America Songtext
von Nas

If all I saw was gangsters comin′ up as a youngster
Pussy and money the only language I clung to
Cling to, I rolled myself up to become one
Ain't you happy I chose rap? I′m a monster
Streets they see me, they can't believe my achievements
Cultural-strata, persona is that of a non-needer

'Cause I don′t need nada except for Prada beaver
From cold winters, tattoos got my summer′s sleeveless
Tell my G's don′t flee from the coppers
Stiff bodies don't freeze at funeral parlors
From the slums I come up a phoenix
Caked up trying to take what I′m eatin'
Came up a dismissive kid

You lucky if you allowed to witness this
Savvy mouth, while hardly a man′s man
Who woulda knew the beach houses and wild parties
Jezebels and Stella McCartneys
For years, all that how can I not be dead?
This old German said I was a thug with a knotty head


Looked at my Benz and called that a Nazi sled
With a face like he wondered where I got my bread
Probably all the stones he see, from my shows overseas
From crime to rhyme, my story is: I'm from the home of the thieves

America
Pay attention
Wake up
America
This is not what you think it is
America
Pay attention
This is not what you think it is

Blessed, the Lord is a G, he gotta be
Whose the god of suckers and snitches? The economy
Lipstick from Marilyn Monroe blew a death kiss to Fidel
Castro
He want me to spit this only the strong survive
Nas bear witness


The hypocrisy is all I could see
White cop acquitted for murder
Black cop cop a plea
That type of shit make stop you and think
We in chronic need of a second look of the law books
And the whole race dichotomy

Too many rappers, athletes and actors
But not enough niggas at NASA
Who gave you the latest dances, trends and fashions?
But when it come to residuals they look past us
Woven into the fabric, they can't stand us
Even the white tees, blue jeans and red bandanas

America
Pay attention
Wake up
America
This is not what you think it is
America
Pay attention
This is not what you think it is
America
This is not what you think it is

Assassinations, diplomatic relations
Killed indigenous people, built a new nation
Involuntary labor took a nice little women
Even took a premature baby, let a man see you rape her
If I could travel to the 1700s
I′d push a wheelbarrow full of a dynamite through your
Covenant
Let her sit on the Senate and tell the whole government

Y′all don't treat women fair
She read about herself in the Bible believin′ she the reason sin is here
You played her with an apron like "bring me my dinner dear"
She the nigga here, ain't we in the free world?
Death penalty in Texas killed young boys and girls
Barbarity, I′m in a double R casualty
Buggin' how I made it out the hood, dazzle me
How far we really from third world savagery?
When the empire fall, imagine how crazy that′ll be

America
America
This is not what you think it is
America
This is not what you think it is
America