[Intro: Nas & Flo Simpson] ~#**************#~ Yo, its like waking up, from a bad dream (America) ~#**************#~ Just to figure out, you wasnt dreaming in the first place (no) ~#**************#~ [Verse 1: Nas] ~#**************#~ If all I saw was gangsters coming up as a youngster ~#**************#~ Pussy and money the only language I clung to ~#**************#~ Claim to, I mold myself up to become one ~#**************#~ Aint you happy I chose rap? Im a monster ~#**************#~ Streets deceiving, cant believe my achievements ~#**************#~ Cultural strata, personas that of a non-needer ~#**************#~ ‘Cause I dont need nada ‘cept for Prada beaver ~#**************#~ For cold winters, tattoos got my summer sleeveless ~#**************#~ To my Gs on the flee from the coppers ~#**************#~ Stiff bodies on freeze in funeral parlors ~#**************#~ From the slums I come up, a phoenix caked up ~#**************#~ Tryna take what Im eating, came up a dismissive kid ~#**************#~ You lucky if you allowed to witness this ~#**************#~ Savvy, mild, wild, hardly ~#**************#~ A mans man, who wouldve knew the beach houses and wild parties ~#**************#~ Jezebels and Stella McCartneys ~#**************#~ For years, all that, how can I not be dead? ~#**************#~ This old German said I was a thug with a knotty head ~#**************#~ Looked at my Benz and called that a Nazi sled ~#**************#~ With a face like he wonder where I got my bread ~#**************#~ Probably all these stones he see, from my shows overseas ~#**************#~ From crime to rhyme ~#**************#~ My story is Im from the home of the thieves ~#**************#~ [Chorus: Nas, Flo Simpson & Both] ~#**************#~ America (Americaaaaaa), pay attention ~#**************#~ Wake up (Americaaaaaa), this is not what you think it is ~#**************#~ America (Americaaaaaa), pay attention ~#**************#~ This is not what you think it is ~#**************#~ [Verse 2: Nas] ~#**************#~ Blessed, the Lord is a G, he gotta be ~#**************#~ Whos the god of suckers and snitches? The economy ~#**************#~ Lipstick from Marilyn Monroe, blew a death kiss to Fidel Castro ~#**************#~ Hed want me to spit this ~#**************#~ Only the strong survive, Nas bear witness ~#**************#~ The hypocrisy is all I can see ~#**************#~ White cop acquitted for murder, black cop cop a plea ~#**************#~ That type of shit make me stop and think ~#**************#~ We in chronic need of a second look of the law books ~#**************#~ And the whole race dichotomy ~#**************#~ Too many rappers, athletes and actors ~#**************#~ But not enough niggas in NASA ~#**************#~ Who give you the latest dances, trends and fashion? ~#**************#~ But when it comes to residuals, they look past us ~#**************#~ Woven into the fabric, they cant stand us ~#**************#~ Even in white tees, blue jeans and red bandanas ~#**************#~ [Chorus: Nas, Flo Simpson & Both] ~#**************#~ America (Americaaaaaa), pay attention ~#**************#~ Wake up (Americaaaaaa), this is not what you think it is ~#**************#~ America (Americaaaaaa), pay attention ~#**************#~ This is not what you think it is ~#**************#~ America (America, Americaaaaaa ~#**************#~ This is not what you think it is) ~#**************#~ [Verse 3: Nas] ~#**************#~ Assassinations, diplomatic relations ~#**************#~ Killed indigenous people, built a new nation ~#**************#~ Involuntary labor, took a knife split a woman naval ~#**************#~ Took her premature baby, let her man see you rape her ~#**************#~ If I could travel to the 1700s ~#**************#~ Id push a wheelbarrow full of dynamite through your covenant ~#**************#~ Love to sit on the Senate and tell the whole government ~#**************#~ “Yall dont treat women fair”, she read about herself in the Bible ~#**************#~ Believing she the reason sin is here ~#**************#~ You played her, with an apron like, “Bring me my dinner, dear” ~#**************#~ She the ‘nigga here, aint we in the free world? ~#**************#~ Death penalty in Texas kill young boys and girls ~#**************#~ Barbarity, Im in the double-R casually ~#**************#~ Bugging how I made it out the hood, dazzle me ~#**************#~ How far are we really from third world savagery? ~#**************#~ When the empire fall, imagine how crazy thatll be ~#**************#~ [Chorus: Nas & Flo Simpson] ~#**************#~ America (Americaaaaaa, Americaaaaaa) ~#**************#~ America (Americaaaaaa ~#**************#~ This is not what you think it is) ~#**************#~ America (Americaaaaaa, ohh ~#**************#~ This is not what you think it is) ~#**************#~ [Outro: Nas] ~#**************#~ America