| Once upon a time, before I had a 9
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| I didn’t have to grind all the time
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| Thangs was cool and brothers hung out
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| The South with the North and the North with the South
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| As time went on I started cravin for mail
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| Then came the yayo and then I started to sell
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| Money, money, money was all I knew
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| Cause 24−7 the fiends came through
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| Luxurious livin in the fast lane
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| But little did I know it wouldn’t last, mayne
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| From sellin the base cocaine I caught me a case
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| And then they put me away in a correctional place
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| They said I was beyond parental control
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| A hard-headed fool with no mental control
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| But for months and months I wrote and wrote
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| And when I got out of jail, I was funky and dope
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| Yeah I was straight spittin it to them fools up there, man
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| They didn’t understand this mouthpiece I had, you know
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| I knew I was comin up
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| Yo, that’s what I try to tell 'em, man
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| They don’t realize it’s a straight come up in the nineties
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| Aiyo, but what happened when you got back to the hood, though?
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| Back in the hood thangs was so different
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| The rollers was jackin and the brothers was trippin
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| Uzis and 9's was kept in the trunk
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| Cause the North and the South had high-powered funk
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| Thinkin to myself: Dre, leave it alone
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| Khayree hooked me up with a microphone
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| Deeper and deeper the funk kept on getting
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| But I wasn’t trippin, I had to keep spittin
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| Now I’m cold chillin on the t-o-p
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| And still ain’t trippin off the funk, baby
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| And if you don’t get the point of the story I tell
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| Quit trippin off the funk and make some mail
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| I grew up on the westside of Ro'
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| Slangin and gangbangin, hangin and smokin do'
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| 'Stay in the house, don’t even think about goin out!'
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| My room was a jail cell, so young Ray sneaks out
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| I run with the rat pack, stack that, jack that
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| Need some for gold ones, then go mack that
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| Tender for dollars and don’t take no less
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| Than a c-note and stack that with the rest
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| Thinkin and knowin it’s all about the game
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| Dropped out of school for big fortune and much fame
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| Runnin around with a rag in your knapsack
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| Necks is cracked, Jack, now you pack, black
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| Why? |
| To smoke another brother-man
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| Mac Dre, I don’t see why don’t understand
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| Never was much of an athlete
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| Always craved stages and pages of rhyme sheets and rap beats
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| Working inside my room through the late night
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| Damn near goin blind writin rhymes by a dim light
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| Changin up my styles, learnin to flow fast and slow
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| Kickin the funky tempo, bass breakin the bedroom window
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| But now at age 19 I’m made with a crazy fade
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| Pockets feelin fat because a brother’s crazy paid
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| Back to where I used to kick it at
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| But since it got crazy everyone comes with a gat
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| Got myself a ounce and a bottle of boons
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| I checked my watch cause I knew I had help soon
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| Now I’m just sittin here thinkin 'bout days past
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| When the police stayed in a brother’s ass
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| While some brothers every week were gettin bailed out
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| I stayed my little black behind out of the jail house |