I know how it feels to wake up fucked up,
Pockets broke as hell, another rock to sell.
People look at you like you’s the user,
Selling drugs to all the losers, mad buddha abuser.
But they don’t know about the stress-filled day…
Baby on the way, mad bills to pay,
That’s why you drink Tanqueray,
So you can reminisce and wish
You wasn’t living so devilish, shit.

- Notorious B.I.G., “Everyday Struggle,” Ready to Die, 1994

Life is real, reality is not a dream.
Those who chose to sleep…I wake em up,
Cause you’re sleepin with your mouth open hummin deez nuts.

- King Sun, “Humm Deez Nuts,” Strictly Ghetto EP, 1994

A born terror, a rebel without a pause…
Ain’t never had a good Christmas, so who is Santa Claus?

- Shyheim, “On and On,” Shyheim a.k.a. The Rugged Child, 1994 (via egotripland & babylonfalling)

“Homicide central, East New York, Where the manic-depressive psycho murderers stalk”
–Jeru the Damaja, “D. Original,” The Sun Rises in the East, 1994

“Homicide central, East New York,
Where the manic-depressive psycho murderers stalk”

–Jeru the Damaja, “D. Original,” The Sun Rises in the East, 1994

Damn right I like the life I live,
Cause I went from negative to positive.

- Notorious B.I.G., “Juicy,” Ready to Die, 1994

See, seventy percent of the world’s underwater,
Seventy percent of your body’s underwater,
Seventy percent of what we live is out of range,
We rearrange this order, but niggaz think it’s strange.

- Boogiemonsters, “Strange,” Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album, 1994 

Keepin’ this effervescent street ghetto essence inside us
Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us

- AZ, “Life’s a Bitch,” from Nas’ Illmatic, 1994

Real, rough and rugged, shine like a gold nugget,
Every time I pick up the microphone, I drug it.

- Jeru the Damaja, “Come Clean,” The Sun Rises in the East, 1994

Dwellin’ in the Rotten Apple, you get tackled.
Or caught by the devil’s lasso…shit is a hassle.

- Nas, “The World Is Yours,” Illmatic, 1994

The more emotion I put into it, the harder I rock.

- O.C., “Time’s Up,” Word…Life, 1994

I met this girl when I was ten years old,
And what I loved most she had so much soul.
She was old school, when I was just a shorty
Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me.

- Common, “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” from Resurrection, 1994

I bathe in basslines, rinse in riffs, dry in drums

- Common, “Resurrection,” Resurrection, 1994

I’m a addict for sneakers, twenties of buddah and bitches with beepers.

- Nas, “N.Y. State of Mind,” Illmatic, 1994

She’s got charm, a firearm to match mine,
Goin to the movies packin his and her nine’s.
Wearin Carhart and leather, motherfuck the weather,
On Valentine’s Day, doin stick-ups together.
No one to blame, no shame in her game,
And when we fuck she makes me scream out her name.

- Apache, “Gangsta Bitch”, Apache Ain’t Shit, 1994