Feat Ray Luv [ VERSE 1: Mac Dre ] Once upon a time, before I had a 9 I didn't have to grind all the time Thangs was cool and brothers hung out The South with the North and the North with the South As time went on I started cravin for mail Then came the yayo and then I started to sell Money, money, money was all I knew Cause 24-7 the fiends came through Luxurious livin in the fast lane But little did I know it wouldn't last, mayne From sellin the base c**aine I caught me a case And then they put me away in a correctional place They said I was beyond parental control A hard-headed fool with no mental control But for months and months I wrote and wrote And when I got out of jail, I was funky and dope [ Mac Dre ] Yeah I was straight spittin it to them fools up there, man They didn't understand this mouthpiece I had, you know I knew I was comin up [ Ray Luv ] Yo, that's what I try to tell 'em, man They don't realize it's a straight come up in the nineties Aiyo, but what happened when you got back to the hood, though? [ VERSE 2: Mac Dre ] Back in the hood thangs was so different The rollers was jackin and the brothers was trippin Uzis and 9's was kept in the trunk Cause the North and the South had high-powered funk Thinkin to myself: Dre, leave it alone Khayree hooked me up with a microphone Deeper and deeper the funk kept on getting But I wasn't trippin, I had to keep spittin Now I'm cold chillin on the t-o-p And still ain't trippin off the funk, baby And if you don't get the point of the story I tell Quit trippin off the funk and make some mail [ VERSE 3: Ray Luv ] I grew up on the westside of Ro' Slangin and g**nin, hangin and smokin do' 'Stay in the house, don't even think about goin out!' My room was a jail cell, so young Ray sneaks out I run with the rat pack, stack that, jack that Need some for gold ones, then go mack that Tender for dollars and don't take no less Than a c-note and stack that with the rest Thinkin and knowin it's all about the game Dropped out of school for big fortune and much fame Runnin around with a rag in your knapsack Necks is cracked, Jack, now you pack, black Why? To smoke another brother-man Mac Dre, I don't see why don't understand [ VERSE 4: Ray Luv ] Never was much of an athlete Always craved stages and pages of rhyme sheets and rap beats Working inside my room through the late night Damn near goin blind writin rhymes by a dim light Changin up my styles, learnin to flow fast and slow Kickin the funky tempo, ba** breakin the bedroom window But now at age 19 I'm made with a crazy fade Pockets feelin fat because a brother's crazy paid Back to where I used to kick it at But since it got crazy everyone comes with a gat Got myself a ounce and a bottle of boons I checked my watch cause I knew I had help soon Now I'm just sittin here thinkin 'bout days past When the police stayed in a brother's a** While some brothers every week were gettin bailed out I stayed my little black behind out of the jail house