L.I.F.E. Long - Facts of Life lyrics

[Intro: L.I.F.E. Long] Yeah. One, two. It's like, yo. It's like [Verse 1: L.I.F.E. Long] I'll thank God for the person that I am Even though, sometimes, I'll feel less than a man ‘Cause it's hard to be a black man up in a land When you find that the American Dream is one big scam Created to confuse. That's why, I guess, many lose Grip and get caught up in the mix of trifling skits to fatten their pockets But nothing's granted ‘cause what's here today can be gone tomorrow That's why I'll always wonder why people follow paths Where they believe that worldly possession will last throughout the hourgla** Of time that's steady pouring by the seconds And I know, sometimes, life can be nerve-wrecking Especially when you're not receiving blessings that you truly deserve But instead of turning to God, we turn to smoking herb Which takes the mind into a state of bliss. But when you come back You find out that your problems still exist Now you're caught up in a mix of stress that leads to grieve and strife That leads to beating your kids and wife, selling your soul to the pipe Not maintaining the balance is one of the sad facts of life [Hook: L.I.F.E. Long] You take the good, you take the bad Ste-Lo's beats and my rhymes combine, then there you have The good, the bad Ste-Lo's beats and my rhymes combine, then there you have The good, the bad Ste-Lo's beats and my rhymes combine, then there you have The facts of life The facts of life [Verse 2: L.I.F.E. Long] The perception of my thoughts can't be duplicated or recreated That's why you could never understand what I percept when my third eye's been elevated ‘Cause my mind has been calculated by base times width times depth When planning to increase volume with no more bias and high density The early 80s was my first intro to wack emcees. And ever since then It seems that more and more wackness is spreading like multiplicity in degrees of threes Cats be coming with wack writtens but ill rehearsed frees But me, I'm shooting writtens and frees like threes on a foul line From the underground, coming up with j**els like those who coalmine ‘Cause, see, I had a lyrical vision since the age of one plus nine Manifested in the year of '85, the burst was lyrically inclined With a mind ahead of my time. So as I grew, I paid dues So I could one day shine like ultraviolets But it's hard to get eartime when you're not a polyp That's why I guess my roots is still underground like a violet's or daffodil's I'm tired of paying dues ‘cause now I got bills, plus I'm hungry “I Used to Love H.E.R.” like Common, but then she dumped me [Bridge: Samples with DJ Emmo Scratches] “Life is hectic” - Sample from Inspectah Deck on Wu-Tang Clan's “C.R.E.A.M.” “Think twice” - Sample from [?] “[?]” - Sample from [?] “The facts of life” - Sample from Juelz Santana on Cam'ron's "Facts of Life" “This is” - Sample from [?] “The facts of life” - Sample from Juelz Santana on Cam'ron's "Facts of Life" [Verse 3: L.I.F.E. Long] Yo, life is not a game, sport, or cereal But imperial when heard through waves aerial With no relation to Gatorade Even though I quench thirst like lemonade The meaning of the name spelled out: L-dot-I-dot-F-dot-E Living In Full Effect From the debts, exposing nothing but reality from the mentality Feed off the good vibrations of positive energy That circles arounds me like Saturn's rings and hula-hoops I express my thoughts over drum loops Pattern is synchronized by the mind of Ste-Lo Who programmed the MPC to musically narrate the facts of me Behold the soliloquy of me Broken down as the facts of L-I-F-E Haha [Hook: L.I.F.E. Long] (x2) You take the good, you take the bad Ste-Lo's beats and my rhymes combine, then there you have The good, the bad Ste-Lo's beats and my rhymes combine, then there you have The good, the bad Ste-Lo's beats and my rhymes combine, then there you have The facts of life The facts of life [Outro: Sample from [?]] Once you know, how do you turn what you know into a constructive plan to change our condition?