Artist: Nas
Song: It Ain't
Hard To Tell
Album: Illmatic.
1994
Corrections by:
Joe Berhan. Note: These corrections are focused on capturing the M.C.'s true
intentions. Although there are numerous errors in the lyrics entered in the
Hip Hop Archives, Joe has focused only on significant errors in word choice,
etc. 3/22/01
It ain't hard
to tell. I excel then prevail.
The mic is contacted,
I attract clientele.
My mic check is
life or death,
Breathin the sniper's
breath.
I exhale the yellow
smoke of Buddha through righteous steps,
Deep like The
Shinin', sparkle like a diamond
Sneak a uzi on
the island in my army jacket linin.
Hit the Earth
like a comet invasion.
Nas is like the
Afrocentric Asian, half-man, half-amazin.
Cause in my physical,
I can't express through song
Delete stress
like Motrin, then extend strong.
I drink Moet with
Medusa, give her shotguns in hell.
From the spliff
that I lift and inhale, it ain't hard to tell.
The buddha monk's
in your trunk, turn the bass up
Not stories by
Aesop, place your loot up, parties I shoot up
Nas'll analyze,
drop a jew-el.
Inhale from the
L, school a fool well, you feel it like braille
It ain't hard
to tell, I kick the skill like Shaquille holds a pill
Vocabulary spills
I'm Ill
plus Matic, I
freak beats slam it like Iron Shiek
Jam like a tech
with correct techniques.
So analyze me,
surprise me, but can't magnetize me.
Scannin while
you're plannin ways to sabatoge me,
I leave em froze
like heron in your nose.
Nas'll rock well,
it ain't hard to tell.
This rhythmatic
explosion, is what your frame of mind has chosen.
I'll leave your
brain stimulated; niggaz is frozen.
Speak with criminal
slang, begin like a violin;
End like Leviathan.
It's deep well; let me try again.
Wisdom be leakin
out my grapefruit troop.
I dominate break
loops, givin mics men-e-straul cycles.
Street's disciple,
I rock beats that's mega trifle
And groovy but
smoother than moves by Villanova.
You're still a
soldier, I'm like Sly-Stone in Cobra.
Packin like a
rasta in the weed spot
Vocals'll squeeze
glocks, MC's eavesdrop
Though they need
not to sneak.
My poetry's deep;
I never fell.
Nas's raps should
be locked in a cell.
It ain't hard
to tell