Money, Cash, Hoes Lyrics

[Produced by Swizz Beatz]

[Intro: Jay-Z & DMX]
Turn the lights all the—turn the lights all the way down (Yeah)
What? (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Uh-huh, yeah (Uh)
C'mon, uh-huh, such a deep flow (Grrr…)
C'mon, yeah, c'mon, yo, yo

[Verse 1: Jay-Z]
J-A-Y, I flow sick (Uh)
Fuck all y'all haters, blow dick
I spits the game for those that throw bricks
Money, cash, hoes, money, cash, chicks (What?)
Sex, murder and mayhem; romance for the street (Uh-huh)
Only wife of mines is a life of crime, and since
Life's a bitch in mini-skirts and big chest
How can I not flirt with death?

That's life's enigma, long as life within us
We gon' sin a lot and pray that Christ forgive us, fuck it
Ice the wrist and raise the price on these niggas

Y'all can't floss on my level
I'll invite you all to get with us if your ball is glitter
When I go, on the hall of players, wall my picture (Uh-huh)
If you get close enough, you can read the scripture
It reads: "Money, cash, hoes", how real was that nigga? (What)
[Chorus: Jay-Z & DMX]
Money, cash, hoes, money, cash, hoes (What)
Money, cash, hoes, money, cash, hoes (Uh)
Money, cash, hoes, money, cash, hoes (C'mon)
Money, cash, hoes, (What) hoes, (What) hoes (What)

Money, cash, hoes, money, cash, hoes (What)
Money, cash, hoes, money, cash, hoes (Uh)
Money, cash, hoes, money, cash, hoes (C'mon)
Money, cash, hoes, (What) hoes, (What) hoes (What)


[Verse 3: DMX]
D-M-X and my dogs bite
Jigga, my nigga, rhyme all night
Thugs for life,
one night with this rap shit
Let 'em go and I bet they know what'll happen
When we clap shit
Acting like we owe 'em something
Then we show 'em something
Talking greasy, I think they found 'em down the road or something (Wooh)
Fucking with a mad man in a bad mood
Is like fucking with a mad dog that wants mad food
And the only thing that's stopping him is you (WHAT!)
So the only thing that he'll be dropping is you (WHAT!)
Chomping in two (COME ON!)
Then he drop it to Clue, and the response from the street:
This is one dog that loves raw meat (woo!)
But getting back to, just 'cause I, love my niggas
I shed blood, for my niggas
Let a nigga holla, "where my niggas?"
All I'ma hear is "right here my nigga!"

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About

Genius Annotation

“Money, Cash, Hoes” is about the 3 most important things in life:

  1. Money
  2. Cash
  3. Charitable Acts (no j/k! #3 is Hoes)

It was released on November 9, 1998 as the third single from Jay-Z’s third studio album, 1998’s Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life. Produced by Swizz Beatz, it samples Tohru Nakabayashi and You Takada’s composition “Theme of Thief” from the 1989 SEGA game Golden Axe.

Q&A

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

What has producer Swizz Beatz said about the track?
Genius Answer

That song started as a joke with me sliding my hand across the keyboard, just bugging. Then I did the drums to the joint. I had this pattern where we would follow the beat and follow the lyrics with the melodies. So you would hear the beat playing the song.

The hook was Jay’s idea but the concept of following the beat was my thing. I played him the joint and he was like, ‘Oh, that’s crazy. I’m trying to figure out what to do with it.’ I told him to just follow the keys. He told me, ‘I want to put DMX on this,’ and I was like, “Oh shit, it’s outta here. Let’s go!” I don’t think Jay and X were ever in the studio together for that.

The crazy part of that song is X never got to perform it. He never gets to perform that verse, the people do it for him and X just stands there. All the ‘What!’ ad-libs that you hear in the beat were from X live. I wasn’t sampling the ‘Whats!’ until way, way later. That’s just what X would always do.

What did JAY-Z say about "Money, Cash, Hoes"?
Genius Answer

In an interview with Vibe magazine in June 2000 producer Swizz Beatz spoke of how hard it was to find someone who could follow the beat:

That beat was originally for Busta Rhymes. I played it for him and he was like, ‘I’m crazy, but I’m not that crazy!’ [Other rappers] were feeling it too, but no one knew what to do with it. Then I played the track for Jay-Z and he was really open. Jay wanted something different on his comeback, and he was ready to take a risk. It was a good risk.

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