[Intro: Haystak] Yeah: This' for all my people that grew up being told That they would be dead in the penitentiary; It's about time they were grown And then you wonder why? They got depression, self-esteem, anxiety issue'... you know? After so long you start to believe it: (check, check) [Verse 1: Haystak] I recall everything I was told: Boy you'll never live to be 18 years old Dead or incarcerated just like those; People who wander down similar roads Leavin' out the house, she said please don't go! Granny why you stay tryin' to, save my soul? If d**h is my destiny, like you had said to me Let me get busy before he gets the best of me! Don't you know bullets don't have no brain? And a lot of youngers don't have no aim? Am I livin' or dyin' somebody please explain? Goin' or stayin', because I'm going insane? I'm strapped up cause he is, sheisty cause she is Meanwhile a dude who teach chemistry is In his office with a kid doing sh** I get expelled for Which makes me wonder: why people go to jail for it? [Hook: Haystak] Even if I did die young, so what? Nobody expected me to ever grow up Grandmama lectured me you better grow up But there wasn't no telling me I was a grown up! Even if I did die young, so what? Nobody expected me to ever grow up Grandmama lectured me you better grow up But there wasn't no telling me I was a grown up! [Verse 2: Haystak] I'm a kid peeping in justice y'all let slide But you're so quick to, point out mine That's what made me draw that line Blinded by my own desire; I'm doing fine No, I'm not I'm doing bad, but I'm so afraid to talk Y'all got sh** going on, I don't wanna bother y'all Pops cut from a different cloth: never be the man he was Thought I was slow, I turned out to be a genius! And I ain't returned like, eat my peanuts Let our bank statements be the difference between us; If I seem distant, b**h I'm 30 something I was suppose to been done: been a murder victim! My grandpa prayed 'till his knees gave way If you can`t save me, God, please save Jason The way I went in, that's the only explanation I know some bad dudes; enough to know I ain't one! [Hook: Haystak] Even if I did die young, so what? Nobody expected me to ever grow up Grandmama lectured me you better grow up But there wasn't no telling me I was a grown up! Even if I did die young, so what? Nobody expected me to ever grow up Grandmama lectured me you better grow up But there wasn't no telling me I was a grown up! [Verse 3: Haystak] I was confused, and you can hear it in my rhetoric; In retrospect, I never should have made it back I wrote my Senator and never got a letter back My friend Chris got k**ed for a Cadillac My man Mike died for a powder pack So understand why I could think that I was next: Under attack, guns and crack Or the motherf**in' police shoot us in the back! And ah, they think it only happens to blacks; And refuse to believe it almost happened to 'Stak: Stabbed in the back Blood beating threw a heart filled with crack Soldier up! Fought through that! Injuries; a lot of players don't walk off I walked off cause I ain't the type to walk on If you're family: you're suppose to love me when I'm wrong Be a man, and represent me when I'm gone! Stones in the foundation get looked over But without them, the whole damn house falls over! This is for the rocks that exist beneath me: The block which gave me, a past to be me BB's are baby bullets, baby's are in training My people were bangin', before they called it bangin' Just chillin', hangin', words exchange: One thing lead to another, all I heard was [gun shot]... [Hook: Haystak] Even if I did die young, so what? Nobody expected me to ever grow up Grandmama lectured me you better grow up But there wasn't no telling me I was a grown up! Even if I did die young, so what? Nobody expected me to ever grow up Grandmama lectured me you better grow up But there wasn't no telling me I was a grown up!