[00:00.700][Spoken: Nas]
[00:00.700]Thank you, for giving me 20 years
[00:06.450]Thank you, thank you
[00:10.340]So, we now conclude with the final song of Illmatic
[00:17.750]This one is the end of the cassette
[00:23.380]It was just 9 songs
[00:28.510]Yeah, this song right here, I got you though
[00:35.680]This one my joint 'cause I'm a big Michael Jackson fan and he
[00:41.350]I'll tell you something that I never said
[00:44.530]For my album cover, you see me with the afro, that was kinda inspired by Michael Jackson,
[00:48.370]The little, the little kid picture, right?
[00:50.570]So, I never told that anyone before
[00:55.440]So, this is uhh, "It Ain't Hard To Tell"
[01:00.670]The sample's from "Human Nature"
[01:13.850]Yeah, I see y'all right here
[01:26.500]Yeah
[01:28.400][Verse 1: Nas]
[01:28.800]It ain't hard to tell
[01:30.140]The mic is contacted
[01:34.750]My mic check is life or death, breathin' a sniper's breath
[01:37.930]I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps
[01:39.770]Deep like The Shining, sparkle like a diamond
[01:42.110]Sneak a Uzi on the island in my
[01:44.750]Hit the Earth like a comet—invasion!
[01:46.740]Nas is like the
[01:50.150]‘Cause in my physical I can express through song
[01:52.340]Delete stress like Motrin, then extend strong
[01:54.840]I drink Mo?t with Medusa, give her shotguns in Hell
[01:57.620]From the spliff that I lift and inhale; it ain't hard to tell
[02:02.590]Whoa, whoa, whoa
[02:10.070]It ain't hard to tell
[02:14.340][Interlude: Nas]
[02:14.650]Some of y'all was like 5 years old when this album came out
[02:20.710][Verse 2: Nas]
[02:20.920]The buddha monk's in your trunk, turn the bass up
[02:22.600]Not stories by Aesop
[02:23.850]Place your loot up, parties I shoot up
[02:26.150]Nas, I analyze, drop a jew-el, inhale from the L
[02:29.040]School a fool well, you feel it like Braille
[02:30.920]It ain't hard to tell, I kick a skill, like Shaquille holds a pill
[02:34.310]Vocabulary spills, I'm Ill plus Matic
[02:36.700]I freak beats, slam it, like Iron Sheik
[02:39.290]Jam like a TEC with correct techniques
[02:42.770]So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me
[02:44.310]Scannin' while you're plannin' ways to sabotage me
[02:47.010]I leave 'em froze, like ****** in your nose
[02:49.240]Nas will rock well; it ain't hard to tell
[02:51.870]Yeah, yeah
[03:00.990][Interlude: Nas]
[03:01.190]If you was there with me in '94, make some noise
[03:07.260]I love you for that
[03:11.540][Verse 3: Nas]
[03:11.740]This rhythmatic explosion
[03:13.140]Is what your frame of mind has chosen
[03:14.870]I'll leave your brain stimulated, ****** is frozen
[03:17.370]Speak with criminal slang, begin like a violin
[03:19.960]End like Leviathan, it's deep; well, let me try again
[03:23.050]Wisdom be leakin' out my grapefruit, troop
[03:24.940]I dominate break loops, givin' mics men-e-strual cycles
[03:27.770]Street's disciple, I rock beats that's mega trifle
[03:30.310]And groove even smoother than moves by Villanova
[03:32.950]You're still a soldier, I'm like Sly Stone in Cobra
[03:35.590]Packin' like a Rasta in the **** spot
[03:37.680]Vocals will squeeze Glocks
[03:38.920]MCs eavesdrop, though they need not to sneak
[03:41.260]My poetry's deep, I never fell
[03:43.150]Nas' raps should be locked in a cell; it ain't hard to tell
[03:50.520]It ain't hard to tell
[03:55.650]It ain't hard to tell
[04:00.030][Nas]
[04:00.290]20 years, yes
[04:04.310]Special thanks to everyone up in here
[04:05.960]I thank you from the bottom of my brave heart
[04:32.410][Spoken: Nas]
[04:32.620]Thank you, special thank you to The National Symphony Orchestra
[04:47.250]Thank you to my man Tim Davis
[04:52.230][?]
[04:55.920]He's also the composer, bass, and orchestrations
[05:01.390]Derrick Harsh
[05:04.320]Travis Sells
[05:09.900]DJ Green Lantern
[05:19.050]Please make some noise for my man, the composer Steven
[05:23.600]Ryan Hakim
[05:28.280]One more time, National Symphony Orchestra
[05:34.630]We thank you from the bottom of our brave hearts
[05:38.410]For keeping it Illmatic with me through the years
[05:42.290]Thank you for looking beautiful tonight
[05:45.280]I love you forever man, stay real