It Ain’t Hard To Tell (Live)

[Spoken: Nas]
Thank you, for giving me 20 years of your ears
Thank you, thank you
So, we now conclude with the final song of Illmatic
This one is the end of the cassette
It was just 9 songs
Yeah, this song right here, I got you though
This one my joint 'cause I'm a big Michael Jackson fan and he
I'll tell you something that I never said
For my album cover, you see me with the afro, that was kinda inspired by Michael Jackson, the little, the little kid picture, right?
So, I never told that anyone before
So, this is uhh, "It Ain't Hard To Tell"
The sample's from "Human Nature"
Yeah, uh
Yeah, I see y'all right here
Yeah

[Verse 1: Nas]
It ain't hard to tell
The mic is contacted
My mic check is life or death, breathin' a sniper's breath
I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps
Deep like The Shining, sparkle like a diamond
Sneak a Uzi on the island in my
Hit the Earth like a comet—invasion!
Nas is like the
‘Cause in my physical I can express through song
Delete stress like Motrin, then extend strong
I drink Moët with Medusa, give her shotguns in Hell
From the spliff that I lift and inhale; it ain't hard to tell
Whoa, whoa, whoa
It ain't hard to tell

[Interlude: Nas]
Some of y'all was like 5 years old when this album came out

[Verse 2: Nas]
The buddha monk's in your trunk, turn the bass up
Not stories by Aesop
Place your loot up, parties I shoot up
Nas, I analyze, drop a jew-el, inhale from the L
School a fool well, you feel it like Braille
It ain't hard to tell, I kick a skill, like Shaquille holds a pill
Vocabulary spills, I'm Ill plus Matic
I freak beats, slam it, like Iron Sheik
Jam like a TEC with correct techniques
So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me
Scannin' while you're plannin' ways to sabotage me
I leave 'em froze, like heroin in your nose
Nas will rock well; it ain't hard to tell
Yeah, yeah

[Interlude: Nas]
If you was there with me in '94, make some noise
I love you for that

[Verse 3: Nas]
This rhythmatic explosion
Is what your frame of mind has chosen
I'll leave your brain stimulated, niggas is frozen
Speak with criminal slang, begin like a violin
End like Leviathan, it's deep; well, let me try again
Wisdom be leakin' out my grapefruit, troop
I dominate break loops, givin' mics men-e-strual cycles
Street's disciple, I rock beats that's mega trifle
And groove even smoother than moves by Villanova
You're still a soldier, I'm like Sly Stone in Cobra
Packin' like a Rasta in the weed spot
Vocals will squeeze Glocks
MCs eavesdrop, though they need not to sneak
My poetry's deep, I never fell
Nas' raps should be locked in a cell; it ain't hard to tell
It ain't hard to tell
It ain't hard to tell

[Nas]
20 years, yes
Special thanks to everybody up in here
I thank you from the bottom of my brave heart

[Spoken: Nas]
Thank you, special thank you to The National Symphony Orchestra
Thank you to my man Tim Davis
[?]
He's also the composer, bass, and orchestrations
Derrick Harsh
Travis Sells
DJ Green Lantern
Please make some noise for my man, the composer Steven
Ryan Hakim
One more time, National Symphony Orchestra
We thank you from the bottom of our brave hearts
For keeping it Illmatic with me through the years
Thank you for looking beautiful tonight
I love you forever man, stay real