[A] Aiyyo, wassup wassup let's keep it real son
  Count this money, yaknowhatI'msayin?
  [N] Yea yea
  [A] Aiyyo, put the Grant's over there in the safe yaknowhatI'msayin?
  [N] Yea yea
  [A] Cause we spendin these Jackson's
  The Washington's go to wifey, you know how that go
  [N] I'm sayin, that's what this is all about right?
  Clothes, bankrolls, and hoes yaknowhatI'msayin?
  Yo then what man, what?? [echoes]
    [Verse One: AZ the Visualiza]
  Visualizin the realism of life and actuality
  Fuck who's the baddest a person's status depends on salary
  And my mentality is, money orientated
  I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it
  cause yeah, we were beginners in the hood as five percenters
  But somethin must of got in us cause all of us turned to sinners
  Now some, restin in peace and some are sittin in San Quentin
  Others such as myself are tryin to carry on tradition
  Keepin the schwepervesence street ghetto essence inside us
  Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us
  Even though, we know somehow we all gotta go
  but as long as we leavin thievin we'll be leavin with some kind of dough
  so, and to that day we expire and turn to vapors
  me and my capers-ll be somewhere stackin plenty papers
  Keepin it real, packin steel, gettin high
  Cause life's a bitch and then you die
    [Chorus: AZ the Visualiza]
  Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we get high
  Cause you never know when you're gonna go
  Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we puff lye
  Cause you never know when you're gonna go
  Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we get high
  Cause you never know when you're gonna go
  Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we puff lye
  [--> chorus #1 echoes at the end]
    Cause you never know when you're gonna go
  Life's a bitch and then you die
  [--> chorus #2 includes these lines, echoes at the end]
    [Verse Two: Nas]
  I woke up early on my born day, I'm twenty years of blessing
  The essence of adolescent leaves my body now I'm fresh in
  My physical frame is celebrated cause I made it
  One quarter through life some God-ly like thing created
  Got rhymes 365 days annual plus some
  Load up the mic and bust one, cuss while I puffs from
  my skull cause it's pain in my brain vein money maintain
  Don't go against the grain simple and plain
  When I was young at this I used to do my thing hard
  Robbin foreigners take they wallets they jewels and rip they green cards
  Dipped to the projects flashin my quick cash
  and got my first piece of ass smokin blunts with hash
  Now it's all about cash in abundance, niggaz I used to run with
  is rich or doin years in the hundreds
  I switched my motto -- instead of sayin fuck tomorrow
  That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto
  Once I stood on the block, loose cracks produce stacks
  I cooked up and cut small pieces to get my loot back
  Time is Illmatic keep static like wool fabric
  Pack a four-matic that crack your whole cabbage
    [Chorus]
    [Olu Dara plays trumpet until fade]