[Intro] Where we at? Where you at? Yo, who's in the place? Y'all hear me out there? BK, NY, QB, LI "This is this place to be" Verse One [Rise] We in the York newest The stork that warped music Caused an uproar and a change of all movement Should have ruled foolish how we civil warred through it Still we maintain without image all ghoulish Lessons happily learned in the apple with worms And crabs packin' the turns, trains trackin' their errs f** parkin' in the city in the mid afternoon And when you go out the little kiddies pull a clip out for you There's a lot of pro teens in this mixed pot of stew That represent Brooklyn even if they move out too Gentrified, see a fence will rise for quality homes Little Tyrone alone at home, violently zones Turns pennies into nickles Dimes, dubs only hazes now Cause a bunch of records n***as call on you way foul The land of opportunity You got a chance to loose The center of the Toosie Pop The donut of the news [Hook] New York BK New York QB New York DS New York City New York Uptown New York Downtown New York Mid-town c'mon New York City New York Clinton Hill New York Hicksville New York Project Heights New York City New York Juan Dance New York Brentwood New York C'mon "This is the place to be" Verse Two [Substantial] Dear NYC I miss you more than a tad bit Without you I would have never knew this rap sh** In fact if, I didn't live there Life would have been weird Wouldn't have a wife and a kid Hearin' Merlin, I'm certain You wouldn't know my name If the Big Apple didn't pull back the curtain When I was doin' my thing Pursuing my dreams, I was sure "This is the place to be" Wheeeeere Rap artists outnumber the rats And crooked cops fiend for someone to clap The ? in your pad usin' nothin' but crack Where the Twin Towers were under attack Wrote so many rhymes while ridin' the subway I'll still be underground when I'm platinum someday From, yours truly Substantial Though it can be a handful "This is the place to be" [Hook] Verse Three [Rise] Where you're just a graphic designer just makin' your coffee And missiles from evil regimes are aimed at your office Mid-Town moved to Parks Slope The Slope moved to Flatbush Flatbush moved to Florida state packed up Like pa**in' through Queens on the Long Island E If we car pooled then we can use the lane for Jay-Z They say we're co*ky and we're arrogant Who knows what that meant The only people on earth without an accent "This is the place to be" The Empire State And I didn't write that New York attack? Look how the Empire Strikes Back Startin' wars now just cause we didn't like cats And everybody lived except the dudes from the ? 7-30 for 2-12 7-18 my 6-46 mobile lived in 5-16 6-3-1, countin' all the 7-11's Who lived in the cribs All the people that this record is reppin' [Hook] Verse Four [Substantial] Where hustlers flip grams for next to no paper And cop groceries from local bodegas In the latest Tims cause they don't sport gators You might get jumped for screamin' "Go Lakers" Every single year they swear the Knicks gon' take it Even when they s**, fans hold they team sacred Though many hate it, you gotta respect it Check it "This is the place to be" Where they Grind God Whether your grind hard Wait tables or have a fashion design job Hip hop's birth place The paper chase capitol Rent's dumb high so they do what they have to do Train pan handlers Playin' percussion Homeless man sayin' sorry for the interruption Never been? Then consider this your introduction Welcome "This is the place to be" [Hook]