[Chorus: Solomon Childs] I'm home for good 'll be a shootout, they try to summon me back Take a hint, strive for what you wanna get Cuz if it's blood, that they want Then it's blood, what they gotta get [Solomon Childs] The year of '88, Special Ed & Big Daddy Kane Momma had two jobs, and got there whether snow, sleet or rain Thank you for sending me to church, with my cousins Glendall & Dame Who ever thought, I'd give you so much pain From on the blocks styling, to in & out of Riker's Island Where I stay in the box, it wasn't more than an idea I had to cheat my options, at the same time The penal changed my life Taught me how your wife can turn crooked Puerto Ricans taught me how the coke sizzle when you cook it First bid, all the way upstate, pressure from the gate Inmates, scheaming on my thirty five pounds Police looking to put one in your back And to catch you out of bounds, man, man, come on [Chorus 2X] [Solomon Childs] The year is '96 Back on the block hood, looking to get rich You b**h a** police told all by snitch Younger words went to the feds This year, we lost alotta track heads And as time went on I'm taught to teach when the dark read Man, listen, can tell you about some hard times I'll tell you about some hard crimes My first daughter already three And on my second felony, I was being found guilty Back up north, stressed out on the yard On lowback, cuz I had an a**hole foot on the back But this time it was a lot different No sweatsuits or Reebok cla**ics I had to rob and poke these ba*tards Muthaf**a... [Chorus 2X] [Solomon Childs] The year of 20-04 And I ain't been back in a minute, hoe b**h a** slow down on crime Some say I got a more positive mind But that ain't what it is Learned how to do the crime the quiet way The ski-mask way, this dedicated To the memories of Cooper, Damian Faye K-Barge, Jamaican Shawn Tank, and the god Inf And the moral of the story is this Though we all gon' plead the fifth But you can be whatever you is You live it, but nobody take none from you If you work so hard to gain it [Chorus 2X]