I'ma take you back to day one, livin' in New York slum It's deaf to the dumb, only break bread with Moms at 15, had no American dreams To this day, I'm sellin' to my cousin a fiend
No one to me but my older brother Little did we know the we did fell back on my mother But didn't back then, that's why she left like that Now my parents became the street and it's like that
nights I pray to God and ask Him to pull my cord 'Cuz times is hard like the street'll leave you scarred Street with no respect for authority and shit A chronic hustler of crack, a bitch
Raised by Madu, who out on a glass dick But every now and I blessed her with a hit So she have to trick, it's prevalent amongst kids today Hustle krills, stack dough and thing's okay
It's the emancipation the self devised guidelines of self preservation and starvation It's the proclamation Under the self devised of self preservation and starvation
My life in this world about diamonds and pearls It was rough growin' up the boys and girls After Daddy left, shit was a mess, Momma But I give her an award, 'cuz damn, she her best
down the household, barely had money to fold Christmas time, cherished our little shit gold I can't front, was still if, we cared for me But him and Mommy breakin' up was a nightmare to me
Yo, is for the younger fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers Success is if it ain't influential to others We gotta make the best out of this terrible If not for us, for the generation
We gotta break the chain and deal with the For all our people that was in vain For all our peoples that was falsely For all our that's livin' the name
It's the emancipation Under the self devised guidelines of self and starvation It's the proclamation Under the self devised of self preservation and starvation
Let me show, I gotta love L.O.D., they put me the wing And then I teamed up with the most thing In the world, L.O.D. we all, we got I'ma and my mans keep it like it or not
I know it hurts, havin' to do everyday Police all over my back, feel like bustin' them When I'm on my road to the riches, I away from snitches And them bitches and my mind on business
Life was tough so I became aggressive a pit The time I felt relaxed was when the blunt was lit Thinkin' me and my team can be tight like the in the hustle scene, respected like Nino
It gets deeper than the of Proverbs New thoughts emerge as I cop the on the curb Thinkin' the herb strengthen my brain like And heavy shine, flooded with ice might boost my image
Stick 'em, my life is so real, it Like when I saw my pops bein' driven off in a Like when I saw my mother bein' off in a hearse Like in school when the roach out my shirt
Like on Thanksgiving we got free food from the church then it was DJ Red Alert and Kool Herc Rockin' pinstripe Lee's and in shirts then L.O.D. was puttin' in work
From the to the grave We all in the struggle, we gon' struggle, we strive to stay alive All my real people know what I'm talkin' Watch other backs Word up, my life is nothin' my niggas, word up