Can I Live lyrics

[Intro]

Yeah, hah, yeah, Roc-A-Fella

We invite you to somethin' epic, you know?

Well, we hustle out of a sense of hopelessness

Sort of a desperation

Through that desperation, we become addicted

Sort of like the fiends we accustomed to servin'

But we feel we have nothin' to lose

So, we offer you, well, we offer our lives, right?

What do you bring to the table?

[Verse 1]

While I'm watchin' every nigga watchin' me closely

My shit is butter for the bread, they wanna toast me

I keep my head, both of them, where they supposed to be

Hoes'll get you sidetracked, then clapped from close feet

I don't sleep, I'm tired, I feel wired like codeine, these days

A brother gotta admire me from four fiends away

My pain, wish it was quick to see

From sellin' 'caine 'til brains was fried to a fricassee

Can't lie, at the time it never bothered me

At the bar, gettin' my thug on properly

My squad and me lack of respect for authority

Laughin' hard, happy to be escapin' poverty, however brief

I know this game got valleys and peaks

Expectation for dips, for precipitation we stack chips, hardly

The youth I used to be, soon to see a mill'in

No more Big Willie, my game has grown

Prefer you call me William

Illin' for revenues, Rayful Edmond-like

Channel 7 News, round seven jewels, head dead in the mic

Forgettin' all I ever knew, convenient amnesia

"I suggest you call my lawyer, I know the procedure."

Lock my body, can't trap my mind

Easily explain why we adapt to crime

I'd rather die enormous than live dormant, that's how we on it

Live at the main event, I bet a trip to Maui on it

Presidential suites my residential for the weekend

Confidentially speakin' in codes since I sense you peekin'

The NSX rental, don't be fooled, my game is mental

We both out of town, dog, what you tryin' to get into?

Viva Las Vegas, see ya later at the crap tables

Meet me by the one that starts a G up

This way no Fraud Willies present gamblin' they re-up

And we can have a pleasant time, sippin' margaritas

[Chorus]

Ge-ge-geyeahhh

Can I live?

Can I live?

[Verse 2]

My mind is infested with sick thoughts that circle

Like a Lexus, if driven wrong it's sure to hurt you

Dual level like duplexes, in unity

My crew and me commit atrocities like we got immunity

You guessed it, manifest it

In tangible goods, platinum Rolex'd it

We don't lease, we buy the whole car, as you should

My confederation, dead a nation

Explode on detonation, overload the mind of a said patient

When it boils to steam, it comes to it

We all fiends, gotta do it: even righteous minds go through this

True this, the streets school us to spend our money foolish

Bond with jewelers and watch for intruders

I stepped it up another level, meditated like a Buddhist

Recruited lieutenants with ludicrous dreams of gettin' cream

"Let's do this," it gets tedious

So I keep one eye open like CBS — you see me stressed, right?

[Chorus]

Can I live?

Can I live?

Can I live?

Can I live?

• Artist:Jay-Z
• Album:Reasonable Doubt (1996)