Life's A Bitch Lyrics
Count this money, yaknowhatI'msayin?
[N] Yea yea
[A] Aiyyo, put the Grant's over there in the safe yaknowhatI'msayin?
[N] Yea yea
[A] Cause we spendin these Jackson's
The Washington's go to wifey, you know how that go
[N] I'm sayin, that's what this is all about right?
Clothes, bankrolls, and hoes yaknowhatI'msayin?
Yo then what man, what?? [echoes]
Visualizin the realism of life and actuality
Fuck who's the baddest a person's status depends on salary
And my mentality is, money orientated
I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it
cause yeah, we were beginners in the hood as five percenters
But somethin must of got in us cause all of us turned to sinners
Now some, restin in peace and some are sittin in San Quentin
Others such as myself are tryin to carry on tradition
Keepin the schwepervesence street ghetto essence inside us
Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us
Even though, we know somehow we all gotta go
but as long as we leavin thievin we'll be leavin with some kind of dough
so, and to that day we expire and turn to vapors
me and my capers-ll be somewhere stackin plenty papers
Keepin it real, packin steel, gettin high
Cause life's a bitch and then you die
Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we get high
Cause you never know when you're gonna go
Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we puff lye
Cause you never know when you're gonna go
Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we get high
Cause you never know when you're gonna go
Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we puff lye
[-- chorus #1 echoes at the end]
Life's a bitch and then you die
[-- chorus #2 includes these lines, echoes at the end]
I woke up early on my born day, I'm twenty years of blessing
The essence of adolescent leaves my body now I'm fresh in
My physical frame is celebrated cause I made it
One quarter through life some God-ly like thing created
Got rhymes 365 days annual plus some
Load up the mic and bust one, cuss while I puffs from
my skull cause it's pain in my brain vein money maintain
Don't go against the grain simple and plain
When I was young at this I used to do my thing hard
Robbin foreigners take they wallets they jewels and rip they green cards
Dipped to the projects flashin my quick cash
and got my first piece of ass smokin blunts with hash
Now it's all about cash in abundance, niggaz I used to run with
is rich or doin years in the hundreds
I switched my motto -- instead of sayin fuck tomorrow
That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto
Once I stood on the block, loose cracks produce stacks
I cooked up and cut small pieces to get my loot back
Time is Illmatic keep static like wool fabric
Pack a four-matic that crack your whole cabbage
Hahahaha. "Schweppervesence" and "effervescent" - were you guys high when you wrote that? That made my day. I always thought he said "Keepin this world progressing, street ghetto essence inside us" (I'm pretty sure that's what it says in The Source's Hip Hop Quoteable like 15 years ago) but girlscallmepogi could be right, although I don't hear "ever present" in there. Hahahahahahahah nolanmjj made my fucking day- I have never heard that before and I can't understand who would ever think that was what AZ was saying. Hilarious, guys.
What the hell is "schwepervesence"?!
Besides that, this is AZ's best verse
And the laid back jazz of the song chills out the depressing theme of the chorus, the trumpet at the end played by Nas' father kind of lifts the spirits as Nas effectivley plays his birthday and recent adulthood into an autobiographical narrative. His verse isnt as good as his stuff on the rest of the CD, but considering this is a lyrical classic, it beats the pants off of most other rap artists' best work.
^ he says "effervescent"
and everyone always talks about az's verse on this song but imo nas completely smokes him. az's verse may be more technically accomplished but nas's lyrics here are just beautiful. the opening lines are ridiculously gorgeous and the whole thing just flows so, so well to its conclusion. one of the greatest, for real
did i mention i love how the whole of nas's verse is on some poetic, autobiographical shit then in the last couplet abruptly switches into battle rap? there is no quicker way to my heart for an mc than to quickly juxtapose poetics/emotions with being a badass muhfucka. its like if for the closing words of ulysses, after that long single-sentence chapter with molly ranting like a psycho bitch, jimmy joyce had written "what's fuckin with that?"
Az uses part of this verse in his song "Gimme Your's", which features Nas.
Golly. AZ says "keeping this ever present street ghetto essence inside us"
and Nas says "cuts where I puss from" not "cuss while I puff from. wtf??
no, it is schwepervesence. he mentioned it in an interview in a magazine one day...or so i heard. if you listen it sounds nothing like "effervescent".
best duo, all time. These dudes feed off each other, on everything they do.
schwepervesence is not a word and you're a liar. Get off it. He said effervescent. These lyrics are further proof that spliphstar is a bad typer.
And I agree that Nas had the better verse. To me "I switched my motto, instead of saying fuck tommorow, that buck that bought the bottle could have struck the lotto"
are the best lines in the song. That line is so deep. It's like him saying he learned to take chances instead of throwing them away for something so trivial.