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  1. Tracks
  2. Nas
  3. Decade 1994–2004
  4. Affirmative Action

TRACK

Nas

Affirmative Action

Release date: 2nd July 1996

From Decade 1994–2004
Spotify
More on Nas

About This Track

A posse cut from Nas's 'It Was Written', 'Affirmative Action' assembles AZ, Cormega and Foxy Brown under the short-lived Firm banner. The track appeared on Nas's retrospective 'Decade 1994–2004', a compilation gathering key moments from his first ten years.

The production, handled by Dave Atkinson and Trackmasters, builds a sparse, menacing backdrop for three distinct voices. AZ opens with the mission statement, framing the collaboration as a response to rivals who 'don't understand the four devils: lust, envy, hate, jealousy'. Cormega follows with a cold-blooded verse that sketches a world of heroin deals and contract killings, his narrator positioned as 'the smoothest killer since Bugsy'. Nas closes with the detached clarity that defined much of his mid-nineties work, observing project gossip and the logic of retaliation without flinching.

The track remains a document of a particular moment in New York rap, when the supergroup concept still carried weight and the mafioso aesthetic had not yet calcified into formula.

"Affirmative Action" is a track by Nas, from the album Decade 1994–2004, released 2nd July 1996. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 2 articles about Nas.

About the Artist

Nas

Nas

Lyrics

Affirmative Action

[Produced by Dave Atkinson & Trackmasters]

[Intro: AZ]

This is what.. this what they want, huh?

This is what it's all about, word

Time to take affirmative action, son

They just don't understand, you know what I mean?

Niggas comin' sideways, thinkin' stuff is sweet, man

You know what I mean?

Niggas don't understand the four devils:

Lust, envy, hate, jealousy

Wicked niggas, man

[Verse 1: AZ]

Yo, sit back, relax, catch your contact, sip your Cognac

And let's all wash this money through this laundromat

Sneak attack, the new cats in rap worth top dollar

In fact, touch mines and I'll react like a Rottweiler!

Who could relate? We play for high stakes at gunpoint

Catch 'em and break, undress 'em, tie 'em with tape, no escape

The Corleone, fettuccine Capone

Roam in your own zone, or get kidnapped and clapped in your dome

We got it sewn, The Firm art of war is unknown

Lower your tone, face it, homicide cases get thrown

Aristocrats politickin' daily wit' diplomats

See, me, I'm an official mack, Lex Coupe triple black

[Verse 2: Cormega]

Criminal thoughts in the blue Porsche, my destiny's to be the new boss

That nigga Paulie gotta die, he too soft

That nigga's dead on a ki of heroin

They found his head on the couch wit' his dick in his mouth

I put the hit out!

Yo! The smoothest killer since Bugsy, bitches love me

In Queens where my drugs be, I wear Guess jeans and rugbies

Yo, my people from Medina, they will see ya when you re-up

Bring your heater, all your cream go between us

Real shit! My Desert Eagle got a ill grip

I chill wit' niggas that hit Dominican spots and steal bricks

My red beam made a dread scream and sprayed a Fed team

Corleone be turnin' niggas to fiends

Yukons and ninja black Lexus

'Mega — the pretty boy with Mafia connections

It's The Firm, nigga, set it!

[Verse 3: Nas]

Yo, my mind is seein' through your design like Blind Fury

I shine jewelry, sippin' on crushed grapes, we lust papes

And push cakes inside the casket at Just' wake

It's sickenin', he just finished biddin' upstate

And now the projects is talkin' that "Somebody gotta die" shit

It's logic, as long as it's nobody that's in my clique

My man Smoke know how to expand coke in Mr. Coffee

Feds cost me two mill' to get the system off me

Life's a bitch, but God forbid the bitch divorce me

I'll be flooded with ice so hellfire can't scorch me

Cuban cigars, meetin' Foxy at Demars, movin' cars

Your top papi Señor Escobar

[Verse 4: Foxy Brown]

In the black Camaro

Firm deep, all my niggas hail the blackest sparrow

Wallabees be the apparel through the darkest tunnel

I got visions of multi millions in the biggest bundle

In a Lex pushed by my nigga Jungle

E-Moneybags got Moët Chandon, bundle of 62

They ain't got a clue what we about to do

My whole team, we shittin' hard like Czar

Sosa, Foxy Brown, Cormega and Escobar

I keep a phat marquess piece, laced in all the illest snake skin

Armani sweaters, Carolina Herrera

Be The Firm, baby! From BK to the 'Bridge

My nigga Wiz, Operation Firm Biz, so what the deal is?

