[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