Ghetto Reporter

## Song by Nas

"**Ghetto Reporter**" is the lead track from American rapper Nas' sixteenth studio album, *King's Disease III* (2022). It samples the 1975 song "Just Us" by Richard Pryor.

## Critical reception

*Complex* observed, "jumps from celebratory flexes to career existentialism, unspooling vignettes of his own success and the derailed dreams of artists who weren't so lucky."

## Personnel

* Alan Watts – writer
* Chauncey "Hit-Boy" Hollis III – writer, producer, programmer
* David Kim – recording engineer, mixer
* Jesse Blum – writer, producer
* Jun Kim – co-mixing engineer
* Justin Boreta – writer
* Lionel Richie – writer
* Mark "Exit" Goodchild – A&R administrator
* Mike Bozzi – mastering engineer
* Nasir "Nas" Jones – vocals, writer

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Intro: Alan Watts, **Richard Pryor**]

Close your eyes

Listen (Listen, listen)

**They give n\*\*\*as time like it’s lunch down there, Jack**

**You go down there looking for justice, that’s what you find: just us**

[Verse 1: Nas]

It's comedy, it's hilarious

Look yourself in the mirror, tell me times ain't the scariest

For me droppin' album after album like it's a various artist compilation

But it's just me and HB and this shit take concentration

N\*\*\*as know I don't drop this often so cherish it (So cherish it)

Like your daughter's graduation, kids' marriages

When the culture vulture swoop down, they start exploitin' the sound

They drew up contracts for our n\*\*\*as Dru Hill to Dru Down

And I'm prayin' they set

Instead, most artists don't live as good as the execs

And they end up depressed

Scarred by A&Rs, the music be changin'

And the culture be shiftin', so you gotta move with it

Call me the party crasher, that plan spoiler

That Malcolm seein Maya Angelou in Ghana holdin' a camcorder

Ghetto reporter, live from 40 Side, you know my storyline

First project rapper, triple platinum with New Yorker pride

[Interlude: Nas]

King's Disease

Most of us catch it at one point or another

But evolve, find a new formula

One that takes everything in you to make

[Verse 2: Nas]

The audacity masterfully crafted these classics

So naturally, had to be Nasty back at it

They argue KD1, KD2 or Magic, was harder when...

KD3 go harder than all of them!

Back in the 9-0s, barely rubbed elbows with CEOs

I was dolo, I bet it shocked y'all to see me grow

And the 0-0s, I still ain't attend much industry dinners

Had to tend to my business, go past the sky's limit

The hate gon' rise quicker so how could I manage this disadvantage?

N\*\*\*as Planet Hollywood, I came from a different planet

Leave it up to me to break the news you won't see on the screen

Chuckle at you motherfuckers, we the last of the kings

Shout to the real ones like us, it's a shortage, it seems

I'm underground and overground and it's never been seen

Real counts on my streams

Got real people tappin' in so that's what that means, indeed

[Outro: Nas]

It means I got nothin' but the real checkin' in

We locked in, all the way

Just applaud this, yeah

I'm trapped in hip-hop, you know what I'm sayin'?

Like, I couldn't get out if I wanted to

All us rappers are trapped

And if we can't get out, you know what I'm sayin'?

'Til we over, 'til it's dead, 'til we in the dirt

When I'm fifty years old, I wanna have fifty-year old fans

Sixty-year old fans, sixteen-year old fans

## References

1. ↑ Berry, Peter (November 16, 2022). "Nas Celebrates Living to Tell the Tale on 'King's Disease III'". *Complex*.

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