Can I Live Freestyle Lyrics

[Jay-Z]
You plan to bang, I plan to bang too
You playin' the games, I'm seein' the thing through
You sayin' my name to entertain ya crew
I ain't playin' no games, when shots exchange you're through
Fresh off probation I got a charge to throw away
My lawyer say for eighty large it'll go away
And that ain't no money to Jay
So you could get it broad day on Broadway while TRL's tapin'
You playin the game you know you ain't gon' win
Quit playin them childish games with grown men
I don't give a fuck about cars or chrome rims
I got apartments you could put your home in
Can I live?

[Jay talking to Funkmaster Flex]:
Can I keep goin'? I wrote... Can I keep goin'?
Do not put my verse on y'all records dawg!
{Laughing}

The boy trap money like bear hunters
Dear Summer, I know y'all gonna miss me
For we been together like Nike Air's and crisp T's
S. Dot's and Polo fleece's
Purple label shit with the logo secret
Gimme a couple of years, shhh, I might just sneak in
A couple of words and like Peaches & Herb
We'll be reunited and it feel so hood

Got the whole world sayin' "How he still so good?"
Well I do this in my slumbers, Summer
I ain't none of these half-assed new comers, you know how I do Summer
I drop heat when you bring the sun up
The combo make niggas act up I pick the gun up
Niggas back up they know I ain't no fronter
I don't talk shit I just flip and "Un" ya
Sorry Lance I'm just tryna advance my quotes
I ain't makin' you the butt of my jokes
Let's not stray from what I came to say
To my beloved, I think we need some time away
They say if you love it
You should let it out the cage, if not fuck it
If it comes back you should know it's there to stay
It's tuggin, at my heart but this time apart is needed
From the public, should've gave me the Pulitz'
But instead gave me they ass to kiss
But you know me, thugging till the casket dips
But still shine light down on all my peers
I know they weird, some queer, I still want them to share
In all the success I receive, I know you can't believe
I still love 'em but they don't love me
They like the drunk uncle in ya
{Laughing}
Though they lame it's still the same still you love 'em the same
Like when cats make subliminal records
Know they can't directly direct it at me I don't respect it
And you don't really want it with Hov for the record
I put a couple of careers on hold - you could be next kid
You keep entering the danger zone
You gonna make that boy Hov put your name on a song
If you that hungry for fame cocksucker, c'mon!
Say when, take ten paces and spin
But on another note I'm bout to take another va-cay on another boat
Goddamn a motherfucker rode his way out the hood
And I pray that I stay out for good
But any day you know a nigga could try to play like he Suge
Then I gotta pull it like Dutch Schultz
You pass the Dutchy I'll blast you trust me
Niggas can't fuck with me
I'm in a good mood y'all lucky
I'm in a good groove
And I ain't tryin to mess my thing up
But I will lay down a couple green bucks, get you cleaned up
Non-Pulp Fiction, Colt 4-fifth and
Young niggas that blasphemy, blast for me, no religion
[Jay talking:]
Yo, I'mma stop Flex, I don't want nobody to catch feelings
I had to take off the blazer, loosen up the tie
Step inside the booth, Superman is alive
{Laughing}

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About

Genius Annotation

This is a legendary Jay-Z freestyle that displays his supreme language consciousness and elite word play. A retired Hov delivered the bars during a spontaneous visit to Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 show in early-2005, performing over Black Rob and The LOX’s 2000 track “Can I Live.” Many of the bars can be found on his track “Dear Summer,” released on Memphis Bleek’s album 534.

In an interview Just Blaze explained that Hov had the verse in his head for over a year before he let it loose:

First time I heard it was when he did the last S. Carter mixtape. He was rapping to the beat for the tennis shoe commercial Green Lantern did. When he finished the song, Guru went to stop the beat and Jay was like, ’Nah, keep it going.’ He started spitting that rhyme out of nowhere. So it just sat there forever and then he spit it that one day on the radio. The record is so crazy we was going to put it out the day after he went to radio, but Jay was like, ’Nah, chill.’ Then [a few months later] he was like, ’I want to do it as a song, but I have nowhere to put it.’”

Q&A

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

What did JAY-Z say about "Can I Live Freestyle"?
Genius Answer

During a visit to DJ Skee’s “Hype Radio” on Sirius Satellite just four days after the release of this freestyle, The Game addressed the lines that he felt were subliminally directed at him:

“I studied Jay-Z along with all the other hip-hop legends, and when I hear the music, I read between the lines. Even though he said it was a song about Summertime, you know, I kinda heard my name one too many times and I kinda felt offended, like what’d I ever to do Jay?”

Credits
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Release Date
February 7, 2005
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