I was born in new jersey, I said it before
|
But I guess nobody heard me
|
My mother died young
|
No sistas or brothas, I was the only son
|
When I was twelve my pops died too
|
What a brotha was supposed to do?
|
They sent me out West
|
To live with my aunt
|
I guess they though it was the best
|
But there was no love there
|
Growin' with no moms
|
I guess I was prepared to live in a vacuum
|
The bedroom the kitchen, the hall and the bathroom
|
I didn't leave home much, didn't like L.A.
|
Didn't have no friends to trust
|
Got busted to a school
|
Blacks and whites, I guess the shit was cool
|
But in highschool I changed
|
Didn't wanna bust, didn't wanna play the game
|
I walked to Crenshaw high, shit was fly
|
I hooked up with new cru
|
Some brothas that knew what the fuck to do
|
You might call it gang but we called it a set
|
And it was our own thang
|
The whole school was down
|
And one way or another everybody fucked around
|
When the hardcore or not
|
you wore the right color or your ass got shot
|
That's how i'm livin'...
|
|
I did three years in and made close friends
|
Havin' no love my homies came my only
|
I was glad: a family I never had
|
But I grew up fast got a girl on 10th grade pregnant
|
Needin' cash, I had to change my style
|
Switched from bangin' to hustlin'
|
No more goin' buckwild
|
Had to get a cashflow
|
But my hustle was weak, it was a no go
|
I join the army, four years in that shit
|
Be all fucked you can be
|
Came back to the hood
|
My homies had done good
|
Had elevated their game
|
About 100 gees a lick, no mothafuckin' shame
|
Passed for the jewels
|
Baby sledgehammers with the tools
|
I speak on this with a hesitation
|
Even though it passed the statue of limitation...
|
|
I checked the bank
|
Bought a porsche and gear, earn high streetrank
|
But as I grew my whole crew fell thru
|
Cops had us on the books as innerstate crooks
|
Murder robbery rape escape, the whole damn nine
|
You robbed a nigga blind
|
I had too much juice, I cut my boosters loose
|
I was intread with the pimpgame
|
Took on the ice-name
|
But the pimpgame moved too slow
|
Especially for a nigga who was hooked on quick dough
|
In one nite late I was in a carwreck
|
And I was lucky to escape
|
Hospital for teen weeks, in bed almost dead
|
And when I got well, I got gaught in a cross
|
And got locked in a jailcell
|
That's how I'm livin'...
|
|
They cutted me loose
|
And I had to change troops
|
This time they didn't catch me
|
Next time they'll strecth me
|
Cause my time was gettin' short
|
All my homies was in court
|
Or locked in a hole, this shit was gettin' old
|
So I changed my life
|
Putted down the gun and picked up the mic
|
It took ten years to get from there to here
|
But I still keep a gun, cops got me on the run
|
And they hate me more now
|
Than they ever did before
|
My homies came back from pen
|
And we all worked together
|
True friends but every once and while
|
Some punk mistakes me as a junk
|
And he gets in my face
|
Wrong mothafuckin' place
|
And I aint lyin', that's how you dyin'...
|
|
-----------------
|
That's How I'm Livin'
|
| Ice-T |
