Backbone:

One time

Uh for these freaky hoes I lust

But I'm still flickin ashes a lot of other motherfuckers snort dust

But that's they thang

A lot of us fall victim somehow

But that's that game

Won't try to explain

From books to bricks

Now I see crooks and tricks

Caught up in the mix

Of everyday in every way but the right

I control the substance my people fiend for at night

Lord knows I do wrong

Sound like the same old song

A lot of niggas singing

Homeboys conceal your weapons

Cuz ain't gon be no smokin session in heaven

No more be buckin yo luck

Seven eleven on the first roll

Don't let the streets rock and roll yo soul

Swats GA by way of Cascade Heights

Gunshots roadblocks sidewalks and ice



Khujo:

Sold me out for 3.5 grams of neighborhood clout

Now what the fucks we bout

I'm back home from the bullshit

Puttin in work

Meanwhile others dug ditches and covered themselves in dirt

One squirt

And you locked down forever

Can't run from reality

Lurking you closer and closer away

To the same old traps

Now you never learn from your mistakes

So now you wear this ass whoopin wit pride

What side you on?

It wasn't no I in team

Only in your dreams

Saturated with schemes

Yea you right, God gon deal wit ya

Fallin from his grace

Rookie cop moves cause shifty game

And 30 days I'm blessed in the hole

But that's till I go to the state federal

Penitentiary

Yea I could did my time standin on one foot

But see I fucked up royally

Thought I was slick

Them herpes-havin ass crackers changed my big check to six

Times wit Dean Whitaker's sermon of the day

But when I go to sleep I don't dream no more I just lay

A wise man knows his limitations

Concrete, concrete like Greg Street



Chorus:

Sufferin from a severe case of inner-city blues

I ain't got no clues to which directions I need to choose

This opportunity to gain is all I got to lose

Cuz I just can't settle for these streets shawty I refuse



Gipp:

That's the shit I like

Lord got the door

Shot down to the pavement

Remove yo hat under the ceiling

Of this building

A rebuff from the usher of sorts

Because ????

Most strive for the diamonds and overlook the gems

Got skimp wit yo bags

Boulders become shoulders to depend on

Which way to explore

Reform, refrain, we ????

Every thought you walk through the trails is hell

Airborne for ????

Clone me

Replace me wit me

Another nation inside a nation

Out the land of Scots

Suction cups to test tube

Layer of skin

Supply the crust

And we'll mix the fruit

Gunshows supplied me in the hour of need

Watch em bleed

Aryan nation be the dealer

Now who's the killer

Yup yup that's the shit I like

That's the shit I like



T-Mo:

Uh puttin forth the effort to make a change

Not doin a lot of talkin bout it what's yo game?

You slippin you can't never do that

That's when you get jacked

For yo life over emotions runnin wild

Like salamanders swimmin in southwest creeks

Feelin incomplete

Another story

Livin ????

Value lost - it wasn't worth it look what it costed

Yo life young nigga

Didn't go out without a fight behind the gun trigger

Better think fast or get swept off yo feet

Nigga it hurts to see these drugs deteriorate

The minds of knuckleheads that want to be base heads

Don't say I didn't tell you cuz you gon see in the future

I hope I don't have to shoot you

If you switch

Went from hardcore to beggin like a bitch

Revolutions good to bad

Hoods to rags real niggas to fags

What's the news?

But I refuse to lose



Chorus



Cee-Lo:

Well I woke up this mornin with the same frustration from situations like these

Got a call about some work from one of them temporary agencies

No high school diploma or any college degrees

I can't enlist but they'll draft me if there's a war overseas

Oh please

Of course I can slice some OZs

But see I'm one of those aspirin MCs

And uh bills are due so at times I'm doubtful and everyone disagrees

But I'd rather struggle on my feet than to live on my knees

So my uniform tight workin all night at Mickey D's

Got about 90 dollars and some change after the government

get they fees

These minimum wages ain't enough to feed my babies

Purposely these limitations on black folks opportunities

So I quit cuz I'm tired of being one of those overworked

underpaid employees

Stop carin at all went on and did a few small burglaries

It seems like my face done turned into forgotten memories

And I ain't gettin away with nothing because I know he always sees

But see right now I need to see how I can get this here dope sold

I done stuffed in my pocket as many rocks as it can hold

They gon get high so I'ma get my money even though it's freezin cold

Now how many times you done heard this story told?

Believe it or not, it's some very intelligent junkies

But dependencies is eatin away at they souls like disease

Anyone can turn into somebody who covets and envies

Unequal economics can easily make you some enemies

And the crime rate never drops to the cops ride around in threes

I knew he would have killed me if I did anything but freeze

They found the rest of the dope in some nearby shrubberies

In a dimlit room being questioned by these authorities

And they gave me some time in correctional facilities

And now my woman's gotta take on a man's responsibilities