From the begingging the song tell children who wants to become a singers or actors to just deal with the positive influence with it and not the negative things about the business. Nas tell the listener not to get mixed up with the wrong crowd. Don't worry about how someone else sees you; think about how you can be a positive froce on yourself and others.
In the next verse, Nas speaks of young girls trying to grow up too early. Don't worry about acting and dressing like what you see on television or videos especially. Nas is telli ng young women you could be put in situation that is life-altering like rape or HIV. He also says that the listener could host a television show like Oprah. Nas is comparing the listener to Oprah. Oprah came from poverty, she was raped, and even though all these negative things were part of her youth, she still went to college and overcame all the the obstacles and became one of the wealthiest and well-know people in America. If Oprah wasn't so driven, her life could hav turned out alot differently.
Nas tells young men that life lis about more than smoking weed, selling drugs and buying big chains and jewlery. Get your education and stop living off of women, be a man, go to school and become what your dreamed to be.
In the last verse, Nas speaks about Black American's being sold into slavery because of kmoney that whites in America and Africans could make ot of it. He aslo raps about how Europeans took over Africa's riches. Not only their gold, but their libraries, books, teachings, and discoveries. How Europeans shot off the nose of the Sphinx to make the face look more Anglo-Saxon. Many ideas and inventions have been stolen from Black