Bridging the Gap Lyrics

[Produced by Salaam Remi]

[Intro: Nas & Olu Dara]
The light is there
Yeah yeah
You see I come from Mississippi
I was young and runnin' wild
Ended up in New York City
Where I had my first child
I named the boy Nasir
All the boys call him Nas
I told him as a youngster
He'll be the greatest man alive
(Let's go!)
La-la-la, la-la, la-la, la (Ah!)
La-la-la, la-la, la-la, la (I'm the Magnificent)
La-la-la, la-la, la-la, la
La-la, la-la, Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!

[Verse 1: Nas]
Chuck Berry of these rap skits, styles I mastered
Many brothers snatched it up and tried to match it
But I'm still number one, everyday real
Speak what I want, I don't care what y'all feel
Cause I'm my own master, my Pop told me be your own boss
Keep integrity at every cost, and his home was Natchez Mississippi
Did it like Miles and Dizzy, now we gettin' busy
Bridging the gap, from the blues, to jazz, to rap
The history of music on this track
Born in the game, discovered my father's music
Like Prince searchin' through boxes of Purple Rain
But my Minneapolis was The Bridge, home of the Superkids
Some are well-known, some doin' bids
I mighta ended up on the wrong side of the tracks
If Pops wouldn't've pulled me back an said yo
[Chorus/Hook: Olu Dara & Nas]
See I come from Mississippi
I was young and runnin' wild (Uh huh)
Ended up in New York City (New york)
Where I had my first child (That's me y'all)
I named the boy Nasir (Yeah!)
All the boys call him Nas (That's what's up!)
I told him as a youngster
He'll be the greatest man alive
Greatest man alive (Yeah, turn it up!)
Gre-Gre-Gre-Gre-Greatest man alive!

[Verse 2: Nas]
The blues came from gospel, gospel from blues
Slaves are harmonizin' them ah's and ooh's
Old school, new school, know school rules
All these years I been voicin' my blues
I'm a artist from the start, Hip-Hop guided my heart
Graffiti on the wall, coulda ended in Spoffard, juvenile delinquent
But Pops gave me the right type'a tools to think with

Books to read, like X and stuff
Cause the schools said the kids had dyslexia
In art class I was a compulsive sketcher of
Teachers in my homeroom, I drew pix to mess them up
Cause none'a them would like my style
Read more books than the curriculum profile
Said, "Mr. Jones please come get your child
Cause he's writin' mad poems and his verses are wild"

[Chorus/Hook: Olu Dara & Nas]
I was born in Mississippi
I was young and runnin' wild
Moved to New York City
Where I had my first child
I named the boy Nasir
All the boys call him Nas
I told him as a youngster
He'll be the greatest man alive
Greatest man - The great-greatest man alive (Tell 'em!)

[Verse 3: Nas & Olu Dara]
Hey-Hey-Hey -- My Poppa was not a Rollin' Stone
He been around the world blowin' his horn, still he came home
Then he got grown, changed his name to Olu
Come on, tell 'em 'bout all the places you gone to
I been to Saudi Arabia, Mozambique (Yeah)
Madagascar, Paris, Greece (Uh huh)
But little Africa is where we live (Yeah)
Better known as Queensbridge
Nas, Nas you don't stop
Olu Dara in the house, you don't stop

Muddy Waters' Howling Wolf you don't stop
From the Blues to Street Hop you don't stop
Tell 'em Pop
[Chorus/Hook: Olu Dara & Nas]
See I come from Mississippi (Let 'em know)
I was young and runnin' wild (Runnin' wild)
Ended up in New York City (Yeah!)
Where I had my first child (That's me)
I named the boy Nasir (Yeah, Daddy!)
All the boys call him Nas (Luh ya, boy)
I told him as a youngster
He'll be the greatest man alive (You the greatest, Pop)
Greatest man alive (You the greatest, Pop)
Gre-Gre-Gre-Gre-Greatest man alive!

[Outro: Olu Dara]
Rest In Peace Ray Charles

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About

Genius Annotation

This song is recorded by Nas, featuring his father, Olu Dara. It is off Disc 2 of his album “Street’s Disciple”.

This song is about both Nas and his father’s guidance.

I got to know [my father] more in that whole period, I got to learn more about him and his life and his career and why he made certain decisions, things that I never asked before. It brought me closer to him, and also just made me look at life different, just watching him and how he’d come up, and the musical decisions that he chose to be where he is. Most kids in the ‘hood don’t have their fathers around or didn’t have their fathers around. The ones I grew up with had dope fiend fathers and shit like that, crackhead fathers, convict fathers that stayed in jail, like the story goes. Treach had this rap, ‘Never knew my dad / motherfuck the fag.’ If you played that in the club back in the days, all you had to do was turn down the music from 'Never knew my dad,’ and the whole crowd would scream, ‘Motherfuck the fag,’ because everybody can relate to that, even me. Not with my father, but with my friends. I thought it was important to put a record with my pops is just, out there. It was just important to me.

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