JAY-Z — Moment of Clarity

[Produced by Eminem and Luis Resto] [Intro] Woo! Geah, geah (Young) geah Uhh, turn the music up, turn the lights down I'm in my zone [Chorus] Thank God for granting me this moment of clarity This moment of honesty The world'll feel my truths All through my Hard Knock Lifetime, A Gift and a Curse I gave you Volume after Volume of my work So you can feel my truths I built the Dynasty by being one of the realest niggas out Way beyond a Reasonable Doubt Y'all can't fill my shoes From my Blueprint beginning to that Black Album ending Listen close, you'll hear what I'm about Nigga, feel my truths [Verse 1] Pop died, didn't cry, didn't know him that well Between him doing heroin and me doing crack sales Put that in the eggshell, standing at the tabernacle Rather the church, pretending to be hurt wouldn't work So a smirk was all on my face Like, "Damn, that man's face is just like my face" So pop, I forgive you for all the shit that I lived through It wasn't all your fault, homie, you got caught Into the same game I fought, that Uncle Ray lost My big brothers and so many others I saw I'm just glad we got to see each other Talk and re-meet each other Save a place in Heaven 'til the next time we meet forever! [Chorus] Thank God for granting me this moment of clarity This moment of honesty The world'll feel my truths All through my Hard Knock Lifetime, A Gift and a Curse I gave you Volume after Volume of my work So you can feel my truths I built the Dynasty by being one of the realest niggas out Way beyond a Reasonable Doubt Y'all can't fill my shoes From my Blueprint beginning to that Black Album ending Listen close, you'll hear what I'm about Nigga, feel my truths [Verse 2] Music business hate me ‘cause the industry ain't make me Hustlers and boosters embrace me and the music I be making I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars They criticized me for it, yet they all yell "holla" If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense But I did 5 mill' – I ain't been rhyming like Common since (Whoo) When your cents got that much in common And you been hustling since your inception Fuck perception! Go with what makes sense Since I know what I'm up against We as rappers must decide what's most important And I can't help the poor if I'm one of them So I got rich and gave back, to me that's the win/win So next time you see the homie and his rims spin Just know my mind is working just like them (rims, that is) [Chorus] Thank God for granting me this moment of clarity This moment of honesty The world'll feel my truths All through my Hard Knock Lifetime, A Gift and a Curse I gave you Volume after Volume of my work So you can feel my truths I built the Dynasty by being one of the realest niggas out Way beyond a Reasonable Doubt Y'all can't fill my shoes From my Blueprint beginning to that Black Album ending Listen close, you'll hear what I'm about Nigga, feel my truths [Verse 3] My homie Sig' was on a tier where no tears should fall ‘Cause he was on the block where no squares get off See, in my inner circle, all we do is ball 'Til we all got triangles on our wall Ain't just rapping for the platinum, y'all record I recall, ‘cause I really been there before Four scores and seven years ago, prepared the flow Prepared for war, I should fear no man You don't hear me though, these words ain't just 'pared to go In one ear, out the other ear, no! Yo, my balls and my word is alls I have What you gonna do to me, nigga? Scars will scab What, you gonna box me, homie? I can dodge a jab Three shots couldn't touch me, thank God for that I'm strong enough to carry Biggie Smalls on my back And the whole BK, nigga, holla back! [Chorus] Thank God for granting me this moment of clarity This moment of honesty The world'll feel my truths All through my Hard Knock Lifetime, A Gift and a Curse I gave you Volume after Volume of my work So you can feel my truths I built the Dynasty by being one of the realest niggas out Way beyond a Reasonable Doubt Y'all can't fill my shoes From my Blueprint beginning to that Black Album ending Listen close, you'll hear what I'm about Nigga, feel my truths