[Intro: AZ & (Biz Markie)]

(Yo, this is funky! A-yo, what's up, fellas?)

Peace, God! Peace, peace, how you?

(Yeah, I'm a'ight, I'm all good)

Yeah, yeah, cool, cool

Check it out!

I see today's mathematics as bein' understanding, you know?

Understanding is havin' the ability to see things clearly

For what they are, not what they present theyself to be

(Haha! Word up!)

It completes the cipher, you know what I'm sayin'? (Word)

It's also symbolic to the black child, which is the best part (Yeah, son!)

A-yo, son, represent (Uh-huh)

[Verse 1: Nas]

Now, I'm the average nigga in the street life, God

I try to beat trife odds

Ride my L-E through the night fog and park

It's buddha to be sparked, it's consistent

The Beast smells the L because it travel long distance

Cruisin' in his Chrysler, pursuin' niggas in my cipher

Start wildin' like insane asylum on Rikers Island

Verbal assassin, I murder freestylin'

One-two for the gun crew, three drinkin' Cristal and

I play the side 'cause the words of man kill

Proverbs buck out my grill, real as Ill Will

Peep the steel! Nobody move, nobody die

Why must I be high? Bustin' in trife bitches, touchin' mic switches

It's like a hot spoon of heroin, a Don like Pérignon

Females love the guns I be wearin'

Plant my seed to live infinite, indeed in my sentences

I flow demandin', that's understanding

[Hook x4]

Understanding

[Verse 2: Nas]

850 tempo, but rugged like a Pinto

Chop shop hip-hop, burn the block intro

High priests release voodoo

Déjà vu on this taboo Illmatic shit, and what have you

Chef cocaine cook, no brainer, got the proper diction

My competition bleeds words and weed blurs my vision

I'm freezin' in time, stop the rhyme!

I'm sober in a stolen Range Rover, much crime

I, stick up America, Nas in your area

Disrupt the sound barrier, clowns get pounds of terror

A full whip of more clips than Clint has in his era

Dirty Harry — cold, Black, the uncanny of Kojak

A Beretta stickin' up trucks carryin' Amaretto

Clever, too enticin', herbs I'm micin' while I'm pricin'

Niggas like they slaves, best behave, I'm the nice one

Nas — broken down from Nasir; means 'protection'

Pop dukes' resurrection

International hoes I'm sexin', while you be fuckin' one section

Question: Does a lonely mic give me an erection? Yes, son!

On a float like The Jetsons, futuristic rappin' mystic

Bust it! Try and diss it while my finger's on the iron biscuit

I rhyme terrific, sparklin' like the Diamond District

It's understanding

[Hook x4]

Understanding

[Outro]

That's where it's happenin'.. Queens

That's where it's happenin', in Queens

That's where it's happenin'.. Queens