The World Is Yours

Aight ima break down the song meaning since i study this shit errday

so basically the song is just about nas reflectin on life, a ponder about the life "HE" has to watch, if you peep the other tracks off his debut "illmatic", a lotta the songs are about a black inner city youth in the projects but the thing is its extremely real and vivid, he expresses his thoughts and mind state basically the "new york state of mind" the life of a black new yorker, now.. you may see this as redundant well nas was very real in his rhymes, his structure of rhymes were much different, whether fast paced or slow his rhymes were veery well rhymed and his rhymes well placed, anyways enough of the background info i can explain nas' whole new york slang and his deep reflective and observational rhymes, btw the world is yours IMO is the standout track and captures the essence of ny circa early 90'sish. btw this song in particular is just very thought from thought, its like a great nas' viewing very fast very vivid, looking from one thing to another, lookin from his crew, to his home, from his income, to why hes sellin drugs, to gettin high, to fuckin up pussy bitches on the bloc, whether checkin out girls, or the problems that people go thru, lookin at money and everything he switches from topic to topic showing his goddamn view of the new york world around him, what matters to him, see the thing is, nas GLAMORIZES hoes, cash and clothes but at the same time he acknowledges what does it really mean, its kinda like sayin yenno i love havin sex, but since im havin too much sex, is it really too much? what if i catch an std? what about my auntie with stds? fuck it tho sex is great, or another example is like yenno sayin i love playin video games, but when is it too much? am i addicted? what about my buddy whose addicted to video games im worried bout him, see nas really he doesnt glamorize 100%, in fact he loves the shit he glamorizes about but never in fact encourages it, he gives insight as to what type of living hes in and why he does it, classic album

much like the way shakespeare plays are explained, ill try to explain each line

"I sip the Dom P, watchin Gandhi til I'm charged Then writin in my book of rhymes, all the words pass the margin"

nas is basically talkin about him drinkin some dom p which is a drink (dom perignon) and hes watchin gandhi til hes charged, that basically means that he takes inspiration from gandhi, the whole watchin gandhi til hes charged, think of charged like a battery, then he writes in his book of rhymes till all the words pass the margin. thats pretty straightforward

"To hold the mic im throbbin, mechanical movement understandable smooth shit that murderers move with"

basically to hold the mic im throbbin he talkin about wantin to yenno grab a mic, and the rest of the lines are him braggin about how smooth his shit is the type of shit he be writin"

"The thiefs theme, play me at night, they wont act right the fiend of hip hop has got me stuck like a crack pipe"

so hes just sayin how his music gets niggas buckwild, "the thiefs theme", the fiend of hip hop which is kinda like a metaphor that basically means hip hop has got him sucked into rappin, the way a crack pipe keeps a fiend(druggie) stuck on crack

"The mind activation, react like im facin time like pappy mason with pens im embracin"

the mind activation means his mind finally opens up the way pappy mason's(a new york drug lord and crime boss) mind would have opened up when he had to face his life sentence, if you dont understand what i just said, think of it like this, my mind opened up the way a criminal's mind realizes that hes facing 25 years. then the next part is with "pens im embracin" so that basically adds to the facin time part, like my mind opened up to write rhymes the same way a criminal's mind opened up after realization of how fucked he is.

"Wipe the sweat of the dome, spit the phlegm on the streets suede timbs on my feets make my cipher complete"

just talkin about walkin down a street and his swag wit the whole suede timbs on his feets makes his wardrobe complete

"Whether crusin in a six cab or montero jeep i cant call it the beats make me fallin asleep"

btw its defo six cab, its not sikh cab otherwise the i cant call it would make sense cuz obviously you dont want a sikh cab, you want a six cab or a montero jeep, i cant "call it" i cant decide so yeah hes sayin whether this car or this car, i cant choose; then the next lines are him sayin the beat makes me fall asleep so it could mean that hes writin rhymes so much til its time to sleep

