dope man

Lyrics

, millenium flow, serena altschul's here live outside the criminal courthouse, this is {bullshit} y'all, in new york city for the first day in the trial of, i'm gone, the state vs. shawn carter, a.k.a. jay-z, uhh, uh-huh-uh, uhh, uh-huh-uh, uhh, whatever the verdict in this trial may be, the effects will undoubtedly be felt worldwide, aiyyo, stand forward, 'fore you take notice, or witness to me killin the track, testify 'til me spillin the smack, now they got me for traffickin, racketeerin, audio crack, they call me dope man, dope man, i try to tell em i'm where hope, floats man, ghetto spokes-man, a broke man, approachin the bench with intent, to bury me under the cell, fingered me as the toast man, evidence stemmin from ninety-six, they say the world ain't recovered from his fix, while they was usin cut i was on some other shit, gave it to you raw and they just discovered it, nowaday, the jury got they brow raised, listenin to testimony about my foul ways, exhibit a: "reasonable doubt", they say this was the first thing that turned the peoples out, you can feel the tension building here, as an unprecedented number of people have turned out, for what may be the "trial of the century", how come, you label your brand of dope, "volume 1" and spread it through the slums?, fed it to the young with total disregard, your honor, the state seeks the maximum charge, and how could you, turn right around, and release a lethal dosage called "volume 2", and is true you operate the criminal enterprise, known as roc-a-fella in charge of his meteoric rise?, and do you deny you're responsible for the demise, of record execs, and do you object?, your distribution's polygram, and through your connects, def jam, you pushed over five million soundscan, and not to mention, your co-horts and henchmen, dame, biggs, lyor, kev' and russell simmons, and we ain't gon' talk about murder, inc. that just establishes a darker deeper criminal link, the state is seeking the maximum penalty, and with the overwhelming amount of evidence, the d.a.'s presented, things aren't looking good, despite the grim outlook at this point, the rapper has been known to emerge triumphant, in the face of adversity, jay-z is taking the stand, right hand on the bible, left hand in the air, before i spoke one word, made sure my throat was clear, a-hem, i'm a prisoner of circumstance, frail nigga, i couldn't much work with my hands, but my mind was strong, i grew where you hold your blacks up, trap us, expect us not to pick gats up, where you drop your cracks off by the mack trucks, destroy our dreams of lawyers and actors, keep us spiralin, goin backwards, at age nine, saw my first hate crime, blindfolded, expected to walk a straight line, mind molded, taught to love you and hate mine, climbed over it, at a early age, jay shined, fuck the system at lady justice i blaze nine, your honor, i no longer kill my people, i raise mine, the soul of mumia in this modern day time, while the jury is inside deliberating, outside the crowd is frozen with anticipation, well the verdict has just been announced: not guilty!, it is complete pandemonium out here!, people are cheering and hugging - there he is, jay-z is exiting the courtroom right now, there is a swarm of cameras surrounding him, and people are just rushing up to him, let's try and make our way over there, jay-z! jay-z!,