It Ain't Personal

[Jay-Z]

Man, they go and tell me like

you never know who your true friends until you ah umm

both got a little bit of money

I mean cause y`all both broke

then there`s no strain on the relationship, y`all both broke

And if you got money and he ain`t got no paper

He still needs you so you`ll never know how he really feel about you

When y`all both get some paper, you`ll see

[R. Kelly + (Jay-Z)]

We used to get money together, phone honies together

Pushin chromed out twinkies in custom coach leather

You claim it`s all love, but n*gga it`s whatever

Cause this is business, it ain`t personal

Same dream, same team, same schemes (mm)

We even sold to the same damn fiends (how real is dat?)

Ain`t no rules in this war for this green

This is business, and it ain`t personal

[Jay-Z]

Look, I`m a grown man dog

And I ain`t got time to be runnin behind y`all

I know when I first started it was crazy to y`all

"He`s gon` start his own label, he`ll never be able"

Well, n*gga you`ve been wrong before

And you`ll be wrong again if you bet against him

We move through the hood like identical twins

But it just so happen that a n*gga made it rappin

You showed your true colors, y`all n*ggaz stay yappin

That don`t stop him, a n*gga weigh platinum

Stop through the hood, to say what`s happenin? (sup n*gga)

Fake hugz (uh-huh) fake whassup

Fake love, fake f**k, fake thugs

Gotta one myself for your fake sh*t, I raise up

Hop in my wheels and I peel, streets are blazed up (uh-huh)

About my bid`ness dog, y`all need to stay up - one

[Chorus: R. Kelly]

We used to get money together, phone honies together

Pushin chromed out twinkies in custom coach leather

You claim it`s all love, but n*gga it`s whatever

Cause this is business, it ain`t personal

Same dream, same team, same schemes

We even sold to the same damn fiends

Ain`t no rules in this war for this green

This is business, and it ain`t personal

[R. Kelly]

I wish, I wish - that success, we could all

get a piece of it (word) but that ain`t real dog (no)

Cause in these streets it`s war, the industry much more

But rich or poor, I`ma keep it real my n*gga

Invest in chips and watch my money hill get bigger

And do things like, pull up to some clubs

in the skirts with Jigga, and yellin out HEY!

What the f**k, pop that Cris` my n*gga

And then he wants to know how many chips I done sold

Well it ain`t y`all business what`s behind my doors

But y`all n*ggaz don`t appreciate sh*t

Helped you out and you still actin like a little b*tch

Then you wonder why I put yo` ass in the tenth row

when you asked me for some tickets to my TP-2 show

Lawwwwwwd tell me, why we don`t like to see us grow

[Chorus + ad libs]

[Jay-Z]

A-Alike (uh-huh) be alike (that`s right)

We don`t vibe no more because we don`t C/see alike

And your mom got it twisted, she think Hov` changed

Nope; Hov`s still here like Rogaine

Ask your boy what he did to the Hov` game

How he jeapordized the whole game

Now when we see each other it`s so strange

I don`t know whether to hug him or slug him (damn)

I don`t know whether to cap him or dap him

I don`t know what to think of him, I don`t know what`s happenin

But what I do know, all the n*ggaz that you know

locked up doin a few doe, but who knows?

Maybe it wasn`t you, maybe I`m buggin too (right)

But I`m scared dog, I don`t know what the f**k to do

Do me a favor, place yourself in my shoes

The game, no exceptions, gotta follow the rules

[Chorus]