Harlem has a long lineage of flashy rappers with an affinity for the ostentatious. However, Dave East's style is a bit more understated and his rhymes are a bit more rugged. Born and raised in Harlem, the rapper spent time shuttling between there and Queens, namely Queensbridge, ultimately moving to Maryland to pursue athletic opportunities at Springbrook High School.

A gifted basketball player, East was a standout on varsity and even played alongside basketball stars Kevin Durant, Ty Lawson and Greivis Vasquez on the AAU circuit before graduating and accepting a scholarship from the University of Richmond. East would transfer to Towson University before deciding to put down the round ball due to an injury. As a result, he put focus on his first love, music, unveiling his debut mixtape, Change of Plans, in 2010.

The subsequent years would see East build upon that foundation with a string of mixtapes, one of which landed in the hands of Nas who quickly offered the rapper a deal with Mass Appeal Records, Esco's latest business venture. That same year, East released Black Rose, which helped raise his profile and received a considerable amount of critical acclaim. While that project received positive reviews, it would be his 2015 release, Hate Me Now, that would put the rap world on notice that a new lyrical beast was on the rise. In 2016, East had a victory lap, as he was chosen as a member of the 2016 XXL Freshman class, inked a major label deal with Def Jam and released his Kairi Chanel mixtape.

This year has been filled with even more opportunities for Dave East, including a cameo on BET's hit drama Being Mary Jane, but the guttural lyricist has honed back in on music, unleashing his highly anticipated project, Paranoia: A True Story. Featuring appearances from Jeezy, Nas, Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa, and French Montana, Paranoia finds East opting for a more accessible sound than previous outings, but also includes an ample amount of gritty street testimonials that are sure to entice his core fan base.

After giving the project a thorough spin, XXL highlights 20 of the best lyrics on Paranoia: A True Story.

  • "Paranoia"

    Dave East Featuring Jeezy

    "I cannot wait ’til this pack is done/These niggas fuckin' the package up/That bullshit they kickin' ain't adding up/Plus they don't get no pussy like Magic's son" - Dave East

  • "Paranoia"

    Dave East Featuring Jeezy

    "Niggas still tellin', I guess they ain't rat enough/Came a long way from them dimes in that Acura/So much ice, make ’em stare/Your wife got caught up in the lights like a deer/Living my life, though I know it ain't fair/They think I'm from 12th Street, I run with no fear/See the borough from the Lear, yeah/Brown diamonds look like beer, clear" - Dave East

  • "Paranoia"

    Dave East Featuring Jeezy

    "I made a million a million times/They must've snorted a million lines/Mind playin' tricks, Willie D/Let my top down, ceiling me/Hermes, thirty on the hip/Vegas watch, hundred on the strip/Half a hundred hang up out the clip/Pop that pussy like I'm Uncle Luke" - Jeezy

  • "They Hated"

    Dave East Featuring Nas

    "I had a basic plan, get out the projects and never look back/Could still smell the aroma from when my uncle would cook crack/One conversation between homies, better yet brothers/That used to spend the night with each other, they moms was best friends/One name was Anthony, the hood called ’em Ant Live/Kept his pistol on ’em, so he bought a bigger pant size" - Dave East

  • "Phone Jumpin"

    Dave East Featuring Dave East

    "What you know about trapping and pitching?/Now I got em lapping up in the back of the Bentley/What you know about not having a penny?/Phone jumping gotta bag it up quickly/Phone off it was quiet for me/Don't say you love me, you ain't dying for me/I woke up this morning with a lot of money/I'm just selling game come and buy it from me" - Dave East

  • "Phone Jumpin"

    Dave East Featuring Wiz Khalifa

    "I woke this morning like fuck everybody and that's how I knew that I needed to smoke/My nigga is felons you niggas is jealous and y'all just defining the meaning of broke/I'm gettin some brain, I pulled out my chain and she started lookin' like she seen a ghost/Diamonds is cold like goin' outside with no jacket and mama say you need a coat" - Dave East

  • "Phone Jumpin"

    Dave East Featuring Wiz Khalifa

    "Ice hashing the bomb, take dabs til I'm gone/In the basement, growing base, this shit is strong like mase/Keep a low temp nail, ’cause it's all about taste/I just did three mil', did it all in one day/Hear em talk but I don't believe him/New car so I'm gonna leave him/Talk down but they wanna be him" - Wiz Khalifa

  • "Phone Jumpin"

    Dave East Featuring Wiz Khalifa

    "I've been that nigga since Simon Says/I heard you talk to a lot of feds/Bring your rent back to papi and gimme more/Fuck the Reup up at the Fendi store/Fuck the Reup up on Chanel, fuck the Reup up on Vuitton/Last year I bet against the Cavaliers, I fucked the Reup on LeBron" - Dave East

  • "Perfect"

