NAS "Get-get.. get down!" New York streets where k**ers'll walk like Pistol Pete And Pappy Mason, gave the young boys admiration Prince from Queens and Fritz from Harlem Street legends, the d** kept the hood from starvin' Pushin' cars, Nicky Barnes was the 70's But there's a long list of high-profile celebrities Worldwide on the thorough side of things Livest kings, some died, one guy, one time One day grabs me, as I'm about to blast heat 40-side of Vernon, I turned well he asked me "What you up to, the cops goin' bust you" I was a teen drunk off brew, stumbled I wondered If God sent him, cause two squad cars entered the block And looked at us, I ain't flinch when they watched I took it upstairs, the bathroom mirror, brushed my hair Starin' at a young disciple, I almost gave my life to what the dice do Yeah man, throwin' them bones Hopin my ace get his case thrown His girl ain't wait for him, she in the world straight hoein' While he lookin' at centerfolds of pretty girls Showin' they little cooch, gangstas don't die he's livin' proof The D.A. who tried him was lyin' A white dude, k**ed his mother durin' the case Hung jury, now the D.A. is bein' replaced Pre-trial hearin' is over, it's real for the soldier Walks in the courtroom, the look in his eyes is wild Triple-homicide, I sit in the back aisle I want to crack a smile when I see him Throw up a fist for black power, cause all we want is his freedom He grabbed a court officer's gun and started squeezin' Then he grabbed the judge, screams out, nobody leavin' everybody [Chorus] "Get down, get down! Get down, get down!" [Repeats] Everybody "Get down, get down! Get down, get down!" [Nas] Some n***as f** they enemies in they a** when they catch 'em Weird-a** n***as are dangerous, so don't test 'em They make you, disappear, this a year that I won't forget Sold CD's double platinum, met mo' execs Southern n***as, independent label, real k**ers Know the business, ran Tennessee for years, now they chillin' They had the coke game somethin' crazy Sold music out the trunk of they car, that sh** amazed me Put me onto heron blunts, sherm or somethin' Took a puff, what the f**, I turned to punch them Southern n***as ain't slow, n***a tried to play me I left from around them dudes, they cool but they crazy Now I'm back around the old school that raised me New York gangstas, we loungin', out in L.A. see A dude wrote my dawg from Pelican Bay The letter say, "Nas I got your back - the fools don't play" I rolled with some Crips down to a Crenshaw funeral Never saw so many men slaughtered and I knew the ho responsible The n***a still alive in a hospital Midnight they crept in his room and shot the doctor too See my cousin's in the game, thuggin' and things He plugged me with a dame who was half-Mexicano Gave the a** up, I'ma mack daddy Soprano She pa**ed me the indigo, but the imbecile Should of never tippy-toed, thought my eyes were closed Openin' the hotel room do', to let her goons in But I moved in a manner, on some Jet Li sh** I let the hammers blow, wet three kids See honey thought I had somethin' to do, with all the drama Cause I was with a crew, that had her people k**ed Called up my cousin, told him I ain't f**in' with you He responded cool, but told me out here this how motherf**ers [Chorus] All I really gotta say is that If that's how our people goin' get down, how we ever goin' get up? How we ever goin' get up if that's how we get down? A shame when you ain't look at it My folk is yo' folk, but we all kinfolk Somebody gotta make a change