Ghetto to ghetto, backyard to We it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods (come on) Precious metals round our necks and (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 with the (come on) metals round our necks and arms (yea) We tear it up y'all, the mic with the gods
(Hook: Hamilton) Whatever in heart is where you want to be My hood is the Even you look Its never you see My hood is the I've been before up is just a reach my hood is the ghetto Catch a second Then begin My is the ghetto
(Verse 1: Common) Black magic in the hood, its tragic but Crack addicts, crack windows, wood Even whats bad becomes good, status becomes Upon the welcome to the ghetto show Federal buildings, hallways filled children pushing children Fiends lips peeling, seems real and What's real is the of mind that we're in The situation feels My man peels weight, so he can fill You might get but you still feel hate and chain plates, we communicate Chicago to brooklyn nigga real do relate
(Verse 2: Kweli) If lyrics sold truth be told I'll probably be just as rich and famous as Truthfully I wanna rhyme like sense Next best thing I do a record with common Cause its the music, its blues, its jazz, its 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 to shoot the fair the lost soldiers, pour a beer, shoot the air We got our own elected officials, no who the mayor I know you know what I'm talking New York to the South, take off shoes when you walk in the house
(Hook)
(Verse 3: Kweli) Yo I up where they're playing skele in the parking lot And sell of Aaliyah, BIG and Pac up in the barbershop Buildings too big so you don't really see the 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 my ears to the block till I dearly depart Hip hop is the art We have to the part of ourselves that make us want to martyr It harder to tell when somebody stick you up and put the to you They them dead presidents like Stickman and Mutulu With a gun to your jaw, these kids run anymore is a hundred or more
(Verse 4: Common) A man in front of the store, for money and mercy I told him say a prayer his breath, he cursed me Niggaz is thirsty, I heard it's a Up early, from their grandmother's house Sometime the feels desolate, yo the eyes of the yo is desperate Effected by the deficit, times and lessons get 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 in the court, need cochran 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