Ghetto to ghetto, to yard We tear it up y'all, bless the mic with the (come on) Precious metals our necks and arms (yea) We tear it up y'all, bless the mic the gods to ghetto, backyard to yard We it up y'all, bless the mic with the gods (come on) Precious round our necks and arms (yea) We tear it up y'all, bless the mic 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 is the ghetto I've been before up is just a reach my hood is the ghetto Catch a second Then again My is the ghetto
(Verse 1: Common) Black magic in the hood, its but understood Crack addicts, crack windows, wood whats bad becomes good, status becomes stood Upon the pedestal welcome to the ghetto Federal buildings, hallways filled with children pushing Fiends peeling, shit seems real and What's real is the estate of mind that in The situation great My man weight, so he can fill plates You get love but you still feel hate and chain plates, we communicate Chicago to brooklyn nigga ones do relate
(Verse 2: Kweli) If sold then truth be told I'll probably be just as and famous as jay-z Truthfully I wanna rhyme like sense Next best thing I do a record common sense 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, the stare they'll shot you where they used to shoot the fair Remember the lost soldiers, a beer, shoot the air We got our own officials, no matter who the mayor I know you know what I'm talking New York to the South, take off your shoes you walk in the house
(Hook)
(Verse 3: Kweli) Yo I grew up where they're 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 you see them bars a lot I feel the spirit in the dark and hear it in my And always keep my ears to the till I dearly depart Hip hop is the art We have to express the of ourselves make us want to martyr ourselves It ain't to tell when somebody stick you up and put the to you They want them dead presidents like and Mutulu With a gun to your jaw, kids don't run anymore Kicks is a or more
(Verse 4: Common) A man in front of the store, begging for money and I told him say a under his breath, he cursed me Niggaz is thirsty, I it's a drought Up early, serving from grandmother's house Sometime the ghetto desolate, yo the of the hood yo is desperate by the deficit, times and lessons get hard get by or get god, but but you try to get by It's like the keep blocking You try to make moves, its like the car just keep We in the court, need cochran yea I tell why the weed seeds popping, in the game you need No for feet watching, me and kwe rocking for the ghetto
Hook 2