[Intro: Jay-Z]
Gyeah, what's up?
To all my street niggas, project niggas
Real niggas, worldwide
Let's reflect, everybody got a story
We all ghetto, B
Here's mine, gyeah
[Verse 1: Jay-Z]
See I was–born in sewage, born to make bomb music
Flow tight like I was born Jewish
Used the streets as a conduit
I kept arms, .38 longs inside my mom's Buick
At any given moment, Shawn could lose it, be on the news
Iron cuffs - arms through it, or stuffed with embalming fluid
Shit, I'm going through it – Mom Dukes too
Tears streaming down her pretty face, she got her palms to it
My life is getting too wild, I need to bring some sort of calm to it
'Bout to lose it, voices screaming "Don't do it!"
It's like '93, '94, 'bout the year
That Big and Mack dropped and 'Illmatic' rocked
Outta every rag drop, and the West had it locked
Everybody doing them, I'm still stretching on the block
Like, "Damn, I'ma be a failure"
Surrounded by thugs, drugs, and drug paraphernalia
Cops, courts, and their thoughts is to derail us
Three-time felons in shorts with jealous thoughts
Tryna figure where your mail is
Guesstimate the weight you selling
So they can send shots straight to your melon – wait!
It gets worse, baby momma water burst
Baby came out stillborn, still I gotta move on
Though my heart still torn, life gone from her womb
Don't worry, if it was meant to be, it'll be–soon
[Chorus: Jay-Z]
This can't be life, this can't be love
This can't be right, there's gotta be more, this can't be us
This can't be life, this can't be love
This can't be right, there's gotta be more, this can't be us (Chill, dawg)
[Verse 2: Beanie Sigel]
Second oldest born, from Michelle Brown, my mother
Hellbound, grew with two sisters and one brother
Pop wasn't around, so many stories – that's another
I'm thinking, "Damn, how my older sister gon' make me tougher?"
When steel sharpens steel, I'ma keep it real
I'm tired of trying to hide my pain behind the syrups and pills
Dead to the world, stretched out like a corpse for real
Y'all niggas thinking what y'all reading in 'The Source' is real
What my life like, you looking at the source–it's real
"What your life like?" Mine, dawg? Of course it's real
Passing judgment, you niggas second-guessing Beans
'Cause you don't eat swine don't make you Mu'min
Dawg, you know a couple surahs out the Qur'an
I guess you all on your Dīn and I ain't on mine
Stop that, Ahki, 'fore I send shots through your body
Make 'em feel Hell on Earth before Allah drop me
I feel the line's drawn here, nothing more can stop me
'Til them Feds pick me up, or them boys pop me
There's only three things that make Mack not act like Beans
Amatullah Tisha, Po Aldin, Samir Amin
My seeds, dawg, gotta teach 'em that before I leave, dawg
Shit, I know that I'ma see 'em when I leave, dawg
I come back in the afterlife
Like, fuck it, I done touched Hell twice – what's the meaning?
[Chorus: Jay-Z]
This can't be life, this can't be love
This can't be right, there's gotta be more, this can't be us
This can't be life, (Life) this can't be love (Yeah)
This can't be right, there's gotta be more (Uhh), this can't be us
[Verse 3: Scarface]
Now as I walk into the studio to do this with Jig'
I got a phone call from one of my nigs
Said my homeboy, Reek, he just lost one of his kids
And when I heard that, I just broke into tears
And see, in the second hand – you don't really know how this is
But when it hits that close to home, you feel the pain at the crib
So I called mine, and saddened my wife with the bad news
Now we both depressed, counting our blessings, 'cause Brad's two
Praying for young souls to laugh at life through the stars
Loving your kids, just like you was ours
And I'm hurting for you, dawg – but ain't nobody pain is like yours
I just know that Heaven'll open these doors
And ain't no bright side to losing life (Life), but you can view it like this
God's got open hands, homie, he in the midst
Of good company, who loves all and hates not one
And one day, you gon' be with your son
I could've rapped about my hard times on this song
But Heaven knows I would have been wrong
I wouldn'ta been right, it wouldn'ta been love
It wouldn'ta been life, it wouldn'ta been us
This can't be life
[Chorus: Jay-Z]
This can't be life, this can't be love
This can't be right, there's gotta be more, this can't be us
This can't be life, this can't be love
This can't be right, there's gotta be more, this can't be us
This can't be life...
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