(feat. Mary J. Blige, Poppa Wu)



[Intro One: (some movie)]



What dey gives you blood?

Three months man

Whatchu doin in here anyway? You oughta be home with your momma

How old are you boy?

Thirteen

Thirteen? Damn, the bastards must be runnin outta niggaz to arrest



[Intro: Ghostface]



Yeah, ohh yeah, this goes out

to all the families that went through the struggle

Yeah, from the heart

It was from the heart, everything was real



[Mary J.]

All that I got is you

And I'm so thankful I made it through



[Verse One:]



Yo, dwellin in the past, flashbacks when I was young

Whoever thought that I'd have a baby girl and three sons

I'm goin through this difficult stage I find it hard to believe

Why my old Earth had so many seeds

But she's an old woman, and due to me I respect that

I saw life for what it's really worth and took a step back

Family ain't family no more, we used to play ball

Eggs after school, eat grits cause we was poor

Grab the pliers for the channel, fix the hanger on the TV

Rockin each others pants to school wasn't easy

We survived winters, snotty nosed with no coats

We kept it real, but the older brother still had jokes

Sadly, daddy left me at the age of six

I didn't know nuttin but mommy neatly packed his shit

She cried, and grandma held the family down

I guess mommy wasn't strong enough, she just went down

Check it, fifteen of us in a three bedroom apartment

Roaches everywhere, cousins and aunts was there

Four in the bed, two at the foot, two at the head

I didn't like to sleep with Jon-Jon he peed the bed

Seven o'clock, pluckin roaches out the cereal box

Some shared the same spoon, watchin saturday cartoons

Sugar water was our thing, every meal was no thrill

In the summer, free lunch held us down like steel

And there was days I had to go to Tex house with a note

Stating "Gloria can I borrow some food I'm dead broke"

So embarrasin I couldn't stand to knock on they door

My friends might be laughin, I spent stamps in stores

Mommy where's the toilet paper, use the newspaper

Look Ms. Rose gave us a couch, she's the neighbor

Things was deep, my whole youth was sharper than cleats

Two brothers with muscular dystrophy, it killed me

But I remember this, mom's would lick her finger tips

To wipe the cold out my eye before school wit her spit

Case worker had her runnin back to face to face

I caught a case, housin tried to throw us out of our place

Sometimes I look up at the stars and analyze the sky

And ask myself was I meant to be here... why?

Yeah, yo



[Chorus: Mary J. Blige]



All that I got is you

And I'm so thankful I made it through

[repeat 4X]



Word up mommy, I love you

Word up

It was all you, word, you brought me in like this



[Verse Two: Mary J. Blige, Poppa Wu]



I sit and think about

All the times we did without, yeah

I always said I woudn't cry

When I saw tears in your eyes

I understand that daddy's not here now

But some way or somehow, I will always be around, yeah

All things that I did from this to them

Oh from drugs to being there

Being down and out and I love you always



Yeah, you say

You see the universe, which consists of the sun moon and star

And them planets, that exist in my space

Like man woman and child

You understand?

We got to keep it real, and what reality and reality will keep it real with us

I remember them good ol days

Because see, that's the child I was

What made me the man I am today

See cause if you forget where you come from, heheh

You're never gonna make it where you're goin, aheh

Because you lost the reality of yourself

So take one stroll through your mind

And see what you will find

And you'll see a whole universe all over again

and again and again and again and again

Heheheh, yeah heheheheh ahaheheheh