[Intro: Nas]
American born, American raised, American made

[Chorus: Nas]
My country shitted on me (My country)
She wants to get rid of me (Nah, never)
'Cause the things I seen (We know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (We seen too much)
My country shitted on me (My country)
She wants to get rid of me (Nah, never)
'Cause the things I seen (We know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (We seen too much)

[Verse 1: Nas]
Ayo, it's packed on this Rikers bus
The tightest cuffs is holdin' me shackled
The life of a thug caught in the devil's lasso
On the streets I was invincible
Cowards would duck at a glimpse if they knew
What my pistol would do, a fuckin' killer
Mother's a dope fiend embarrassin' me
All in front of my friends in the street, smile with no teeth
I never knew daddy, heard he had a '72 caddy
Died in a robbery, can't remember him, was probably three
Why didn't my folks just die in this society
Why wasn't I a child of a doctor who left stocks for me?
Two little brothers, two sisters, them shorties gots to eat
Mother's a junkie, she twisted, so all they got is me
I'm the provider, with goals to do much better than my father
Whether through drugs sold, or holdin' revolvers
Blurry visions of dad holdin' me high
It comes to me slowly, the words he would cry
[Chorus: Nas]
My country shitted on me (My country)
She wants to get rid of me (Nah, never)
'Cause the things I seen (We know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (We seen too much)
My country shitted on me (My country)
She wants to get rid of me (Nah, never)
'Cause the things I seen (We know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (We seen too much)

[Verse 2: Millennium Thug]
It is I that step up, me that don't give a fuck
You that foe, then it's all over soldier
Hummers and Ranges through the desert, fuck a twenty-inch
Long as we got gas and we got water
Troopers lookin' for manslaughter, I gotta get back
For what they owe, shoot 'em in the back for the get back
Lead through shit bag, hogtie, gag
Forget the life had, now we all rebels
Everything burnt down includin' the ghetto
We can see for miles, the land, it's major rubble
And debris from the Earth as we knew crumble
Yo, you could see the sea and the stars look closer to me
I'm a mad man, this is a real life movie, Mad Max
SKs, AKs max
ABR's spittin' and it ain't a rap
My mommy dearest pray for me hopin' I come back, but, yo
[Chorus: Nas]
My country shitted on me (My country)
She wants to get rid of me (Nah, never)
'Cause the things I seen (We know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (We seen too much)
My country shitted on me (My country)
She wants to get rid of me (Nah, never)
'Cause the things I seen (We know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (We seen too much)

[Verse 3: Nas & Millennium Thug]
Yo, I'm sittin' behind these prison walls
I got this pen and pad wishin' on a visit, God
Brothers is here for homicide and yo, it's some for rape
Some brothers innocent, I pray that I could just escape
How is the war, and, yo, I'm wishin' I was in your shoes
Holdin' machine guns, clean fun
Shootin' dudes with fatigues on
Anywhere is better than this
It's America's plan, every color of man inherits the shit
Yo, I'm startin to think it's all a scheme, nobody cares
I know the warden is readin' the scribe, but, yo, I swear
It's a billion dollar business, courts, lawyers and jails
We all slaves in the system, I'm 'bout to rebel

[Verse 4: Millennium Thug]
There's not a bitch in sight or a block bench
All-black gate, all-gray fence
Look who fucked it all up, Mr. President
I remember yesterday we was on the block gettin' bent
Now it's state of the art
I just saw the first dude I met here, his head came apart
What a bloody mess, a slug fest
I just buried eight of mine
At night I hear grown men cryin'
You know I'm spittin' mine, I ain't goin' out here
We gotta win, every time I hear the wind I think a slug went in
I'm checkin' my chest, holdin' my head
Catchin' my breath, watchin' my back
Smokin' this grass, beatin' my dick, thinkin' of ass
I don't know what they broadcast, the newsflash is fake
Every day I'm feelin' like you, I wanna escape
And if y'all n***as feelin' like me, y'all n***as just say
[Chorus: Nas]
My country shitted on me (My country)
She wants to get rid of me (Nah, never)
'Cause the things I seen (We know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (We seen too much)
My country shitted on me (My country)
She wants to get rid of me (Nah, never)
'Cause the things I seen (We know too much)
'Cause the things I seen ('Cause the things we seen)

[Outro: Nas]
This goes out to Che Guevara
A revolutionary destroyed by his country
Just trying to fight for what's real
This goes out to my n***a Malcolm El-Hajj Malik Shabazz
Just tryna to fight for what's real
This goes out to Martin
All about peace and destroyed by his own country
This goes out to everybody in the whole world
Just trying to fight for what's real
To Patrice Lumumba
Just trying to fight for what's real and destroyed by his own people
This goes out to my hood n***as
Coming up every day just trying to survive
The only way we know how
But see we know too much now, and we seen too much now
So ain't nothing gon' to stop us now
To my country
My country
My country
My country
My country
Yeah, my country