    Dave East Featuring Chris Brown

    "I wanna know what you like/I wanna know if you smoke, am I strokin' tonight/Picture us both gettin' low on a flight/Love is a gamble, I'm rollin' the dice/When you Snapchat, you takin' pictures with my chain on/Club rockin', but I ain't going/Your shit get wetter than the rain pourin'" - Dave East

  • "Found a Way"

    Dave East

    "Watch my aim, got a hundred clip/Movin' like I'm on the wanted list/I'm on a yatch, with a hundred Crips/I ain't bitchin', shit, I wanted this/Jump out in Louis Vuitton/White tee, black leather jacket, like I'm cool with the Fonz/Fuck the ring, kiss the shoe of a don/Hundred P's, I could move ’em tomorrow"

  • "Maneuver"

    Dave East Featuring French Montana

    "What do you say to a youngin' knowing his stomach empty/He just wanna unload, shoot 'til his gun is empty/We hustle smart, never just wanted any cash/These niggas robbing Pathmarks, stealing from Jimmy Jazz/Welcome to gangland, don't come without no visit pass/Last year, imagine I counted over a million cash" - Dave East

  • "Maneuver"

    Dave East Featuring French Montana

    "Made it out the jungle, came back in a Jaguar/Shawty ass fat with a clap back/Check checks, of that straight cash/Suit suit to that ski mask/The bitch ballin' like Cooper/German Sheppard, German Ruger/Baby all my Vs stupid, but I put you in a Uber/Two hundred on the dash, V12, how I maneuver/Ice on the hookah, neck looking like a jeweler" - French Montana

  • "Maneuver"

    Dave East Featuring French Montana

    "Grams of crates, brainstorm for the grand escape/City is so late, on the Haitians/When they changed their face, I was changing faces/Bronx to Harlem, deadly combination" - French Montana

    "I'm in Miami, with Sadé on repeat/Fifty thousand, put it under the seat/Keep a gun in my reach, walk in my shoes, couldn't fit one of my sneaks/I graduated from the corner, got my hustler's degree" - Dave East

  • "My Dirty Little Secret"

    Dave East

    "In five minutes flat I bag an ounce up,I was in the trap/It's funny that ones that was closest don't even give me dap/You claim you want me, that's something that you just gotta prove/A lot a jewels and Gucci uniforms like it's private school/Crazy me wearing these red-bottoms, done brought em out the blue/Young rich nigga, probably find me where Stella got her groove"

  • "My Dirty Little Secret"

    Dave East

    "I don't know if it's the jewelry or the cash/That made her respond to me so fast/She ain't never asked me nothin' 'bout my past/Speeding I'm trying to look through her pictures, I almost crashed/Digital Dash, Foreign whip, I took a Florida Trip/Me and my daughter, I'm getting messages from this foreign chick/She keep complimenting my jewellery, she think I'm more than rich/So I'ma fuck her wearing my jewelry, I'm on some border shit"

  • "My Dirty Little Secret"

    Dave East

    "I don't trust her enough to pass the weed I be rolling up/I could have her on the beach in Belize sipping coconuts/Hood shit, Hennessy shots until she throwing up/Time to see what that mouth 'bout, she already done smoked enough/Telling me with her last Nigga with head is how she woke him up/Wonder why I'm not going to cuff?/Mami, you must be smoking dust"

  • "Wanna Be Me"

    Dave East

    "My aunt Barbara died in 2008/My paps became diabetic, he lost a lot of weight/Get mad love in my city, still get a lot of hate/Was never selfish, if I had food, the homies gotta plate/This is my life don't take offense to/We went from riding rentals to more rides than Great Adventure/The ones that's closest give me my distance, I got a temper/Missing my daughter, I'm across the country in a Sprinter"

  • "Wanna Be Me"

    Dave East

    "I just wanna wake up and go the Gucci store/Thinking back when I was broke, I ain't know who to call/Did six months, glad the judge ain't give me that two-to-four/Can't describe the pain I felt when people told me "you should ball"/On the hood just want a week without an interview/Want my brother to know if he feeling pain, I feel it too/I used to want Angelettie to do an interlude/Now it's so many mad rappers, shit if he did it? Cool"

  • "Have You Ever"

    Dave East

    "Dancing with the devil, bitch, I'm Milly Rocking/Freaky down in Philly its crazy now I got Philly rocking/My youngin' trapping in Brooklyn, that nigga still in Tompkins/Ponzi scheming like them Wall Street crackers that got it/Immaculate profits that mean that paper God bless/I talked to Scrappy just knowing he walk the yard stressed/Them park sets had my back bigger/Know that you a target, you a black nigga/Used to homicide so we react quicker"

  • "Have You Ever"

    Dave East

    "I hid my pistol in my sock drawer/Everybody hard, we had to hide or you could cop soft/For some reason I don't feel nothing when they knock a cop off/You ain't the only one getting money I got these drop offs/Just thinking back to when I hardly was out/And Baltimore you got it cheap so we target the South/Had dime bags on me walking past LaGuardia house"

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