Nas - Y'all My n***as lyrics

Verse 1 Find a room to lock yourself in and close the door It's some heavy concepts that we gotta explore We gotta strip the word down rugged and raw The rhetoric of martin king just ain't around no more Dave bowie ain't here James Baldwin neither They all were leaders But they ain't help me get this porcsh two seater A lawyer left the hood he never looked back To be a fortune 500 ceo it took rap So what if my pants sag with my hat turned back The same swag got our merchandise flying off the rack Marketing companies that's hiring blacks Fresh hip hop lingo for your campaign ads The controversy surrounds who could say it and win Some n***as are full time some play and pretend So f** that no apologies on the issue If it offends you It's meant to It's that simple Hook Tryin to erase me from y'all memory Too late I'm engraved in history (I'm here my n***as) Speak my name and breath life in me Make sure y'all never forget me (y'all give me life) Cause y'all use my name so reckless Whether to be accepted or disrespected (and I love it) And I love it especially when y'all do it in public And I'm the subject Cause y'all my n***as Verse 2 Yo I was thinking a little bit what would it take To authenticate my n***aness Ball ridiculous 26 inches when I call up the dealership Yeah that's some n***a sh** We only out for our own benefit We haven too many kids We? welfare recipients The infamous free clinics is the sickest sh** It makes me think what the hell they clean they're syringes with Everybody bleedin The cops or the demons Courtrooms full of goons Jailbrushers leanin Handcuffs squeezed too tight On you? If u fight they just give in People used to do sit ins They got Nigeria and Niger two different countries Somehow niger turned to n******g And sh** got ugly The problem is we started thinking like the colonists To know the ? Started droppin that consciousness Hook Tryin to erase me from y'all memory Too late I'm engraved in history (I'm here my n***as) Speak my name and breath life in me Make sure y'all never forget me (y'all give me life) Cause y'all use my name so reckless Whether to be accepted or disrespected (and I love it) And I love it especially when y'all do it in public And I'm the subject Cause y'all my n***as Verse 3 My father was not a banker Neither was my neighbor when it came to getting paper Who the hell was gonna train us A pressure couldn't escape us through the ages We changed the basis of derogatory phrases And I say it's quite amazing The use the ghetto terms developed our own language No matter where it came from It's celebrated now people are mad it they ain't one Hook x2 Tryin to erase me from y'all memory Too late I'm engraved in history (I'm here my n***as) Speak my name and breath life in me Make sure y'all never forget me (y'all give me life) Cause y'all use my name so reckless Whether to be accepted or disrespected (and I love it) And I love it especially when y'all do it in public And I'm the subject Cause y'all my n***as