The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
The time has come, we gotta expand, the whole operation
Distribution, New York, Chicago, L.A.
We gotta set our own market, and enforce it
Champagne wishes and caviar dreams
A team that's gettin' C.R.E.A.M
With sales of fishscales from triple beams
I gleam, livin' the live of Riley, packin' fifty cali's
Rockin' lizard Bally's while we do a drug deal in a dark alley
Up in casinos, just me and my dino primo
Pushin' Bimm-o's, then parlay in Reno with two fly Latinos
Nas, he runs the whole staff
We count math from steam baths
We've seen a half a milli dashin' out there on the Queens half
Three major players gettin' papers by the layers
And those that betray us on the block get rocked like Amadeus
Fakers get used as shootin' targets soon as the dark hits
Front on the drug market, bodies get rolled up in a carpet
Those that cheat us try to beat us, we got hookers with heaters
That'll stray pop and put more shells in your top than Adidas
The leaders lookin' straight charmin' in our Giorgio Armani's
You wanna harm me and Nas?
You gots to come get through a whole army
The cee-lo rollers, money folders, sippin' Bolla, holdin' mad payola
Slangin' that coke without the Cola
Me and black don't fake jax, but we might sling one
It ain't no shame in our game, we do our thing, son
Livin' the fast life with fast cars
Everywhere we go, people know who we are
A team from outta Queens with the American Dream
So we're plottin' up a scheme to get the seven-figure cream
Livin' the fast life with fast cars
Everywhere we go, people know who we are
A team from outta Queens with the American Dream
So we're plottin' up a scheme to get the seven-figure cream
Yo, I got guns from Italy, smoke trees considerably
Mid-state and Green it seems is where all my niggas be
The ghetto misery, shootouts and liquor stores
A perpendicular angle of the clout war
Police searchin' up my Lexo, but who's petro?
My TEC blows straight off the roof and tests yo' respect, though
But dough don't respect me, it got me handcuffed
The rough life, I just be up nights, breathin' with scuffed Nike's
Pour my beers for my peoples under the stairs
These years, I got they names in my swears
Poppin' Cristal like it's my first child, lickin' shots holiday style
Rockin' Steele sweaters, Wallabee down
Twenty-four carats, countin' cabbage like the Arabs
The marriage of me and the mic is just like magic
Elegant performance, bubble Lex full insurance
Guzzlin' Guinness, shootin', catchin' cases concurrent
It's Nas, seven hundred wives, King Solomon size
We on the rise, me and G, ghetto wise guys
The Luciano, Frankie Yale, Bugsy Seagal
Green papers with eagles from a trade that's illegal
Brother, you've got to make it happen
Yeah, yeah, get this money, yeah
Brother, you've got to make it happen
When you're living in the fast life, hey, yeah, yeah
Ayo, our lifestyle's exquisite, yayo like a blizzard
Esquire attire standin' on ground with one pivot
Two players rockin' silk blazers and diamonds like glaciers
Lands with name brand seats, reclinin' like it's spacious
Bodies on ice, livin' trife, rollin' fixed up dice
Gamblin' Grants, handlin' stamps, moves are sheist
My bankrolls got the cops comin' in plainclothes
Tryna arraign our gang 'cause of our fame
That's how the game goes (true)
Right out the slammer with the fame and glamor
Cookin' up grams with Arm & Hammer
Supplyin' scramblers in Alabama
Rub out faces and leave no traces
My aces got mad body cases, preserve spaces at the horse races
Servin' us Dom, Veuve Clicquot
Dimes look magnifico, puttin' a cut inside perico
Heat for foes, shoppin' sprees with my fleet for clothes
In Caribbean suites deep, rippin' beats with flows
Ayo, we went from standin' on blocks without some socks
Sellin' rocks, to pickin' up stocks in boat docks with Glocks
And got poppy seed fields with million dollar bills
Packin' all the blue steel, we keeps it real inside the battlefield
Yeah, so here's a toast to the funds and things
Gun smokes in rings, graveyards is buried with kings
Livin' the fast life with fast cars
Everywhere we go, people know who we are
A team from outta Queens with the American Dream
So we're plottin' up a scheme to get the seven-figure cream
Livin' the fast life with fast cars
Everywhere we go, people know who we are
A team from outta Queens with the American Dream
So we're plottin' up a scheme to get the seven-figure cream
Brother, I got to make it happen
Yes, get this money, yo
You know I got to make it happen
Yes, get this money, yo
Livin' in the fast life
I'm livin' in the fast life
Livin' in the fast life, oh yeah, ayy
Livin' in the fast life
Livin' in the fast life
Distribution, New York, Chicago, L.A.
