[Intro]
("You better watch your step!")
("You better watch your step!")
[Verse 1: Big Punisher]
Ayo, it's all love, but love's got a thin line and Pun's got a big nine
Respect crime, but not when it reflect mine
The shit I'm on is wrong, but it lasts long
Pull a fast one on Pun and wake up with your stash gone
I'm mad strong, and my cream is fast
Smoke the greenest grass, my bitch got the meanest ass
And it taste legit, I don't have to waste a whole case of Crist'
All it takes is my pretty face and my gangsta wit
Lace the clique, 'cause we all share
It's all fair like love and war, thug galore with the long hair
Big Pun, Pun, the name that makes the kids run
Like spelling murder reversed and deliver redrum
Come one, come all, if you wanna brawl, I'm the mighty Thor
Clotheslining motherfuckers like Steven Seagal
'Cause all you're gonna get, is your ass kicked or up in a casket
That's it (That's it?) That's it!
[Verse 2: Cuban Link]
Punisher pass it, at last, it's rappers that really blast shit
Cats getting Big Willie niggas like Billy Bathgate
Up in Jimmy's Cafe, having caviar
Crackin' Cristal at the bar, smokin' cigars, living large
We rob and steal, run with the mob, doing jobs for bills
I'm hard to kill for real, nigga, guard your grill
I like to chill, spark an L and get high
I'm one hell of a guy, "Fly, pelican, fly!"
[Verse 3: JuJu]
"What up, duke-o?" You know, politicking, papi chuco
I'm out here, watching for Jake, getting this loot though
Shoot, bro – I got a waterproof suit, yo
Swervin' like a A.K.A. in Beirut, yo , squeezin'
Out of automatic M3's and please
You ain't seen no thugs like these
I can tell you lots of things that'll make you believe
In Corona, yo, it's better to take than to receive
[Verse 4: Psycho Les]
Your career's on life support, and I'ma pull the plug
And have every thug shootin' that Beatnut drug
In they blood, no escapin' this
Niggas is goin' over their favorite shit ("For what?")
World premiere, loud and clear, lah and beer
Get the dough, blow up the show, disappear
Jump in the Cavalier, feelin' marvelous
Street pharmacist, twist árboles
For pleasure, bring your territory terror
Keep my workers under pressure, got 'em saying "Fuck Lester"
But that's aight, duke-o – my heart nowadays, too cold
Don't give a fuck where you been, what you done
Where you go, you know? Peep this, stay bent
In black shades like a secret agent
We're night thieves, roll up on you like sleeves
We light trees, bust deez, and stack cheese
[Chorus: The Beatnuts, (sample)]
It's off the hook this year (Cheddar)
Makin' mad money off the books this year
("You better watch your step!")
Ain't nothin' but crooks in here
Gettin' mad money off the books this year
It's off the hook this year
Gettin' mad money off the books this year
("You better watch your step!")
Ain't nothin' but crooks in here
Gettin' mad money off the books this year (Yeah!)
[Outro]
Go, go, go, go ("You better watch your step!")
Go, go, go, go ("You better watch your step!")
Keeping a look out for cops (JAKE and the Fat Man).
Beirut, the Capital city of Lebanon recently had a civil war and also went to war with Israel. The AK automatic rifles were shooting constantly from side to side. He insinuating that he was Swervin his car from side to side like a AK rifle in Beirut. The BMW’s are seen swerving from side to side on the song’s video.
Money earned off the books is cash, usually laundered, that does not get reported to the IRS as income. Hence it does not get taxed and the authorities a less likely to be alerted to any illegal activities.
They’re basically saying they’re getting rich from drug selling.
Jimmy’s Bronx Cafe was a popular restaurant in the Bronx that was a frequent hangout spot for the Terror Squad.
Apart from Pun being strong both Physically, lyrically, hypothetically and realistically, his Cream (money) is fast as he is quickly earning it in large quantities.
Back when people used cassettes, people would often tape songs off the radio or other cassettes or CD’s. Les is saying that people would tape over their favorite cassettes just to record this song.
Les and his crew will roll up on you as smoothly and easily as you might roll up your own sleeves. So watch out.
A second reference to Steven Seagal, his 1990 movie “Hard to Kill.”
Steven Seagal is an actor that is famous for working in action films where he mostly kills bad guys with no mercy and flawlessly. Pun’s referring to Seagal’s martial arts skills and is saying that he also hits m'fuckers like him.
Lil bit of a flex here. In 1997 they didn’t make a M3 with an automatic transmission so he’s saying he’s gonna squeeze on you in his M3 that he’s made even more expensive by putting a transmission that wasn’t even available
Billy Bathgate is a 1989 novel by author E. L. Doctorow. The story is told in the first person by Billy “Bathgate” Behan, a fifteen-year-old boy who first becomes the gofer and then surrogate son of mobster Dutch Schultz. The title character is a poor and fatherless teenager growing up in The Bronx. A 1991 film based on the novel starred Loren Dean as Billy, Dustin Hoffman as Schultz, Steven Hill as Otto Berman, Nicole Kidman as Drew, and Bruce Willis as Bo.
Instead of “thug galore,” this should read “thug allure”–Pun spends the lines leading up to this talking about his appeal with the ladies, and follows it by pointing out his long hair. In that context, “allure” makes more sense.
Psycho Les is saying his opponent’s career is on life support, or dying basically.
He’s also got people infected with a love for the Beanuts, as it is like a drug.
Getting wet is slang for getting shot because of the blood wetting your shirt. By waterproof suit, he probably means he wears a bulletproof vest. “Shoot bro” has a double meaning of the exclamation and a taunt because he’s prepared for bullets.
arboles is Spanish for ‘trees’ and ‘trees’ are slang for marijuana.
Reference to “The Shining” in which the main characters begins to hallucinate and sees “Redrum” written on the walls in blood. Later in the film he realizes it spells “Murder” backwards.
Big Pun and Cuban Link are both part of the hip hop group “Terror Squad”
wow! who counted ‘go!’ 64 times?
Pun is referring to Cocaine, mentioned in the beginning of the song. Cocaine lasts longer than the more common form found in low income areas; Crack. Crack, which is a freebase form of cocaine, has a much shorter high. It’s wrong because it is illegal and different from the more common form, but it lasts longer.
All you rappers gonna get beat up or end up dead, you gotta know who the real boss is.
This line was later referenced on Dr. Dre’s The Watcher:
Niggas get capped up and wrapped in plastic
Zipped up in bags: when it happens, that’s it
La is yet another slang term for weed.