[Hook 2X: Stressmatic]
Tryin' to come up, I could never settle
Inner city living, running from them poncherellos
My mama got three jobs, I'm slangin' that ‘hello'
Happy than a muthaf**a made it out the ghetto
We made it out the ghetto
[Verse 1: E-40]
Hear me out though
Bloodstains on the sidewalk
Crooked cops, crooked dice
30 seconds (Could do what?)
Could cost 30 years of your life
Automatic weapons, iron, plastic, chrome
.45, nickel-plated at your dome
Tryin' to survive, in this concrete human zoo
Where they push them kicks, and I ain't talkin' ‘bout kung-fu
Where they pull them licks, shoot you in the leg
Keep you alive
Disguise they voice, make you think they from the other side
Daughters gettin' they period, ovulation
And drug addiction affects 80 percent of the prison population
Part of my purpose in life is to help you find yours
(What you don't wanna do?) Don't wanna burn in a lake of fire
I wanna walk through heaven's doors
Racial profiling, tasing and choking brothers
Po-po make Blacks and Latinos sit on the curb more than others
Homeless, in the cold, without a pillow
The good Lord got a special in his heart (For what?)
For orphans, and widows
[Hook 2X: Stressmatic]
Tryin' to come up, I could never settle
Inner city living, running from them poncherellos
My mama got three jobs, I'm slangin' that ‘hello'
Happy than a muthaf**a made it out the ghetto
We made it out the ghetto
[Verse 2: Too $hort]
Youngsta look soft, he's not a reala
Ask around the hood, he's a k**a
You see him runnin' from the 50s (Dirty)
Yelling out the window ‘Can't catch me'
He got away for now (For now)
He gotta lay it down (Lay it down)
In a cell or a cemetary
The game'll put you in there
Can't nobody be trusted
You're too reckless, f** around and get busted
All that stuff you bought
When you're grinding, rule number one is don't get caught
Lotta gangs, lotta gangstas, lotta guns
You better run if you ain't out here affiliated with one
This sh** is crazy, you don't know what to do
You'd be rich if the police wasn't f**in' with you (That's real)
[Hook 2X: Stressmatic]
Tryin' to come up, I could never settle
Inner city living, running from them poncherellos
My mama got three jobs, I'm slangin' that ‘hello'
Happy than a muthaf**a made it out the ghetto
We made it out the ghetto