Intro

(album: American Gangster - 2007)

"Man I worked for one of the biggest companies in New York City
He didn't own his own company
White man owned it, so they owned him
Nobody owns me though."

(Your gangster is not defined)
Your gangster is not defined by how low your jeans fall by your waist, but more how your genes stand up to their expectations
"Never forgetting where we came from."
(Your gangster, your gangster)
Your gangster is not defined by how many rocks are in your watch
But rather how many rocks you move while owning watch
(Gangsters, hustlers, republicans, democrats, pimps and hoes)
Conservatives, labour
The seller, the buyer, the product, the producer
"See you are what you are in this world."
The gangster is absorbed and adored by those that don't understand the laws that govern the gangsterment
(Gangsterment, gangsterment)
Gangsterment allows you to make up your own laws
And create brand new words, gangster mentality
(Gangster mentality, an American way created by the white
Mastered by the black, and absorbed by the fiends
Taxed by the governmentality, governmentality (governmentality)
Charted by Forbes, if you believe in JAY-Z
Then you too can be a gangster) then you too can be a gangster
By any means necessary, by owning that dream
I mean it's a long walk to freedom
But, while deep, deep, deep inside the bush
(The war on terror screams, damn it feels good)
Damn it feels good to be a gangster, haha
(To be a gangster, swagger is not a must, it's a liability
A cliché, a bad suit, cut the bullshit
You know if it wasn't for this, there would be no that)
Which we call, the American Gangster