Yeah, it's Illmatic (yeah)
 It's Illmatic (yeah!)
 It's Illmatic, huh
 (yeah kick that shit)

 [LP]  One time 4 your mind, one time
 [Nas] Yeah whatever
 [LP]  One time 4 your mind, one time
 [Nas] Yo whatever
 [LP]  One time 4 your mind, one time
 Aiyyo Nas (whattup Paul) kick that fuckin rhyme

 Verse One: Nas

 Check it out
 When I'm chillin, I grab the buddha, get my crew to buy beers
 And watch a flick, illin and root for the villian, huh
 Plus every morning, I go out and love it sort of chilly
 Then I send a shorty from my block to the store for Phillies
 After being blessed by the herb's essence
 I'm back to my rest, ten minutes some odd seconds
 That's where I got the honey at, spends the night for sexing
 Cheap lubrication, Lifestyle protection
 Picking up my stereo's remote control quickly
 Ron G's in the cassette deck, rockin the shit, G
 I try to stay mellow, rock, well acapella rhymes'll
 make me richer than a slipper made Cinderella fella
 Go get your crew, Hobbes, I'm prepared to bomb troops
 Got niggaz who's born, I shot my way out my Mom Dukes
 When I was ten, I was a hip-hoppin shorty wop
 Known for rocking microphones and twisting off a 40 top, yeah

 Chorus: Nas and Large Professor

 [LP]  One time 4 your mind, one time
 [Nas] Yeah whatever
 [LP]  One time 4 your mind, one time
 [Nas] It sound clever
 [LP]  Hey yo Nas, fuck that, man that shit was fat
 But kick that for them gangstas man, fuck all that

 Verse Two: Nas

 Right, right, what up niggaz, how y'all, it's Nasty the villian
 I'm still writin rhymes but besides that I'm chillin
 I'm trying to get this money, God, you know the hard times, kid
 Shit, cold be starvin make you wanna do crimes kid
 But I'ma lamp, cuz a crime couldn't beat a rhyme
 Niggaz catching 3 to 9's, Muslims yelling free the mind
 And I'm from Queensbridge, been to many places
 as a kid when I would say that out of town, niggaz chased us
 But now I know the time, got a older mind
 Plus control a nine, fine, see now I represent mine
 I'm new on the rap scene, brothers never heard of me
 Yet I'm a meance, yo, police wanna murder me
 Heine(ken) Dark drinker, represent the thinker
 My pen rides the paper, it even has blinkers
 Think I'll dim the lights then inhale, it stimulates
 Floating like I'm on the North 95 Interstate
 Never plan to stop, when I write my hand is hot
 And expand alot from the Wiz to Camelot
 The parlayer, I'll make ya heads bop Pah
 I shine a light on perpetrators like a cop's car
 From day to night, I play the mic and you'll thank God
 I wreck shit so much, the microphone'll need a paint job
 My brain is incarcerated
 Live at any jam, I couldn't count all the parks I raided
 I hold a Mac-11, and attack the Reverand
 I contact 11 L's and max in heaven

 Outro: Nas, Large Professor, and ?

 [LP]  Yo, one time 4 your mind, one time
 [?] It sound clever
 [LP]  But one time 4 your mind, one time
 [Nas] Yeah whatever
 [LP]  One time 4 your mind, one time
 [Nas] Yo, from ninety-two to ninety-nine
 [?]   Yeah that shit was greasy fat Paul, knowhatI'msayin?
 But check it, you gotta another verse for me
 I want you to kick it, youknowhatI'msayin?
 Kick that shit from the projects