Nas Challenges Hip-Hop Community to Start Hustling and Stop Dreaming
Nas shines the brightest with his performance in the song, "Still Dreaming" featuring Kanye West and the talented up-and-coming singer, Chrisette Michele. The song speaks on people who go through life dreaming about success but unwilling to hustle and make the sacrifices that it takes to ultimately achieve that success in life...
"How you a man waitin' for the next man to get rich?
Ya plan is to stick out ya hand real quick?
So if he feed ya family and he serve you shit.
Then he need that head you get and he deserve your bitch.
Since you wishin' cash fall from the sky all ya life.
Dwellin' on the past when you was alright.
When you was gettin' cash but wasn't too bright.
Now ya luck down, you feel like, bustin' them shells.
Nobody owe you, can't do nothin' for self.
Want niggaz to show you, how to come up wit' green.
I scheme since dem fourteens, what the fuck was your dream?
Rental cars, little broads, sayin' you was seen
Wit' little niggaz wit' a chain you was doin' ya thing.
How high was I? You the thousandth guy
That came around thinkin' we can see, eye to eye.
We on a different echelon coulda got bread together.
Now you gets deaded on." -Nas, "Still Dreaming"
This song (and this verse in particular) really spoke to me because by being honest with myself, I realize that there have been times in my life when I had ambition but didn't have the hustle. Many of us want to live the good life but we're not looking to work hard at it, instead, we give up, become bitter, or live our lives as opportunists trying to "piggy back" off of someone else's blood, sweat and tears.
Whether it's driving someone else's car, living indefinitely in someone else's house, wearing someone else's clothes or jewelry or just simply always being in someone else's pocket for cash, too many of us are grown men and women dependent on someone or something else for our survival and to provide our happiness. In "Still Dreaming", Nas and Kanye West brilliantly tell tales of those whose dreams "stay dreams" while the dreams of others come true as a result of faith and hustle.
This song is so profound because it tells us what we need to hear and not what we always want to hear. At times Nas sounds even a little harsh on this record. It's the kind of song where we all can listen and then reflect on our own efforts to succeed in life. We all can find inspiration in a song that challenges us to stop making excuses, stop playing the blame game, stop looking for a handout and start taking responsibility for our own lives, standing on our own two and hustling hard to get our piece of the so-called American dream.
Related Tags: nas, hip-hop, ambition, lyrics, rap music
Duane L Lawton is a freelance writer and publisher of "Daily Dose of
Hip-Hop", an email newsletter of daily inspirational quotes from
Hip-Hop songs. To subscribe for free, visit http://dailydoseofhiphop.com
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