Not Going Back

[Intro: Nas and Kelis]
What nigga! What bitch-ass niggas! What!
Babe, babe, start the car!
(Nasir, come on, let's go!
Get in the car now, let's go! Throw it out, let's go!
Aight, aight, aight, yeah
But I got 'em. But I got 'em, though
(This is crazy, why didn't you just throw it out of the car?
This is so stupid, what are you doing?
Why are we even out here?
Why are we out here? What's going on?
This is retarded, yo, we gotta…
This is crazy. Never again
You'd throw everything away, for what?

[Verse 1: Nas]
Yeah, my man Kool G Rap told me, "Son, do not look back"
Chill up in the mansion with a fat glutious max, relax
When people act schoolin' with facts, tell 'em
At this point in my life I'm all about chillin'
Ridin' around in something sick and the dress flies
And twist, homie's hermano just died, I gotta let it ride
That's what I got the public thinkin', my nigga
Just ‘cause I ain't in the hood don't mean shit, my nigga
I know who died before the body dropped
I know the guns that were used
How much money the shooter got
‘Cause on the private yacht I'm still within earshot of it all
The top ten list of the most grimiest guys of all time
Is all we talk when we talk in New York, y'all
Who to call and who to stay away from
Whose mother's address to have just to play it safe, son
Women they lust up so quick to give 'em up
What cars and what trucks they drive in
What towns they spend the most time in when they grindin'
I found out most of them are cowards
They hidin' behind reputations that's sour; I'm not going back.

[Hook: Kelis and Nas]
The streets keep tryin' to say
Come back around this way
I've already gone that way
I won't go back today
I'm not going back![X2]

[Verse 2: Nas]
First thing that happen when you make a little paper
You think the Marriot is livin' in a skyscraper
Till you come across some ever more flyer paper
Realize that five-star tellies are even greater
Terry-cloth robes, elegance, movie shit
Heated-up marble floors with jacuzzis in it
First-class flights, diamonds in your crucifixes
All those things, you still ain't really doing shit, kid
‘Cause in reality, I'll earn my salary
The way I flaunted it then would now embarrass me
It kinda make me wanna hate bling
It's a race thing how they sell blacks to bootleg shit
In fact, real millionaires spend 60 mil on paintings
Whores charge niggas with raping
‘Cause we come out doors of Maybach cars
Watch us make bets on race tracks, smokin' cigars
So they counter the laws to take what's ours
'Bout 500K on a lawyer to beat the charge
So you can't stop us from making a billion dollars
Instead of going back, I'm buying the projects
But I'm not going back
The hood's in me forever y'all, but I'm not going back.

[Hook]

[Outro: Nas]
And of course y'all know what I'm not going back to
Those no friends of mine (And I'm not going back to)
Ten carat gold, it shine (And I'm never going back to)
Sony, if they don't have dough to sign
(Not going back to)
Y'all know that I'm not going back to
Those liars who would (Not going back to)
Not help you if they could (Not going back to)
Coke on the stove in the hood
Y'all should know that I'm not going back
The hood's in me forever y'all, but I'm not going back.

[Hook]