[Verse 1 - Surreal]
Sunshine through the metro, outline the sky scrape
Feel the flow of the city man it vibrates
Trash in the gutter
Garbage truck make stops
Traffic backed up 'til your bumping for eight blocks
The beat cops patrol the street tops
Bodega by day but at night it's the weed spot
Right down the block is a project tenement
Looks like Lebanon when bombs just leveled it
Couches in the courtyard, brown stone buildings
Young guns illin', trying to make a k**ing
It's all about the schillings so they gotta get the feeling
It's survival of the poor man trying to make a million
In the park there's some children, sand castle building
Watching and learning from the role model villains
Amongst the chaos and doom, a flower still blooms
Light up the night sky just like the moon
You ever seen a rose grow on a concrete tomb
Or the rain cool the block in the middle of June
I have in the city, plenty call home
It's got a pulse and a mind of it's own
[Hook x2]
The city is awake, it's alive and well
All through the years it's survived to tell
The stories of the glory and the people that fell
Some call it heaven and others call it hell
[Verse 2 - J-Live]
See for me it's the peace with the magnetic
So many people on the outside just can't get it
Seeking greener pastures away from jungles made of concrete
Succumbing to their fears of the city street
See every place has got its pros and cons
It's just the city is so concentrated
That you can get frustrated
As if the cons is overweight
And the pros is overrated
It's an acquired taste
Your preference might be a quiet place
With breezy trees on blocks that feel safe
Some say it's too pricey and no place to raise
Kids where crime pays and stray bullets graze
But if by amazing greats he can survive these places
Where rats race and cats chase with a trace of
Civilization, righteous inclination and indignation
It's an indication that the world is yours
Pick a cause and be the infectious effect
Be what's next, disprove all them idiots
This message brought to you by a grown city kid
[Hook]