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(feat. Ice Cube, MC Eiht, Jay Dee) |
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"This afternoon we want to talk about" |
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"Now I want you brothers to dig where we coming from" |
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[WC] |
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Five yers ago when I was in high school |
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No bills to pay, I used to say to myself "Life is cool" |
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I had a roof over my head and a part-time job |
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Slanging at OB's birdstand |
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Washington High was the school I attended |
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Til '87 graduation came and I wasn't with it |
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Kicked out the house at the age of 18 |
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No money for college, mmm, how should I handle things? |
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I tried to go the so-called right way |
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And went to a JC but I wasn't getting paid |
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I'm working at a chicken stand now with the chicken |
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With a spring at the top of my hat getting clowned |
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I gotta pay my rent but my job ain't cutting it |
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So now I'm drinking gin saying "Here's my alternative" |
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To either keep doing what I'm doing, don't trip |
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Or go and buy gats y'all and come up on a grip |
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So like anybody else I went and bought a gun |
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Pulling burgs at night and now I'm counting my funds |
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Three times a day and I drive a coup on danas |
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Cruising through the alley bumping on "Hi" to players |
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Yo, you can say what you want but I was taught on the streets |
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That if a brother didn't work, then he didn't eat |
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"You don't work, you can't eat" |
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[Coolio] |
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Peep this, something kind if for weakness |
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Focus on the park and watch how I freak this |
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Subject for survival, got to stay alive |
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I gotta eat so I do or die |
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Not a full-time crook but I was born right |
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So if I want to eat, sometimes I got to jack |
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So jack I will and go get some presidents |
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A foot in the ground and the other on an oil slick |
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Money ain't everything but either is brokeness |
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Give me a knife cause I can't live off happiness |
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Once a brother said I can't work for the white kind |
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Standing on the corner in a soup line |
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Said he's too black, too strong, ain't done nothing yet |
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Waiting on the fifth for his government relief check |
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Humming and bumming, most hate to see him coming |
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And every first and 15th, these strongs on his life |
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But a hustle is a hustle and a meal is a meal |
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That's why I'm real and I ain't afraid to steal |
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Straight from the street, backed up by a funky beat |
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If you don't work, OG, then you don't eat |
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"You don't work, you can't eat" [x2] |
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[Ice Cube] |
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Ayo, I want y'all to meet a nigga from the Lench Mob |
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He gaffled for his meals (McDonald's is my spot) |
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Ayo Jay Dee, kick some shit for the Maad Circle, G |
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[Jay Dee] |
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If you don't work, you don't eat, need I say more? |
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Cause I'm a kick my rhymes in abundant while you stay poor |
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Since I was 14 I raised myself |
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I built a roof over my head and then I went for self |
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I sold cooked-up rock, made my way through school |
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I'm not saying you should do it cause it ain't too cool |
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Kicking ???, playing to start your back |
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Talking about that bullshit prize, you slay me right? |
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And you other motherfuckers out here banging for change |
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Need to wise up and seek personal gain |
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Or maintain some type of pain |
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Cause they don't give away hot lunches out here in L.A. |
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Yo peace to the Dub and the Maad Circle |
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For giving me the chance to let the rhyme just flow |
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So you can (So you can either sell dope or get your ass a job) |
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Jay Dee (I'd rather roll with the Lench Mob) |
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"You don't work, you can't eat" |
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[MC Eiht] |
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Eiht is stepping from the city down under |
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And I'm robbing more punk fools blind like Stevie Wonder |
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Ain't no punching a clock, I ain't with it |
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For a quarter an hour I make the shit every minute |
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And please, don't even let me catch a brother slipping |
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He'll be short, shorter than short |
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With my hands around his troat |
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Fool, come off the chain and bracelet |
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I know it's wrong but face it |
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A brother like me won't win the lottery |
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Ain't no faking when it's time to bring home the bacon |
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Cause I was taught get what you're gonna get quick |
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And don't get gaffled in the mix |
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So I guess I'll keep stacking, breaking the law |
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Checking a fool, wrecking and breaking his jaw |
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Gyeah, that's life in the Compton streets |
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Homeboy you don't work, homeboy you don't eat |
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"You don't work, you can't eat" |
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[WC] |
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This record was put together by Jay Dee, Coolio, and the W |
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Eight, Chilly Chill, and DJ Crazy Toons |
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Sic brothers out to get paid cause |
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Nowadays you got to go for yourself or go broke |
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I'm living day by day cause you see the future ain't promised |
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So save that drama for your mama |
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And make sure you're out of my path when I'm on the creep tip |
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Or have your first name changed to R.I.P. |
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"You don't work, you can't eat" [x2] |
