[Nas] Uhh.. Uh.. speak without thinkin.. Speak without speakin.. huh.. Feel without reachin uhh That's what it's about It's about that inner inner love yaknawmean? Chorus: Nas God love us hood niggaz (I know) Cause next to Jesus on the cross was the crook niggaz (I know) And the killers God love us good niggaz (I know) Cause on the streets is the hood niggaz uhh And I know he feel us uhh God love us hood niggaz (I know) Cause he be wit us in the prisons And he takes time to listen, uhh God love us hood niggaz (I know) Cause next to Jesus on the cross was the crook niggaz, uhh But he forgive us [Nas] He who has ears, let him hear And he who has sight, let him see He who has life, let him be See everything goes through change Those who know don't talk And those who talk don't know a thing Men are born soft and turn tough Dead lay a stiffened heart, I've been kissed by God I've been hurt, I've been marked for death, almost ripped apart By the beast but he missed his mark Alone in the dark my thoughts had sparked up When I saw my body on the floor, from above I watch it all Yo it came to me, the pain in me Many slain empty skulls where a brain should be It strangely seemed, like it was a dream But the si-rens had never woke me Only reason I'm here now is cause God chose me And to me, I'm only just a crook nigga But God love us hood niggaz Chorus [Nas] Day by day by day I sit back and pray My thugs get packed away, in a maxi-cage They pass away, they went off the casket way My gats will spray, but that won't bring em back today So long my crimies now gone for eternity The team we got left on the set, now turn to me Can't speak, tears in my eyes, revenge in my mind I ride past the church where they got his body and find They takin him to the hearse to put his body in dirt That's it, pay my respects, wipe my tears with my shirt Now it's time to do work, out of love and retribution As loyalty, he would die for me, no excuses Loadin clips up, countin bullets carefully For self, though it feels like, he was there for me Saw the enemy, I ate him, saw Jakes behind me They ain't knock me, it's obvious that God's watchin me Chorus [Nas] Jealousy in the hood, felonies in the hood Thugs wit guns become celebrities in the hood Yo it's beef in the hood, smoke trees in the hood Little girls have seeds by O.G.'s in the hood It's food in the hood, it's drugs in the hood You can choose if you would, coke to sniff Dope to ooze in your blood, parolees Ex-cons live in the hood, it's jobs in the hood You can starve in the hood Your best friends'll fuck your baby moms in the hood But it's good in the hood I was raised in the hood Was taught how to walk and duck strays in the hood I stays in the hood Got my ways in the hood Learned to play ball closer to NBA, in the hood There's AIDS (uh) in the hood (WHAT?) Our lives are the worst, on top of that, we broke That's the main reason why God, love us the most Chorus 2X