Nas Y'all My Niggas

[Intro Sample]

We use the word everyday

Now we don't know the capacity of this word

Are we headed for conflict or not? (Yes sir)

Because we did not break down the capacity

Of the same what (The same word)

Brothers and sisters, this is why we hung up the consciousness

We've been taught wrong

[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

Du Bois ain't here, James Baldwin neither, they all were leaders

But they ain't help me get this Porsche two seater

A lawyer left the hood, he never looked back

To be a Forture 500 CEO and 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 is hiring blacks

Fresh hip-hop lingo for your campaign ads

Controversy surrounds who could say it and when

Some niggas are full time, some play and pretend

So fuck that, no apologies on the issue

If it offends you it's meant to, it's that simple

[Chorus]

Tryin' to erase me from y'all memory

Too late, I'm engraved in history (I'm here my niggas!)

Speak my name and breathe life in me

Make sure y'all never forget me ('Cause 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 niggas

[Verse 2]

Yo, I was thinkin' a little bit

What would it take to authenticate my nigganess?

Ball ridiculous? 26 inches when I call up the dealership?

Aww that's some nigga shit

We only out for our own benefit?

We havin' too many kids? We Claudines? Welfare recipients?

The infamous free clinics is the sickest shit

Make me think what the hell they clean they syringes with

Everybody bleeding, the cops are the demons

Courtrooms full of goons, jail buses leanin'

Handcuffs squeezed too tight on youth 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

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]

My father was not a banker, neither was my neighbor

When it came to gettin' paper who the hell was gonna train us?

Oppresion couldn't escape us through the ages

We changed the basis of derogatory phrases

And I say it's quite amazing

The use of ghetto terms developed out own language

No matter where it came from

It's celebrated, now people are mad if they ain't one

[Outro Sample]

Every word we use, it has a capacity

And if you don't understand the words you're using

And understand the capacity of it

You are using words that is creating a destiny for you

That you don't even know, or even conscious of

[Chorus]

[Chorus without Ad-libs]