[Intro: JAY-Z]
Yeah

[Verse 1: JAY-Z]
Yeah, I'm out that Brooklyn, now I'm down in Tribeca
Right next to De Niro, but I'll be hood forever
I'm the new Sinatra, and since I made it here
I can make it anywhere, yeah, they love me everywhere
I used to cop in Harlem, hola, my Dominicanos (Dímelo!)
Right there up on Broadway, brought me back to that McDonald's
Took it to my stash spot, 560 State Street
Catch me in the kitchen, like a Simmons whippin' pastry
Cruisin' down 8th Street, off-white Lexus
Drivin' so slow, but BK is from Texas
Me? I'm out that Bed-Stuy, home of that boy Biggie
Now I live on Billboard and I brought my boys with me
Say "What up?" to Ty Ty, still sippin' Mai Tais
Sittin' courtside, Knicks and Nets give me high fives
N***a, I be spiked out, I could trip a referee
Tell by my attitude that I'm most definitely from

[Chorus: Gil Scott-Heron & Alicia Keys]
Don't you know, don't you know
New York was killing me
Yes, I was standing nearly dying here
New York was killing me
Seems like I need to start over
And move back home in Jackson, Tennessee
In, in, in, in New York
[Verse 2: JAY-Z]
Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game
Shit, I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can
You should know I bleed blue, but I ain't a Crip though
But I got a gang of n***as walkin' with my clique though
Welcome to the meltin' pot, corners where we sellin' rock
Afrika Bambaataa shit, home of the hip-hop
Yellow cab, gypsy cab, dollar cab, holla back
For foreigners, it ain't fair, they act like they forgot how to add
Eight million stories out there in the naked
City, it's a pity half of y'all won't make it
Me? I gotta plug Special Ed, "I Got It Made"
If Jeezy's payin' LeBron, I'm payin' Dwyane Wade
Three dice cee-lo, three-card Marley
Labor Day Parade, rest in peace, Bob Marley
Statue of Liberty, long live the World Trade
Long live the king, yo, I'm from the Empire State, that's

[Chorus: Gil Scott-Heron & Alicia Keys]
Don't you know, don't you know
New York was killing me
Yes, I was standing nearly dying here
New York was killing me
Seems like I need to start over
And move back home in Jackson, Tennessee
In, in, in, in New York
[Verse 3: JAY-Z]
Lights is blinding, girls need blinders
So they can step out of bounds quick, the side lines is
Lined with casualties who sip the life casually
Then gradually become worse—don't bite the apple, Eve!
Caught up in the in-crowd, now you're in-style
Into the winter gets cold, en vogue with your skin out
City of sin is a pity on a whim
Good girls gone bad, the city's filled with them
Mami took a bus trip, now she got her bust out
Everybody ride her, just like a bus route
"Hail Mary" to the city, you're a virgin
And Jesus can't save you, life starts when the church end
Came here for school, graduated to the high life
Ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight
MDMA got you feelin' like a champion
The city never sleeps, better slip you a Ambien

[Outro: Gil Scott-Heron & Alicia Keys]
Lord have mercy, mercy on me
Yeah, Lord have mercy, have mercy on me
Tell him to bury my body back home in Jackson, Tennessee
Yeah Lord have mercy, have mercy on me
In, in, in, in New York