Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) Lyrics

[Chorus]
It's the hard knock life for us
It's the hard knock life for us
Instead of treated, we get tricked
Instead of kisses, we get kicked
It's the hard knock life!


[Verse 2]
I flow for those 'dro'ed out
All my niggas locked down in the 10 by four, controllin' the house

We live in hard knocks
We don't take over, we borrow blocks
Burn 'em down and you can have it back
Daddy, I'd rather that

I flow for chicks wishin', they ain't have to strip to pay tuition
I see your vision, mama
I put my money on the longshots
All my ballers that's born to clock
Know I'ma be on top whether I perform or not

I went from lukewarm to hot
Sleepin' on futons and cots to King Size
Green machines, to green 5's
I've seen pies, let the thing between my eyes analyze life's ills
Then I put it down type Braille
I'm tight grill with the phony
Rappers, y'all might feel we homies
I'm like, "Still, y'all don't know me."
Shit, I'm tight grill when my situation ain't improvin'
I'm tryna murder everything movin' – feel me?

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About

Genius Annotation

The song that made Jay-Z a superstar. Famously sampling “It’s a Hard Knock Life” from the Annie movie (1982), Jay raps about his rags-to-riches story (it’s slightly different than Annie’s). Jay-Z transposes this into a song about how he overcame life in the ghetto to achieve massive success

Jay, via Vibe:

[One of my sister’s names is Andrea], but we call her Annie. That’s how the Annie sample came about. When I seen that on TV, I was like, ‘Annie?’ And then, I watched the movie. […] Any person that goes from ashy to classy or, you know, is from the orphanage or the projects—it’s pretty similar.

As detailed in Decoded, to clear the ‘Annie’ sample, Jay wrote a letter to the song’s copyright holders, telling them that he’d seen the musical on Broadway as a child and written a competition-winning essay on it at school.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Does this track have any famous fans?
Genius Answer

In 2001, shortly after he had brought the King of Pop out at Hot 97’s “Summer Jam” festival, Jay revealed to MTV that Michael Jackson had told him he was a huge fan of “Hard Knock Life:”

We was talking about doing a song—I did a remix on his album for ‘Rock Your World'—so we would talk on the phone. He was talking about 'Hard Knock Life’ one day, [and] I’m looking at the phone like, ‘That’s so bugged out!’ [He told me,] ‘I mean the rhythm, the way you was rhyming on there was so in the pocket.’

What has Jay said about the track?
Genius Answer

Any artist should be able to touch any type of music, as long as it’s done in a way that feels natural. If you’re not doing it solely for the intention of selling records. There are plenty of records that came to me with big hooks, and I was like ‘I can’t do that.’ I’d know the record could be big but it didn’t fit me. The Annie sample fit me. It was from another world, but it had an underlying theme that connected. Being an underdog, always getting kicked in the face, shunned by society—it all relates to me and a huge group of people I was speaking to. I was also saying, I’m never gonna make a record like ‘Sunshine’ again. I’m not coming to y'all. I’m making great albums every year, and you can’t deny me. You’re gonna come to me.

How did this song perform on the charts?
Genius Answer

The song peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week of March 28, 1999. It charted for a total of 22 weeks.

Credits
Recording Engineer
Distributor
Phonographic Copyright ℗
Mixing Engineer
Recorded At
The Hit Factory
Release Date
September 29, 1998
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