[Verse]
Welcome to New York City, the Empire State
Where the entire state is trying to acquire cake
You either buyin', or you supplyin' weight
Where the unarmed blacks get shot down by the Jakes
It's time to educate and separate
Heavy- from the featherweights
Underdog winners from losers, you n***as celebrate
Couple gram movers from dudes that's really selling weight
Ones who get told what to do, from ones who delegate
Now, I'ma set this straight, there's levels to this sh**
And I'm a five-star general, I got medals for this sh**
You see, I was in the field when the game was about principles
And gangstas didn't take no pictures, or do interviews
This sh** is new, everybody wasn't selling yay
You couldn't put work on the block with no resume
You couldn't just walk outside and just hustle
You had be about that life, and pay the muscle
See in the jungle, the soft got extorted
Crimes amongst gangsters, never got reported
Nowadays gangsters do crimes and they record it
The game is f**ed up cause the lines done got distorted
It all started when the snitches got glorified
When they ain't k** Alpo, after Rich Porter died
They even made a movie about Frank Lucas, I was mortified
Y'all n***as rode that wave, like a water ride
See y'all decided that this fake sh** was real
When snitches came home and y'all embracin' em still
Rattin' a G in the same place a n***a chill
After he violated the codes, that should've got him k**ed
That's when I said chill, y'all can keep the game
There's no more rules the players just ain't the same
Price is too high they steppin' all on the caine
Everybody playin' nobody don't know their lanes
It's a shame, the centers running point
The so called k**ers is tellin', they run and point
n***as getting A1 felonies for one point
They doin' life, and they ain't even selling the whole joint
So what's the point, we dying in vain
n***a we dying, we just hiding the pain
Daddy told me one thing that stuck inside of my brain
Doin the same thing and expect something different, you insane
Shh, not me, I'm a genius
Flex, this is deja vu, I done seen this
Yep, I was right here, homi'ing this sh**
I had you lookin like you smelled a dead body in this b**h
Let them try me and I switch from Malcolm X to Red again
A man down, everybody dead again
Each and every rapper you name, I am better than
These codeine dope-fiend n***as, I'm the medicine
A veteran with adrenaline of a rookie
My n***as done made empires off a cookie
When we was learnin morals, they was playing hooky
Now I'm doing my numbers, like a bookie
Look me in my eye, the average cat would turn away
Straight up G no curvin in my vertebrae
Every block, corner, curb n***as done heard of me
I'm exposin 'em now, they gonna wanna murder me
I had to do it this sh** was really concernin' me
These n***as up here spittin committin perjury
Chicks taking trips to DR, they gettin surgery
Forgettin, I done already hit ma, how you curving me?
Flex, this sh** is life
I burn down mics and I fight for civil rights
I'm tryin to get blacks same sh** they give to whites
I use to k** n***as, now I give em life
Now I give 'em light just to help them through that darkness
I motivate, and I give hope to the heartless
My verse on that Million Man March was
just to let my brothers know we can evolve from the projects
I know it's hard to digest but they feedin you pork
You see the image they project, they don't be what you thought
I don't blame 'em no more, it be what they taught
But ain't a n***a more thorough than me in New York
See I can get a n***a snow, I can get it for the low
I can get it by the pound, I can get it by the O
I can get you pieces that's hittin', that's for sure
But before I get you anything, I'ma let you know
This sh** is all a set up, they let you get your bread up
Next thing you know you're in State greens getting the send up
Your man on your phone telling you keep your head up
When your girl got her mouth on his dick, giving you heads up
Or you're getting wet up by a so called opp
Now he's really your bro, but that's part of the plot, you see
You don't understand we was three-fifths of a man
So when they ended slavery they had another plan
They said we can't end slavery, too many residuals
So they don't call you slaves no more, they call you criminals
Sending you to prison you working for cheap labor
Don't listen to these rappers they tryin' to see some paper
Real? This n***as couldn't be faker
And when I tell you n***as is frauds, im a hater!
Look, Future said: ''God blessin' all the trap n***as''
I got a question for that: ''where you at n***a?''
Trappers that I know getting arrested cause of rats n***a
Sentenced to life and they ain't never coming back n***a
These rap n***as, tellin' you lies
They ain't never seen a gram, but they selling you pies
They ain't real, you can tell by they eyes
They ain't tellin' their stories, they tellin' you mine
I was really in the streets, moving work on the nightshift
The roaches used to scatter, when I hit that light switch
Yeah Jeezy, I know that life
Moving snow to put food on the stove at night
I was married to the game I had to throw that rice
Raekwon said ''You a legend, you know that right?''
Y'all dont wanna hear that, they wanna hear that lingo
Soldiers going to war letting that thing go
Trappers, stackin them chips up like bingo
Kingpins in Sing Sing but they ain't sing though
Cause they know, I'm a one to one
I was a savage before I was 21
Had my first gun at 16 puttin in work
(Wordz) told me how to hold that little Uzi vert'
I mean horizontally, I was a horror honestly
Had too much heart these n***as wasn't as smart as me
Then i get 7 up north for armed robbery
And realized the so called gangster n***as lied to me
They threw a battery in my back they was charging me
I'm catching charges, lawyers is overcharging me
Bozo CO n***as in charge of me
I'm nice with my hands so the bigger n***as was charging me
Pardon me, the preachers couldn't save us
The teachers didn't teach us, the streets had to raise us
I'm from High Bridge, down the block from Larry Davis
We was all sick of bein' broke, it was contagious
But then I left the game cause i realized its way deeper
You still say my name and you get it for way cheaper
These chicks givin' their box away, for a pair of sneakers
So if you got a girl like Tasha, you better keep her
These n***as, they ain't doin the most
They tellin on themselves for likes on the post
n***as want the power just to brag and to boast
You see there's way too many Tommy's, not enough Ghosts
But then again, Ghost was a rat
I live by the code so I ain't co-signing that
The moral of the story is stop chasin the glory
My young'uns 16 on the Island facing 40
To the real Gs it's time to raise the shorties
To the kids that I misled, I just want to say that I'm sorry
To the real Gs, it's time to save these shorties
To the kids that I misled, I just want to say that I'm sorry