I was just a little girl

Skinny legs, a press and curl

My mother always thought I'd be a star



But way before the record deals

Streets that nurtured Lauryn Hill

made sure that I'd never go too far



Every ghetto, every city

and suburban place I been

Make me recall my days, in New Jerusalem



Story starts in Hootaville

Grew up next to Ivy Hill

When kids were stealing quartervilles for fun



"Kill the Guy" in Carter Park

Rode a Mongoose til it's dark

Watching kids show off the stolen ones



Every ghetto, every city

and suburban place I been

Make me recall my days, in the New Jerusalem



You know it's hot

Don't forget, what you got

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back



You know it's hot

Don't forget, what you got

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back



Bag of Bontons, twenty cents and a nickel (well that's a quarter)

Springfield Ave. had the best popsicles

Saturday morning cartoons and Kung-Fu (wuh-TAH!)



Main street roots tonic with the dreds

A beef patty and some coco bread

Move the patch from my Lee's to the tongue of my shoes



'Member, FreLng-Huysen used to have the bomb leather

Back when Doug Fresh and Slick Rick was together

Looking at the crew, we thought we'd all live forever



You know it's hot

Don't forget, what you got

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back



You know it's hot

Don't forget, what you got

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back



Drill teams on Munn street

'Member when Hawthorne and Chancellor had beef

Moving Records was on Central Ave.



I was there at dancing school

South Orange Ave. at Borlin pool

Unaware of what we didn't have



Writing my friends' names on my jeans with a marker

July 4th races outside Parker

Fireworks at Martin Stadium



The Untouchable P.S.P.

where all them crazy nig-gaz be

And car thieves got away through Irvington



Hillside brings beef with the cops

Self Destruction record drops

And everybody's name was Muslim (children playing, women producing)



Sensations and eighty-eight

attracted kids from out of state

And everybody used to do the wop (wop it out, wop it out, wop it out)



Jack ya jack ya jack ya body

Nah, the BizMark used to amp up the party

I wish those days, they didn't stop



Every ghetto, every city

and suburban place I been

Make me recall my days, in New Jerusalem



You know it's hot

Don't forget, what you got

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back



You know it's hot

Don't forget, what you got

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back



You know it's hot

Don't forget, what you got

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back



Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back

Lookin back.. lookin back, lookin back, lookin back