Nobody ever said life was gon` be easy
But damn

Just a kid, moms died when I was seven
Pops died, eleven, what`s up with heaven?
It`s hell when you`re an orphan at a early age
This impressionable stage, no love breeds rage

In the heart of a child who never knew his roots
Looked up to pimps and to hustlers in the eel-skin boots
Parkin` Caddies on the sidewalk, gangsta talk
Truckin` diamonds and gold
Rubberbands around the bankrolls

Fly girls to make your head spin
Seemed they partied all night long
I was like, "Put me on"
But they said, "Little fellow, run and go play
Take your butt to school or else you`ll have to be like us one day"

I didn`t understand, but I tried to get a job
While all the players got the girls `cause they`d hustle and rob
I was like makin` `bout 1-50 a week
And after taxes, you know what that is lunch meat

And I know I can be better than this
I gotta get me a car, man
I gotta get a girl
I know I can do it out there, man
I`m finna go for it, man
I gotta get some money
Word

Streets of anger, trouble and crime
I had it hard, had to sleep in my car sometime
But I never let another player see me down
I kept my front up, my gear clean
Even when checkin` minor green

Brothers knew my game was true
So I hooked up with the real crew
That knew exactly what to do
Bank jobs and jewels, quick to flex with tools

Pimpin` hoes on the block
Checkin` cash non stop
Crack spots, armor with interior bars
No lie, I used to own `bout 15 cars

Every piece Fila made
Drape my women in suede
Pavet Piaget, Cesar`s Palace holidays
It was on, crazy out of control
We made up the word `ballin``, that was how we rolled
But the FBI had a whole `nother idea
It`s called multiple indictments for hundreds of years

What
Daff is dead?
Carter got 25 years?
Nah
Spike 35 to life?
Nah, don`t tell me B.O.`s dead, man
I don`t wanna hear that, man
I was just with him

The game is vicious, no retirement, you die young
Listen to a fake, he might tell you to grab a gun
I get phone calls from condemned row
Brothers I ran with, brothers I really know

They tell me, "Ice you got much love in the pen
You`re the one that got away, don`t wanna see you in"
They tell me, "Tell the little homies the deal
Don`t let `em come up in this hellish habitat of shanks and steel

I marched two million strong in D.C.
Lookin` eye to eye with brothers that I used to think below me
Damn, my mind was twisted in my hustlin` days
But God spared me, I got a baby son to raise

And bein` black ain`t easy, prejudice is real
But health and liberty is all we need for us to build
We gotta come together, unseparated
Check yourself like I did, blackman, because we`re all related