The Ghetto (LP Version)

Song The Ghetto (LP Version)
Artist Donny Hathaway
Album Everything Is Everything

Lyrics

[00:05.62] Talking bout the ghetto funky funky ghetto
[00:15.31] Trying to survive, trying to stay alive
[00:20.88] The ghetto
[00:27.14] {Talking bout the ghetto}
[00:27.27] The ghetto
[00:30.64] The ghetto
[00:34.71] The ghetto
[00:36.77] {Funk funky ghetto}
[00:38.96] Even though the streets are bumpy, lights burned out
[00:42.71] Dope fiends die with a pipe in their mouths
[00:45.21] Old school buddies not doing it right
[00:47.21] Every day it's the same
[00:48.83] And it's the same every night
[00:49.84] I wouldn't shoot you bro but I'd shoot that fool
[00:52.08] If he played me close and tried to test my cool
[00:54.52] Every day I wonder just how I'll die
[00:56.84] Only thing I know is how to survive
[00:59.15] There's only one rule in the real world
[01:01.58] And that's to take care of you, only you and yours
[01:04.09] Keep dealing with the hard times day after day
[01:06.40] Might deal me some dope but then crime don't pay
[01:08.96] Black man tried to break into my house again
[01:11.34] Thought he got off early doing time in the pen
[01:13.71] Even though my brothers do me just like that
[01:16.03] I get a lot of love so I'm giving it back to the
[01:18.39] The ghetto
[01:28.02] The ghetto
[01:37.50] So just peep the game and don't call it crap
[01:40.02] Cause to me, life is one hard rap
[01:42.33] Even though my sister smoked crack cocaine
[01:44.82] She was nine months pregnant, ain't nothing changed
[01:47.20] 600 million on a footbal team
[01:49.45] And her baby dies just like a dope fiend
[01:51.83] The story I tell is so incomplete
[01:54.27] Five kids in the house and no food to eat
[01:56.63] Don't look at me and don't ask me why
[01:59.08] Mama's next door getting high
[02:01.34] Even though she's got five mouths to feed
[02:03.89] She's rather spend her money on a H-I-T
[02:06.39] I always tell the truth about things like this
[02:08.70] I wonder if the mayor overlooked that list
[02:11.09] Instead of adding to the task force send some help
[02:13.65] Waiting on him I'd better help myself
[02:15.95] Housing Authority and the O.P.D.
[02:18.40] All these guns just to handle me in the
[02:20.84] The ghetto
[02:25.71] The ghetto
[02:43.30] Even though they put us down and call us animals
[02:46.99] We make real big banks and buy brand new clothes
[02:49.49] Drive fancy cars, make love to stars
[02:51.93] Never really saying just who we are
[02:54.37] We use alias names like TOOSHORT
[02:57.05] Sell you stuff you might kill for
[02:59.24] Young kids grow up and that's all they know
[03:01.56] Didn't teach him in school now he's slangin dope
[03:04.05] Only thing he knows is how to survive
[03:06.43] But will he kill another brother before he dies?
[03:08.69] In the ghetto, you keep one eye open
[03:11.44] All day long, just hoping and hoping
[03:13.74] You can pay your bills and not drink too much
[03:15.93] Then the problems of life you'll be throwing up
[03:18.30] Like me, but you don't see
[03:20.75] Ten years from now, where will you be?
[03:23.24] The ghetto
[03:28.12] The ghetto
[03:42.93] So much game in a Too rap
[03:45.06] Blacks can't be white and whites can't be black
[03:47.18] Why you wanna act like someone else?
[03:49.56] All you gotta do is just be yourself
[03:52.00] We're all the same color underneath
[03:54.44] Short Dog's in the house you'd better listen to me
[03:56.94] Never be ashamed of what you are
[03:59.50] Proud to be black stand tall at heart
[04:01.81] Even though some people give you no respect
[04:03.94] Be intelligent, when you put em in check
[04:06.25] Cause when you're ignorant, you get treated that way
[04:08.75] And when they throw you in jail you got nothing to say
[04:11.19] So if you don't listen it's not my fault
[04:13.63] I'll be getting paid while you'll be paying the cost
[04:16.32] Sitting in the jailhouse running your mouth
[04:18.44] While me and my peoples try to get out
[04:20.88] The ghetto
[04:25.44] The ghetto
[04:35.20] End