This Can't Be Life

[Jay-Z]

Geah.. whassup?

Where's all my street niggaz, project niggaz

Real niggaz, worldwide

Let's reflect.. e'rybody got a story

We all ghetto B - here's mine

Geah

See I was -- born in sewage, born to make bomb music

Flow tight like I was born Jewish

Used the streets as a conduit - I kept arms

38 longs inside my mom's Buick

At any given moment Shawn could lose it, be on the news

Iron cuffs - arms through it; or stuffed with embalmin fluid

Shit, I'm goin through it - mom dukes too

Tears streamin down her pretty face, she got her palms to it

My life is gettin too wild

I need to bring some sort kinda calm to it

Bout to lose it; voices screamin "Don't do it!"

It's like '93, '94, bout the year

that Big and Mag dropped; and "Illmatic" rocked

outta every rag drop, and the West had it locked

Everybody doin 'em, I'm still scratchin on the block

like "Damn; I'ma be a failure"

Surrounded by thugs, drugs, and drug - paraphenalia

Cops courts, and their thoughts is to derail us

Three time felons in shorts with jealous thoughts

Tryin figure where your mail is, guesstimate the weight you

sellin

So they can send shots straight to your melon; wait!

It gets worse, baby momma water burst

Baby came out stillborn, still I gotta move on

Though my heart still torn, life gone from her womb

Don't worry, if it was meant to be, it'll be -- soon

[Chorus: Jay-Z]

This can't be life, this can't be love

This can't be right, there's gotta be more, this can't be us

This can't be life, this can't be love

This can't be right, there's gotta be more, this can't be us

[Beanie Sigel]

Chill dog

Second oldest born, from Michelle Brown my mother

Hell bound, grew with two sisters and one brother

Pop wasn't around, so many stories that's another

I'm thinkin damn; how my older sister gon' make me tougher

When steel sharpens steel, I'ma keep it real

I'm tired of tryin to hide my pain behind the syrups and pills

Dead to the world, stretched out like a corpse for real

Y'all niggaz thinkin what y'all readin in The Source is real

What my life like, you lookin at the source, it's real

What your life like? Mine dog, of course it's real

Passin judgment, you niggaz second-guessin Beans

Cause you don't eat swine don't make you Amin

Dog you know a couple suras, out the Qur'an

I guess you all on your din and I ain't on mine

Stop that Akki, 'fore I send shots though your body

Make 'em feel feel hell on earth before Allah drop thee

I feel the line's drawn here, nuttin more can stop me

Till them feds pick me up, or them boys pop me

There's only three things that make Mac not act like Beans

Amatullah Tisha, Po Aldin, Samir Amin

My seeds dog, gotta teach 'em that before I leave dog

Shit I know that I'ma see 'em when I leave dog

I come back in the afterlife

Like fuck it I done touched hell twice; what's the meanin?

[Chorus]

[Scarface]

Yeah.. uhh..

Now as I walk into the studio, to do this with Jig'

I got a phone call from one of my nigs

Said my homeboy Reek, he just lost one of his kids

And when I heard that I just broke into tears

And see in the second hand; you don't really know how this is

But when it hits that close to home you feel the pain at the

crib

So I called mine, and saddened my wife with the bad news

Now we both depressed, countin our blessings cause Brad's two

Prayin for young souls to laugh atlife through the stars

Lovin your kids just like you was ours

And I'm hurtin for you dog; but ain't nobody pain is like yours

I just know that heaven'll open these doors

And ain't no bright side to losin lifel; but you can view it

like this

God's got open hands homey, he in the midst.. of good company

Who loves all and hates not one

And one day you gon' be wit your son

I could've rapped about my hard times on this song

But heaven knows I woulda been wrong

I wouldn'ta been right, it wouldn'ta been love

It wouldn'ta been life, it wouldn'ta been us

This can't be life

[Chorus]

[Jay-Z]