Nas - Association lyrics

[Intro] You are who you a**ociate with Look around at your five closest friends And that's who you are If you don't want to be that person You know what you got to do [Hook] Association breeds similiarity That's why I'ma stay with real rich n******gs 'til six n******gs carry me Poverty's a mind state Time waits for no man But no man Wants to die a poor man With no plan [Nas] You try to k** me, but I come back Hate me, that's a small thing Demons let the sword swing and sever off my offspring b**hes try to see me down, hugging the floor Bullets pulling me, playing tug of war With my body, gravity got me Police want me arrested, just to see me naked Snakes want my necklace, fake n***as make me set-trip Thugs shooting wreckless, everynight, n***as Wonder, how will I exit from this life, n***as? Think you a k**er, get cement shoes in the river You should watch them people with you Let them street rules hit you If you hang around snitches, you get judged for that Cause you condone it, you know there ain't no love for that There's slugs for that Oh, you didn't know your man was talking? That's why you stand with him, till you both land in the coffin When you first heard he was snitching, then you should have thought Everytime this n***a got caught selling, they let him walk Early on a n***a was taught, stay away from them n***as So a n***a like Nas got nothing to say to them n***as I f** with, only the trusted thug clique Who really done sh**, run up in your b**h, busting guns quick [Hook] Association breeds similiarity That's why I'ma stay with real rich n******gs 'til six n******gs carry me Poverty's a mind state Time waits for no man But no man Wants to die a poor man With no plan [Nas] Some b**hes lie a lot They could be fly or not Actresses cry a lot Their girlfriends spy a lot They can shake your hand, girl Then they take your man, girl The whole hood knowing We got something good going None of these hoes is after me 'Til they saw us happy And that you bagged me Now they wishing that they had me So watch who you hang with And who you cling with You know these b**hes ain't sh** They hoping to bank chips With the baller after she done gave him some head He never called her He gang it and he left her for dead Birds of a feather fly together But chickens don't, they eat their own sh** and die And you affiliated, now you look weak Cause your peeps is freaks Credit card stealing hoes, well known in the streets And they brought your down in the dirt You was a pretty, young, smart thing Going to work, I bet it hurt Cause you had a clean rep But the girls you seen with make these n***as say "I bet that b**h s** a mean dick" Word [Hook] Association breeds similiarity That's why I'ma stay with real rich n******gs 'til six n******gs carry me Poverty's a mind state Time waits for no man But no man Wants to die a poor man With no plan [Stic Man] A warrior walk alone, there's one spot on this throne Fake friends be off and on, but a man stand up on his own I'm raised by a different code, cut from a different cloth Never been a follower, my momma told me be a boss Watch who you hang around, don't let nobody bring you down Friends come and go like seasons, leaves turn to brown And some only come around when everything is green Be careful not to let a snake infiltrate your team For every Jesus there's a Judas, every Caesar there's a Brutus If somebody tell you jump off a bridge -- are you gon' do it? There's two types of influence: either healthy or deadly Keep your circle small, away from all the hate and the envy Don't come nowhere near me with it, I'm bullsh** intolerant My politics bosses up, for you black empowerment I stay in my element, braveheart intelligent Only a**ociate with those for my betterment I'm out for dead presidents to represent mines Only click with my kind, my best friend is my grind Everybody got big dreams, but few follow through And it's deep: the company you keep become apart of you Don't just be sitting around smoking weed letting time fly If your homies don't inspire you to rise, tell them bye You're better off dolo than rolling with a weak a** crew I'm like Scarface: Who I trust? -- Me, that's who