Nas Timeline

[Spoken Word 1]

This is a movie, this is like a movie and this should be in a movie

You know, growing up in the project is a learning, survival test

[Excerpt 1: Live at the BBQ]

Street's disciple, my raps are trifle

I shoot slugs from my brain just like a rifle

Verbal assassin, my architect pleases

When I was 12, I went to hell for snuffin'

[Excerpt 2: Back to the Grill]

Finesser, keep a TEC-9 in my dresser

Lyrical professor, keep ya under pressure

Mind like a computer, the inserter

Paragraphs of murder, the nightclub flirter

[Spoken Word 2]

As I got a little older and started working on my first album

I realized, you know, this is like a musical, you know, it's not a movie

It's music and just like a [?] and you just listen to

[Excerpt 3: Halftime]

Nasty Nas in your area

About to cause mass hysteria

Before a blunt, I take out my fronts

Then I start to front, matter of fact, I be on a manhunt

Back in '83, I was an MC sparkin'

But I was too scared to grab the mics in the parks and

Kick my little raps 'cause I thought niggas wouldn't understand

And now in every jam, I'm the fuckin' man

[Spoken Word 3]

The vibe back then was the only live vibe that I ever got from this game

[Excerpt 4: It Ain't Hard To Tell]

It ain't hard to tell, I excel, then prevail

The mic is contacted, I attract clientele

My mic check is life or death - invasion!

Nas is like the Afrocentric Asian: half-man, half-amazin'

[Spoken Word 4]

The World Is Yours is something that I got from the movie "Scarface"

[Excerpt 5: The World Is Yours]

I sip the Dom P, watchin' Gandhi 'til I'm charged, then

Writin' in my book of rhymes, all the words past the margin

To hold the mic I’m throbbin', mechanical movement

Understandable smooth shit that murderers move with

The thief's theme

Never fallin' six feet deep

I'm out for presidents to represent me (Get money!)

I'm out for presidents to represent me (Take money!)

I'm out for dead fuckin' presidents to represent me

[Excerpt 6: Life's a Bitch]

I woke up early on my born day; I'm twenty, it's a blessin'

The essence of adolescence leaves my body, now I'm fresh and

Got rhymes 365 days annual, plus some

Load up the mic and bust one, cuss while I pus from

[Excerpt 7: One Love]

What up, kid? I know shit is rough doin' your bid

When the cops came, you shoulda slid to my crib

Fuck it, black, no time for lookin' back, it's done

You was my nigga when push came to shove (One what?) One love!

[Spoken Word 5]

Back then it was a real vibe, you know what I mean? Music in the park

Everybody had all the style, the fashion on, you know, if there was a new style

[Excerpt 8: Represent]

Straight up, shit is real

And any day could be your last in the jungle

Get murdered on a humble, guns'll blast, niggas tumble

The corners is the hot spot, full of mad criminals

Who don't care-

-facts are backwards

Nas is a rebel of the street corner

Pulling a TEC out the dresser; police got me under pressure

[Spoken Word 6]

There's a New York scene that was really strong

(Nas what the fans want is Illmatic, still)

N.Y. State of Mind to me is a record that is like a, it stands alone man, because it was pure New York man

[Excerpt 8: N.Y. State of Mind]

Yeah—straight out the fuckin' dungeons of rap

Where fake niggas don't make it back

The smooth criminal on beat breaks

Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes

The city never sleeps

[Excerpt 9: Eye for a Eye (Your Beef Is Mines)]

A drug dealer's dream: Stash C.R.E.A.M., ki's on a triple beam

500 SL green, '95 nickle gleam

[Excerpt 10: Verbal Intercourse]

Through the lights, cameras, and action, glamor, glitters, and gold

I unfold the scroll, plant seeds to stampede the globe

Live on the run, police paying me to give in my gun

Trick my wisdom with the system that imprisoned my son

[Excerpt 11: The Message]

Fake thug, no love, you get the slug

CB4 Gusto, your luck low, I didn't know 'til I was drunk though

-one ring

Then let me let y'all niggas know one thing

There's one life, one love, so there can only be one King