We gotta set our own market, and enforce it
Champagne wishes and caviar dreams
A team that's gettin' C.R.E.A.M
With sales of fishscales from triple beams
I gleam, livin' the live of Riley, packin' fifty cali's
Rockin' lizard Bally's while we do a drug deal in a dark alley
Up in casinos, just me and my dino primo
Pushin' Bimm-o's, then parlay in Reno with two fly Latinos
Nas, he runs the whole staff
We count math from steam baths
We've seen a half a milli dashin' out there on the Queens half
Three major players gettin' papers by the layers
And those that betray us on the block get rocked like Amadeus
Fakers get used as shootin' targets soon as the dark hits
Front on the drug market, bodies get rolled up in a carpet
Those that cheat us try to beat us, we got hookers with heaters
That'll stray pop and put more shells in your top than Adidas
The leaders lookin' straight charmin' in our Giorgio Armani's
You wanna harm me and Nas?
You gots to come get through a whole army
The cee-lo rollers, money folders, sippin' Bolla, holdin' mad payola
Slangin' that coke without the Cola
Me and black don't fake jax, but we might sling one
It ain't no shame in our game, we do our thing, son
Livin' the fast life with fast cars
Everywhere we go, people know who we are
A team from outta Queens with the American Dream
So we're plottin' up a scheme to get the seven-figure cream
Livin' the fast life with fast cars
Everywhere we go, people know who we are
A team from outta Queens with the American Dream
So we're plottin' up a scheme to get the seven-figure cream
Yo, I got guns from Italy, smoke trees considerably
Mid-state and Green it seems is where all my niggas be
The ghetto misery, shootouts and liquor stores
A perpendicular angle of the clout war
Police searchin' up my Lexo, but who's petro?
My TEC blows straight off the roof and tests yo' respect, though
But dough don't respect me, it got me handcuffed
The rough life, I just be up nights, breathin' with scuffed Nike's
Pour my beers for my peoples under the stairs
These years, I got they names in my swears
Poppin' Cristal like it's my first child, lickin' shots holiday style
Rockin' Steele sweaters, Wallabee down
Twenty-four carats, countin' cabbage like the Arabs
The marriage of me and the mic is just like magic
Elegant performance, bubble Lex full insurance
Guzzlin' Guinness, shootin', catchin' cases concurrent
It's Nas, seven hundred wives, King Solomon size
We on the rise, me and G, ghetto wise guys
The Luciano, Frankie Yale, Bugsy Seagal
Green papers with eagles from a trade that's illegal
Brother, you've got to make it happen
Yeah, yeah, get this money, yeah
Brother, you've got to make it happen
When you're living in the fast life, hey, yeah, yeah
Ayo, our lifestyle's exquisite, yayo like a blizzard
Esquire attire standin' on ground with one pivot
Two players rockin' silk blazers and diamonds like glaciers
Lands with name brand seats, reclinin' like it's spacious
Bodies on ice, livin' trife, rollin' fixed up dice
Gamblin' Grants, handlin' stamps, moves are sheist
My bankrolls got the cops comin' in plainclothes
Tryna arraign our gang 'cause of our fame
That's how the game goes (true)
Right out the slammer with the fame and glamor
Cookin' up grams with Arm & Hammer
Supplyin' scramblers in Alabama
Rub out faces and leave no traces
My aces got mad body cases, preserve spaces at the horse races
Servin' us Dom, Veuve Clicquot
Dimes look magnifico, puttin' a cut inside perico
Heat for foes, shoppin' sprees with my fleet for clothes
In Caribbean suites deep, rippin' beats with flows
Ayo, we went from standin' on blocks without some socks
Sellin' rocks, to pickin' up stocks in boat docks with Glocks
And got poppy seed fields with million dollar bills
Packin' all the blue steel, we keeps it real inside the battlefield
Yeah, so here's a toast to the funds and things
Gun smokes in rings, graveyards is buried with kings
Livin' the fast life with fast cars
Everywhere we go, people know who we are
A team from outta Queens with the American Dream
So we're plottin' up a scheme to get the seven-figure cream
Livin' the fast life with fast cars
Everywhere we go, people know who we are
A team from outta Queens with the American Dream
So we're plottin' up a scheme to get the seven-figure cream
Brother, I got to make it happen
Yes, get this money, yo
You know I got to make it happen
Yes, get this money, yo
Livin' in the fast life
I'm livin' in the fast life
Livin' in the fast life, oh yeah, ayy
Livin' in the fast life
Livin' in the fast life
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