[00:05.231]Nobody ever said life was gon' be easy
[00:09.512]But damn...
[00:13.054]...
[00:25.648]Just a kid, moms died when I was seven
[00:28.371]Pops died, eleven, what's up with heaven?
[00:31.157]It's hell when you're an orphan at a early age
[00:34.255]This impressionable stage, no love breeds rage
[00:37.424]In the heart of a child who never knew his roots
[00:40.686]Looked up to pimps and to hustlers in the eel-skin boots
[00:43.838]Parkin caddies on the sidewalk, gangsta talk
[00:46.962]Truckin diamonds and gold
[00:48.517]Rubberbands around the bankrolls
[00:50.548]Fly girls to make your head spin
[00:52.822]Seemed they partied all night long
[00:54.633]I was like, "Put me on"
[00:56.207]But they said, "Little fellow, run and go play
[00:58.902]Take your butt to school or else you'll have to be like us one day"
[01:02.709]I didn't understand, but I tried to get a job
[01:05.857]While all the players got the girls cause they'd hustle and rob
[01:08.994]I was like makin 'bout 1-50 a week
[01:11.496]And after taxes, you know what that is - lunch meat
[01:18.778]And I know I can be better than this
[01:22.382]I gotta get me a car, man
[01:24.181]I gotta get a girl
[01:29.920]I know I can do it out there, man
[01:34.118]I'm finna go for it, man
[01:35.425]I gotta get some money
[01:36.466]Word
[01:41.341]Streets of anger, trouble and crime
[01:43.609]I had it hard, had to sleep in my car sometime
[01:46.939]But I never let another player see me down
[01:49.986]I kept my front up, my gear clean
[01:52.030]Even when checkin minor green
[01:54.016]Brothers knew my game was true
[01:56.018]So I hooked up with the real crew
[01:58.197]That knew excactly what to do
[01:59.908]Bank jobs and jewels, quick to flex with tools
[02:02.782]Pimpin hoes on the block
[02:04.424]Checkin cash non-stop
[02:06.019]Crack spots, armor with interior bars
[02:09.385]No lie, I used to own 'bout 15 cars
[02:12.315]Every piece fila made
[02:13.989]Drape my women in suede
[02:15.608]Pavet piaget, cesar's palace holidays
[02:19.242]It was on, crazy out of control
[02:21.776]We made up the word 'ballin', that was how we rolled
[02:24.879]But the fbi had a-whole-nother idea
[02:28.013]It's called multiple indictments for hundreds of years
[02:34.265]What
[02:36.716]Daff is dead?
[02:40.131]Carter got 25 years?
[02:43.894]Nah..
[02:46.375]Spike 35 to life?
[02:49.854]Nah, don't tell me b.o.'s dead, man
[02:52.369]I don't wanna hear that, man
[02:54.568]I was just with him
[02:57.261]The game is vicious, no retirement, you die young
[03:00.028]Listen to a fake, he might tell you to grab a gun
[03:03.399]I get phone calls from condemned row
[03:06.062]Brothers I ran with, brothers I really know
[03:09.805]They tell me, "Ice you got much love in the pen
[03:12.407]You're the one that got away, don't wanna see you in"
[03:15.337]They tell me, "Tell the little homies the deal
[03:17.916]Don't let em come up in this hellish habitat of shanks and steel"
[03:22.240]I marched two million strong in d.c.
[03:25.050]Lookin eye to eye with brothers that I used to think below me
[03:28.296]Damn, my mind was twisted in my hustlin days
[03:31.091]But god spared me, I got a baby son to raise
[03:34.329]And bein black ain't easy, prejudice is real
[03:37.498]But health and liberty is all we need for us to build
[03:40.498]We gotta come together, unseparated
[03:43.376]Check yourself like I did, blackman, because we're all related