[Verse One: AZ the Visualiza]   Visualizin the realism of life and actuality   Fuck who's the baddest a person's status depends on salary   And my mentality is, money orientated   I'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it   cause yeah, we were beginners in the hood as five percenters   But somethin must of got in us cause all of us turned to sinners   Now some, restin in peace and some are sittin in San Quentin   Others such as myself are tryin to carry on tradition   Keepin the schwepervesence street ghetto essence inside us   Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us   Even though, we know somehow we all gotta go   but as long as we leavin thievin we'll be leavin with some kind of dough   so, and to that day we expire and turn to vapors   me and my capers-ll be somewhere stackin plenty papers   Keepin it real, packin steel, gettin high   Cause life's a bitch and then you die      [Chorus: AZ the Visualiza]   Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we get high   Cause you never know when you're gonna go (Go!)   Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we puff lye   Cause you never know when you're gonna go (Go!)   Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we get high   Cause you never know when you're gonna go (Go!)   Life's a bitch and then you die; that's why we puff lye.....      "Time's is Illmatic" [x4]   "Destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it" 1x      "You gotta get the ground beneath your feet, partner   Get the wind behind your back   Go out in a blaze of glory if you've got to   Otherwise you ain't shit   You might as well be dead your damn self, y'all"      [Verse Two: Nas]   I woke up early on my born day, I'm twenty years of blessing   The essence of adolescent leaves my body now I'm fresh in   My physical frame is celebrated cause I made it   One quarter through life some God-ly like thing created   Got rhymes 365 days annual plus some   Load up the mic and bust one, cuss while I puffs from   my skull cause it's pain in my brain vein money maintain   Don't go against the grain simple and plain   When I was young at this I used to do my thing hard   Robbin' foreigners take they wallets they jewels and rip they green cards   Dipped to the projects flashin my quick cash   and got my first piece of ass smokin blunts with hash   Now I think about cash in abundance, niggaz I used to run with   is rich or doin years in the hundreds   I switched my motto -- instead of sayin fuck tomorrow   That buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto   Once I stood on the block, loose cracks produce stacks   I cooked up and cut small pieces to get my loot back   Time's is Illmatic keep static like wool fabric   Pack a four-matic that crack your whole cabbage      [Chorus]      Yeah, you know the flavor   Nas & AZ on the remix joint   This is another explosion from the Arsenal