| [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 |
