Ghetto to ghetto, backyard to We tear it up y'all, the mic with the gods (come on) Precious metals our necks and arms (yea) We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the to ghetto, backyard to yard We tear it up y'all, bless the mic the gods (come on) Precious round our necks and arms (yea) We tear it up y'all, the mic with the gods
(Hook: Hamilton) Whatever in your is where you want to be My hood is the Even when you Its what you see My is the ghetto I've been before up is just a reach my hood is the ghetto Catch a second begin again My is the ghetto
(Verse 1: Common) Black in the hood, its tragic but understood addicts, crack windows, crack wood Even whats bad becomes good, becomes stood the pedestal welcome to the ghetto show Federal buildings, pissy hallways with children pushing Fiends lips peeling, shit seems and What's real is the of mind that we're in The situation great My man peels weight, so he can fill You might get love but you still feel Through and chain plates, we Chicago to brooklyn nigga real ones do
(Verse 2: Kweli) If lyrics sold then be told I'll probably be just as rich and famous as Truthfully I rhyme like common sense Next best I do a record with common sense its the music, its blues, its jazz, its acoustics Soul, rock and the hip hop we be producing yea It's the gear, it's the flare, it's the Nowadays they'll shot you where they used to shoot the Remember the soldiers, pour a beer, shoot the air We got our own elected officials, no who the mayor I know you what I'm talking about From New to the South, take off your when you walk in the house
(Hook)
(Verse 3: Kweli) Yo I grew up where they're playing skele in the lot And paintings of Aaliyah, BIG and Pac up in the barbershop too big so you don't really see the stars a lot But rapping, drinking, and to prison you see bars a lot I feel the in the dark and hear it in my heart And always keep my to the block till I dearly depart Hip hop is the art We have to express the part of that make us want to martyr It ain't to tell when somebody you up and put the hammer to you They them dead presidents like Stickman and Mutulu With a gun to your jaw, these kids don't run is a hundred or more
(Verse 4: Common) A man in of the store, begging for money and mercy I told him say a prayer his breath, he cursed me Niggaz is thirsty, I heard a drought Up early, serving from their grandmother's Sometime the ghetto desolate, yo the eyes of the hood yo is Effected by the deficit, times and get hard get by or get god, but but you try to get by It's like the block keep You try to moves, its like the car just keep stopping We shorties in the court, need yea I them why the weed seeds popping, in the game you options No time for watching, me and kwe rocking for the ghetto
Hook 2