The Message

Fake thug, no love, you get the slug, CB4 Gusto

Your luck low, I didn't know till I was drunk, though

You freak **** played out, get fucked, and ate out

Prostitute turned bitch, I got the gauge out

Ninety-six ways I made out, Montana way

The good F-E-L-L-A, verbal AK spray

Dipped attache, jumped out the Range

Empty out the ashtray

A glass of 'ze make a man, Cassius Clay

Red dot plots, murder schemes, thirty-two shotguns

Regulate with my Dunn's, seventeen rocks gleam from one ring

Yo, let me let y'all **** know one thing

There's one life, one love, so there can only be one king

The highlights of livin' Vegas style, roll dice in linen

Antera spinnin' on millenniums, twenty G bets, I'm winnin' 'em

Threats, I'm sendin' 'em, Lex with TV sets the minimum

Ill sex adrenaline

Party with villains, a case of Demi-Sec to chase the Henny

Wet any clique with the semi-tec, who want it?

Diamonds, I flaunt it, chicken heads flock, I lace 'em

Fried, broiled with basil, taste 'em, crack the legs

Way out of formation, it's horizontal how I have 'em

Fuckin' me in the Benz wagon

Can it be Vanity from Last Dragon?

Grab your gun, it's on though

Shit is grimy, real **** buck in broad daylight

With the broke Mac, it won't spray right

Don't give a fuck who they hit, as long as the drama's lit

Yo, overnight thugs bug 'cause they ain't promised shit

Hungry ass hooligans stay on that piranha shit

I never sleep 'cause sleep is the cousin of death

I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'

I never sleep 'cause sleep is the cousin of death

I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'

I never sleep 'cause sleep is the cousin of death

I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'

I never sleep 'cause sleep is the cousin of death

I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'

I peeped you frontin', I was in the Jeep

Sunk in the seat, tinted with heat, beats bumpin'

Across the street, you was wildin'

Talkin' 'bout how you ran the island in '89

Layin' up, playin' the yard with crazy shine

I cocked a baby nine, that **** grave be mine, clinked him

What was he thinkin' on my corner when it's pay-me-time?

Dug 'em, you owe me cousin, somethin' told me, plug him

So dumb, felt my leg burn, then it got numb

Spun around and shot one, heard shots and dropped, son

Caught a hot one, somebody take this biscuit 'fore the cops come

Then they came askin' me my name, what the fuck?

I got stitched up and went through

Left the hospital that same night, what? Got my gat back

Time to backtrack, I had to drop, so how the fuck I get clapped?

Black was in the Jeep watchin' all these scenes speed by

It was a brown Datsun, and yo, nobody in my hood got one

That clown ****'s through, blazin' at his crew daily

The bridge touched me up severely, hear me?

So, when I rhyme, it's sincerely yours

Be lightin' Ls, sippin' Coors on all floors in project halls

Contemplatin' war, **** I was cool with before

We used to score together, uptown coppin' the raw

But uh, a thug changes and love changes

And best friends become strangers, word up

Y'all know my steelo

There ain't an army that could strike back

Y'all know my steelo

There ain't an army that could strike back

Y'all know my steelo

There ain't an army that could strike back

Y'all know my steelo

There ain't an army that could strike back

Yo, to them thug **** gettin' it on in the world, you know

To them **** that's locked down, doin' they thing, survivin'

Know what I'm sayin'?

To my fellow ****, New York and worldwide

Yo, to the Queensbridge militia

'96 shit

The Firm clique

Illmatic ****

It was written though

It's been a long time comin'

Y'all fake **** tryna copy

Better come with the real, though

Fake ass ****, yo

Yo slug, he throwin' 'em back what

Bringin' shit, man, live, man

'96 shit