original text pronunciation

[Produced by DJ Premier]

[Intro]

[Verse 1-1]

  • [00:22.92] Rappers, I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm I be
    • monkey = mʌ́ŋki
  • [00:25.76] kickin' / Musician, inflictin' composition of
    • composition = kɑ̀mpəzíʃən
  • [00:28.6] pain / I'm like Scarface sniffin' cocaine / Holding an
    • scar = skɑ́ːr
    • hold = hóuld
  • [00:31.44] M16, see with the pen I'm extreme, now

[Verse 1-2]

  • [00:34.28] Bullet holes left in my peepholes / I'm suited up in
    • bullet = búlit
  • [00:37.12] street clothes, hand me a 9 and I'll defeat foes
  • [00:39.96] Y'all know my steelo with or without the airplay
    • air = έər
  • [00:42.8] I keep some E&J, sitting bent up in the stairway / Or
    • sit = sít

[Verse 1-3]

  • [00:45.64] either on the corner betting Grants with the cee-lo champs
    • corner = kɔ́ːrnər
  • [00:48.48] Laughing at baseheads tryna sell some broken amps
  • [00:51.32] G-packs get off quick, forever niggas talk shit
  • [00:54.16] Reminiscing about the last time the task force flipped

[Verse 1-4]

  • [00:57.0] Niggas be running through the block shootin' / Time to
  • [00:59.84] start the revolution, catch a body, head for Houston / Once they
  • [01:02.69] caught us off-guard / The MAC-10 was in the grass and
  • [01:05.53] I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin

[Verse 1-5]

  • [01:08.37] Picked the MAC up, told brothers, “Back up!” the MAC spit
  • [01:11.21] Lead was hittin' niggas, one ran – I made him backflip
  • [01:14.05] Heard a few chicks scream, my arm shook, couldn't look
  • [01:16.89] Gave another squeeze, heard it click, “Yo, my shit is stuck”

[Verse 1-6]

  • [01:19.73] Try to cock it, it wouldn't shoot, now I'm in danger
  • [01:22.57] Finally pulled it back / And saw three bullets caught up in the chamber
  • [01:25.41] So now I'm jetting to the building lobby, and it was
  • [01:28.25] full of children probably, couldn't see as high as I be (So what you sayin'?)

[Verse 1-7]

  • [01:31.09] It's like the game ain't the same / Got younger
  • [01:33.93] niggas pulling the triggers / Bringing fame to their name / And
  • [01:36.77] claim some corners, crews without guns are goners / In
  • [01:39.61] broad daylight, stickup kids, they run up on us

[Verse 1-8]

  • [01:42.45] 45's and gauges, MAC's, in fact / Same
  • [01:45.29] niggas will catch you back-to-back / Snatching your cracks in black
    • snatch = ひったくろうとする
  • [01:48.13] There was a snitch on the block getting niggas knocked
    • snitch = [警察などに] 密告する
  • [01:50.97] So hold your stash 'til the coke price drop / I know this
    • stash = 隠してあるもの

[Verse 1-9]

  • [01:53.81] crackhead who said she got to smoke nice rock / And if it's
    • rock = クラック・コカイン
  • [01:56.65] good, she'll bring you customers in measuring pots / But yo,
  • [01:59.49] you gotta slide on a vacation, inside infor-
  • [02:02.33] mation / Keeps large niggas erasin' and their wives basin'

[Verse 1-10]

  • [02:05.17] It drops deep as it does in my breath / I never
  • [02:08.01] sleep, (huh) ‘cause sleep is the cousin of death / Beyond the
  • [02:10.85] walls of intelligence, life is defined / I think of
  • [02:13.69] crime when I'm in a New York state of mind

[Hook]

[Verse 2-1]

  • [02:27.89] gangsta / Drinking Moets, holding TEC's
  • [02:30.73] Making sure the cash came correct, then I stepped
  • [02:33.57] Investments in stocks, sewing up the blocks to
    • sew up = 支配する、独占する
  • [02:36.41] sell rocks / Winning gunfights with mega-cops / But just a

[Verse 2-2]

  • [02:39.25] nigga walking with his finger on the trigger
  • [02:42.09] Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger
    • make a figure = 目立つ、有名になる
  • [02:44.93] I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'
  • [02:47.77] Give me a Smith & Wesson, I have niggas undressin'

[Verse 2-3]

  • [02:50.61] Thinking of cash flow, buddha and shelter
  • [02:53.45] Whenever frustrated, I'm a hijack Delta / In the
    • Delta = 航空会社の名前
  • [02:56.29] PJ's, my blend tape plays, bullets are strays
    • PJ = project = 公営住宅
    • stray = (名詞) 迷子
  • [02:59.13] Young bitches is grazed, each block is like a maze / Full of

[Verse 2-4]

  • [03:01.98] black rats trapped plus the Island is packed / From what I
  • [03:04.82] hear in all the stories / When my peoples come back, black
  • [03:07.66] I'm living where the nights is jet-black / The fiends fight to
    • jet-black = 真っ黒な、漆黒の
    • fiend = 悪魔、[麻薬などの] 常習者
  • [03:10.5] get crack / I just max, I dream I can sit back

[Verse 2-5]

  • [03:13.34] And lamp like Capone, with drug scripts sewn / Or the
  • [03:16.18] legal luxury life, rings flooded with stones, holmes
  • [03:19.02] I got so many rhymes, I don't think I'm too sane / Life is
  • [03:21.86] parallel to Hell, but I must maintain / And be

[Verse 2-6]

  • [03:24.7] prosperous, though we live dangerous / Cops could just
    • prosperous = 成功している、裕福である
  • [03:27.54] arrest me, blaming us / We're held like hostages
  • [03:30.38] It's only right that I was born to use mics / And the
  • [03:33.22] stuff that I write is even tougher than dykes / I've taken

[Verse 2-6]

  • [03:36.06] rappers to a new plateau, through rap slow
    • plateau = plætóu
  • [03:38.9] My rhymin' is a vitamin held without a capsule
    • capsule = kǽpsl
  • [03:41.74] The smooth criminal on beat breaks / Never
    • smooth = 順調な、洗練された (?)
  • [03:44.58] put me in your box if your shit eats tapes / The city

[Verse 2-7]

  • [03:47.42] never sleeps, full of villains and creeps / That's where
    • creep = はう / 気味の悪いやつ
  • [03:50.26] I learned to do my hustle / Had to scuffle with freaks / I'm an
    • scuffle = 取っ組み合う、乱闘する
  • [03:53.1] addict for sneakers / 20's of buddha and bitches with beepers
    • beeper = ポケベル
  • [03:55.94] In the streets I can greet ya, about blunts I teach ya

[Verse 2-8]

  • [03:58.78] Inhale deep like the words of my breath / I never
  • [04:01.62] sleep, ‘cause sleep is the cousin of death / I lay
  • [04:04.46] puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times / Nothing's
  • [04:07.3] equivalent to the New York state of mind

[Hook]