Can't Knock the Hustle by JAY-Z (Ft. Mary J. Blige & Pain In Da Ass)
Can't Knock the Hustle by JAY-Z (Ft. Mary J. Blige & Pain In Da Ass)

Can’t Knock the Hustle

JAY-Z & Mary J. Blige & Pain In Da Ass * Track #1 On Reasonable Doubt

Download "Can’t Knock the Hustle"

Can't Knock the Hustle by JAY-Z (Ft. Mary J. Blige & Pain In Da Ass)

Release Date
Tue Aug 27 1996
Performed by
JAY-ZMary J. Blige & Pain In Da Ass
Produced by
Dahoud Darien & Sean C & Knobody
Writed by
JAY-Z & Mary J. Blige & Sean C & Dahoud Darien & Pain In Da Ass & Knobody & Marcus Miller
About

“Can’t Knock the Hustle” was released as the third single from JAY-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt and featured a guest appearance from R&B superstar Mary J. Blige. She got on the track as a favor to her friend Dame Dash and she was paid $10,000 in cash from a paper bag but her label didn’t all...

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Can’t Knock the Hustle Lyrics

[Produced by The Hitmen & Knobody]

[Skit: Pain In Da Ass]
Ah shit, okay, okay, alright
Big man! You wanna make some big bucks, huh?
Let's see how tough you are
You know something about cocaine? Digame!
You kidding me or what man?
There's a bunch of Colombians coming in Friday - new guys
They said they got two keys for us, for openers
Pure cocaine, you tell 'em, capiche?
I want you to go over there
And if it is what they say it is, you buy it, you bring it back
You can do that you make five grand
Meet them at the Bodegas, noon Friday
You get the buy money then
Oh and chico, if anything happens to the buy money
Eh, pobrecito
JAY-Z's gonna stick your heads up your asses faster than a rabbit gets fucked

[Intro: Jay-Z]
Bounce.. bounce, bounce, Jay-Z huh?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Roc-A-Fella y'all, ha ha
Bounce, bounce, bounce, Roc-A-Fella y'all
Check, check

[Verse 1: Jay-Z]
Yo, I'm making short term goals when the weather folds
Just put away the leathers, and put ice on the gold
Chilly with enough bail money to free a Big Willie
High stakes, I got more at stake than Philly
Shopping sprees, cop in three
Deuce fever IS's fully loaded, ah, yes
Bouncing in the Lex Luger, tires smoke like Buddha
50 G's to the crap shooter, niggas can't fade me
Chrome socks beaming
Through my peripheral I see you scheming
Stop dreaming, I leave your body steaming
Niggas is fiending, what's the meaning?
I'm leaning on any nigga intervening
With the sound of my money machining (brrrr)
My cup runneth over with hundreds
I'm one of the best niggas that done it, six digits and running
Y'all niggas don't want it!
I got the Godfather flow, the Don Juan DeMarco
Swear to God, don't get it fucked up!

[Chorus 1: Mary J. Blige & Jay-Z]
I'm taking out this time (Yeah, yeah, what)
To give you a piece of my mind
('Cause you can't knock the hustle)
Who do you think you are?
Baby, one day you'll be a star

[Verse 2: Jay-Z]
Last seen out of state where I drop my sling
I'm deep in the South, kicking up top game
Bouncing on the highway, switching fo' lanes
Screaming through the sunroof, money ain't a thang
Your worst fear confirmed
Me and my fam roll tight like The Firm
Getting down for life, that's right, you better learn
Why play with fire? You burn
We get together like a choir, to acquire what we desire
We do dirt like worms, produce G's like sperm
'Til legs spread like germs
I got extensive hoes with expensive clothes
And I sip fine wines and spit vintage flows
What y'all don't know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 'cause you can't knock the hustle

[Chorus 2: Mary J. Blige & Jay-Z]
But until then lately, I'm the one who's crazy?
'Cause that's the way you're making me feel
('Cause you can't knock the hustle)
The way you make me feel
I'm just trying to get mine, I don't have the time
To knock the hustle for real

