["Cash Rules Everything Around Me","Leave it up to me while I be livin' proof","Livin' in the world no different from a cell","No question I would flow off, and try to get the dough all","I guess that's the time when I'm not depressed","A young youth, yo rockin' the gold tooth, 'Lo goose","What that nigga want God?","Handcuffed in back of a bus, forty of us","Started smokin' woolies at sixteen","","Cash Rules Everything Around Me","To kick the truth to the young black youth","My life got no better, same damn 'Lo sweater","But as the world turns I learned life is Hell","Dollar, dollar bill y'all","Yeah, check this ol' fly shit out, word up","But I'm still depressed, and I ask what's it worth?","Cash Rules Everything Around Me","Makin' my way on fire escapes","Only way, I begin to gee off was drug loot","","Dollar, dollar bill y'all, oh yeah","And let's start it like this son, rollin' with this one","And ain't tryin' to hear what I'm kickin' in his ear","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","To learn to overcome the heartaches and pain","Times is ruff and tuff like leather","I peep at the shape of the streets","Life as a shorty shouldn't be so ruff","","I grew up on the crime side, the New York Times side","Catchin' keys from across seas","Here we here we go","","","","Dollar, dollar bill y'all","And runnin' up in gates, and doin' hits for high stakes","(Word up, we gotta get over, straight up and down)","Cash Rules Everything Around Me","(Cash Rules Everything Around Me, C.R.E.A.M. get)","The court played me short, now I face incarceration","Check this shit, yo!","Pacin', goin' up state's my destination","","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","Take you on a natural joint","A young buck sellin' drugs and such who never had much","Though I don't know why I chose to smoke sess","But it was just the dream for the teen, who was a fiend","Dollar, dollar bill y'all","Stayin' alive was no jive","The combination made my eyes bleed","","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","But shorty's runnin' wild smokin' sess drinkin' beer","Tryin' to get a clutch at what I could not","","","","(C.R.E.A.M. get the money)","","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","A man with a dream with plans to make C.R.E.A.M.","Dollar, dollar bill y'all","('Cuz we can't just get by no more)","","At second hands, moms bounced on old men","That what? That life is hectic","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","Rollin' in MPV's, every week we made forty G's","(Dollar, dollar bill y'all)","Figured out I went the wrong route","And stay awake to the ways of the world 'cuz shit is deep","Word up, look out for the cops","Survival got me buggin', but I'm alive on arrival","Cash Rules Everything Around Me","Which failed, I went to jail at the age of 15","Word up, know what I'm sayin''?","We got stickup kids, corrupt cops, and crack rocks","(Niggas gots to do what they gotta do, to get a bill)","Dollar, dollar bill y'all","Yo nigga respect mine, or anger the tech nine","","Dollar, dollar bill y'all","Who explained working hard may help you maintain","Neglected, but now, but yo, it gots to be accepted","And that one, pullin' out gats for fun","Ready to give up so I seek the Old Earth","So then we moved to Shaolin land","Smokin' bones in the staircase","","Cash Rules Everything Around Me","No question I would speed, for cracks and weed","Cash Rules Everything Around Me","","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","Ch-chick-pow! Move from the gate now","Stickin' up white boys in ball courts","Word up, two for fives them niggaz got garbage down the way","Word up, two for fives over here baby","Dollar, dollar bill y'all","So I got with a sick ass click and went all out","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","It's been twenty-two long hard years of still strugglin'","Dollar, dollar bill y'all","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","Dollar, dollar bill y'all","And stray shots, all on the block that stays hot","Everyday I escape from Jakes givin' chase, sellin' base","(Cash Rules Everything Around Me)","C.R.E.A.M., get the money","Cash Rules Everything Around Me","","(Cash Rules)","(Ya know what I'm sayin''?)","Cash Rules Everything Around Me","Cash Rules Everything Around Me"]
Performed by: Wu-Tang Clan Written by: Dennis Coles; Robert Diggs; Gary Grice; Lamont Hawkins; Isaac Hayes; Jason Hunter; Russell Jones; David Porter; Clifford Smith; Corey Woods
Credits: Coles, Dennis (Songwriter); Diggs, Robert (Songwriter); Grice, Gary (Songwriter); Hawkins, Lamont (Songwriter); Hayes, Isaac (Songwriter); Hunter, Jason (Songwriter); Jones, Russell (Songwriter); Porter, David (Songwriter); Smith, Clifford (Songwriter); Woods, Corey (Songwriter); EAST MEMPHIS MUSIC (Publisher); UNIVERSAL MUSIC - CAREERS (Publisher); UNIVERSAL MUSIC - MGB SONGS (Publisher); WU TANG PUBLISHING (Publisher)
"C.R.E.A.M." (an acronym for Cash Rules Everything Around Me) is the second single from Wu-Tang Clan's highly praised debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). The song is produced by RZA with a sample from "As Long As I've Got You" by The Charmels.
"C.R.E.A.M." features a verse from Raekwon, a long verse from Inspectah Deck and the hook performed by Method Man: Cash rules everything around me, C.R.E.A.M./Get the money; dollar, dollar bill, y'all. The verse by Inspectah Deck is often considered one of his finest verses[citation needed], as he manages to encapsulate his entire life growing up in the ghetto so far. Topics covered include growing up without a father, resorting to drug dealing and being arrested. After being arrested, Deck has a new and profound view on society, as he believes society is "no different from a cell." Towards the end of the verse, Deck talks about how going to prison has matured him, and now he tries to encourage the young black youth to stop affiliating themselves with the street life and to instead try to use their talents to better themselves and society. The hook performed by Method Man has been sampled by many rappers. The phrase "Cream" has become a slang term for money. C.R.E.A.M is one of the highest charting Wu-Tang Clan singles, reaching #60 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was also voted #20 in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs.[2]
The music video for "C.R.E.A.M." features the members of the Wu-Tang Clan starting off at the projects in Staten Island and moving on to a more lavish lifestyle of champagne and Mercedes. The video for this single also features classic early '90s urban New York styles of dress, as the majority of the people in the video are wearing goose-downs, Champion hoodies, black skullies, and either beige or black Timberlands.
The "C.R.E.A.M." single made The Source Magazine's 100 Best Rap Singles list.[1]
