| The air is still, the heat is rising
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| Summer time’s on the horizon
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| Little girl with a baby crying
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| 'Cause she’s got no food to eat
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| And it ain’t that nobody’s listening
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| And it ain’t that nobody cared
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| It’s just that everybody’s busy
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| Looking out for what is theirs
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| I’m a hustler on the corner
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| Making very little money
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| But down the block on the other corner
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| This nigger’s down there getting paid
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| What’s he doing that I ain’t doing?
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| He got clothes and fancy things
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| Big old car and pretty women
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| Watch what jealousy and envy brings
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| On the backstreet, that’s where I live
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| On the backstreets, there ain’t nothing positive
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| Now up the block comes my man, Cee Lo
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| Say what’s happening, how you feel?
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| He don’t care about no
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| 'Cause he’s known to keep it real
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| Peep what’s happening down the block?
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| Yo hood is down, you’re taking mine
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| Cee Lo knows about his business
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| So he runs it down one time
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| He get keys straight from Miami
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| Hooks it up and sells it cheap
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| You ain’t getting nothing but old from Sally
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| So your prices are too steep
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| But I got just the thing you need, son
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| If you really wanna win
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| Sunlight sparkles on his gold fronts
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| As he makes this evil grin
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| Take a walk on down to my crib
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| And let me show you something new
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| Now I got loads of guns and ammo
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| That I bought from this white dude
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| You could tell that I was down
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| That I was just the man to see
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| And he funded me and leased the cheese with
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| Of artillery on the backstreet
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| That’s where I live on the backstreet, yeah
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| There ain’t nothing positive
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| Now in his bedroom, it’s amazing
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| He got guns of every kind
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| He lights a plant and we start blazing
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| Then I picked the one that shined
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| It’s an old school Calico
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| Semi auto dark as night
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| It’s just the thing I need
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| To make my situation tight
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| So he shows me how to load it
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| Since I don’t know what to do
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| Aims toward the wall and it exploded
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| Through this poster of Ice Cube
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| It brought so much devastation
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| That it’s obvious to me
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| That is just the thing
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| To separate your soul from your body
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| On the backstreet, that’s where I live
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| On the backstreet, yeah, there ain’t nothing positive
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| I went home and started planning
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| For he might come up at midnight
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| In the darkness catch him slipping
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| Take his up, money is life
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| I’ll just catch him as he goes out
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| To his car to make a run
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| Now you can’t front when you’re confronted
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| With the cold steel of a gun
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| Midnight comes and I’m moving
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| On the creep all dressed in black
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| Wearing a ski mask so he won’t know
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| Who just put him on his back
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| So I hid behind the bushes
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| At the people’s house next door
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| 3 shots rang out from behind me
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| And my blood began to pour, no
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| What? |
| What now, boy?
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| Told you I was gonna get you, boy
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| Thought you’s gonna catch me sleeping in your dream
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| Do it hurt? |
| Let’s go
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| Everything happened in one swift action
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| Should I just couldn’t believe
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| Cee Lo told them what was happening
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| I been tricked up and deceived
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| And it ain’t that nobody heard it
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| And it ain’t that nobody cared
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| It’s just that everybody was busy
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| Looking out for what was theirs
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| city said
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| What they call the M-C-C
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| Now I don’t really know what that means
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| But it’s what the cops called me
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| They don’t care what happens to me
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| They don’t miss me on the beat
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| All they know is that there’s one less nigger
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| Hanging on the backstreet where I used to live
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| On the backstreet, there ain’t nothing, nothing
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| The choices you make can make or break you
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| The choices you make can make or break you
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| The choices you make can make or break you
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| The choices you make can make or break you |