Life We Chose

[Nas] To my niggas huh, We all we got, Let's hold it down though, why'know? However it's gon' go down This what we gotta deal with, why'know? Yo [Chorus: Nas] It's the life we chose, where friends become foes And the dough'll get you killed quicker than you know This is the life we chose, bring fake snakes and hoes And the only way out, is death or going broke This the life we chose, ain't too many happy endings That's why there ain't too many happy niggas in it And I'll admit it, this life is fucked up but yo, (but yo) this life is the only life I know {*echoes} [Nas] Gold bathtubs, making love to my Queen Get my back rubbed, Chardonnay, rolling up green Statues, marble floors, rare paintings on my wall My lifestyle's like the Forbes Magazine Closets, full of rockets and sub-machines Take this nigga out the projects, and his thug team Yo we cruise past street lights, ill rides Mr. Child both coasts with the most loud toast Calicos roast y'all folks, keep y'all dying Cause it's hard to fuck around when we dealing with science My enemies got money, so y'all should watch how I play it They never know we enemies until they hear me say it Til they kid's on the phone saying, "Please daddy pay it" Til they brain's on the floor, mixed on the pavement High-class elegance, you respect or you hiss You go against you'd rather piss on an electrical fence It's strategic, how these niggas want you to think You'd be surprised, who'd be the one to put you to sleep Why you stink? Yo these streets don't allow you to blink You get showered by lead, coming out with your mink Bow ties and tuxedos, bust Eagles Dump drugs and acid, then they rush with the Rico It's hard fucking with niggas you hope you can trust You a fool if your main bitch is easy to fuck And you've got money, is these hoes greedy or what? Shit is devious, ex-friends wanting you stuck [Chorus] [Nas] Uh, what's love when you don't give your man enough dough? He want to stick you What's love, you got beef? Nobody rolling wit you What's love, you locked up, and your family don't care Is love a four-letter word, that deceives the air? What's real, when you know your man's girl is a hoe And you don't even let him know, cause you fucked her befo' What's real, when you talk behind a man's back Then you see him and give him dap, now explain that? What's trust, when they separate your case When you at your court date, your co-de', can't look in your face What's trust, when you keep your wife away from your man? And he never crossed you, but you claiming he's fam'? What's trust, when you get bust, your niggas don't retaliate? They blaze purple haze with em the next day? God forbid one of my niggas get hit, I'ma go haywire Won't hesitate, I'ma spray fire But everybody's different, you won't know how you react Til you in that position, and that's an actual fact The hearts of men change as time goes on, who's wrong? You was hungry when you stuck Duke, he came back to buck you Who's wrong? Foul all your life, now you 90 On your deathbed you regret being grimy What's lust, a bust nut? What's a thug? A ghetto child raised around drugs, til he's old enough to bust slugs? Then what's jail, to rehabilitate, or to make a nigga worse When he come home to catch another case? Life's about decisions, you choose it, you gotta live it You did it, heaven or hell or prison Who knows when your clock'll stop tickin, get your weight up Save up before it's over neighbor, I told ya You getting older player, look at those who gave up [Chorus]