[Produced by RZA]

[Intro: Raekwon & Method Man]
What that n***a want, God?
Word up, look out for the cops though (Wu-Tang five finger shit, fam)
Cash rules-
Word up, two for fives over here, baby
Word up, two for fives, n***as got garbage down the way
Word up, know what I'm sayin'?
Cash rules everything around me, C.R.E.A.M. get-
Yeah, check this old fly shit out, word up
(Cash rules everything around me) Take you on a natural joint
(C.R.E.A.M. get the money)
(Dollar, dollar bill, y'all) Here we, here we go, check this shit, yo

[Verse 1: Raekwon]
I grew up on the crime side, the New York Times side
Stayin' alive was no jive
Had second hands, Mom's bounced on old man
So then we moved to Shaolin land
A young youth, yo, rockin' the gold tooth, 'Lo goose
Only way I begin the G off was drug loot
And let's start it like this, son
Rollin' with this one and that one, pullin' out gats for fun
But it was just a dream for the teen who was a fiend
Started smokin' woolies at 16
And runnin' up in gates and doin' hits for high stakes
Makin' my way on fire escapes
No question, I would speed for cracks and weed
The combination made my eyes bleed
No question, I would flow off and try to get the dough all
Stickin' up white boys in ball courts
My life got no better, same damn 'Lo sweater
Times is rough and tough like leather
Figured out I went the wrong route
So I got with a sick-ass clique and went all out
Catchin' keys from 'cross seas
Rollin' in MPV's, every week we made forty G's
Yo, n***a, respect mine, or here go the TEC-9
Ch-chick-pow! Move from the gate now
[Chorus: Method Man]
Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all
Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all

[Verse 2: Inspectah Deck]
It's been twenty-two long, hard years, I'm still strugglin'
Survival got me buggin', but I'm alive on arrival
I peep at the shape of the streets
And stay awake to the ways of the world 'cause shit is deep
A man with a dream with plans to make cream
Which failed; I went to jail at the age of fifteen
A young buck sellin' drugs and such, who never had much
Tryin' to get a clutch at what I could not—
The court played me short, now I face incarceration
Pacin', goin' upstate's my destination
Handcuffed in the back of a bus, forty of us
Life as a shorty shouldn't be so rough
But as the world turned, I learned life is hell
Livin' in the world no different from a cell
Every day I 'scape from Jakes givin' chase
Sellin' base, smokin' bones in the staircase
Though I don't know why I chose to smoke sess
I guess that's the time when I'm not depressed
But I'm still depressed, and I ask: What's it worth?
Ready to give up, so I seek the old Earth
Who explained workin' hard may help you maintain
To learn to overcome the heartaches and pain
We got stick-up kids, corrupt cops, and crack rocks and stray shots
All on the block that stays hot
Leave it up to me while I be livin' proof
To kick the truth to the young black youth
But shorty's runnin' wild, smokin' sess, drinkin' beer
And ain't tryna hear what I'm kickin' in his ear
Neglected for now, but yo, it gots to be accepted
That what? That life is hectic
[Chorus: Method Man & Inspectah Deck]
Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all
Cash rules everything around me (My n***as gots to do what they gotta do)
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all (To get through, know what I'm sayin'?)
Cash rules everything around me (Because you can't just get by no more)
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all (Word up, you gotta get over, straight up and down)
Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all

[Outro: Method Man]
Yeah, yeah
Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all
Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all
Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all
Cash rules everything around me
C.R.E.A.M., get the money
Dollar, dollar bill, y'all-all-all, yeah