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  1. Tracks
  2. Nas
  3. Illmatic XX
  4. Represent
Represent by Nas

TRACK

Nas

Represent

Release date: 14th April 2014

From Illmatic XXTrack 94:13
Hip-Hop/RapMusicEast Coast RapGangsta Rap
Spotify Apple Music More on Nas

About This Track

A first-person portrait of Queensbridge corner life, delivered with the unflinching clarity that runs through the album. Nas adopts the voice of someone who treats survival as a daily negotiation, the imagery vivid without romanticising the stakes. The track references the Juice Crew's conflict with Boogie Down Productions, anchoring the narrator's timeline in the mid-Eighties moment when hip-hop's territorial disputes played out on wax.

The production leaves space for the detail work. Nas moves between scene-setting and self-description, the posture cocky but never obnoxious, the school dropout who never liked formal education from day one. The chorus is a single word repeated, a claim of presence rather than a slogan, the kind of mantra that doubles as both assertion and warning on a block where any day could be your last.

"Represent" is a track by Nas, from the album Illmatic XX, released 14th April 2014. The track is 4:13 long. It's filed under Hip-Hop/Rap. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 2 articles about Nas.

About the Artist

Nas

Nas

Lyrics

Represent

Represent, represent
Represent, represent
Represent, represent
Represent, represent

Straight up shit is real and any day could be your last in the jungle
Get murdered on the humble, guns'll blast, niggas tumble
The corners is the hot spot, full of mad criminals
Who don't care, guzzlin' beers, we all stare
At the out-of-towners they better break north
Before we get the four pounders, and take their face off
The streets is filled with undercovers, homicide chasin' brothers
The D's on the roof tryin' to watch us and knock us

And killer coppers, even come through in helicopters
I drink a little vodka, spark a L and hold a glock for
The fronters, wannabe ill niggas and spot runners
Thinkin' it can't happen 'til I trap 'em and clap 'em
And leave 'em done, won't even run about gods
I don't believe in none of that shit, your facts are backwards
Nas is a rebel of the street corner
Pullin' a TEC out the dresser, police got me under pressure

Represent, represent
Represent, represent
Represent, represent
Represent, represent

Yo, they call me Nas, I'm not your legal type of fella
Moët drinkin', marijuana smokin' street dweller
Who's always on the corner, rollin' up blessed
When I dress, it's never nothing less than Guess
Cold be walkin' with a bop and my hat turned back
Love committin' sins and my friends sell crack
This nigga raps with a razor, keep it under my tongue
The school drop-out, never liked the shit from day one

'Cause life ain't shit but stress, fake niggas and crab stunts
So I guzzle my Hennessy while pullin' on mad blunts
The brutalizer, crew de-sizer, accelerator
The type of nigga who be pissin' in your elevator
Somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game
Used to sport Bally's and Gazelle's with black frames
Now I'm into fat chains, sex and TECs
Fly new chicks and new kicks, Heine's and Beck's

Represent, represent
Represent, represent
Represent, represent

No doubt, see my, stacks are fat, this is what it's about
Before the BDP conflict with MC Shan
Around the time when Shante dissed the real Roxane
I used to wake up every mornin', see my crew on the block
Every day's a different plan that had us runnin' from cops
If it wasn't hangin' out in front of cocaine spots
We was at the candy factory, breakin' the locks
Nowadays, I need the green in a flash just like the next man
Fuck a yard, God, let me see a hundred grand

Could use a gun son, but fuck bein' a wanted man
But if I hit rock bottom then I'm a be the Son of Sam
Then call the crew to get live too
With Swoop, Bokeem, my brother jungle, Big Bo, cooks up the blow
Mike'll chop it, Mayo, you count the profit
My shit is on the streets, this way the Jakes'll never stop it
It's your brain on drugs, to all fly bitches and thugs
Nuff respect to the projects, I'm ghost, one love

Represent y'all, represent
Represent y'all, represent
Represent y'all, represent
Represent y'all, represent

One time for your motherfuckin' mind
This goes out to everybody in New York
That's livin the real fuckin' life
In every projects, all over
To my man, Big Will, he's still here
The 40 side of Vernon
My man Big L.E.S.
Big Cee-Lo from the Don
Shawn Penn, the 40 Busters
My crew the shorty busters
The 41st side of Vernon posse
The Goodfellas

My man Cormega, Lakid Kid
Can't forget Drawers, the Hillbillies
My man Slate, Wallethead
Black Jay, Big Oogie
Crazy Barrio spot (Big Dove)
We rock shit a lot, PHD
And my man Preemo, from Gang Starr
'94 real shit y'all (word up Harry O)
Fuck y'all crab-ass niggas though

(Bitch ass niggas)
(Bitch ass niggas)
Bitch ass motherfucker
Come to Queensbridge, motherfucker
Yeah, yeah
Let's bring it back
That's just a warm-up
'Cause I can- on anybody, anybody

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From Illmatic XX

4:132014
Listen
Album
Illmatic XX
Illmatic XX
Nas
15th April 2014
Track number
9
Release year
2014
  1. 1The Genesis
    1:45
  2. 2N.Y. State of Mind
    4:54
  3. 3Life's a Bitch (feat. AZ & Olu Dara)
    3:31
  4. 4The World Is Yours

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One Mic, One Gun
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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

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Mobb Deep

Mobb Deep

AZ

AZ

Big L

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Gang Starr

4:51
  • 5Halftime
    4:21
  • 6Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)
    4:08
  • 7One Love (feat. Q-Tip)
    5:26
  • 8One Time 4 Your Mind
    3:19
  • 9Represent
    4:13
  • 10It Ain't Hard to Tell
    3:22
  • —The World Is Yours - Tip Mix
    4:29
  • —It Ain't Hard to Tell (The Laidback Remix)
  • —One Love (feat. Sadat X) - One L Main Mix
    5:43
  • —Life's a Bitch (feat. AZ) - Arsenal Mix
    3:30
  • —It Ain't Hard to Tell - Remix
    2:50
  • —One Love (feat. Q-Tip)
    5:26
  • —The World Is Yours
    4:51
  • —Represent
    4:13
  • —The World Is Yours (Tip Mix)
  • —I'm a Villain
  • —The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show on WKCR October 28, 1993
  • —Halftime (Butcher Remix)
  • —It Ain't Hard to Tell (Stink Mix)
  • —One Love (One L Main Mix)
  • Credits

    Production & Engineering

    Writer
    DJ Premier, Nas
    Producer
    DJ Premier
    Co-Producer
    Nas
    Engineer
    Eddie Sancho
    Assistant Engineer
    Luis Tineo
    Mastering Engineer
    Tony Dawsey
    Mixing Engineer
    Eddie Sancho
    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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