One Love

(album: Illmatic - 1994)

What up, kid? I know shit is rough doing your bid
When the cops came you shoulda slid to my crib
Fuck it, black, no time for looking back, it's done
Plus, congratulations, you know you got a son
I heard he looks like ya, why don't your lady write ya?
Told her she should visit, that's when she got hyper
Flipping, talking about he acts too rough
He didn't listen, he be riffing while I'm telling him stuff
I was like, "Yeah," shorty don't care, she a snake too
Fucking with them niggas from that fake crew that hate you
But yo, guess who got shot in the dome-piece?
Jerome's niece, on her way home from Jones Beach
It's bugged—plus little Rob is selling drugs on the dime
Hanging out with young thugs that all carry 9s
And night time is more trife than ever
What up with Cormega? Did you see him? Are y'all together?
If so, then hold the fort down, represent to the fullest
Say what's up to Herb, Ice and Bullet
I left a half a hundred in your commissary
You was my nigga when push came to shove
(One what?) One love!

One love, one love, one love, one love
One love, one love, one love, one love
One love, one love, one love, one love
One love, one love, one love, one love

Dear Born, you'll be out soon, stay strong
Out in New York the same shit is going on
The crackheads stalking, loudmouths is talking
Hold, check out the story yesterday when I was walking
That nigga you shot last year tried to appear
Like he hurting something
Word to mother, I heard him fronting
And he be pumping on your block
Your man gave him your Glock
And now they run together — what up, son? Whatever
Since I'm on the streets I'ma put it to a cease
But I heard you blew a nigga with a ox for the phone piece
Wilding on the Island, but now in Elmira
Better chill, 'cause them niggas will put that ass on fire
Last time you wrote you said they tried you in the showers
But maintain, when you come home the corner's ours
On the reals, all these crab niggas know the deal
When we start the revolution all they probably do is squeal
But chill, see you on the next V-I
I gave your mom dukes loot for kicks, plus sent you flicks
Your brother's buckwilding in 4-Main, he wrote me
He might beat his case, 'til he come home I'll play it lowkey
So stay civilized, time flies
Though incarcerated your mind dies
I hate it when your moms cries
It kinda makes me want to murder, for real
I even got a mask and gloves to bust slugs, but one love

One love, one love, one love, one love
One love, one love, one love, one love
One love, one love, one love, one love
One love, one love, one love, one love

Sometimes I sit back with a Buddha sack
Mind's in another world, thinking
"How can we exist through the facts?"
Written in school text books, bibles, et cetera
Fuck a school lecture, the lies get me vexed-er
So I be ghost from my projects
I take my pen and pad for the weekend
Hitting Ls while I'm sleeping
A two-day stay, you may say I need the time alone
To relax my dome, no phone, left the 9 at home
You see the streets had me stressed something terrible
Fucking with the corners have a nigga up in Bellevue
Or HDM, hit with numbers from eight to 10
A future in a maximum state pen is grim
So I comes back home, nobody's out but Shorty Doo-Wop
Rolling two phillies together, in the Bridge we call 'em "oo-wops"
He said: "Nas, niggas caught me busting off the roof
So I wear a bulletproof and pack a black tre-deuce."
He inhaled so deep, shut his eyes like he was sleep
Started coughing, one eye peeked to watch me speak
I sat back like The Mack, my army suit was black
We was chilling on these benches
Where he pumped his loose cracks
I took the L when he passed it, this little bastard
Keeps me blasted and starts talking mad shit
I had to school him, told him don't let niggas fool him
'Cause when the pistol blows
The one that's murdered be the cool one
Tough luck when niggas are struck, families fucked up
Coulda caught your man, but didn't look when you bucked up
Mistakes happen, so take heed, never bust up
At the crowd, catch him solo, make the right man bleed
Shorty's laugh was cold-blooded as he spoke so foul
Only 12, trying to tell me that he liked my style
Then I rose, wiping the blunt's ash from my clothes
Then froze, only to blow the herb smoke through my nose
And told my little man I'ma ghost, I broze
Left some jewels in his skull that he can sell if he chose
Words of wisdom from Nas: try to rise up above
Keep an eye out for Jake, Shorty Wop, one love

One love, one love, one love, one love
One love, one love, one love, one love
One love, one love, one love, one love
One love, one love, one love, one love

To all my niggas locked up
From Queensbridge and all over
To my man Goon [?], one love
To my man Herb, one love
To my man Lake Gucciano [?], one love
Can't forget my motherfucking heart, Big Bo [?], one love
To Oogie [?], yeah, one love