"i keep fallin, but never fallin six feet deep im out for presidents to represent me " " im out for "DEAD" presidents to represent me

so yeah hes just sayin i keep fallin like i keep fallin down in life, but never falling down where ive fallin "six feet deep" which in case u didnt happen to know is being dead cuz burial is six feet deep, then he says im out for presidents to represent me, and this actually a pretty clever line cuz hes sayin like im out to find a president suitable to represent me, so like sayin im out to find a president who will represent what i want, he says it about two times then the next line he says im out for "DEAD" presidents to represent me, so in case u didnt know what dead presidents are, its slang for money, cuz on money there are dead presidents on the print, so yeah hes now implyin that hes ouut to get himself some money

i trip we box up crazy bitches aimin guns in all my baby pictures Beef with housin police, release scriptures that's maybe Hitler's

now i may be wrong on this and correct me if i am, but my interpretation and bare with me he rhymes it so fluid you dont know where his statements end. so he says " i trip" there should be a comma, so he says that he trips like he is baffled in general, we box up crazy bitches aimin guns in all my baby pictures, so girls be beefin wit him so mad that they aim guns at all his baby pictures, kinda like when people throw darts at pictures of people when they hate them a lot yenno that type of thing. then beef with housin police so yenno beef wit his project building police who release scriptures thats maybe hitlers, so im thinkin that they release "scriptures" which are citations and are police reports, and these citations and charges against him are so like nas HATTES DEM, he thinks of em evil they could even be "hitler evil" yenno kinda like a simile goin there, for example like sayin my mom cooked breakfast and it was so terrible it coulda even been made by hitler!, pretty sure thats what hes talkin about, and the reason for the housin police to give him a citation is that hes beefin with his bitches that be aimin guns at all his baby pictures, so yenno domestic dispute, relationship argument where police have to handle it and maybe he slapped her and a cop had to go give him a citation for some sorta assault or some shit. i could be wrong, correct me or give your interpretation

"Yet I'm the mild, money gettin style, rollin foul The versatile, honey stickin wild, golden child"

so this is just some brag, dont think i have to really explain this

"Dwellin in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled Or caught by the devil's lasso, shit is a hassle"

livin in new york you encounter obstacles, you get tempted by the devil, shit is a hassle so thats somewhat straightforward, a good line nonetheless

"There's no days, for broke days, we sell it, smoke pays While all the old folks pray, to Je-sus' soakin they sins in trays"

alright this one of my all time fav lines, simple yet so right, so theres no days for broke days we sell it smoke pays, so hes sayin that there is no day u ever wanna be broke, we sell smoke and it pays, and thats true, when u be buyin a bag of weed, ur payin for that smoke, you want to inhale that smoke, the smoke is technically payin you, i mean the whole thing wit the no days broke days smoke pays rhyming there is so genius in my b ooks from the fact that it rhymes, its so true and it makes sense and makes me think, so then he adds the while all the old folks pray to je sus soakin they sins in trays, so hes sayin we be doin all this hustlin shit tryin to earn money while all these older generation people just be prayin to jesus tryna get rid of their sins by goin to church, now i was never a church fanatic but my parents rraised me that way and yenno u begin to question ur religion and how it makes sense and the fact that they think that by ogin to church ur gonna go straigh tto heaven just makes me wonder what type of reasons are they usin church for if they believe in it so much.

"of holy water, odds against Nas are slaughter Thinkin a word best describin my life, to name my daughter"

so the holy water is just an extension to that last part to couple its rhyming together wit the holy water and slaughter, so hes sayin odds against nas are slaughter, so the odds against me are like a million to nothing, going against my odds is like slaughter, th en he changes subject about thinkin a word best describin my life to name my daughter, so hes basically sayin yenno i wanna find a name for my daughter a great name, hard for me to explain this line but you people should understand it.

"My strength, my son, the star, will be my resurrection Born in correction all the wrong shit I did, he'll lead a right direction"

so hes sayin my son is my strength; a star, he will make up for all the wrong shit i did(my resurrection) he will be born in a good life( born in correction), hell lead the right direction

"How ya livin large, a broker charge, cards are mediocre You flippin coke or playin spit spades in strip poker"

now this IMO is a great fucking metaphor, very deep and many people pass its understanding now nas says how you livin large? so how are you earning MONEY? how are you ballin? youre just a broker, your cards are mediocre, so hes sayin like the hand you have been dealt in life is decent; how are you balling? you can either be flippin coke( selling coke) or playin spit spades in strip poker, so hes sayin you either be sellin coke or playin some shit spades and be stripped in strip poker. classic fucking great metaphor

"I'm the young city bandit, hold myself down singlehanded For murder raps, I kick my thoughts alone, get remanded"

so its pretty straight forward, uhh im a young city bandit i hold myself by myself, for my murder raps, i think hes sayin his either really ill killer raps hes alone to understand or his murder raps are actually like murder raps hes by himself and he gets remanded, wh ich means he goes to jail

"born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne im deep by sound alone, caved inside a thousand miles from home"

so yeah born alone die alone is a ref from the god father, it connects wit the very next part no crew to keep my crown or throne, so even though hes got his crew no matter what, youre born alone you die alone, nobody is entitled to what hes done in life, hes deep by osund alone is slightly braggy talkin about how hes deep just by sound, his voice is heard even "A thousand miles away from home in a cave"

"i need a new nigga for this black cloud to follow cuz while its over me its to dark to see tomorrow"

pretty quotable line, pretty straightforward, i need a new person for this terrible luck to go to, cuz while i have all this terrible luck, its too hard to see the next day, orr he could mean that he feels like killin himself cuz its too dark to even wanna see tomorrow.

