It's foul what this money could do, cash corrupts the loyal.
NasRead
I lay puzzle as I backtrack to earlier times, Nothing's equivalent to the New York state of mind
Interpretation
The quote reflects on nostalgia and the unique mindset shaped by New York City.
In this quote, Nas expresses the complexity of his thoughts as he reflects on his past experiences in New York. He suggests that the mentality and cultural identity cultivated within the city's environment is unparalleled, implying that the challenges and memories linked to this 'state of mind' are significant and shape who one is.
In practice
In a speech about the impact of urban environments on creativity.
It's foul what this money could do, cash corrupts the loyal.
It's a thin line between paper and hate,_x000D_ _x000D_ Friends and snakes, nine millis and thirty-eights,_x000D_ _x000D_ Hell or the pearly gates...I was destined to come,_x000D_ _x000D_ Predicted, blame God, He blew breath in my lungs.
I pledge allegiance to the fair and balanced truth._x000D_ _x000D_ Not the biased truth,_x000D_ _x000D_ Not the liest truth,_x000D_ _x000D_ But the highest truth.
Every time I get in the studio, I feel like I wanna have some fun. My fun is not doing the easy work. My fun is doing what's me.
If you scared to take chances, you'll never have the answers...
I don't respect killers, I respect O.G. knowledge,_x000D_ _x000D_ Codes of the streets got new rules, but no guidance._x000D_ _x000D_ Lessons, detrimental to a young disciple;_x000D_ _x000D_ Folks, take care of your brothers, niggas do as I do._x000D_ _x000D_ Keep your enemies close, where they can see you._x000D_ _x000D_ It's not your enemy who get you, it's always your own people.
Religion ends and philosophy begins, just as alchemy ends and chemistry begins, and astrology ends and astronomy begins.
Africa is less a wilderness than a repository of primary and fundamental values, and less a barbaric land than an unfamiliar voice
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.
There was no black or white. Someone who had been good her entire life could, in fact, do something evil. People were just as capable of committing murder, under the right circumstances, as any monster.
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.
The world is a crazy, beautiful, ugly complicated place, and it keeps moving on from crisis to strangeness to beauty to weirdness to tragedy. The caravan keeps moving on, and the job of the longform writer or filmmaker or radio broadcaster is to stop - is to pause - and when the caravan goes away, that's when this stuff comes.
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