[Chorus 1: Sample] Under my thumb The girl who once had me down [Verse 1: brandUn DeShay] So, this is where the story all begins Just like most, they started out as friends Then things changed It's like the more they talked, the more that he was on her brain As the conversations got deeper And the meetings more and more frequent Then she seen that this could be more When he caught her alone She wondered where he'd been Not your average boy meets girl These two were too perfect to be strangers More like it's Boy Meets World And they were the real Cory and Topanga It used to be down to him The difference in the clothes he wears Down to her, the changes come Now she's got him under her thumb He told himself that he would be more of a gentleman than usually Cause he used to be more of an a** and get more a** but he'd end up losin', see? And with her, there was no way she'd let that fly Even though he was black and attacks would do it There was no way he would let her pa** by All because of love, no need to ask why I could sympathize for this guy Cause it's like he only needed one big mistake And the one that he chose to make: Moving too slow when time's at stake Didn't let her know how he felt for her Didn't let him know how she felt for him And the way he acted, none of her friends could understand how she felt for him, but It was only a matter of time, she started to see things differently The dumb things he did, the dumb things he said, and consciously k**ed what was meant to be It was down to me - I mean him - but now she only says "Hi" whenever he does first Now it's goin' in reverse, the changes come But she still has him under her thumb It's down to her, but that just means that It's up to him to get things on track No longer under her thumb She belongs under my arm [Chorus 2: Sample] Under my thumb Well I, I can still look at someone else [Verse 2: Marty Herson] I'm on the Cool team, tool means That you do me instead of doin' you And it's seldom seen creativity Comin' straight from you, no, please don't fool me And if he wasn't so busy checkin' me He would've known what was under my thumb The detonation bu*ton to her soul and being Just by switching my style up I used to say "I thought..." She would say "Aha, yeah, you thought like Nelly" Nelly thought she was makin' them But a-ha-haha, she was really makin' illy Now I don't need to think cause I know I'm makin' (?) Hold up, let me count my ones My fives, my tens, my hundreds n***as see why I plummet And I land after flyin' coach I know I steal my tow Gucci bags, but this Might get you arrested, cause I Get it from A-rabs, from Abdul And Aladdin, I'm baggin' myself up and I'm laggin' in that steez department They say, "Look how the teacher talkin', he gay!" So go ahead and plug me, okay Or you could just bump me a few grades Up and I'll get up out of this place And a few years later Hollywood would state: "Do you know your way to San Jose?" No, damnit, still tryin' to find my way Home, where I'm from, where I long to be Hopefully the ears of the red carpet streets won't get a hold of me Hopefully the ears of the red carpet streets won't get a hold of me