Nas - Y'all My Ni**as Lyrics

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 saint around no more
Dave Bowie ain't here James Baldwin neither
They all were leaders
But they ain't help me get this porch two seater
A lawyer left the hood he never looked back
To be a fortune 500 C.E.o 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 niggas are full time some play and pretend
So f*ck that no apologies on the issue
If it offends you
It's meant to
It's that simple

Tryin' to erase me from y'all memory
Too late I'm engraved in history (I'm here my niggas)
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 especially when y'all do it in public
And I'm the subject
'Cause y'all my niggas

Yo I was thinking a little bit what would it take
To authenticate my nigganess
Ball ridiculous
26 inches when I call up the dealership
Yeah that's some nigga shit
We only out for our own benefit
We havin' too many kids
Recordings, welfare recipients
The infamous free clinics is the sickest shit
It makes me think what the hell they clean their syringes with
Everybody bleedin'
The cops are the demons
Courtrooms full of goons
Jail busher's leanin'
Handcuffs squeezed too tight
On you've life
If you fight they just give in
People used to do sit ins
They got Nigeria and Niger two different countries
Somehow Niger turned to nigger
And shit got ugly
The problem is we started thinking like the colonists
'Til Noble Drew Ali
Started droppin' that consciousness

Tryin' to erase me from y'all memory
Too late I'm engraved in history (I'm here my niggas)
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 especially when y'all do it in public
And I'm the subject
'Cause y'all my niggas

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 its quite amazing
The use the ghetto terms developed our own language
No matter where it came from
It's celebrated now people are mad if they ain't one

Tryin' to erase me from y'all memory
Too late I'm engraved in history (I'm here my niggas)
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 especially when y'all do it in public
And I'm the subject
Tryin' to erase me from y'all memory
Too late I'm engraved in history
Speak my name and breath life in me
Make sure y'all never forget me
'Cause y'all use my name so reckless
Whether to be accepted or disrespected
And I love especially when y'all do it in public
And I'm the subject
'Cause y'all my niggas