"i try to maintain, i flip, fill the clip to the tip picturin my peeps now the income make my heartbeat skip"

so hes sayin tryin to maintain which alotta rappers use to say that they try to just live life and maintain some money and living conditions, so he flips, which in case u happen to not know, is flippin coke which is drug dealin, its called flippin because you buy the product and you sell it for a higher price typically, cuz when you buy a whole lot of coke and sell it by the gram you gain more profit, kinda like when you buy something in excess, term been used to flip houses and etc. so he says fill the clip to the tip, which is fillin the clip of a gun to the tip, so hes kinda puttin in the slight gangsta rhymes in there, see in any other album its pretty overdone but on illmatic; hes talkin about his situation his life, anybody else be like maaan i bust gats and all that but nas drops these lines efficiently and it coincides wit the whole vibe of the album, so then he says picturin my peeps now the income make my heartbeat skip which is just sayin that yenno picturin all my friends wit a lot of income(money) is makin my heart skip a beat like its gettin the nigga excited.

"and im amped up, they lock the champ up, even my brains in handcuffs headed for indiana stabbin women like the phantom"

hes sayin that hes excited hes amped up, hes locked up, even his thoughts, then he kinda drops a randomish kinda line that references the phantom killer, but i think it goes wit the whole albums vibe again, yenno about just not givin a fuck cuz ny state of mind goes into some now you see me now you dont type of shit, some jeffrey dahmer, son of sam, i think nas studied some serial killers thats why he name drops these dudes

the crew is lampin big willie style check the chip tooth smile, plus i profile wild"

so hes sayin that his crew is lampin big willie style, "lampin" means that youre kinda like shinign like a lamp, youre standing out, so like im "lampin" big willie style, big willie style is basically like sayin awesome or like great, so the crew is lampin big willie style is like sayin my crew is showin off their shit, then he says check the chip tooth smile, so idk my tooth is chipped, then i profile wild, like an outlaw, like im profiled hard cuz im a buckwild kid. basically these lines are just nas braggin a bit

"Stash through the flock wools, burnin dollars to light my stove Walk the blocks wit a bop, checkin Dames plus the games people play bust the problems of the world today

stash thru the flock wools, not too sure what that exactly means, then he says burnin dollars to light my stove, thats a bit straightforward, then the next line about him walkin the blocks wit a bop checkin dames(pretty sure he says dames cuz a dame like a girl, chekcin out the dames) so hes sayin that he walks the streets with a bop, like sh akin his head and shit, checkin out bitches, then he says that the games people play bust the problems of the world today, so hes sayin that the type of tricks people be using are worst than the world problems that we face today (an exaggeration but a somewhat relatable meaning)

well in summary, a great fuckin album, illmatic if u like hip hop this is jam packed with reallness, ill rhymes vocab intellectual type of metaphorical deep thoughts, an album u can smoke to drink to, sit at home relax to, take a pen and pad and try to understand to, listen very closely yet amazed by, i mean all his rhymes are just magnificent in every way, there are so many rhymes placed in places you havent looked, youd be surprised by all the tiny words that nas slipped in to make the album very cohesive and it flows so well, i mean like ive heard alotta rappers who will get the multi rhymes pretty good , but nas really varies with different sounds like he will have words that rhyme with bitter and at the same time in the lines he will have words that rhyme with crazy and baby and that anyways

if anybody wishes to contact me george281330@hotmail.com for any questions or any relation to hip hop or music in general

this song is nas at his best.

anthem

it should be "picturin' my peeps NOT EATIN' COULD MAKE my heartbeat skip"

This is classic, with chill jazz to contrast the dark lyrics. Hell yeah it's an anthem. Nas sounds like a motivator, a teacher, the fucking savior of rap on this track.

It's "cruisin in a Sikh's cab".

Another great from the great.

one of the best songs ever

straight classic. i think ive been listening to this track at the very least every month since it came out...and then that's over 10 years ago.
Nas at his finest.

straight classic. i think ive been listening to this track at the very least every month since it came out...and then that's over 10 years ago.
Nas at his finest.

i should let you guys know that nas is a lyrical genius

Who is Pappy Mason?