Yeah, it's illmatic (yeah)
It's illmatic (yeah)
It's illmatic, huh
(Huh, check it)

(One time for your mind, one time)
Yeah, whatever
(One time for your mind, one time)
Yo, whatever
(One time for your mind, one time)
Ayo, Nas (what up, Paul?) Kick that fuckin' rhyme

Check it out
When I'm chilling, I grab the Buddha, get my crew to buy beers
And watch a flick, illin' and root for the villain, huh
Plus, every morning, I go out and love it, sort of chilly
Then I send a shorty from my block to the store for phillies
After being blessed by the herb's essence
I'm back to my rest, ten minutes, some odd seconds
That's where I got the honey at, spends the night for sexing
Cheap lubrication, lifestyle protection
Picking up my stereo's remote control, quickly
Ron G's in the cassette deck, rockin' the shit, G
I try to stay mellow, rock, well, acapella rhymes'll
Make me richer than a slipper made Cinderella, fella
Go get your crew, Hobbes, I'm prepared to bomb troops
Got niggas who's born, I shot my way out my mom dukes
When I was ten, I was a hip-hoppin' shorty wop
Known for rocking microphones and twisting off a forty top, yeah

(One time for your mind, one time)
Yeah, whatever
(One time for your mind, one time)
It sound clever
(Ayo, Nas, fuck that, man, that shit was fat)
(But kick that for them gangstas, man, fuck all that)

Right, right, what up niggas, how y'all? It's Nasty, the villain
I'm still writin' rhymes, but besides that I'm chillin'
I'm trying to get this money, God, you know the hard times, kid
Shit, cold be starvin', make you want to do crimes, kid
But I'm a lamp, 'cause a crime couldn't beat a rhyme
Niggas catching three to nines, Muslims yelling free the mind
And I'm from Queensbridge, been to many places
As a kid, when I would say that out of town, niggas chased us
But now I know the time, got a older mind
Plus control a nine, fine, see, now I represent mine
I'm new on the rap scene, brothers never heard of me
Yet I'm a meance, yo, police want to murder me
Heine dark drinker, represent the thinker
My pen rides the paper, it even has blinkers
Think I'll dim the lights then inhale, it stimulates
Floating like I'm on the north ninety-five interstate
Never plan to stop, when I write my hand is hot
And expand a lot from the wiz' to Camelot
The parlayer, I'll make ya heads bop, Pah
I shine a light on perpetrators, like a cop's car
From day to night, I play the mic, and you'll thank God
I wreck shit so much, the microphone'll need a paint job
My brain is incarcerated
Live at any jam, I couldn't count all the parks I raided
I hold a MAC-11, and attack the Reverend
I contact eleven L's, and max in heaven

Yo, one time for your mind, one time
It sound clever
But one time for your mind, one time
Yeah, whatever
One time for your mind, one time
Yo, from ninety-two to ninety-nine

Yeah
Yeah, that shit was greasy, fat Paul, know what I'm saying?
But check it, you gotta another verse for me?
I want you to kick it, you know what I'm saying?
Kick that shit from the projects

Copyright: Capitol CMG Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Writer(s): Nasir Jones, Paul Mitchell