Nas — Cops Keep Firing

[Hook: Nas sample & Jay-Z sample] Cops keep firing, in my environment Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls Cops keep firing, in my environment Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls (Green Lantern!) Cops keep firing, in my environment Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls I’d like to see them fall, guilty for doing raw Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls [Verse 1: Nas] Now all you hypocrites, witness the injustice Conversations taped illegally, then they cuff us U.S. attorneys, public defenders send us off to hard prison time Whether you innocent or did the crime Say you come from Hooters, cops pursue you hard Run your place, put guns in your face Put you in the car for nothing (Green Lantern!) Now you struggling, tied up, standing in line-ups Call your lawyer, they charge you for murder Why? ‘Cause these liars Say you shot another man in his driveway Guilty, just for being Black on a Friday Polygraph test, you’re failing, because you’re nervous Charged with murder you didn’t commit, then they serve ya Fifteen years, maximum security Slashing, stab wounds, broken bone, injuries You were placed there intentionally Either you bang or you miss me Listen to me, this is true! [Hook: Nas sample & Jay-Z sample] Cops keep firing, in my environment Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls Cops keep firing, in my environment Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls Cops keep firing, in my environment Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls I’d like to see them fall, guilty for doing raw Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls [Verse 2: Nas] Death sentences is cold as see-your-own-breath temperatures (Invasion!) When your old life and the ten-point program didn’t mix Panthers, founded October ’66 Next year, police arrest the Minister of Defense Newton, for shooting and killing a pig in Oakland “Free Huey, the sky’s the limit!” became the slogan Jail bars open, then Huey told ‘em: “Let my brothers free with me and slam the jail bars closed then” I go then to say today, “Where are those men?” Slaughtered by COINTELPRO and coke, and Heroin, this era we in, we think we chilling In our Harry Winston, in our high-priced clothing Some of these P.D.s is tired of us They got they orders from they higher-ups to line us up From age and up, then they fire on us The inconvenient truth got them lying to us The Evil Genius! [Hook: Nas sample & Jay-Z sample] Cops keep firing, in my environment Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls Cops keep firing, in my environment Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls Cops keep firing, in my environment Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls I’d like to see them fall, guilty for doing raw Middle finger to the law, nigga, gripping my balls [Outro: Nas & Paul Mooney sample] You still wanna be a nigga too? White folks shouldn’t’ve made up “nigga,” I didn’t make it up. It’s too bad. I say “nigga” a hundred times every morning. It makes my teeth white. “Nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga.” I ain’t scared of that word