The Empire

I'm from the home of the hustler, born with a mean mug
Talk fast and we walk fast, keep up
Step with a different rhythm, try to make the most of what little we've been given
By the city that we live in
"Where the Wall Street intellect and street smarts intersect
And dog eat dog's feet the law that’s in effect
Trying to get even for the odds that we overcoming
So we can hear the sirens from the coppers but no one's running
No matter what we facing we don't turn the cheek
The highest currency is courage in these urban streets
We're in-a-gadda-da-vita where people popping they heaters
We never follow our leaders, for preachers, prophets and teachers
With lady liberty's living but we ain't gotten to see her
I swear the cab's will run you over without stopping the meter
B-b-but you can never count us out, even when we down and out
Nothing to be proud about, still the people shouting out

[Hook]
My city, my home, my city, my home, my city, my home, New York city
My city, my home, my city, my home, my city, my home, New York city

[Verse Two: Talib Kweli]
I'm from the home of the stick-up kid, we always show the streets love
Talk fast, plus we walk fast, keep up
I step over Gutter Rainbows
Wish I could give away millions like I was Maino
You know how the gutter slang go
If you listen to Big L, "Ebonics" was the meanest
The bombers made it tragic but we rose up from the ashes
Like the promise of the phoenix
I promise you we eatin'
Won't you stop being greedy
We too hot for TV, Panasonic or the Zenith
I roll with Brooklyn vegans
Just for lookin', leave ya leakin'
Central bookin' at the precinct
Since a youth, I grew up in New York, i draw the parallels
Detention that was jail snitches is the tattle tails
Epitaphs was racial, fuck how niggas and the crackers feel
It's tragic how our whips got more gadgets than the Batmobile
The inspiration for Gotham
The metropolitan's rotten
Stay on top of the problems
Cause we're coming from the bottom got em

[Hook]
My city, my home, my city, my home, my city, my home, New York city
My city, my home, my city, my home, my city, my home, New York city
New York, New York, my city, my home
My city, my home

[Verse Three: Iron Solomon]
As a teen I sold 20's spending my own money
Stepping out my parents' house the city was home to me
Riverside Park, we would kick it after dark, by the pier
With some beers, and a piff that we would spark
And run up in house parties and turn them to our parties
And neighbors would call cops, cause we would get wild rowdy
Another night, another page written in life's journal
9 million stories in a city with 5 boroughs
Different backgrounds, but we came through the same struggle
Dreaming of fame, we wrote our names on the train tunnels
Running round the city like rats in crawlspaces
Catching court cases for jacking North Faces
Chasing the fast life, we know that it's too short
Breathing the air here it's like smoking a Newport
My home is in New York, like Biggie in Bed-Stuy
We live and we let die
The city of NY

[Hook]
My city, my home, my city, my home, my city, my home, New York city
My city, my home, my city, my home, my city, my home, New York city
New York, New York, my city, my home
My city, my home