[Just Ro] I used to practice my sk**s, on slanted backs of fields Slingin' Sugar Hills, tryna get my bills Raised on monk ills, wit cool a** folks Who wore jeans to they thighs, wit f-o-t-i's I epitomize game, y'all n***as know my name Rollin wit the Nation, the business and the frame Y'all can keep the fame, its all about the ends The shorties in my hood, my family and friends That Benz in my yard, that credit on my card After twenty-five years, had this n***a livin hard Like God I'll rise, to open up your eyes Sista close them thighs for flirtin with them guys Show your real prize, true playas takin heed As we drownin in this sack of water weed For real [Common] Give us this day, Richard got our Daley bread molded My old girl said "Rashid, you should have voted" The truth of the moment, on the poll it wasn't nothin But components to a system that's coroded Secrets get coded then promoted to the inner-city bosom Jobs are scarce, most sur-die by hustlin I get into discussions with the Christians and the m**ms Of percussion in this real n***a ensemble, Chicago City of steppers and n***as with wild hair Besides the Hall there's the foul air Wonder if I'll raise my child there Regardless its the foundation, a hustla's salvation Organized gangs are now Nations Chorus:(Just Ro, Common) It's the Hustler Scholar, Street Soldier Supreme Bound by common ground, here to put it down Comin from the Go, Ill State for sho Out for respect and the doe, bust that It's the Hustler Scholar, Street Soldier Supreme Bound by common ground, here to put it down Ill State for sho, comin from the Go Out for respect and the doe, yeah yeah [Just Ro] They say the early bird is the one that get the worm' So I rise before the sun, not to be out-done Steppin to the world thinkin "Ro, get the doe" Wit the grill a little bent, so you coward n***as know Hit the nine-tre, hook wit E and get blowed It ain't even 9 o'clock and we got the block sewed Takin what we owed, never front on what we know I gotta give some love to Big Money and B.O Avoid the nonsense, and resurrect your mind Everything gon be fine, now its my turn to shine I elevate the blind, rewind his-tory Knockin off you marks when we for the fame and glory Average bars bore me, come before me wit credentials Ain't impressed wit yo body and yo dentials [Common] Stimulated by a tree of drama, I advance on a branch Of respect and honor, A patient of the Ill State Senate of trauma, never been one to side wit harma- For Armaggedon, I'm gettin armed plus armor The karma of a martyr, On the rise Like the temp in this South Side sauna The preface to the Book of Life states to pake humid To it I react by stayin strapped wit the Mack of Courage Parallel to a carousel of murders I prefer to make a life than take a life Stopped at the street caught wise and made a right Sorta How I play my broads is how I play the mic First I cuff it, then finger f** it, check it Spit somethin rugged, other n***as be reluctant To touch it after me, pa**ively they strike Never matchin me, rapidly though cla**ically I franticly, verbal tapestry tappin the keg of your conscience Navigating n***as like Farrakan with a compa** Chorus Just Ro, (Common) Now y'all know (let 'em know) Its like that (how we come through) Common Sense and Just Ro (South Side, West Side, everywhere) Its like that (y'all know we universal, yeah) (Prepare the universe, for the original Black Man)