Back to the previous page

Artist: Royce Da 5'9"
Album:  Layers
Song:   Gottaknow
Typed by: Nickolye16@aol.com 

[Intro]
"Presenting to you, the President of the United States."
"The bullet being lodged an inch away from his heart,
 Reagan is launched into the operating room,
 and tells his doctors, 'I hope you're all Republicans.'"

[Royce Da 5'9"]
Cash rules everything around me, I ain't claimin I'm street
I'm just sayin everything that surrounds me is concrete
In the bubble-eyed ride all because I +Bubble+ like Don P
Right beside me's a dime piece
College girl lookin 'bout as good as I sleep
That's cause I keep it low, the opposite of high-key
Y'all niggaz got the wrong idea
'bout what's really goin on out here, y'all weird I see
They told you keep your ears to the streets
Y'all niggaz layin down and y'all ears out here in these streets
I guess you took it literal
Guess the only code you live by is forget-it code
Uh, if I should get my own guilty verdict
May the next man learn from it then flourish
You could put it on the news, you could put my face on the front of a shirt
in the latest video then blur it
Y'all niggaz fuckin with the next nigga bitch
Mostly attracted to her cause she the next nigga bitch
One of my niggaz made a name for killin niggaz
Now he on the slayin spree for Dilla niggaz, I call it the nigga niche
Life is set up for you to dig a ditch
God is lookin down on all bein carried by the crisp pallbearers like just ball player
You ain't even gotta pull a trigger, you can still assist
I'ma keep it real as this

[Chorus: Royce Da 5'9"]
Got to know when to roll from the madness
Got to know when to give these niggaz passes
Got to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em
Got to know when to beat these niggaz asses
Got to know when the money ain't good money
Got to know when somebody ain't good for ya
Got to know when to open and when to close it
When bein silent exposes and when it's golden
Got to know all the "got to knows"...
Got to know all the "got to knows"...

[Royce Da 5'9"]
God made us niggaz, then made us all breakable
Then gave us all decision-makin that'll make or break a nigga
People tryna blaze wit'chu just so they can lace a nigga
All because of public sensationalism
With brothers with faces that people see and can relate to
When the place where the foundation of eating's higher population
is based on popularity, gotta be careful where you place your wisdom
All it takes is just one conversation
where you unbeknownst to the fact you're talkin to an abomination
at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong crime
takin place, that'll put you away for a long grind
Where it's locked, where it's not safe unless you know them combinations
Yeah, it's just a way a man to be taken by the same thing that took his brother
We don't learn from each other
We learn to look the other, way when one of us in trouble
That karma lookin to catch you, it's patient
It'll wait 'til you think it would love to come get you
Cause it know that women been the downfall of men, ever since pussy was discovered
Dearly beloved, you soul-searchin for nothin
Just follow the instincts the Lord versed you with
Historically that feelin that you get in your gut
been gettin ignored more than that poor person
Who's livin under the gun in this cold cold world that we live in
That's under the imminent control of the consumer and indigenous war merchants
More religion and more churches
Doctors, more nurses
Cause it's the American way to make anything that'll finish you or drop you, for purchase
Who said I couldn't buy my way into heaven?
All I need is a bottle, a couple dollars, a couple people that'll keep me company
And who love misery as much as me
You got to know your pedigree
Got to be yourself at all times, your true self at all times
ain't gon' hesitate to let you know when you should let it be
A lot of these brothers done died tryna follow they pride
Gotta know the alert signs
Them butterflies as reliable as your first mind genetically

[Chorus] w/ static mixed in