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Nas, Nas feat. Olu Dara, Olu Dara, Nas featuring Olu Dara - Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap
Nas, Nas feat. Olu Dara, Olu Dara, Nas featuring Olu Dara
03:55
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Song lyrics

[Chorus: Olu Dara]
See, I come from Mississippi,
I was young and running 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.

[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,
Bridgin' 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 Super Kids,
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 and said, ‘Yo!'

[Chorus]

[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 Spofford, juvenile delinquent,
But Pops gave me the right type of 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 pics to mess them up,
‘Cause none of them would like my style,
Read more books than the curriculum profile.
Said, ‘Mr. Jones please, come get your child
‘Cause he's writing mad poems and his verses are wild.'

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
[Nas:]
My Poppa was not a rolling 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 the places you gone to.
[Olu Dara:]
I been to Saudi Arabia, Mozambique,
Madagascar, Piraeus, Greece,
The Middle Africa is where we lived
Better known as Queenbridge.
[Nas:]
Nas, Nas, you don't stop!
Olu Dara in the house, you don't stop!
Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, you don't stop!
From the blues to street-hop, you don't stop!
Tell ‘em, Pop!

[Chorus]

Rest in peace, Ray Charles!

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