Yo, fuck you, Kanye, first and foremost
For making me do this shit muh′fucker
Had to throw everybody out the motherfucking room
'Cause they don′t fucking

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I'd like to propose a toast
I said toast motherfucker

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And I am
(Here's to the Roc)
And they ask me, they ask me, they ask me, I tell them
(Here′s to Roc-A-Fella)
Raise your glasses, your glasses, your glasses to the sky
(Here′s to the Roc)
This is the last call for alcohol, for the
(Mr. Rockefeller)
So get your ass up off the wall

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The all around the world Digital Underground, Pac
The Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer of the Roc
I take my chain, my 15 seconds of fame
And come back next year with the whole fucking game
Ain't nobody expect Kanye to end up on top
They expected that College Dropout to drop and then flop
Then maybe he stop savin′ all the good beats for himself
Roc-A-Fella's only niggas that helped

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My money was thinner than Sean Paul′s goatee hair
Now Jean Paul Gaultier cologne fill the air, yeah
They say he bougie, he big-headed
Would you please stop talking about how my dick head is?
Flow infectious, give me 10 seconds
I'll have a buzz bigger than insects in Texas
It′s funny how wasn't nobody interested
'Til the night I almost killed myself in Lexus

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Now I am
(Here′s to the Roc)
And they ask me, they ask me, they ask me, I tell them
(Here′s to Roc-A-Fella)
Raise your glasses, your glasses, your glasses to the sky
(Here's to the Roc)
This is the last call for alcohol, for the
(Mr. Rockefeller)
So get your ass up off the wall

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Now was Kanye the most overlooked? Yes sir
Now is Kanye the most overbooked? Yes sir
Though the fans want the feeling of A Tribe Called Quest
But all they got left is this guy called West
That′ll take Freeway, throw him on tracks with Mos Def
Call him Kwa-li or Kwe-li, I put him on songs with JAY-Z
I'm the Gap like Banana Republic and Old Navy, and ooh
It come out sweeter than old Sadie

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Nice as Bun-B when I met him at the Source awards
Girl he had with him, ass coulda won the horse awards
And I was almost famous, now everybody love Kanye
I′m almost Raymond
Some say he arrogant, can y'all blame him?
It was straight embarrassing how y′all played him
Last year shoppin' my demo, I was tryin' to shine
Every motherfucker told me that I couldn′t rhyme

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Now I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem
Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams
I use it as my gas, so they say that I′m gassed
But without it I'd be last, so I ought to laugh
So I don′t listen to the suits behind the desk no more
You niggas wear suits 'cause you can′t dress no more
You can't say shit to Kanye West no more
I rocked 20 thousand people, I was just on tour, nigga

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I′m Kon, the Louis Vuitton Don
Bought my mom a purse, now she Louis Vuitton mom
I ain't play the hand I was dealt, I changed my cards
I prayed to the skies and I changed my stars
I went to the malls and I balled too hard
Oh my god, is that a black card?
I turned around and replied, "Why yes"
"But I prefer the term African American Express"

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Brains, power, and muscle, like Dame, Puffy, and Russell
Your boy back on his hustle, you know what I've been up to
Killin y′all niggas on that lyrical shit
Mayonnaise-colored Benz, I push Miracle Whips

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And I am
(Here′s to the Roc)
And they ask me, they ask me, they ask me, I tell them
(Here's to Roc-A-Fella)
Raise your glasses, your glasses, your glasses to the sky
(Here′s to the Roc)
This is the last call for alcohol, for my niggas
(Mr. Rockefeller)
So get your ass up off the wall

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So this A\u0026R over at Roc-A-Fella, named Hip Hop
Picked the "Truth" beat for Beanie
And I was in the session with him, I had my demo with me
You know, like I always do
I play the songs, he's like "Who that spittin′?"
I'm like "It′s me", he's like "Oh, well okay"
Uhh, he started talkin' to me on the phone
Going back and forth, just askin′ me to send him beats

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And I′m thinking he's trying to get into managing producers
′Cause he had this other kid named Just Blaze he was messin' with
And um, he was friends with my mentor, No ID
And No ID told him, "Look, man, you wanna mess with Kanye"
"You got to tell him that you like the way he rap"

