Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
Gonna find you and take it slowly
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide (ooh)
Gonna find you and make you want me (yo)

Now that I escape, sleepwalker awake (yeah)
Those who could relate know the world ain't cake
Jail bars ain't golden gates
Those who fake, they break
When they meet their four-hundred pound mate
If I could rule the world (if I ruled the world)
Everyone would have a gun in the ghetto of course
When giddyuping on their horse (giddyup)
I kick a rhyme drinking moonshine
I pour a sip on the concrete, for the deceased
But no don't weep, Wyclef's in a state of sleep
Thinking 'bout the robbery that I did last week
Money in the bag, banker looked like a drag
I wanna play with pelicans from here to Baghdad
Gun blast, think fast, I think I'm hit
My girl pinched my hips to see if I still exist
I think not, I'll send a letter to my friends
A Born Again hooligan only to be king again

Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
Gonna find you and take it slowly
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide (ooh)
Gonna find you and make you want me (yo, yo, yo)

Yo, I play my enemies like a game of chess, where I rest
No stress, if you don't smoke sess, lest
I must confess, my destiny's manifest
In some Goretex and sweats I make treks like I'm homeless
Rap orgies with Porgy and Bess
Capture your bounty like Elliot Ness, yes
Bless you if you represent the Fu
But I'll hex you with some witch's brew
If you're doo-doo, voodoo
I can do what you do, easy, believe me
Fronting niggas give me hee-bee-gee-bees
So while you're imitating Al Capone, I'll be Nina Simone
And defecating on your microphone

Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
Gonna find you and take it slowly

You can't run away
From these styles I got, oh baby, hey baby
Cause I got a lot, oh yeah
And anywhere you go (ooh)
My whole crew's gonna know baby, hey baby
You can't hide from the block, oh no

Ready or not, refugees taking over (ready or not)
The Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta
On the twelfth hour, fly by in my bomber
Crews run for cover, now they're under pushing up flowers
Superfly true lies, do or die (he's super fly)
Toss me high, only puff lye
With my crew from lakay
I refugee from Guantanamo Bay
Dance around the border like I'm Cassius Clay (yessir, yo)

Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide (ooh, yo, hey yo nobody move)
Gonna find you and take it slowly (yeah)
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide (ooh, yo, hey yo nobody move)
Gonna find you and make you want me (whoa, yeah, c'mon)

Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide (you know the, you know the)
Gonna find you and take it slowly
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide (ooh, yo, hey yo nobody move)
Gonna find you and make you want me (ooh)

Ready-


Lyrics submitted by Lamia

Ready Or Not Lyrics as written by Roma Shane Ryan Nicholas John Ryan

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Reservoir Media Management, Inc., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Ready or Not song meanings
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8 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    I live and work with asylum-seekers in the UK. The Fugees parents were refugees, and the band honours that, such a contrast with the hostility surrounding refugees here. Although the chorus is about the lover's determination to find her beloved, it could equally be the refugee's determination to make it to and in their new country; it speaks of the hope of youth in a big and terrifying world.

    The references to Baghdad and Guantanamo are eerily relevant today.

    jimqukon July 09, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    tha song wasnt really made to be a sad one..if you want a sad one, u should listen to mista mista..that is pretty sad. hm..mayb its just me, but when i listen to tha fugees i am in a different mind frame and tha whole world seems so much better...and then this particular song doesnt seem like it should be sad...

    lindzwithaphon June 11, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    ''Gun blast, think fast I think I'm hit My girl pinch's my hips to see if I still exist I think not, I send a letter to my friends A born again, hooligan only to be king again''

    cause that screams happiness .. o_0

    how you feel about the group has nothing to do with what the song means ..

    NIKKIEon June 10, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    what is the song about tho?!?! i dnt get it is it about like the difficulties of love?

    cheese_pleaseon January 24, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    IMHO this song is clearly about death. Verse 1 is about a robber dying, verse 2 could be Death itself speaking, verse 3 is about a soldier ("they are under pushing up flowers"=they are now buried). There are several typos though: I poor sip->I pour a sip, dread like rasta -> dreadlock rasta (a quote from Bob Marley, "Buffalo Soldier". Quotes from Marley recur often in the Fugees' discography).

    fphon June 13, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "Now that I escape sleep walk away those who convolate knows the world they hate"

    um..what? is convolate even a word?

    bugoffon July 14, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    seems like someone just listened to the song over and over again until they "thought" they got the lyrics down. theres so many mistakes on here i dont even know where to begin. if your gonna be the one putting the lyrics up, get em right so we can try to interpereat them.

    icantfeelmahfaceon February 12, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment

    hearing this song makes me feel like its the end of the world . i also get sad cause i remember when i was a young teen and when this came out .sigh.. fugees are amazing..

    NIKKIEon April 28, 2004   Link

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