This one is from my guy, Nas.  I’ve been listening to my man since college.  There are few out there to ever do it better.  I introduce people who don’t really get down with hip hop to listen to his verses to know what the art can be.  One of his songs, “I gave you power,” is one of the best ever.  

People throw all sorts of emcees in the top five, but the real test for a top 5 mc is the longevity of his or her rhyme book.  And I am fairly certain his book will last through future generations.

“I seen some cold nights and bloody days
They grab me and bullets spray
They use me wrong so I sing this song ’til this day

My body is cold steel for real
I was made to kill, that’s why they keep me concealed Under car seats.  they sneak me in clubs.  Been in the hands of mad thugs.

They feed me when they load me with mad slugs.  Seventeen precisely, one in my head.  They call me Desert Eagle, semi-auto with lead.

I’m seven inches four pounds, been through so many towns
Ohio to Little Rock to Canarsie, livin harshly

Beat up and battered, they pull me out
I watch as n****s scattered, makin me kill

But what I feel it never mattered
When I’m empty I’m quiet, findin myself fiendin to be fired”