could leave his family, go back to the Carribean?
Was he locked up, shot up, does he have freedom?"
Mom said wipe your tears, keep readin'
But Daddy's somewhere, spirit broken, feelin' defeated
A man feels he has to conquer all
The world is his oyster, his pearl, so y'all know
[Hook: Emily]
I can't find no reason why we can't all live in peace
'Cause this world keeps spinning
Tet still I wonder, what's the reason?
I see people hating other people
Tell me, what's the reason?
When you're workin' hard but there ain't nothin' comin'
What's the reason?
Oooh-whoa-ooh-whoa
[Verse 3: Nas]
I know a girl, her boyfriend was a fugitive
She's intuitive, be on some stupid shit
She called the cops 'cause she hated his mother
Now he away doin' numbers, now she gay with her lover
How many niggas gon' die this summer?
I pump life in my music, but still life is a wonder
There's a officer in a squad car, he's a prostitute serial killer
It's odd, huh? 'Cause he's the same cop in church with his wife
He's molesting his son and she ignores it at night
Little bad ass bastard
Lights a match and kills Betty Shabazz
In her pad while she slept
They said Prescott Bush funded Hitler, while the world's in a twister
Nigga, what you expect? Imagine what's next
[Hook: Emily]
I see people hating other people
Tell me, what's the reason?
That your kid is hungry, you ain't got no money
What's the reason?
For these wars we're fighting with each other
Season after season
When you're workin' hard, but there ain't nothing comin'
What's the reason?
[Outro: Nas, talking over Emily King harmonizing]
Uh, uh, man–man'll search the whole planet, looking for what?
Try to conquer all. So what?
To all my niggas with they kids, that love they kids, man
All the daddies out there
To all the niggas that died try'na figure out what's what
Try'na be the biggest of the big, you know
Yeah, yeah... ladies forgive us. Gotta forgive us
For we know not what we do
Breakin' hearts, leavin' the crib, buggin' out and shit
Just... man... man
