[Produced by Aqua and 3H]
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[Intro: Jay-Z & The Notorious B.I.G. sample]
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Well, Ima s—try to stay above water, you know?
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Just stay busy, stay working
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Puff told me, like, “The key to this joint—
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The key to staying on top of things is treat everything like its your first project, know what Im saying?
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Like its your first day, like, while—when you was an intern
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Like, thats how you try to treat things—like, just stay hungry”
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Ugh, ugh, ugh (Yes, yes)
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[Verse 1: Jay-Z]
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Yall wanna know why he dont stop?
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Yall wanna know why he dont flop?
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Let me tell you pe-people why
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Came from the bottom of the block, I—
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When I was born, it was sworn:
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I was never gon be shit
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Had to pull the opposite out this bitch
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Had to get my ri-ide on (Rider)
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“Eyes on the prize, Shawn”
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Knew I had to, had to, had to get these chips
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Had to make moves like Olajuwon
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Started out selling dimes and nicks
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Graduated to a brick, no exaggeration
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My infatuation with the strip legendary
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Like a schoolboy crushin on
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Merely nearly-every-every chick (Woo)
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Heavy shit—thats how schoolboy got whipped
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And got left on some “just me, myself, and I”
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On some Trugoy shit
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Had to voyage to a place of
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To a place of no return
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Had to play with fire and get burned
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Only way the boy ever gon learn
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Had to lay in wait in the cut til I finally got my turn
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Now, Im on top in the spot that I earned
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[Chorus: JAY-Z]
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Its my life
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Its my pain and my struggle
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The song that I sing to you is my everything
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Treat my first like my last (Its my life)
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And my last like my first (Ugh)
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And my thirst is the same as when I came
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Its my joy and my tears and my laughter it brings to me (Yeah)
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Its my everything
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[Verse 2: JAY-Z]
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Like I never rode in a limo
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Like I just dropped flows to a demo (Woo)
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Like its 92 again and
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And I got Os in the rental (Ugh)
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Back in the Stu again, no problemo
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Was a whole lot simple; when you think back
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You thought that you would never make it this far; then you—
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Take advantage of the luck you handed
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Or the talent you been given
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Aint no half-steppin; aint no, no slippin
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Aint no different from a block thats hittin
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Gotta get it while the gettings good
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Gotta strike while the irons hot
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When you stop, then you gotta bid it good riddance
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Goodbye! This is my second major breakup
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My first was with a pager
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With a hoopty, a cook-pot, and the game
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This ones with the stu, with the stage, with the fortune—
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Well, maybe not the fortune—but certainly the fame
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[Chorus: JAY-Z]
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Its my life—its my pain and my struggle (Ugh)
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The songs that I sing to you is my everything
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Treat my first like my last and my last like my first
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And my thirst is the same as when I came (Ugh-ugh)
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Its my joy and my tears and my laughter it brings to me
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Its my everything (Ugh-ugh)
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Treat my first like my last
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And my last like my first (Ugh-ugh, ugh-ugh)
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And my thirst like the first song I sang
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[Outro: JAY-Z]
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Woo, ugh
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Its like the blues, nigga
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We gon ride out on this one
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Ty-Ty, B-High
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Yo High, remember you was making them baskets for them niggas at radio and shit?
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(Clark Kent)
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That was good looking-out, nigga
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(Carlene)
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Who ever thought wed make it this far, homie?
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(Sha)
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They cant stop us, know what Im sayin?
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(Lenny S)
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Dame, what up?
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(Robbing the bank)
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Niggas thought we was crazy, man (Haha)
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Remember, wh—uh, you had that fucked-up-ass handwriting
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You was writing all the numbers that we was spending down for the videos we was doing ourselves (Yes)
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(Ski, what up? Original Flavor in the house)
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Your accounting was crazy wrong and shit, but we—we still put it together
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Biggs, whats up?
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‘Member we went to St. Thomas, and, uh—
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(John Meneilly)
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—your dog peed on homie leg and shit at his crib
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(I think that was Ruby)
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And they was having a lil trouble with the pool
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You and Ty-Ty was laughing
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Emory was there—what up, Emory? (Ugh-ugh, ugh-ugh)
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What up, Ty? (Ugh-ugh, ugh-ugh)
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Hip-Hop—what up, man?
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Ayy, ayy, Hop—you aint—you aint have no, uh—
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You aint have no muhfucking seat on your b—on your bicycle
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Now, you, uh, the head of black music
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Thats what Im talking bout right there, homie
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Gee—what up, Gee?
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(Yessir)
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Eerybody in the Roc
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Hey, Guru, I know you spoiled, man
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I be taking them shits in one take
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You gonna have to punch niggas shit
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(Stiggity)
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You gon be tight?
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OG Juan, what up? Im a lil upset that you wasnt involved in this whole process, but its all good
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Whats up, Dez?
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My whole family, my nephews, Ti-Ti
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Cousin Angie, whats up?
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(Bey, Bey, Bey, Bey)
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Mom, you made the album—how crazy is that?
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Bob-a-Lob, rest in peace
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My pops, rest in peace (Whats up A.J.?)
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Biggie Smalls, rest in peace
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Ugh-ugh, ugh-ugh, ugh-ugh, ugh-ugh
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Nigga, I—Im bout to go golfing, man
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Ayy, I might even have me a cappuccino—fuck it!
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Im going somewhere nice where no mosquitoes at, nigga
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Holler at me!
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Its your boy! {*headphones fall*}