| Song | N.Y. State of Mind |
| Artist | Nas |
| Album | Illmatic XX |
| [00:00.00] | "N.Y. State of Mind" |
| [00:01.24] | Yeah, yeah |
| [00:04.45] | Ayo, black, it's time, word (Word, it's time, man) |
| [00:07.74] | It's time, man (Aight, man, begin) |
| [00:12.01] | Straight out the fucking dungeons of rap |
| [00:14.83] | Where fake niggas don't make it back |
| [00:19.48] | I don't know how to start this shit, yo now |
| [00:23.02] | Rappers, I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm I be kickin' |
| [00:25.99] | Musician, inflictin' composition of pain |
| [00:28.97] | I'm like Scarface sniffin' cocaine |
| [00:30.88] | Holding an M16, see with the pen I'm extreme, now |
| [00:34.44] | Bullet holes left in my peepholes |
| [00:36.54] | I'm suited up in street clothes |
| [00:37.78] | hand me a nine and I'll defeat foes |
| [00:39.89] | Y'all know my steelo with or without the airplay |
| [00:42.49] | I keep some E&J, sitting bent up in the stairway |
| [00:45.40] | Or either on the corner betting Grants with the cee-lo champs |
| [00:48.51] | Laughing at baseheads tryna sell some broken amps |
| [00:51.26] | G-packs get off quick, forever niggas talk shit |
| [00:53.92] | Reminiscing about the last time the Task Force flipped |
| [00:56.68] | Niggas be running through the block shootin' |
| [00:59.44] | Time to start the revolution, catch a body, head for Houston |
| [01:02.29] | Once they caught us off-guard, the Mac-10 was in the grass and |
| [01:05.16] | I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin |
| [01:08.20] | Pick the Mac up, told brothers, "Back up," the Mac spit |
| [01:11.01] | Lead was hittin' niggas, one ran – I made him backflip |
| [01:13.72] | Heard a few chicks scream, my arm shook, couldn't look |
| [01:16.73] | Gave another squeeze, heard it click, "Yo, my shit is stuck" |
| [01:19.53] | Try to cock it, it wouldn't shoot, now I'm in danger |
| [01:22.19] | Finally pulled it back and saw three bullets caught up in the chamber |
| [01:25.10] | So now I'm jetting to the building lobby |
| [01:27.60] | And it was full of children probably couldn't see as high as I be |
| [01:30.82] | (So what you sayin'?) It's like the game ain't the same |
| [01:32.77] | Got younger niggas pulling the triggers bringing fame to their name |
| [01:35.88] | And claim some corners, crews without guns are goners |
| [01:38.84] | In broad daylight, stickup kids – they run up on us |
| [01:42.36] | 45's and gauges, Macs, in fact |
| [01:44.66] | Same niggas will catch you back-to-back, snatching your cracks in black |
| [01:47.82] | There was a snitch on the block getting niggas knocked |
| [01:50.72] | So hold your stash 'til the coke price drop |
| [01:53.28] | I know this crackhead who said she's got to smoke nice rock |
| [01:55.89] | And if it's good, she'll bring you customers in measuring pots |
| [01:58.80] | But yo, you gotta slide on a vacation, inside information |
| [02:02.41] | Keeps large niggas erasin' and their wives basin' |
| [02:04.96] | It drops deep as it does in my breath |
| [02:07.12] | I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death |
| [02:10.02] | Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined |
| [02:13.19] | I think of crime when I'm in a New York state of mind |
| [02:16.05] | New York state of mind |
| [02:20.20] | New York state of mind |
| [02:23.16] | New York state of mind |
| [02:25.57] | New York state of mind |
| [02:27.01] | Be having dreams that I'm a gangsta, drinking Moets, holding Tecs |
| [02:30.08] | Making sure the cash came correct, then I stepped |
| [02:33.15] | Investments in stocks, sewing up the blocks to sell rocks |
| [02:36.55] | Winning gunfights with mega-cops |
| [02:38.56] | But just a nigga walking with his finger on the trigger |
| [02:41.31] | Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger |
| [02:44.47] | I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin' |
| [02:47.23] | Give me a Smith & Wesson, I have niggas undressin' |
| [02:50.04] | Thinking of cash flow, buddha and shelter |
