Shinin' Star

Yeah yeah, uhh, uh-huh
Brand Nubian, yeah yeah, check it

You don't have to drive a fancy car
Just for you to be a shinin' star
No matter who you are, no matter who you are

Uhh, now it started it off for me in apartment 6C
Project style, ate government cheese for a while
Pop Duke wasn't there 'cos he had to do a bid
So momma love stuck with these bad ass kids
She used to say, "Keep your head up, always think positive
And never be ashamed of who you are or where you live
Teenage years I had to struggle doing that"

Shorty say, "Don't talk to him, girlfriend, look where he live at
Crib probably crawlin' with roaches and rats
Plus cats be in his hallways with the drugs and the gats"
I used to try and honeys used to walk on by
Now I'm damn near 20 and still ain't got no ride
Caught a record deal, now them same old chicks
That used to walk on by go out their way to say, hi
But they gets none that's why I'm with the same girl
From the same projects that I come from because

You don't have to drive a fancy car
Just for you to be a shinin' star
No matter who you are, no matter who you are
You don't have to drive a fancy car
Just for you to be a shinin' star
No matter who you are, no matter who you are

Well this is that time that you've waited for
Three linked from what was said to be extinct
You say, "Take my weed-smellin' ass home"
I'm grown more thirst than if I swallowed sand bags
Not fending enough to go out and grab bags from women
I swear if we don't hear this on the air I'll be down at the station
Your broadcast from Monday has now been switched to no day
With the class team that I'm with, we stay fit
Just like the calm before the twister hit

Brand Nubian name is gonna blister shit
We raise the flags in three places
Employ black faces from midnight blacks to light tan
Brand Nubian straight rate policy for the world
For your little man, for your little girl, from Cheryl to Earl
Watch how it all go down and unfurl
Mark this print, I feel like we've all been sent
It's more than gettin' money and gettin' bent
Word life, 'cos you're a shinin' star
No matter who you are, no matter who you are

You don't have to drive a fancy car
Just for you to be a shinin' star
No matter who you are, no matter who you are

Brand Nubian cats spread
A four-letter word seldom heard amongst my nation
Understandings highest elevation, the foundation
Of creation of motivation, in my family there's no relation
They got us willing to be killing off our population, full-time occupation
We need to turn it around like oscillation
Or watch it all burn to the ground from frustration

Lord Jamar, I'ma show love to all my people who show
To me that's how it's gotta be peace to prodigy and Mobb Deep
God's working hard on the streets for the love of the peeps
Niggas bring their ass in the clubs every week
Walk right past the brothers and they can't speak
All hands meet to shake, for Pete's sake
Let's break the ice, life livin' love, love livin' life

You don't have to drive a fancy car
Just for you to be a shinin' star
No matter who you are, no matter who you are
You don't have to drive a fancy car
Just for you to be a shinin' star
No matter who you are, no matter who you are