(feat. Masta Ace)



[phone rings]



[Verse 1]

What up son? I just called up to put you on

Out in New York the same shit is going on

Cops stil bustin' there cats for no reason

Whether in the summer or forty bellow season

Yellow cab's stil don't stop for black faces

Fiends stil runnin' the block in crack races

No more Union Square or Lang Corner

club's now, change everyday like battin order

As far as hip hop out here, you might figure

that every young cat wanna rap just like Jigga

I be richer than Shaquille O'Neal

if I had a dollar for every cat

with a deal that I don't feel

Labels run to sign these dudes, like track meets

I can't barely find my binal with Fat Beats

I'm desperate, I'm thinkin' bout calling Nelly up

ever since J called I went belly up



(What?!)



Oh, I ain't tell you bout the label ??



(Nah)



Yo... they phony.



(Yo what happened man?)



[Verse 2]

I'ma tell you kid, hold it

Long story so I hope you got time

I never got the hear my song on Hot'9

Guess I should have a little more bling on it

maybe I should have got Ashanti to sing on it

My bad to take me so long to get with ya

I'm out here looking for ways to get richer

Some nights I lay awake for ten hours

ever since that shit went down with the twin towers

I really bin' thinkin' bout taking a year off

my bad, I don't mean to talk your ear off

What's up with you?



[Chorus]

I just figured I'll give you a call

see what's going on and how you been and all

Everything is cool, just doing my thing

next time I'm home I'll give you a ring



(I'm in the crib...)

(I'm in the crib with a phone to my ear..)



[Verse 3]

Aiyyo wait, so glad you called us

it's been a minute since we last spoke

I keep in track, I saw your record on the rack do.

Men I'm just trying to stay aflood, doing the backstroke

it's moving mad slow but it's time for cash flow

I got a situation doggerty to quick solution

I got an album droppin'and I need some distribution

The times I think of blowing up, it's just a big illusion

I try to learn it but the business sides has been confusing

It's like J called, I ain't try to stay poor

I want a lot of things

that I ain't had the time to wait for

Like Hot 97, it's sad but it's mad funny

Here, all they play is Ja Rule and Cash Money

And gear is not poppin' it off



(What's you mean??)



[Verse 4]

You wanna cop something hot, you got to shop at the mall

And that's the shit y'all was rocking last fall

is that small??

Men I had to quit like last fall

It's a bitch going to class and working a full week

Then at night I do the label thing I'm barely getting sleep

But I stil gotta eat, so instead of rocking beats

I'm what busy laying low, getting do up in these streets

It's nothing mayor I'll explain a little later

a couple little hustles just to get a little paper

And this is from the hearth cause we fam like soul food

You all don't need to take a brake that's what the game owns you

That thing about the state of hip/hop is so true

An artist that ain't payed no dues will go to

This fake gangsta image in rap is runnin' rampin'

Men let me calm down before I get off on detention

Yo I gotta bounce I gotta pick Junior Dredd up

Do your thing man and don't forget keep your head up..



(Aight.. on three..)



[Chorus]

I just figured I'll give you a call

see what's going on and how you been and all

Everything is cool, just doing my thing

next time I'm home I'll give you a ring