[00:00:00] Hold Down The Block - Nas (奈斯) [00:00:10] I gotta lay down the block [00:00:13] When the block is hot [00:00:15] I gotta use my imagination [00:00:17] To change the situation [00:00:20] I gotta lay down the block [00:00:23] When the block is hot [00:00:25] I gotta use my imagination [00:00:28] To change the situation [00:00:30] Yea Feds feast on street dons [00:00:32] Look at their teeth showin' [00:00:34] Salivatin' at the mouth [00:00:35] South to East Orange [00:00:36] Keep pourin' that liquor [00:00:38] But ni**a don't sleep on it [00:00:39] You'll be givin' up your Jesus piece [00:00:40] To your peeps to pawn it [00:00:41] For legal fees in the penal dorm [00:00:43] Screamin' on the horn with 'bout [00:00:45] Thirty years on your conscience [00:00:46] I'm watchin' brothers disappear [00:00:48] It's appallin' [00:00:49] Some dudes had just only a year of ballin' [00:00:51] Counter-intelligence [00:00:53] Found a strange evidence [00:00:54] (When the block is hot) [00:00:55] Still we behind the wheel with heat on us [00:00:56] Hangin' with predicates [00:00:58] Position we placed in caves in [00:00:59] So they got us caged in [00:01:00] Ways spinnin' like Mike Bivens [00:01:02] From New Edition aging [00:01:03] I got families I'm feeding ' [00:01:05] Cause my mans is bleeding [00:01:06] Every five seconds look in all directions [00:01:08] I come through prepared; [00:01:10] I give 'em a call [00:01:11] I'm close bring them guns downstairs [00:01:12] I gotta lay down the block [00:01:14] When the block is hot [00:01:17] I gotta use my imagination [00:01:19] To change the situation [00:01:22] I gotta lay down the block [00:01:25] When the block is hot (hold it down) [00:01:28] I gotta use my imagination [00:01:30] To change the situation [00:01:32] Uh uh it's beef week [00:01:34] Monday murder [00:01:35] Two niggaz dead Tuesday [00:01:36] Wednesday and Thursday is hearse-day [00:01:38] Friday somebody-gotta-die-day [00:01:40] Saturday put the gat away [00:01:42] Chillin' wit your chick and a bag of haze [00:01:44] Wonderin' how it's all gon' end [00:01:46] And what type of way [00:01:47] 'Cause Sunday back to gunplay [00:01:49] Mo' sh*t start over nothin' [00:01:51] And get finished quick 'cause [00:01:52] The art of repercussion [00:01:54] Yeah I seen it a G' going out indecent [00:01:56] Takin' a plea agreement [00:01:58] Thinkin' he secret [00:01:59] Escape the crime scene [00:02:00] Now you live straight like 9:15 [00:02:02] Then one-time intervene [00:02:04] My man ain't like me sayin' [00:02:05] I don't care if I die [00:02:06] But the SIG Sauer on me now [00:02:08] I'm scared to die [00:02:09] You thinkin' the one [00:02:10] I send to clap you be a shorty [00:02:11] But he old school holdin' a 38 [00:02:13] He in his forties [00:02:14] I gotta lay down the block [00:02:17] When the block is hot [00:02:19] I gotta use my imagination [00:02:22] To change the situation [00:02:25] I gotta lay down the block [00:02:27] When the block is hot [00:02:29] I gotta use my imagination [00:02:32] To change the situation [00:02:35] (I gotta ) Anytime brothers [00:02:36] Can't get jobs then they rob [00:02:38] A man rather die than [00:02:39] Live on his knees and starve [00:02:41] Cops steady askin' your man what happened [00:02:43] First he tell then he stop [00:02:44] Like he not really rattin' [00:02:46] Guess he not really [00:02:46] In that casket from a sawed-off [00:02:49] Listen [00:02:49] Peep game from the brain of an all-star [00:02:51] The rain hurt niggaz bones who been shot [00:02:53] Metal pins in their leg [00:02:55] They walk with a limp-hop [00:02:56] The streets lie [00:02:57] So you better be cautious [00:02:59] Your man'll fry you plus [00:03:00] Everybody talkin' [00:03:02] A vet a General [00:03:03] Don't step where I walked in [00:03:04] Make your own path [00:03:05] Be a legend in your skin [00:03:07] Make your own cash [00:03:07] Don't stress what I'm forcin' [00:03:09] Don't expect more [00:03:09] When you put in less work than all them [00:03:12] Queensbridge projects has taught him