[Intro: Nas]
Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Nas, uh
Yo, yo
Life, they wonder, can they take me under?
Nah, never that, nah, yo, yo
[Verse 1: Nas]
I come from the housing tenement buildings
Unlimited killings, menaces marked for death
Better known as the projects where junkies and rock heads dwell
Though I owe to it my success
With survival of the fittest every day as a child
I would think I'm a part of U.S.A. and be proud
Confronted with racism, started to feel foreign
Like, the darker you are the realer your problems
I reached for the stars, but I just kept slipping
On this life mission, never know what's next
Ancient kings from Egypt up to Julius Caesar
Had a piece of the globe, every continent
Yo, there's Asia, Africa, Europe, France, Japan
Pakistan, America, Afghanistan
Yo, there's Protestants, Jews, Blacks, Arabics
Call a truce, world peace, stop acting like savages