| [00:05.28] |
Nobody ever said life was gon' be easy |
| [00:24.69] |
But damn.. |
| [00:24.87][ verse 1 ] |
|
| [00:25.74] |
Just a kid, moms died when i was seven |
| [00:28.44] |
Pops died, eleven, what's up with heaven? |
| [00:31.44] |
It's hell when you're an orphan at a early age |
| [00:34.35] |
This impressionable stage, no love breeds rage |
| [00:37.68] |
In the heart of a child who never knew his roots |
| [00:40.56] |
Looked up to pimps and to hustlers in the eel-skin boots |
| [00:43.95] |
Parkin caddies on the sidewalk, gangsta talk |
| [00:47.07] |
Truckin diamonds and gold |
| [00:48.66] |
Rubberbands around the bankrolls |
| [00:51.03] |
Fly girls to make your head spin |
| [00:53.04] |
Seemed they partied all night long |
| [00:54.90] |
I was like, "put me on" |
| [00:56.49] |
But they said, "little fellow, run and go play |
| [00:59.31] |
Take your butt to school or else you'll have to be like us one day" |
| [01:02.82] |
I didn't understand, but i tried to get a job |
| [01:05.88] |
While all the players got the girls cause they'd hustle and rob |
| [01:09.24] |
I was like makin 'bout 1-50 a week |
| [01:11.88] |
And after taxes, you know what that is - lunch meat |
| [01:19.32] |
And i know i can be better than this |
| [01:23.10] |
I gotta get me a car, man |
| [01:24.63] |
I gotta get a girl |
| [01:30.30] |
I know i can do it out there, man |
| [01:34.53] |
I'm finna go for it, man |
| [01:35.61] |
I gotta get some money |
| [01:36.66] |
Word |
| [01:36.78][ verse 2 ] |
|
| [01:41.58] |
Streets of anger, trouble and crime |
| [01:44.07] |
I had it hard, had to sleep in my car sometime |
| [01:47.22] |
But i never let another player see me down |
| [01:50.16] |
I kept my front up, my gear clean |
| [01:52.32] |
Even when checkin minor green |
| [01:54.18] |
Brothers knew my game was true |
| [01:56.19] |
So i hooked up with the real crew |
| [01:58.50] |
That knew excactly what to do |
| [02:00.12] |
Bank jobs and jewels, quick to flex with tools |
| [02:02.97] |
Pimpin hoes on the block |
| [02:04.56] |
Checkin cash non-stop |
| [02:06.27] |
Crack spots, armor with interior bars |
| [02:09.54] |
No lie, i used to own 'bout 15 cars |
| [02:12.60] |
Every piece fila made |
| [02:14.07] |
Drape my women in suede |
| [02:15.72] |
Pavet piaget, cesar's palace holidays |
| [02:19.59] |
It was on, crazy out of control |
| [02:21.87] |
We made up the word 'ballin', that was how we rolled |
| [02:25.08] |
But the fbi had a-whole-nother idea |
| [02:28.11] |
It's called multiple indictments for hundreds of years |
| [02:36.87] |
What |
| [02:36.96] |
Daff is dead? |
| [02:40.44] |
Carter got 25 years? |
| [02:46.77] |
Nah.. |
| [02:46.83] |
Spike 35 to life? |
| [02:50.19] |
Nah, don't tell me b.o.'s dead, man |
| [02:52.74] |
I don't wanna hear that, man |
| [02:54.81] |
I was just with him |
| [02:56.22][ verse 3 ] |
|
| [02:57.42] |
The game is vicious, no retirement, you die young |
| [03:00.33] |
Listen to a fake, he might tell you to grab a gun |
| [03:03.63] |
I get phone calls from condemned row |
| [03:06.51] |
Brothers i ran with, brothers i really know |
| [03:09.99] |
They tell me, "ice you got much love in the pen |
| [03:12.48] |
You're the one that got away, don't wanna see you in" |
| [03:15.54] |
They tell me, "tell the little homies the deal |
| [03:18.21] |
Don't let em come up in this hellish habitat of shanks and steel" |
| [03:22.56] |
I marched two million strong in d.c. |
| [03:25.02] |
Lookin eye to eye with brothers that i used to think below me |
| [03:28.53] |
Damn, my mind was twisted in my hustlin days |
| [03:31.35] |
But god spared me, i got a baby son to raise |
| [03:34.53] |
And bein black ain't easy, prejudice is real |
| [03:37.68] |
But health and liberty is all we need for us to build |
| [03:40.77] |
We gotta come together, unseparated |
| [03:43.56] |
Check yourself like i did, blackman, because we're all related |