| [02:53.09] | Whenever frustrated, I'm a hijack Delta |
| [02:55.50] | In the PJ's, my blend tape plays, bullets are strays |
| [02:58.37] | Young bitches is grazed, each block is like a maze |
| [03:01.36] | Full of black rats trapped plus the Island is packed |
| [03:03.93] | From what I hear in all the stories when my peoples come back, black |
| [03:06.83] | I'm living where the nights is jet-black |
| [03:09.35] | The fiends fight to get crack, I just max, I dream I can sit back |
| [03:12.35] | And lamp like Capone, with drug scripts sewn |
| [03:15.16] | Or the legal luxury life, rings flooded with stones, holmes |
| [03:18.51] | I got so many rhymes, I don't think I'm too sane |
| [03:20.78] | Life is parallel to Hell but I must maintain |
| [03:22.88] | And be prosperous, though we live dangerous |
| [03:25.99] | Cops could just arrest me, blaming us, we're held like hostages |
| [03:29.40] | It's only right that I was born to use mics |
| [03:32.26] | And the stuff that I write is even tougher than dykes |
| [03:35.16] | I've taken rappers to a new plateau, through rap slow |
| [03:37.97] | My rhymin' is a vitamin held without a capsule |
| [03:40.79] | The smooth criminal on beat breaks |
| [03:43.35] | Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes |
| [03:46.15] | The city never sleeps, full of villains and creeps |
| [03:49.11] | That's where I learned to do my hustle, had to scuffle with freaks |
| [03:52.01] | I'm an addict for sneakers, 20's of buddha and bitches with beepers |
| [03:54.67] | In the streets I can greet ya, about blunts I teach ya |
| [03:58.09] | Inhale deep like the words of my breath |
| [04:00.24] | I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death |
| [04:03.09] | I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times |
| [04:06.16] | Nothing's equivalent to the New York state of mind |
| [04:09.36] | New York state of mind |
| [04:13.13] | New York state of mind |
| [04:16.09] | New York state of mind |
| [04:18.75] | New York state of mind |
| [00:00.00] | " N. Y. State of Mind" |
| [00:01.24] | Yeah, yeah |
| [00:04.45] | Ayo, black, it' s time, word Word, it' s time, man |
| [00:07.74] | It' s time, man Aight, man, begin |
| [00:12.01] | Straight out the fucking dungeons of rap |
| [00:14.83] | Where fake niggas don' t make it back |
| [00:19.48] | I don' t know how to start this shit, yo now |
| [00:23.02] | Rappers, I monkey flip ' em with the funky rhythm I be kickin' |
| [00:25.99] | Musician, inflictin' composition of pain |
| [00:28.97] | I' m like Scarface sniffin' cocaine |
| [00:30.88] | Holding an M16, see with the pen I' m extreme, now |
| [00:34.44] | Bullet holes left in my peepholes |
| [00:36.54] | I' m suited up in street clothes |
| [00:37.78] | hand me a nine and I' ll defeat foes |
| [00:39.89] | Y' all know my steelo with or without the airplay |
| [00:42.49] | I keep some E J, sitting bent up in the stairway |
| [00:45.40] | Or either on the corner betting Grants with the ceelo champs |
| [00:48.51] | Laughing at baseheads tryna sell some broken amps |
| [00:51.26] | Gpacks get off quick, forever niggas talk shit |
| [00:53.92] | Reminiscing about the last time the Task Force flipped |
| [00:56.68] | Niggas be running through the block shootin' |
| [00:59.44] | Time to start the revolution, catch a body, head for Houston |
| [01:02.29] | Once they caught us offguard, the Mac10 was in the grass and |
| [01:05.16] | I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin |
| [01:08.20] | Pick the Mac up, told brothers, " Back up," the Mac spit |
| [01:11.01] | Lead was hittin' niggas, one ran I made him backflip |
| [01:13.72] | Heard a few chicks scream, my arm shook, couldn' t look |
| [01:16.73] | Gave another squeeze, heard it click, " Yo, my shit is stuck" |
| [01:19.53] | Try to cock it, it wouldn' t shoot, now I' m in danger |
| [01:22.19] | Finally pulled it back and saw three bullets caught up in the chamber |
| [01:25.10] | So now I' m jetting to the building lobby |
