Define My Name

What defines my name?

What defines my name? (Nas)

N-A-S

What defines my name? (Nas)

N-A-S

What defines my name?

Name existed forever, means, "Victory helper"

Whole name means, "Protector", shortened it by two letters

Without the I-R at the end

The reincarnated Gil Scott, livin' in the bottle again

The World Cup in Moscow with a blonde who's a ten

Vape pen when I speak, it's like a lottery win

Quote my total, multi-mogul

So fly, I can walk in any spot, every box be soakin'

From a time when weed was stronger

Today's street's are calmer

They used to kill for shades, sneaks, and bombers

Uh, my name existed forever

Before Christians came into America, even better

When click sounds in their mouths was language for humans

With stick figures in caves, my name's written fluent

Nasty, like way before even Rome had a sewage

From fifty-thousand years ago, if I could choose its origin

Since there's nothing to gain by assuming

I'ma say the definition of my name, "The Truest"

I shocked 'em, like real bullets in prop guns

Creeped with baddies in sequin dresses who high strung

Fresh of the jet, you can see my vision, where I've come

How much time y'all got? Yo, Preem, let's drop somethin'

What defines my name?

What defines my name? (Nas)

N-A-S

What defines my name? (Nas)

N-A-S

What defines my name?

DNA of King James, kin of Saint Michael

Polygamous minded, seven wives on ridiculous timing

They always share the same title

That be the whiskey talk

That's foul like a stop-and-frisk, New York

At twenty, I said I better quit by thirty

Then by thirty, I thought by forty, rappin' is corny

How wrong was I?

Never woulda thought at fifty, new songs by Nas would be harder live

I leave 'em scared, like when they hear their name called but ain't nobody there

The definition of my name probably started where

I rode the E Train, fingers covered in ink stains

Writin' was like an escape, excited leave the beat flamed

It was Ra, Kane, Kool G, and Kris

Few names like Cool James, Face, Cube, and Rick

That was musically sick, successful and unnatural

I throw their songs in a cyanide capsule

The truth is poison to any fraud, demagogue

Rockin' suits at shows going against any odds

How could you hate me? I survived the 80s

The D's, the trauma, embalming fluid in laced weed

Inhale fumes from a stove of cook up to shows booked up

I chose to take the world over, look up

What defines my name?

What defines my name? (Nas)

N-A-S

What defines my name? (Nas)

N-A-S

What defines my name?

Ayo, thirty years later, Illmatic was dropped

Yet, man, what the fuck am I doing?

Ayo, Preem, chill, I got the rhymes, you got the beats

A'ight

Thirty years we back in streets, we back in the lab

A'ight then, let's go, Nas

It's time, it's album time, yeah

It's time?

It's time, Black, it's time

P-p-p-pow!

Premier album still gon' happen!