Nas - America (feat. Flo Simpson)

If all I saw was gangsters Coming up as a youngster Pussy and money the only language I clung ta Claim ta, unrolled myself up to become one Ain't ya happy I chose rap I'm amongst tha Streets deceiving Can't believe my achievements Cultural strata Persona's that of a non-needer Because I don't need nada except for Prada beaver For cold winters, tattoos got my summer's sleeveless To my g's on the flee from the coppers Stiff bodies on freeze in funeral parlors From the slums I come up a phoenix Caked up, tryna take what I'm eating Came up a dismissive kid You lucky if you allowed to witness this Savvy mouth Wild, hardly A man's man Who woulda knew the beach houses and wild parties Jezebel's and Stella McCartney's For years, all that How could I not be dead This old German Said I was a thug with a notty head Looked at my Benz and called that a Nazi sled With a face like he wonder where I got my bread Probably all these stones he see From my shows overseas From crime to rhyme My stories is I'm from the home of the thieves [America Lyrics On ] Blessed The lord is a g, he gotta be Who's the God of suckers and snitches The economy Lipstick from Marilyn Monroe Blew a death kiss to Fidel Castro He'd want me to spit this Only the strong survive Nas bear witness The hypocrisy is all I can see White cop acquitted for murder Black cop cop a plea That type of shit make me stop and think We in chronic need of a second look of the law books And the whole race dichotomy Too many rappers, athletes, and actors But not enough niggas in NASA Who give you the latest dances, trends, and fashion But when it comes to residuals, they look past us Woven into the fabric, they can't stand us Even in white tee's, blue jeans, and red bandanas Assassinations Diplomatic relations Killed indigenous people Built a new nation Involuntary labor Took a knife split a woman naval Took her premature baby Let her man see you rape her If I could travel to the 1700's I'd push a wheelbarrow full of dynamite Through your covenant Love to sit in on the Senate And tell the whole government Y'all don't treat women fair She read about herself in the bible Believing she the reason sin is here You played her, with an apron Like bring me my dinner, dear She the nigger here Ain't we in the free world Death penalty in Texas kill young boys and girls Barbarity, I'm in the double-R casually Bugging how I made it out the hood, dazzle me How far we really from third world savagery When the empire fall, imagine how crazy that'll be