Can I Live

Yeah, hah, yeah Roc-A-Fella

We invite you to, somethin epic y'all know?

Where we hustle out of a sense of hopelessness

Sort of a desperation

Through that desperation, we 'come addicted

Sorta like the fiends we accustomed to servin

But we feel we have nothin to lose

So we offer you, well, we offer our lives,

What do you bring to the table?

While I'm watchin every nigga watchin me closely

My shit is butter for the bread they wanna toast me

I keep my head, both of them where they supposed to be

Hoes'll get you sidetracked then clapped from close feet

I don't sleep, I'm tired, I feel wired like codeine, these days

A brother gotta admire me from four fiends away

My pain wish it was quick to see, from sellin 'caine

Til brains was fried to a fricaisse, can't lie

At the time it never bothered me, at the bar

Gettin my thug on properly, my squad and me

Lack of respect for authority, laughin hard

Happy to be escapin poverty, however brief

I know this game got valleys and peaks, expectation

For dips, for precipitation we stack chips, hardly

The youth I used to be, soon to see a mill' in

No more, Big Willie my game has grown prefer you call me William

Illin for revenues, Rayful Edmonds like

Channel 7 news, round seven jewels, hand gettin the mic

Forgettin all I ever knew, convenient amnesia

I suggest you call my lawyer, I know the procedure

Lock my body can't trap my mind, easily

Explain why we adapt to crime

I'd rather die enormous than live dormant that's how we on it

Live at the main event, I bet a trip to Maui on it

Presidential suites my residential for the weekend

Confidentially speakin in codes since I sense you peekin

The NSX rental, don't be fooled my game is mental

We both ride our town dog, what you tryin to get into?

Viva, Las Vegas, see ya, later at the crap tables

Meet me by the one that starts a G up

This way no fraud Willie's present gambling they re-up

And we can have a pleasant time, sippin margaritas

Ge-ge-geyeahhh, can I live?

Can I live?

My mind is infested, with sick thoughts that circle

Like a Lexus, if driven wrong it's sure to hurt you

Dual level like duplexes, in unity, my crew and me

Commit atrocities like we got immunity

You guessed it, manifest it intangible goods

Platinum Rolexed it, we don't lease

We buy the whole car, as you should

My confederation, dead a nation, EXPLODE

On detonation, overload the mind of a said patient

When it boils to steam, it comes to it

We all fiends gotta do it, even righteous minds go through this

True this, the streets school us to spend our money foolish

Bond with jewelers and, watch for intruders

I stepped it up another level, meditated like a buddhist

Recruited lieutenants with ludicrous, dreams of

Gettin cream let's do this, it gets te-di-ous

So I keep one eye open like, C-B-S, ya see me

Stressed right? Can I live?

Can I live?

Can I live?

Can I live?

Ha-hah, Roc-A-Fella y'all