Where I'm From

[Jay-Z]

uh-huh, je-je je-je-jeah

ye-ye-yeah, ye-ye-yeah

How real is this, how real is this

Uh-huh huh, Inspect this here, check

[Verse One:]

I'm from where the hammer's rung, New's cameras never come

You and your man houndin' every verse in your rhyme

where the grams is slung, niggas vanish every summer

Where the blue vans would come, we throw the work in the can and run

Where the plans was to get funds and skate off the set

To achieve this goal quicker, sold all my weight wet

Faced with immeasurable odds still I get straight bets

So I felt some more something and you nothing check

I from the other side with other guys don't walk to much

And girls in the projects wouldn't fuck us if we talked too much

So they ran up town and sought them dudes to trust

I don't know what the fuck they thought, those niggas is foul just like us

I'm from where the beef is inevitable, Summertime's unforgetable

Boosters in abundance, buy a half-price sweater new

Your world was everything, So everything you said you'd do

You did it, Couldn't talk about it if you ain't lived it

I from where niggas pull your car, and argue all day about

Who's the best MC's, Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas

Where the drugs czars evolve, and thugs always are

At each other's throats for the love of foreign cars

Where cats catch cases, hoping the judge R and R's

But most times find themselves locked up behind bars

I'm from where they ball and breed rhyme stars

I'm from Marcy son, just thought I'd remind y'all

[Chorus: 5x]

Cough up a lung, where I'm from, Marcy son, Ain't nothing nice

Mentally been many places but I'm Brooklyn's own

[Verse Two:]

I'm from the place where the chruch is the flakiest

And niggas is praying to god so long that they Atheist

Where you can't put your vest away and say you'll wear it tomorrow

Cause the day after we'll be saying, damn I was just with him yesterday

I'm a block away from hell, not enough shots away from straight shells

An ounce away from a triple beam still using a hand-held weight scale

Your laughing, you know the place well

Where the Liqour Store's and the base well

And Government, fuck Government, niggas polotic themselves

Where we call the cops the A-Team

cause they hop out of vans and spray things

And life expectancy so low we making out wills at eight-teen

Where how you get rid of guys who step out of line, your rep solidifies

So tell me when I rap you think I give a fuck who criticize?

If the shit is lies, god strike me

And I got a question, are you forgiving guys who live just like me?

We'll never know

One day I pray to you and said if I ever blow, Let 'em know

Mistakes ain't exactly what takes place in the ghetto

Promise fulfilled, but still I feel my job ain't done

Cough up a lung, where I'm from, Marcy son, ain't nothing nice

[Chorus 4x]

[Verse Three:]

I'm from where they cross-over and clap boards

Lost Jehovah in place of rap lords, listen

I'm up the block, round the corner, and down the street

From where the Pimps, Prostitutes, and the Drug Lords meet

We make a million off of beats, cause our stories is deep

And fuck tomorrow, as long as the night before was sweet

Niggas get lost for weeks in the streets, twisted off weed

And no matter the weather, niggas know how to draw heat

Whether your four-feet or Minute size, it always starts out with

Three dice and shoot the five

Niggas thought they douce was live, now hit 'em with trips

And I reached down for their money, pa forget about this

This time around it's platinum, like the shit on my wrist

And this glock on my waist, y'all can't do shit about this

Niggas will show you love, That's how they fool thugs

Before you know it your lying in a pool of blood

[Chorus 4x]