The Genesis Lyrics

[Nas]
Chill, chill! That's the shit,
God, chill

[AZ]
Ayo, yo, pull down the shade, man
Let's count this money, nigga
Ayo, Nas, put the Jacksons and the Grants over there!
You know what I'm sayin'?
‘Cause we spendin' the Jacksons
You know how we get down, baby

[Nas]
True, true

[Jungle]
Nas, yo, Nas, man
Shit is mad real right now in the projects
For a nigga, yo, word to mother
All them crab-ass rappers be comin' up to me
Man, word to mother, man
I think we need to let them niggas know it's real, man

[Nas]
True indeed, knamsayin'?
But when it's real you doin' this
Even without a record contract, knamsayin'?
[AZ]
No question

[Nas]
Been doing this since back then


[AZ]
I'm sayin' regardless how it go down we gon' keep it real
We tryin' to see many mansions and Coupes, kid

[Nas]
No doubt, we gon' keep it real, true, true

[Jungle]
Ayo, where's Grand Wizard and Mayo at, man?
Takin' niggas a long time, man

[Nas]
Who got the Phillies? Take this Hennessy

[AZ]
Ayo, dunn
C'mon, c'mon, man, stop wavin' that, man!
Stop pointin' that at me, dunn, take the clip out!

[Nas]
Nigga, alright, but take this Hennessy, man!
[AZ]
I'm sayin' take the clip, man, c'mon, take it out!

[Nas]
Light them Phillies up, man!
Niggas stop fuckin' burnin' Phillies, man
Light some Phillies up then!

[Jungle]
Pass that henrock, pass that henrock!
Nigga, act like you know!


[AZ]
Yo, we drinkin' this straight up with no chaser
I ain't fuckin' with you, nigga

[Nas]
I'm saying though, man

[AZ]
What is it, what is it, baby?

[Jungle]
What is it, son, what is it?

[AZ]
You know what time it is

[Nas]
I'm saying, man, you know what I'm saying?
Niggas don't listen, man
Representin',
it's Illmatic

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

“The Genesis” begins Nas' hip-hop Bible known as Illmatic. The track begins with vocals from his debut verse on Main Source’s 1991 track “Live At the Barbeque” and dialogue from the 1983 movie Wild Style before kicking in an instrumental used in the movie’s soundtrack. Nas and executive producer Faith Newman reunited in 2014 to talk about “The Genesis” for Illmatic’s 20th anniversary.

Nas' brother Jungle appeared on “The Genesis” and said the following:

Nas picked the beat for us to talk on in the background. I remember I didn’t like the beat. I was like, ‘Off this beat, man? This is garbage.’ I was mad young. I didn’t even understand what he was doing.

Q&A

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

What did Nas say about "The Genesis"?
Genius Answer

Nas said this to XXL:

Nas: I always loved all the breaks in the Wild Style movie. [This session] wasn’t in the beginning of recording [the album], it was closer to the end. I brought a VHS tape of the movie & had the engineer just loop it.

Translations
Comments