“Vol.Chorus It's the hard knock life for us It's the hard knock life for us Instead of treated we get tricked Instead of kisses we get kicked It's the hard knock life Talking: Check the bassline out, uh huh Jigga uh huh uh huh uh huh yeah, let it bump though Chorus It's the hard knock life for us It's the hard knock life for us Instead of treated we get tricked Instead of kisses we get kicked It's the hard knock life >From standin' on the corners boppin' to drivin' some of the hottest cars New York has ever seen, for droppin' some of the hottest verses rappers ever heard, For the dope spot with the smoke lot bringin' the murder scene, You know me well from nightmares of a lonely cell my only hell But since when y'all niggas know me to fail? Fuck naw Where all my niggas with the rubber grips or shots? And if you with me mama rub on ya tits & what not I'm from the school of the hard knocks you must not let outsiders violate our blocks & my plot is stick up the world and split it 50/50 uh huh let's take the dough & stay real tricky uh huh let's sip the Crist & get pissy pissy flow infinitely like the memory of my nigga Biggie (Baby) You know it's hell when I come through The Life & Times of Shawn Carter nigga Volume 2 Y'all niggas get ready (chorus comes in) Chorus It's the hard knock life for us It's the hard knock life for us Instead of treated we get tricked Instead of kisses we get kicked It's the hard knock life I flow for those throwed out all my niggas locked down in a 10 by 4 controllin' the house we livin' hard knocks we don't take over we borrow blocks burn 'em down & you can have it back daddy I'd rather that I flow for chicks wishin' they didn't have to strip to pay tuition I see ya vision mama I put my money on the long shots all my ballers that's born to clock Noone would be on top whether I perform or not I went from lukewarm to hot sleepin' off of ? & cots to king size bring machines to breathe fire decieve pies let the thang between my eyes analyze life's ills then I put it down type real (it's a hard knock life) I'm tight grill with the phony. We went from my office to the studio, we made four records … From there, the body of the album was in place. I was like, ‘Where’s the guy that’s making all of those songs?’ He came in, he played those songs. I wanted Dame Grease, ‘cause he was workin’ on the DMX album It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot. 2 his 4th best album, beating out American Gangster. The bonus track “Money Ain’t A Thang” was a massive hit for Jermaine Dupri, appearing on his record Life in 1472. The opening track: “Intro – Hand It Down” is performed entirely by Pain In Da Ass and Memphis Bleek, and we see the first example of a young Beanie Sigel, appearing on the huge posse cut “Reservoir Dogs” with both Sauce Money and The LOX. Production is once again handled by DJ Premier, but new heads like Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Irv Gotti are utilised, alongside Jay’s longtime mentor Jaz-O. Jay-Z transposes this into a song about how he overcame life in the ghetto to achieve massive success, something that would be a common theme in his raps. Stylistically, it’s a shift back towards Reasonable Doubt, and ironically, despite the heavy radio airplay that the first two singles received, Jay steers clear of trying to make a true radio hit. The track made it to number 15 on the US Billboard Charts, although it was lead single “Can I Get A…” that won Jay a spot atop the US Billboard 200 album charts. 2 to the dizzying heights of 5 million record sales by the year 2000.
The album spawned his biggest hit so far, “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” which propelled Vol. Jay’s 3rd studio album, released September 29, 1998, less than a year after his sophomore record.
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