[Jay-Z]

Geyeah, NYMP the realest, uhh

This is educated thug MU-SIC, niggaz



Life's a battle, mean streets eat you alive

Blocks'll have you, tryin to maintain your course

through the potholes and gravel

Hot holes and what-have-you, tryin to clock dough

Foes tryin to pop shots through you by code

Pigs tryin to grab you and lock up your soul

Through the Hot Apple, nighttime shots crackle

(bucka bucka bucka) Fiends tryin to gaffle you

Not only cokeheads but the Feds in the Mercuray Topaz

after you, up the avenue

Tryin to give you big numbers, you got math to do

Tryin to make you miss summer, shit, that ain't cool

I caught smaller cases tryin to get cap or two

Up against the wall, tryin to pass through

Ghost-like, hear the cries from the tortured souls

Most nights, I hold my toast tight, and it goes like



Chorus: Jay-Z



N.Y.M.P., the realest niggaz

N.Y.M.P., the realest niggaz

Uhh, uh-huh-uh-UHH, N.Y.M.P. the realest

Marcy.. Brooklyn..



[Jay-Z]

Yo; I come through, gettin money, sittin on twenties

Niggaz throwin me shade, but ain't shit sunny

Hot shells only thing niggaz could get from me

Cocktails thrown in your living room, KA-BOOM

I'm so confrontational;

they shoulda never let me go on probation yo

I'm a hustler; except that..

no correctional facilities can correct that

I took a step back, I viewed myself, seen where my head was at

It's where that dough is homey, gotta get that

Gotta get away, some try but head back

Uhh, street smart niggaz got left back

Some died, they left stacks

Me, I ball right, and on top of that I'm dog nice

Jigga been cold as fuck before ice

Not before Christ, but a long fuckin time

Get your mind right niggaz



Chorus: Jay-Z



N.Y.M.P., the realest

Uh-huh-uh-UHH, N.Y.M.P., the realest niggaz

Uhh uh-huh, uh-UHH, N.Y.M.P. the realest niggaz

Marcy.. feel me..



[Jay-Z]

I looked Death in the face years back

I held tears back, I gathered myself and stared back

I'm from where you don't crack, the weak don't live

You gotta bounce back homey, the streets don't give

I take and rape villages, who gon' stop him?

Not Rudy Guiliani, not Hillary Rodham

Still I still pop him

Shit I grassy knoll and hilltop him, it's all political now

I think big when I spit at you now

Between my dog and the figures, the four gonna get'cha

Between life and death, they killed my spirit

So what little life I got left, y'all can expect me to ball

I ? myself, teacher said I was a lost cause

cause I used to roam them halls

Still I spit knowledge, dropped out of high school, skipped college

Who woulda thought I'd make it "Big" like Ms. Wallace?



Chorus: Jay-Z



Uhh, yeah, N.Y.M.P., the realest niggaz

Brooklyn, what?  N.Y.M.P., the realest niggaz

Uhh, uh-huh-uh-UHH, N.Y.M.P. the realest niggaz

Marcy.. Brooklyn, N.Y.M.P. the realest, feel me



[Jay-Z]

Educated, thug mu-sic niggaz

This is Brooklyn, this is gangsta, this is project

Real shit, N.Y.M.P. the realest niggaz

Marcy, Brooklyn, stompin grounds

Fuck with me