I keep a phat jewel, sippin' Cristy

Sittin' on top of fifty grand in the Nautica Van, uh!

We stay incogni' like all them thug niggas in Marcy

The Gods — they praise Allah with visions of Gandhi

Bet it on, my whole crew is Don Juan

On Cayman Island with a case of Cristal

And Baba Shallah spoke, nigga with them Cubans that snort coke

Raw though, an ounce mixed with leak, that's pure though

Flippin' the bigger picture, the bigger nigga with the cheddar

Was mad dripper, he had a fuckin' villa in Manilla

We gotta flee to Panama

But wait — it's half-and-half, ki's is one and two-fifth, so how we flip?

Thirty-two grams raw, chop it in half, get sixteen, double it, times three

We got forty-eight, which mean a whole lot of cream

Divide the profit by four, subtract it by eight, we back to sixteen

Now add the other two that Mega bringin' through

So let's see, if we flip this other ki, then that's more for me

Mad coke and mad leak plus a five hundred, cut in half is two-fifty

Now triple that — times three, we got three quarters of another ki

[Outro: Foxy Brown]

The Firm, baby, Vol. 1, uh!

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From Decade 1994–2004

1996
Listen
Album
Decade 1994–2004
Decade 1994–2004
The Firm
Release year
1996
  1. —I'm Your Man / Feel Good
  2. —Whatever Happened (The Birth)
  3. —We Gon Make It Right
  4. —Time
  5. —Life Goes On
  6. —Affirmative Action (Remix)
  7. —Everything's Everything (Remix)
  8. —Firm Biz
  9. —How Ya Livin'
  10. —Love Is Love
  11. —Let Me Know
  12. —Thoro
  13. —Enjoy Yourself
  14. —Gangsta Shit
  15. —Hold No Grudge
  16. —Platinum Bars
  17. —Redemption
  18. —Sunshine
  19. —Uncut Raw
  20. —Your World Don't Stop
  21. —Gimme Yours (Remix)
  22. —The Pay Back
  23. —Sosa
  24. —Life's a Bitch
  25. —Affirmative Action
  26. —Mo’ Money, Mo’ Murder (Homicide)
  27. —Rather Unique
  28. —The Flyest
  29. —Phone Tap
Watch the music video

NAS — Affirmative Action

NAS — Affirmative Action
4:20

 

Affirmative Action

More from Nas

Albums & EPs

Magic 3
Magic 3
2023
Magic 2
Magic 2
2023
One Mic, One Gun
One Mic, One Gun
2022
Made You Look: God's Son (Live, 2002)
Made You Look: God's Son (Live, 2002)
2022
Magic
Magic
2021
It Was Written (Expanded Edition)
It Was Written (Expanded Edition)
2021

Explore

More tracks by Nas

  1. 3rd ChildhoodLight-Years
  2. GiT ReadyLight-Years
  3. Intro Commentary
  4. It's TimeLight-Years
  5. JunkieLight-Years
  6. Living To DieNas: The Lost Scrolls 2 (Mixtape)
  7. My Life Is RealLight-Years
  8. My Story Your StoryLight-Years
  9. Nas speaks on AZ
  10. Nas speaks on Big L

Showing 10 of 20

If you like Nas

JAY-Z

JAY-Z

Mobb Deep

Mobb Deep

AZ

AZ

Big L

Big L

Raekwon

Raekwon

Gang Starr

Gang Starr

Credits

Production & Engineering

Writer
AZ, Cormega, Dave Atkinson, Foxy Brown, Nas, Poke, Tone
Producer
Dave Atkinson, Trackmasters
Keyboards
Dave Atkinson
Vocals
The Firm
Mastering Engineer
Tom Coyne
Mixing Engineer
Rich Travali, Trackmasters
READ MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NAS
READ MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NASREAD MORE ABOUT NAS
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