Can you hear me now? Good! (Blueprint 2 baby!)
The best of times, it was the worst of times (aoww)
It´s "The Gift & the Curse"

[Chorus: Jay-Z]
R.O.C. YEAH, number one click HERE
If you represent US, throw them diamonds up YEAH
Now let´s be CLEAR, I ain´t goin no-WHERE
Now that you KNOW, holla at your boy
HOV´.. (Hov´, Hov´, Hov´)
(Hov´, Hov´, Hov´, Hov´)

[overlapping first Chorus]
Yeah, Roc-A-Fella Records
You know what diamond is
We ain´t goin nowhere, put your diamonds up

[Jay-Z]
Standin in my b-boy stance
Free, Beans, Memphis where you at nigga?
(Right here) Snatch Cam and it´s a rap
This here rap belong to us, nobody strong as us, it´s a fact
Hold up I´m just warmin up, gimme a second to get it back
Young Chris, Neek what? Oschino and Sparks
Next summer´s yo´ summer, tear this motherfucker up
Young is eternal, my young´uns´ll burn you
"The Blueprint" birthed, nigga I earthed you, you can´t be serious
Young cause I´m thirty-two, dressed like I´m twenty-two
Flow like a 18, do what I wanna do
Goin on my 8th ring, got Phil Jackson´s and
flow is black magic, I´m at it again
Rose Bowl with black karats, "Horse & Carriage" to spend
like Mason Betha, chasin this cheddar, to the end
of the road because the end I´m told is nearer than we know
What can I say but live for today, HOV´!

[Chorus]

[Jay-Z]
Yeah, "The Blueprint 2" homey, follow the moves
You put on two tube socks, you couldn´t walk in my shoes
I was dealt a bad hand, fuck what else could I do
but keep somethin up my sleeve that´ll help me through
But can you believe, everywhere I´m at, models come through
Cat-fightin, cat-walkin, it happens often
It´s true how society don´t want me to move
into the penthouse building with spectacular views
They´re like uhh, "He´s a menace he could never be a tenant"
I´m like ooh, what´s a young nigga to do?
I bring the brothers to the building give a feeling that I don´t
give a fuck we just chillin watchin chandelier ceilings high as fuck
Old lady, don´t blow my high
´specially if you don´t know my life, don´t make me bring
Sharpton in it cause I´m dark-skinneded or
dude with the ´fro and the Rainbow Coalition, I´ma
victim of a single parent household, born in a mousehole
Mousetrap, niggaz wanna know
How so, how Jay get up out that, here, yeah
I snatched purses I per-se-vered, yeah
I had work, fiends purchased, it was clear
I was out there sellin hope for despair, but stop there
I swear, I only make good from my mouth to God´s ears
Had to get out the hood
And I can´t justify genocide
But I was born in the city where the skinny niggaz die
Born in the city where the skinny niggaz ride
And as a skinny nigga I had beef with high size

[Chorus]