Animal - Intellectual

[Hook: Notorious B.I.G. sample, scratched by Statik Selektah]

"I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

"It's rules to this shit"

[Intro: AZ, over scratches]

Yeah, enough respect –

The Bad Boy, Death Row, No Limit

Rap-A-Lot, Roc-A-Fella, Cash Money, Ruff Ryders

So So Def, The Inc.

And all the incarcerated Scarfaces from ghetto to ghetto

Now introducing to you, a new empire

Quiet Money Records and Hush Management

Formally presents, yours truly

[Verse 1: AZ]

I'm praised for wicked wordplay

Emerge from my herb days

Was boxed in the bird cage

Now flock with the mermaids

A shorty wop, 'til I copped then I turned age

Saw it unfold, certain wars is untold

Unsolved Mysteries, coffins is closed

A carnivore trickery, caution your role

Any slip-ups will be haunting your souls

So never get it twisted, nigga, keep an iron biscuit wit' ya

Beast promoted, the streets is coded

For the naked eye, times is too deep to notice

Yeah, I specialize in rhymes, but I peep the bogus

On every known level, I'm a stone cold rebel

Clothes is crisp, I rose gold the wrist

I was schooled how to tuck, hide, and hold the fifth

How to crush, cut, divide, and supply the sniff

So if the truth ain't me, then the truth can't be

[Hook: Statik Selektah scratches]

[Notorious BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"

[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[Prodigy] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"

[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"

[P.] "The street's is ki's"

[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[P.] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"

[Verse 2: AZ]

From base potter to that hard rock white

We all hustlers, live that hard knock life

Some get knocked, and their heart's not right

Cuffed up in the A.M., and discharged that night

We all know that the narcs ain't nice

But that's the price when your bars ain't tight

The beast within release within, you get caught up, lose trust

You don't speak to friends, you lose lust

Rarely fuck, you just seeking sin

You know thugs stay grizzly and love to get busy

The stakes is high, the bids is long

A few wakes – niggas cry, you live, you gone

If you escape, rules apply, kids is born

And the game won't change, it's the same ol' thang

[Hook: Statik Selektah scratches]

[Notorious BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"

[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[Prodigy] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"

[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"

[P.] "The street's is ki's"

[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[P.] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"

[Verse 3]

And my mind been backwards since puffing on them Backwoods

Stressing on them clappers, and ducking from them crackers

Never been in Napa, never fuck wit' no rappers

I'm so gon' wit it, but I'm so longwinded

Seen the worst, when I seen my first

Body get caught, I was prolly this short

The victim right beside me, stretched on the sidewalk

"But you never seen a man cry, 'til you seen a man die"

The killer shots, the realer the guap

If you guerrilla, then it's similar plots

Then if not, you more familiar, you a squealer

You no dealer, you hot – fuck around, get the whole block locked

But never me, I've been boss playing, cooking up, sautéing

'Til I saw another door, I had to force a nigga way in

Now in all black, wit' the gloves and hat

I'm so deep in it, that I can't turn back

[Hook: Statik Selektah scratches]

[Notorious BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"

[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[Prodigy] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"

[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[Nas] "Peeps that's into drug money, market into rap"

[P.] "The street's is ki's"

[BIG] "I've been in this game for years, it made me an animal"

[P.] "I'm falling and I can't turn back"