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I was all, I dunno if he was gassin′ me or not
But he's like he wanna manage me as a rapper and a producer
I′m like, oh shit
I was messin' with, uh, D-Dot also
People were like this, started talking about the ghost production
But that's how I got in the game, if it wasn′t for that, I wouldn′t be here

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So you know, after they picked that "Truth" beat
I was thinking I was gonna do some more work
But shit just wasn't poppin′ off like that, I was stayin' in Chicago
Had my own apartment, I be doin′ like, just beats for local acts
Just to try to keep the lights on, and then to go out and buy
Get a Pelle Pelle off lay-away, get some Jordans or something
Or get a TechnoMarine, that's what we wore back then

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I made this one beat where I sped up this Harold Melvin sample
I played it for Hip over the phone, he′s like, "Oh, yo that shit is crazy
Jay might want it for this compilation album he doin', called The Dynasty
And at that time, like the drums really weren't soundin′ right to me
So I went and um, I was listening to Dre Chronic 2001 at that time
And really I just, like bit the drums off "Xxplosive"
And put it like with a sped-up sample, and now it′s kind of like my whole style
When it started, when he rapped on "This Can't Be Life"

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And that was like
Really the first beat of that kind that was on The Dynasty Album
I could say that was the, the resurgence of this whole sound
You know, I got to come in and track the beat
And at the time I was still with my other management
And I really wanted to roll with Hip Hop ′cause I, I just needed some fresh air
You know what I'm sayin′ cause I been there for a while

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I appreciated what they did for me but
You know there's a time in every man′s life where he gotta make a change
Try to move up to the next level
And that day I came and I tracked the beat
And I got to meet JAY-Z and he said, "Oh you a real soulful dude"

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And he, uh, played the song 'cause he already spit his verse
By the time I got to the studio you know how he do it, one take
And he said
"Check this out, tell me what you think of this, right here"
And I heard it, and I was thinking like, man
I really wanted more like of the simple type JAY-Z
I ain't want like the, the more introspective, complicated
Rhy- or the, in my personal opinion
So he asked me, "What you think of it?"

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And I was like, "Man that shit tight"
You know what I′m sayin′, man what I'ma tell him?
I was on the train, man, you know
So after that, I went back home
And man I′m, I'm just in Chicago, I′m trying to do my thing
You know, I got groups, I got acts I'm trying to get on
And like there wasn′t nothin' really like poppin' off the way it should have been
One of my homies that was one of my artists, he got signed
But it was supposed to really go through my production company
But he ended up going straight with the company

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So, like I′m just straight holdin′ the phone
Gettin' the bad news that dude was tryin′ to leave my company
And I got evicted at the same time
So, I went down and tracked the beats from him
I took that money came back, packed all my shit up in a U-Haul
Maybe about ten days before I had to actually get out
So I ain't have to deal with the landlord ′cause he's a jerk
Me and my mother drove to (come on, let′s just go)

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Newark, New Jersey, I hadn't even seen my apartment
I remember I pulled up (Kanye, baby, we're here)
I unpacked all my shit, you know, we went to Ikea
I bought a bed, I put the bed together myself
I loaded up all my equipment, and the first beat I made
Was, uh, "Heart of the City"

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And Beans was still working on his album at that time
So I came up there to Baseline, it was Beans′ birthday, matter of fact
And I played like seven beats, and, you know I guess he was in the zone
He already had the beats that he wanted
I did "Nothing Like It" already at that time
But then Jay walked in, I remember he had a Gucci bucket hat on
I remember it like, like it was yesterday
And Hip-hop said, "Yo play that one beat for him"
And I played "Heart of the City" and really I made "Heart of the City"
I really wanted to give that beat to DMX

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And I played another beat, and I played another beat
And I remember that Gucci bucket, he took it and like put it over his face
And made one of them faces like, ooh
Two days later I′m in Baseline and I seen Dame
Dame didn't know who I was and I was like, "Yo what′s up I'm Kanye"

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"You that kid that gave all them beats to Jay?
"Yo, this nigga got classics to your beats" (Jay got classics, G)
You know I ain′t talkin' shit
I′m like "oh shit", and all this time I'm starstruck, man
I'm still thinking ′bout, you know I′m picturing these niggas on the show
The Streets is Watching, I'm lookin′, these were superstars in my eyes
And they still are, you know

