Woo! Uhh, uhh

It's "The Gift & the Curse"

Uhh, uhh yea

First they love me then they hate me then they love me again

.. they love me again

Let's take a trip down.. I gotcha



Let's take a trip down memory, lane at the cemetary

Rain grey skies, seems at the end of every

young black life is this line, "Damn - him already?

Such a good kid," got us pourin Henn' already

Liquor to the curb for my, niggaz up above

When it, cracks through the pavement that's my way of sendin love

So, give Big a hug, tell Aa-liyah I said hi

'Til the next time I see her, on the other side

He was just some thug that, caught some slugs

And we loved him cause, in him we, saw some of us

He walked like ussss, talked like ussss

His back against the wall, nigga fought like us - damn

Poor Isis, that's his momma name

Momma ain't strong enough to raise no boy, what's his father name?

Shorty never knew him, though he had his blood in him

Hot temper, momma said he act just like her husband

Daddy never fucked with him, so the streets raised him

Isis blamin herself, she wish she coulda saved him

Damn near impossible, only men can raise men

He was his own man, not even him can save him

He put his faith in a, thirty-eight in his waist

But when you live by the gun you die by the same fate

End up, dead before thirty-eight and umm

That's the life of us raised by winter, it's a cold world

Old girl turned to coke, tried to smoke her pain away

Isis, life just, ended on that rainy day

When she got the news her boy body could be viewed

down at the City Morgue, opened the drawer, saw him nude

Her addiction grew, prescription drugs, shift and brew

Angel dust, dipped in WOO!

She slipped into, her own fantasy world

Had herself pregnant by a different dude

But reality bites and, this is her life

He wasn't really her husband, though he called her wife

It was just this night when, moon was full

And the stars were just right, and the dress was real tight

Had her soundin like Lisa Lisa - I wonder if I take you home

will you still love me after this night?

Mike was the hardhead from the around the way

that she wanted all her life, shit she wanted all the hype

Used to hold on tight when he wheelied on the bike

He was a Willie all her life he wasn't really the one to like

It was a, dude named Shy who would really treat her right

He wanted to run to the country to escape the city life

But I-sis, liked this, Broadway life

She loved the Gucci sneakers, the red green and whites

Hangin out the window when she first seen him fight

She was so turned on that she had to shower twice

How ironic it would, be some fight that

turned into a homicide that'll alter their life

See Mike at thirty-two was still on the scene

Had a son fifteen that he never saw twice

Sure he saw him as an infant, but he dissed on him like

"If that was my son, he would look much different.

See I'm light-skinnded and that baby there's dark

so it's, momma's baby; poppa's maybe."

Mike was still crazy out there runnin the streets (fuck niggaz want?)

Had his old reliable thirty-eight gun in his reach

It's been fourteen years, him and Isis ain't speak

He runnin around like life's a peach, 'til one day

he approached this thug that, had a mean mug

And it looked so familiar that he called him "Young Cuz"

Told him, get off the strip but the boy ain't budge (fuck you)

Instead he pulled out a newer thirty-eight snub

He clearly had the drop but the boy just paused (hold up)

There was somethin in this man's face he knew he seen before

It's like, lookin in the mirror seein hisself more mature

And he took it as a sign from the almighty Lord

You know what they say about he who hesitates in war

(What's that?) He who hesitates is lost

He can't explain what he saw before his picture went blank

The old man didn't think he just followed his instinct

Six shots into his kid, out of the gun

Niggaz be a father, you're killin your son

Six shots into his kid, out of the gun

Niggaz be a father, you killin your sons



Meet the parents.. {*echoes and slows down as it fades*}