Shine On 'Em  by  Nas

[Man Singing & Humming in Foreign Language]

[Intro: Nas]
Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead
Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed
Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead
Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed
They wanna shine on 'em
Shine on 'em [x7]
Yeah

[Verse 1: Nas]
They dug me out the soil in the Mines of the Motherland
Now I'm misplaced, one hand to another hand
Illegal smugglin', people strugglin'
Wish they could just throw me back in the mud again
Yeah, guess that's how we got here
Slave Trade then the Diamond Trade
Every child's afraid
When his Mother and Father get sprayed
Forced in the Army, young killer¹ Brigade
Gets a new name and then he give his nose glue
Til' his mind can't take what he's gon' through
Lookin' in that dirt for that ice so blue
Then The Royal Family, the ice goes to
And this thing has to change, feelin' half-ashamed
As I rap with my Platinum² chain
When you shop for a gift for me
You think about the misery³?
The same way we made Apartheid History
We can do the same thing to the conflict ice
But everybody wanna shine, right?

[HooK: Nas]
Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead
Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed
Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead
Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed
They wanna Shine on 'em
Shine on 'em [x7]

[Verse 2: Nas]
My VVS glimmers⁴ on my chest
200-thou-encrusted watch on my wrist
I wonder how people starve to death
When God bless the land that lacks the harvest
The stone's equality, but they homes are poverty
And the whole world ignores the robbery
Bought my girl pretty rocks when she's mad at me
Tear-drop shaped, uh, perfect Clarity
It shocks, so many are killed annually
'Cause of greed, lust⁵, and pure Vanity
Stop talkin' and do somethin' about it
Every Holiday Season, Jewelry⁶ stores crowded
Kids snatched from their homes, Mutilated alive
Husbands separated from wives, keep a Jesus piece to be fly
But back in the day there was a time when they called us shine

[HooK: Nas]
Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead
Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed
Everybody wants Heaven but nobody wants dead
Everybody wants Diamonds without the Bloodshed
They wanna shine on 'em
Shine on 'em [x7]

[Man Singing & Humming in Foreign Language]

出道12年，累积出全球一千两百余万惊人销售量，坐拥90年代东岸纽约帮派饶舌巨星地位的Nas，总是以坦率直言的词汇，揭发出街头生活现实黑暗面，贴切抒发压抑已久情绪，让黑人同胞们感同身受，不仅是位全才型音乐创作者，更被美誉为充满人文素养的街头诗人。本名为Nasir Jones的Nas，是爵士音乐家OluDara的儿子，虽出生在充满音乐熏陶的环境，叛逆的Nas，却在国二时期便辍学到街头讨生活，还好有音乐支撑，加上自我努力学习下，激发对饶舌词汇的高敏感度，不断藉由犀利文字描绘险象环生的街头文化。1991年Nas助阵于Main Source演唱会上，完全展放实力的公开表演，造成东岸饶舌圈不小震撼，3rdBass团员MCSerch闻风而至，力邀Nas在原声带《Zebrahead》中试露一手，引起Columbia唱片公司兴趣，签入旗下发行首张个人大碟《Illmatic》，获得节奏蓝调/饶舌榜亚军+流行榜Top12，不仅快速突破百万销量，并获AMG网站5星满分评价，滚石杂志四星肯定，The Source则赞誉此辑为嘻哈乐界完美示范盘。