🎵 Can I Live // by JAŸ-Z

154 ContributorsTranslationsFrançais Can I Live Lyrics Irv Gotti samples “The Look of Love” by Isaac Hayes as Jay asks a simple yet resonant question. A sequel was created with a feature from Memphis Bleek and was added as a bonus track to reissued versions of… Read More  [Produced by Irv Gotti] [Intro] Yeah, hah, yeah, Roc-A-Fella We invite you to somethin' epic, you know? Well, we hustle out of a sense of hopelessness Sort of a desperation Through that desperation, we become addicted Sort of like the fiends we accustomed to servin' But we feel we have nothin' to lose So, we offer you, well, we offer our lives, right? What do you bring to the table? [Verse 1] While I'm watchin' every nigga watchin' me closely My shit is butter for the bread, they wanna toast me I keep my head, both of them, where they supposed to be Hoes'll get you sidetracked, then clapped from close feet I don't sleep, I'm tired, I feel wired like codeine, these days A brother gotta admire me from four fiends away My pain, wish it was quick to see From sellin' 'caine 'til brains was fried to a fricassee Can't lie, at the time it never bothered me At the bar, gettin' my thug on properly My squad and me lack of respect for authority Laughin' hard, happy to be escapin' poverty, however brief I know this game got valleys and peaks Expectation for dips, for precipitation we stack chips, hardly The youth I used to be, soon to see a mill'in No more Big Willie, my game has grown Prefer you call me William Illin' for revenues, Rayful Edmond-like Channel 7 News, round seven jewels, head dead in the mic Forgettin' all I ever knew, convenient amnesia "I suggest you call my lawyer, I know the procedure." Lock my body, can't trap my mind Easily explain why we adapt to crime I'd rather die enormous than live dormant, that's how we on it Live at the main event, I bet a trip to Maui on it Presidential suites my residential for the weekend Confidentially speakin' in codes since I sense you peekin' The NSX rental, don't be fooled, my game is mental We both out of town, dog, what you tryin' to get into? Viva Las Vegas, see ya later at the crap tables Meet me by the one that starts a G up This way no Fraud Willies present gamblin' they re-up And we can have a pleasant time, sippin' margaritas [Chorus] Ge-ge-ge-yeahhh Can I live? Can I live? [Verse 2] My mind is infested with sick thoughts that circle Like a Lexus, if driven wrong it's sure to hurt you Dual level like duplexes, in unity My crew and me commit atrocities like we got immunity You guessed it, manifest it In tangible goods, platinum Rolex'd it We don't lease, we buy the whole car, as you should My confederation, dead a nation Explode on detonation, overload the mind of the said patient When it boils to steam, it comes to it We all fiends, gotta do it: even righteous minds go through this True this, the streets school us to spend our money foolish Bond with jewelers and watch for intruders I stepped it up another level, meditated like a Buddhist Recruited lieutenants with ludicrous dreams of gettin' cream "Let's do this," it gets tedious So I keep one eye open like CBS — you see me stressed, right? [Chorus] Can I live? Can I live? Can I live? Can I live? Ha-ha, Roc-a-Fella y'all