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So, Jay came in and he spit all these songs like in one day
And in two days, I gotta bring up one thing, you know
Go back in the story, the day I did the 'Can′t be Life' beat on track
I remember Lenny S, he had some Louis Vuitton sneakers on, he think he fly
And Hip Hop was there, I think Ty-Ty, John Meneilly, a bunch of people
I didn′t know all these people at the time they was in the room
And I said, "Yo Jay I could rap"

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And I spit this rap that said, uh "I'm killin' y′all niggas on that lyrical shit
Mayonnaise colored Benz, I push miracle whips"
And I saw his eyes light up when I said that line
But you know the rest, the rap was like real wack and shit
So that′s all the response
He said, "Man that was tight"

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That was it, you know, I ain't get no deal or nothin
Okay, fast forward
So, Blueprint, "H to the Izzo" my first hit single
And I just took that proudly, built relationships with people
And my relationship with Kweli
I think was one of the best things to ever happen to my career as a rapper
Because, you know, of course, later he allowed me to go on tour with him
Man, I appre- I love him for that

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And at this time, you know I didn′t have a deal
I had songs, and I had relationships with all these A\u0026R's
So they wanted beats from me, so they′d call me up, I'd play them some beats
Gimme a beat that sound like JAY-Z", you know, they dick riders, whatever
So I′ll play them these post-Blueprint beats or whatever
And then I'll play my shit. I'll be like, "Yo but I rap too"
Hey, I guess they was lookin′ at me crazy
′Cause you know, 'cause I ain′t have a jersey on or whatever

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Everybody out there listen here
I played them "Jesus Walks" and they didn't sign me
You know what happened, it was some A\u0026R′s that fucked with me though
But then like the heads, it'd be somebody at the company that′ll say, "Naw"
Like, Dave Lighty fucked with me
My nigga Mel brought me to a bunch of labels
Jessica Rivera, man...
"Man, you niggas is stupid if y'all don't sign Kanye, for real"

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I′m not gonna say nothin to mess my promotion up
"Y′all niggaz is stupid", let's just say I didn′t get my deal

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The nigga that was behind me, I mean
He wasn't even a nigga, you know?
The person who actually kicked everything off
Was Joe 3H from Capitol Records
He wanted to sign me really bad

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Dame was like, "Yo you got a deal with Capitol
Okay man, just make sure it′s not wack

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Then one day I just went ahead and played it
I wanted to play some songs, 'cause you know
Cam was in the room, Young Guru, and Dame was in the room
So I played, actually it′s a song that you'll never hear
Or maybe I might use it, so, it's called "Wow"

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I go to Jacob with 25 thou′, you go with 25 hundred, wow
I got 11 plaques on my walls right now
You got your first gold single, damn, nigga, wow

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Like the chorus went
Don′t bite that chorus I might still use it
So I play that song for him and he's like, "Oh shit"

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"Oh shit it′s not even wack"
"I ain't gonna front, it′s kinda hot"
"It's actually kinda hot"

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Like they still weren′t looking at me like a rapper
And I'm sure Dame figured, like man, if he do a whole album
If his raps is wack at least we can throw Cam on every song
And save the album, you know

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So, uh, Dame took me into the hallway, and he's like
"Yo man B, B, you don′t want a brick, you don′t want a brick"
"You gotta be under an umbrella, you'll get rained on"
I told Hip-hop and Hip-hop was all, "Oh, word?"
Actually, even with that, I was still about to take the deal with Capitol
′Cause it was already on the table and 'cause of my relationship with 3H
That, you know, ′cause I told him I was gonna do it, and I'm a man of my word
I was gonna roll with what I said I was gonna do

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Then, you know, I′m not gonna name no names
But people told me, "Oh he's just a producer-rapper"
And told 3H that told the heads of the Capitol, and right
The day I'm talking about, I planned out everything I was gonna do
Man, I had picked out clothes, I already started booking studio sessions
I started arranging my album, thinking of marketing schemes
Man I was ready to go
And they had Mel call me, they said
"Yo, Capitol pulled on the deal"
"Yo, Capitol pulled out on the deal"

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And, you know I told them that Roc-A-Fella was interested
And I don′t know if they thought that was just something I was saying
To gas them up to try to push the price up or whatever
I went up
I called G, I said, "Man, you think we could still get that deal with Roc-A-Fella?"

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So won′t you raise your glass, won't you
So won′t you raise your glass, don't you
So won′t you raise your glass, won't you
So won′t you raise your glass, don't you

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