| 1970-something and mama’s in the studio
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| Pregnant with Dominick while she was doing a song
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| Until her water broke in the booth
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| It’s not a joke it’s the truth
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| From that point let’s move it along
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| To the fact that my father was a rolling stone
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| Before we knew it dude was gone
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| Mama gotta do it alone
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| Who would’ve known
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| At the same time that she gave me life she might’ve ruined her own?
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| Cause she already had a son before me
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| Living in the big city, she young and lonely
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| Put her faith in a nigga but his love was phoney
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| Said he would hold her down while she sung her songs, G
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| Then he bounced. |
| put the pedal to the metal
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| No more record deals, we living in the ghetto
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| Gangbang, drive-by, homicide, place full of puppets killing each other
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| Uncle Sam is Geppetto
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| Five years-old when I seen my first murder
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| Playing outside, I heard shots from the Ruger
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| Four or five bullets put the victim in the bushes
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| Then I made eye contact with the shooter
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| Ran in the house, told my mama somebody died, I’ll never forget…
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| It was a white boy from Hoova
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| All she could say was «Hallelujah!»
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| «You're safe!» |
| Then she asked God to protect our future
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| Life as a shorty shouldn’t be so rough
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| Got my hat low, white tee on, gun in my waist, I’m a gangsta man
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| Flat broke, living in the hood, gotta get money so I jumped in the game
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| So many people I know… get killed like it ain’t no thang
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| To you it’s crazy, I know! |
| Real niggas gonna feel my pain
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| 1990-something and mama’s little boy’s growing up
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| All the thug niggas calling him Crooked
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| It was a name that she never understood
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| But in the hood
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| Negative is positive so Dominick took it
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| Look at the way that he hang with the older niggas
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| Man them OG’s gave him a gangster style
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| A gun in the waist, a knife in the pocket, a pair of brass knuckles
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| Some mace and even straight razors now
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| Those… are the tools you use
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| To survive in the most dangerous place you could raise a child
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| Mama can’t afford nothing other than Section 8
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| We’ll escape
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| One day I’mma make her proud
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| But now I dropped out of school, sitting in a drug spot
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| Bagging up weed while my older brother slung rocks
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| Trying to get paid, watching for the punk cops
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| If they run a raid, they gon' be up in these gunshots
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| Take over the world shit, do it like Scarface
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| Banging on the news, helicopter and a car chase
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| This is the point where adrenaline make your heart race
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| Fuck sleeping under the jail cause of a narc case
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| Wasn’t the life that I aimed to choose
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| A nigga could’ve been the next Langston Hughes
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| But I landed in a place
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| Where you can get shot in the face
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| By a young banger trying to pay gangster dues
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| How in the fuck can I change my views
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| When I have to stab a nigga for trying to take my shoes?
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| Never won much, but I hate to lose
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| Only way that you could relate is if you played the blues
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| That was back when
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| But even back then
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| Mama made men out of the boys in the house
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| And I remember coming home fresh from a shootout
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| This is what she said with a joint in her mouth
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| She told me «Life as a shorty shouldn’t be so rough»
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| This is my life, man. |
| This is my life. |
| I was manufactured in the hood, man.
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| Read the label. |
| Read the label they got stitched on the back of my neck.
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| It says «Made in America.» |
| Ghetto America, ya heard? |