| [01:27.60] | And it was full of children probably couldn' t see as high as I be |
| [01:30.82] | So what you sayin'? It' s like the game ain' t the same |
| [01:32.77] | Got younger niggas pulling the triggers bringing fame to their name |
| [01:35.88] | And claim some corners, crews without guns are goners |
| [01:38.84] | In broad daylight, stickup kids they run up on us |
| [01:42.36] | 45' s and gauges, Macs, in fact |
| [01:44.66] | Same niggas will catch you backtoback, snatching your cracks in black |
| [01:47.82] | There was a snitch on the block getting niggas knocked |
| [01:50.72] | So hold your stash ' til the coke price drop |
| [01:53.28] | I know this crackhead who said she' s got to smoke nice rock |
| [01:55.89] | And if it' s good, she' ll bring you customers in measuring pots |
| [01:58.80] | But yo, you gotta slide on a vacation, inside information |
| [02:02.41] | Keeps large niggas erasin' and their wives basin' |
| [02:04.96] | It drops deep as it does in my breath |
| [02:07.12] | I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death |
| [02:10.02] | Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined |
| [02:13.19] | I think of crime when I' m in a New York state of mind |
| [02:16.05] | New York state of mind |
| [02:20.20] | New York state of mind |
| [02:23.16] | New York state of mind |
| [02:25.57] | New York state of mind |
| [02:27.01] | Be having dreams that I' m a gangsta, drinking Moets, holding Tecs |
| [02:30.08] | Making sure the cash came correct, then I stepped |
| [02:33.15] | Investments in stocks, sewing up the blocks to sell rocks |
| [02:36.55] | Winning gunfights with megacops |
| [02:38.56] | But just a nigga walking with his finger on the trigger |
| [02:41.31] | Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger |
| [02:44.47] | I ain' t the type of brother made for you to start testin' |
| [02:47.23] | Give me a Smith Wesson, I have niggas undressin' |
| [02:50.04] | Thinking of cash flow, buddha and shelter |
| [02:53.09] | Whenever frustrated, I' m a hijack Delta |
| [02:55.50] | In the PJ' s, my blend tape plays, bullets are strays |
| [02:58.37] | Young bitches is grazed, each block is like a maze |
| [03:01.36] | Full of black rats trapped plus the Island is packed |
| [03:03.93] | From what I hear in all the stories when my peoples come back, black |
| [03:06.83] | I' m living where the nights is jetblack |
| [03:09.35] | The fiends fight to get crack, I just max, I dream I can sit back |
| [03:12.35] | And lamp like Capone, with drug scripts sewn |
| [03:15.16] | Or the legal luxury life, rings flooded with stones, holmes |
| [03:18.51] | I got so many rhymes, I don' t think I' m too sane |
| [03:20.78] | Life is parallel to Hell but I must maintain |
| [03:22.88] | And be prosperous, though we live dangerous |
| [03:25.99] | Cops could just arrest me, blaming us, we' re held like hostages |
| [03:29.40] | It' s only right that I was born to use mics |
| [03:32.26] | And the stuff that I write is even tougher than dykes |
| [03:35.16] | I' ve taken rappers to a new plateau, through rap slow |
| [03:37.97] | My rhymin' is a vitamin held without a capsule |
| [03:40.79] | The smooth criminal on beat breaks |
| [03:43.35] | Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes |
| [03:46.15] | The city never sleeps, full of villains and creeps |
| [03:49.11] | That' s where I learned to do my hustle, had to scuffle with freaks |
| [03:52.01] | I' m an addict for sneakers, 20' s of buddha and bitches with beepers |
| [03:54.67] | In the streets I can greet ya, about blunts I teach ya |
| [03:58.09] | Inhale deep like the words of my breath |
| [04:00.24] | I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death |
| [04:03.09] | I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times |
| [04:06.16] | Nothing' s equivalent to the New York state of mind |
| [04:09.36] | New York state of mind |
| [04:13.13] | New York state of mind |
| [04:16.09] | New York state of mind |
| [04:18.75] | New York state of mind |