This Life Forever Lyrics
Blackhand Entertainment
Roc-A-Fella Records
In association with the streets
The Black Gangster
In conjunction with everything official
Yeah
[Verse 1]
I ride through the ghetto windows down halfway
Halfway out of my mind music on 9, blasting Donny Hathaway
Me and my niggas spending half the day
Plotting, how we gon' get this math today without getting blast away
I wake up to the same problems after today
Life is harsh, nigga got a right to spark
Right from the start, they place me in the ghetto, tender age of nine
My tender mind had to surrender to crime
Wouldn't wish this on nobody life to end up like mine
Ever since I was quite young a nigga been in a bind
Had to scratch for every plaque, even rap ain't all it's cracked up to be
Niggas don't stack up to me
Had to hustle in a world of trouble
Trapped in, claustrophobic, the only way out was rapping
America don't understand it, the demographics I tapped in
I'm the truest nigga to do this, nigga, and anything else is foolish
Like those who stay high, under God's grey skies
My lyrics is like Bible, made to save lives
In the midst of all your misery nigga, stay fly
Never let em see you frown, even smile when you down
Shit, I floss on my off-days, fuck what they all say
Niggas can't stop me with rumors, I'm too strong
All day, socks explode and sweatpants pockets is bulging
Holdin' it down on the corner with my block frozen
My spot is rolling, drop the price on the coke and
Drove the competition out and let the dough flow in
The cops is closing in, I can do the time
But what's really on my mind, there ain't no hoes in the pen
I play the low and try and make it hard to find me
Feds still tryna build a case since '93
I told them I'm retired, but they like whatever
You know them pigs don't wanna see you get your life together
I'm stuck in this life forever
The more things change the more they stay the same
Who am I to change the game?
You gotta move quick like heroin and cocaine
The block's hotter than its ever been
(Once again)
[Verse 2]
Hold the gun at eye level, I ain't afraid of conflict
I let the nine rip, nigga say "hi" to the devil
I blind with the bezel, I'm in line with the ghetto
What y'all niggas afraid of, my mind or the metal?
Niggas tryna subtract my life, my mathematics is precise
I carry the 9, so fucking with me just ain't the answer
I just can't lose when I was young I was like Fresh
Poppa raised me to chess moves
And though you're gone, I'm not bitter, you left me prepared
We got divided by the years, but I got it from here
Don't sweat that, sounds bump from Marcy to LeFrak
To that project in DC where my man caught his death at
Over my years I've seen Rooks get tooken by the Knight
Lose they Crown by tryna defend a Queen
Checkmate in 4 moves, the Bobby Fischer of rap with raw moves
In a time where we all move
Let's face it: either you're dough chasing or basing
Lacing, crack's got you feelin' strong like Mason
Careful, any infiltration, I'm leaving niggas
Leaking more than just information
I'm stuck in this life forever
The more things change the more they stay the same
Who am I to change the game?
You gotta move quick like heroin and cocaine
The block's hotter than its ever been
I'm stuck in this life forever
The more things change the more they stay the same
Who am I to change the game?
You gotta move quick like heroin and cocaine
The block's hotter than its ever been
[Outro]
Uh, real shit, huh
The Black Gangsta
Blackhand Entertainment
Roc-A-Fella
They'll never interrupt this thing of ours
Uhh, The Black Gangsta
Jigga, Hova
Roll with me now
About
“This Life Forever” is one of Jay-Z’s greatest Jay-Z musical efforts, sadly not known by the general public. It was recorded pre-Reasonable Doubt in 1995, but was left off his classic debut.
The track intimately details Hov’s street-level plotting, breaking down how he used to get paper before he made it big in the rap game. While the entire track is full of supreme wordplay and a double entendres, Jigga is in his best form on the second verse as he employs mathematical humor and manoeuvres within an extended chess metaphor that would make even GZA jealous.
The track was produced by the dark and gritty Queens producer Ty Fyffe, who came up under fellow Hov collaborator and the inventor of New Jack Swing, Teddy Riley. The beat samples Congress Alley’s 1973 track “Are You Looking.” Dr. Dre’s classic West Coast banger “Nuthin' But a G-Thang” also sampled this track.
While portions of the track first appeared in 1997 on a Roc-A-Fella Records promotional tape, “This Life Forever” had its official release in July 1999 on the soundtrack to Black Gangster, an unreleased film that was based on Donald Goines‘ 1972 blaxploitation novel.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
From Decoded:
This song is based on a real moment in my life. It was probably 1994 or 1995, the years before I released Reasonable Doubt, before I’d fully made a transition from one life to the next. I was riding in my white Lexus 300, a car that always caught people’s eyes when I’d park it outside of shows back then … That day, I was in the car with my nephews, who were teenagers then. I was listening to Donny Hathaway and moving slow, like ten miles an hour, just rolling around Fort Greene, Brooklyn. I was totally sober, but I felt my consciousness shifting. I looked around and suddenly everything was clear: girls younger than my nephews pushing babies in strollers, boys working the corners, old women wheeling wobbly shopping carts over cracked sidewalks. It was like a movie unfurling on my windshield with Donny Hathaway on the soundtrack. But it wasn’t a movie, it was my world. It fucked me up.
According to Kareem “Biggs” Burke, the first verse was recorded pre-Reasonable Doubt.
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