I consider myself pretty acquainted with unreleased Nas - I have never heard this one before and it seems to have emerged fairly recently? It's rare that I get chills listening to hip hop anymore but dammit this verse is just so beautiful - it has that haunting / brooding quality that made some his work on Lost Tapes Vol. 1 and God's Son so timeless. I like it so much I've tried to get the lyrics down - help a brother out if you think I got it wrong!
I've lived, I've cried, I've loved, I've died in war
I rise once more to conquer the vengeance
Slaughter, repentance, the drama, it's endless, the pain
My dreams are demented
With demons and witches which feed on my greed for money, for sex
Was hungry, was stressed, was young and obsessed with
Bentleys to dress, expensive tuxedos and gators with diamonds
My nature became cocaine, relying on iron with clips, in corners with fiends,
From cracks left foes to starve
I feel them inside my brain and they screamin'
I've tried to feed them
My foes were jealous, my soldiers not loyal
I showed them the way to water, they drink and they thought they could poison my cup so They would be rich without me
They bit the hand that fed them I unloaded my weapon, exploded and left them with death
To have them unwanted, them b*stards was with it
The country, the senate, they hunt for me but listen...
I changed my description they raided my home and I'm gone.