[Intro: Hi-Tek]
(Where do I start?) Let's see what they wanna hear?
[Hook: Dion]
Let me see where I start at
Hood cats are part of where it started at
We hustle hard to keep the sharks fed
For the score, go to war like a Jarhead
New York! New York! New York! New York! New York!
New York! New York! New York! New York! New York!
(We're gonna take you all on a little trip to New York City)
(With her first "Hello"...)
[Verse 1: Jadakiss]
Uh, got a lot of heart, best part is I'm clever too
Hand skills, hard work, gun play, whatever; do
Ecstasy, oxy, Vicodin, powder
Ari, Haze, Diesel, Sour
Dust juice, loosies, turbans, kufis
Hand guns is petite, the shotties is doofy
Telling in is not nice, a lot of niggas got life
Everything is good in my bank except cocked dice
Harlems, Jordans, the hood can't afford them
So they bootlegged them, now everybody sport them
Dorms, cells, packages, mail
Warrants, bails, everything's real now
[Hook: Dion]
(Hi-Tek! Hi-Tek!)
(Papoose! Pap-poose!)
[Verse 2: Papoose]
All I got is my word and my nuts; man, I got Brooklyn in my balls
So you could see Bed-Stuy if you lookin' in my drawers
Always talking about "you balling;" look, you want to ball?
Word on the streets: niggas is ready to put you on the wall
You just a leg shooter, you aim your gun low
I shoot my TEC high--I keep a high TEC like the producer
Pap rip the desi 'til that clip is empty
Man, I have black buried in the cemetery
Go ahead, get your fetti, but you better tell, homes
Messing with me, you'll get black-buried like a cell phone
Punks pay dues, not me, I pay attention
Call it "New York" cause we keep reinventin'
[Hook: Dion]
[Verse 3: Talib Kweli]
Who flipped the vocabulary? Shadow my adversaries
Bust them like a capillary
Roaches and rats on every
Corner when it's warmer, but New York is used to that already
Manhattan built those cemeteries where the blacks is buried
I take the Staten ferry, I walk the broad way
I talk to chicks along the way with John Forté
Used to do this all day, burning in the project hallways
Discussing strategies in the court case
I rock The North Face, cold like winter
I'm from Brooklyn like the Decept and lowlife niggas were
Fuck the talking, this a New York thing we aboard
But, all things considered, we all kings--what
[Hook: Dion]
(My nigga, my nigga, what up?)
(Tek, you did it again, nigga)
(Word up, I love that)
[Verse 4: Raekwon]
Hey-yo, yo, I rhyme for the streets; broke niggas rap on they feet
So angry as hell, we yell from the beats
"Wise killers up in New York, who lay for peace
Crime action get you trapped by the chiefs, no peace, see?"
Proud and have the hood style and good talent
Most of us fell off from drug wars, trying to re-up; the law whilin
Can't get no rest, the vest is on, stress pilin'
Scheming on something green with eagles on it, Chef found it
While I take a trip back, our first little pack
Had to open doors no time for broads I was scopin crack
Baggin like a newborn, barely profit beef pop off
We carry tommy guns and smoke trees and grab pockets
Pilgrimage life, real like with no money and no white
I had this white girl who work for me wipin pipe
Livin by the sword, a hundred niggas daily
Who get on board and kill for some proper live on them acres board
[Hook: Dion] (*Sample) (**New York Sample)
Let me see where I started at
Hood cats are part of where it started at (**New York)
We hustle hard to keep the sharks fear
For the score go to war like a jarhead (**New York)
New York, New York, New York, New York, New York!!!
