[Chorus:]
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The man above been talking to me
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He said he understands my view
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He's always walking with me
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Cause he sees what I've been through
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When the world starts kicking me around
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All in my face, make me want to put 'em down
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Trying to earn, trying to learn, trying to love like a man
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Sometimes it feels like it's out of my hands-
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I'm from the hood that's forever sinning
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Where life is took for granted here so death is winning
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Nothing but blues around, feels like we're losing out
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Times that spent in this environment confuse a child
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As a juvenile I ran wild I ran out of blessings
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Been in and out of prison as an adolescent
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My goal was getting it, til something said to turn my life around
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Redirect my hustle, and go legitimate
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Til I get corporate and invest fortunes
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With exec bosses sitting behind a desk at the office
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I'm left jobless, nobody hiring ex-convicts
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That don't mean I'm less conscious
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It's so hard when they close doors
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And when you looking like a so-called hip hoppa you get nada
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Stereotyped, scarred for life stigmata
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But still a kid's gotta get a dolla
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[Chorus]
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I tackle choices every day that's hopeless
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I hear a voice saying "stay focused"
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Fast money, cars, and broads will mislead you
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Love backwards here is evol but it's legal
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Multi-task I make a fortune faster
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Keep rhymin til I'm climbing up the corporate ladder
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In my community, you've gotta go out of your way if you're out to get paid
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Than back up and wait for opportunity
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I try not to blame society
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I eat my pride cause I know deep inside it's me
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But not entirely, when a man try to live righteously
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And propriety turn to anxiety
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I thought I paid back the system when I stayed in prison
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Left the stripes, see what success is like
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But the way they set the price
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You spent your childhood in the wild hood
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You're in debt for life
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[Chorus]
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I figured out what was talking with me
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When I do right I feel him walking with me
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So I'm adamant, some call it arrogance
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I can cope it cause I know I'm broke for having sense
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But my back's against the wall, it's getting rough to get a buck
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In a job with a minimum wage won't get enough
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Faced with giving up, and my lady friend's beefing,
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Ends ain't meeting, we just an argument away from splitting up
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It gets lonely, my fam disowned me
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Called me the black sheep cause I act street
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Yea it's that deep, I tried to change clicks
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Homies flipped on me cause I don't hang; we have beef
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But I'm at peace so that cease, at least
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I ain't got no ties on my Porsche ride
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And no time for no crime, knowing that the most high
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Is watching with a close eye
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[Chorus]
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They say I'm from the hood
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That mean I'm no good
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-----------------
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Man Above
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| Rakim |