[Verse 3: Jay-Z]
Yo, y'all niggas lunching, punching the clock
My function is to make much and lay back munching
Sipping Remy on the rocks, my crew something to watch
Nothing to stop, un-stoppable
Scheme on the ice, I gotta hot your crew
I gotta, let you niggas know the time like Movado
My motto, stack rocks like Colorado
Waddle off the champagne, Cristals by the bottle
It's a damn shame what you're not though, (Who?) me!
Slick like a gato, fucking Jay-Z
My pops knew exactly what he did when he made me
Tried to get a nut, and he got a nut, and.. what!?
Straight bananas; can a nigga see me?
Got the US Open, advantage Jigga
Serve like Sampras, play fake rappers like a campus
Le Tigre, son, you're too eager
You ain't having it? Good! Me either
Let's get together and make this whole world believe us, huh?
At my arraignment, screaming
All us blacks got is sports and entertainment, until we even
Thieving, as long as I'm breathing
Can't knock the way a nigga eating, fuck you even!

[Chorus 1 & 2: Mary J. Blige]
I'm taking out this time, to give you a piece of my mind
Who do you think you are?
Baby, one day you'll be a star
But until then lately, I'm the one who's crazy?
'Cause that's the way you're making me feel
I'm just trying to get mine, I don't have the time
To knock the hustle for real

Can’t Knock the Hustle Q&A

Who wrote Can’t Knock the Hustle's ?

Can’t Knock the Hustle was written by JAY-Z & Mary J. Blige & Sean C & Dahoud Darien & Pain In Da Ass & Knobody & Marcus Miller.

Who produced Can’t Knock the Hustle's ?

Can’t Knock the Hustle was produced by Dahoud Darien & Sean C & Knobody.

When did JAY-Z release Can’t Knock the Hustle?

JAY-Z released Can’t Knock the Hustle on Tue Aug 27 1996.

What did JAY-Z say about "Can't Knock the Hustle"?

Jay Z told NPR:

There’s a song called “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” and it sounds like I’m saying, you can’t knock my hustle. But what – who I was talking to was the guys on the street because rap was my hustle and like, at the time street – the streets was my job.

Why is Mary J. Blige on the album but not the single?

Combat Jack explained that there were label issues, and Universal wouldn’t allow Jay or Dame Dash to release the record as a single, because Jay Z was “some unknown rapper dude.”

Who sang vocals on the single version?

Mary J. Blige’s “CKTH” hook interpolated Me'lissa Morgan’s 1986 song “Fool’s Paradise.” When Universal wouldn’t allow Blige’s version to be released as a single, Roc-A-Fella Records had Meli'sa come to the studio to perform the hook for the single and its remix.

In a 2016 interview with Billboard,...

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Who produced "Can't Knock the Hustle"?

“CKTH” was produced by Knobody, with co-production from Sean C and Dahoud Darien.

At the time of production Knobody lived at his mother’s house in Harlem, which happened to be located across the road from Damon Dash’s home at 1199. The three producers held residency there, spending hours every day...

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How did Jaÿ-Z initially feel about the track?

Kareem “Biggs” Burke once told MTV News that:

Jaÿ didn’t want to rap over that beat, but I called him and said he should—because it would come out hot regardless.

Dame Dash has also said that Hov only agreed to finish the track when he told him he would get Mary J. Blige to sing a hook. The unfini...

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How did Mary J. Blige come to sing the hook?

Dame Dash and Blige were childhood friends, and it is rumored that they once dated. She came through to D&D Studios as a favor to Dash, and “lost it” when she first heard Hov’s efforts:

The record was already crazy. I saw that he was something incredible and fresh, and the tone of his voice lef...

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Where was "Can't Knock the Hustle" recorded?

Knobody produced the beat in his mother’s home in Harlem, and the first vocals by Jay were also recorded here. They then moved to D&D Studios for the rest of the track’s recording sessions.

The final mixing and mastering was done at the Platinum Island studio by Carlos Bess, who had done a lot...

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