[Intro: Bumpy Knuckles]
It's always about money
It's always about money because that's just the way life goes
Everybody wants to appear to be rich
Ain't nobody tryin' to appear to be broke
You know?
'Cause their— the appearance of money, you know
Is the deception that everybody wants to put out there
That's the way they live their life

[Verse 1: Bumpy Knuckles]
It's the life that we live, it's not by the rules
The lessons that we learn is not by school
Any boy that wants to be man before his time
Is out his goddamn mind, fiendin' for the life
Full of pain, full of strife, full of guns, full of knife
Full of good when your a n***a's girl, full of shit when you his wife
Full of dope fiends dopin', full of crack fiends smokin'
Full of n***as who think the cops ain't watchin', jokin'
Full of Jesse Jackson hopin' we can be free
Full of n***as in the jailhouse that look like me
Full of pimps, full of players, full of thugs, full of macks
Full of hardcore rappers with a car full of gats
Full of fake-ass n***as that rap
That will get exposed when they run into a real live scrap
Full of little green paper with dead people on 'em
Got the graveyard full of flowers with dead people on 'em
Full of them that don't like me 'til I figure how to stack around taxes
Full of loved ones that ain't comin' back
Full of snitches, full of rats, check the stats
We losin' real bad in this game that we call
[Chorus: Bumpy Knuckles]
The life (Livin' on the line)
The life (Everything your hands could touch)
The life (Let's all be professional)
The life (You gotta respect the game)

[Verse 2: Bumpy Knuckles]
I sit and listen to the preacher talk about fair play
And that n***a knows the game don't play that way
This life is full of n***as that can't buy a tank full of gas
And sleep behind the buildin' that's a bank full of cash
Temptation, they got sunshine
While n***as feel Bill Withers, ain't no sunshine
The life for the n***as that got the funniest jokes
And the biggest diamond rings and the longest mink coats
And the best-lookin' houses, and they put 'em on Cribs
And show the goddamn feds where the fuck they live
Full of n***as with too many kids they can't feed
Full of n***as who went to college and still can't read
Full of fake friends smilin' in your face
Plottin' on a safe full of money while they keep it full of grace
Full of poorly run government that stole this land from the red man
Now we celebrate Thanksgiving
Friends taken, fuck forty acres and a mule
Gimme forty million and I'm cool, then it's back to the motherland
Not to live, but to buy diamonds, flawless
Shinin', not this fake shit that n***as wear rhymin'
It's life full of n***as climbin' from the bottom to the top
Full of n***as fallin' back to the bottom
Urbanized culture got 'em, check the stats
We losin' real bad in this game that we call
[Chorus: Bumpy Knuckles]
The life (Livin' on the line)
The life (Everything your hands could touch)
The life (Let's all be professional)
The life (You gotta respect the game)

[Verse 3: Bumpy Knuckles]
The life, struggle for survival, watch the game
That's why I'm glad pop left me this Glock to aim
Watch yourself now you can be reckless
And feel your whole body get snatched like Marbury necklace
I know we on the government check list
And soon they'll be droppin' all the bombs and all our lives will be Flex-less
This life is full of fake saints that won't start prayin'
'Til they see this big room full weak nuns payin'
What's the message I'm relayin'? It's all in your head
He say givin' it to God, we say givin' it to Rev
This life is full of people who wouldn't give a fuck if I was dead
'Cause it means that they could come out from under they bed
Why they scared? 'Cause life is full of dudes like me
N***as rude like me, takin' food like me
Full of jazz, full of soul, full of new, full of old
ASCAP full of publishin' that people that done stole
It's a life full of love, but people won't share it
It's responsibility and people won't bare it
It's the hardcore truth, but people can't wear it
That's why they all lose in this game that we call
[Chorus: Bumpy Knuckles]
The life (Livin' on the line)
The life (Everything your hands could touch)
The life (Let's all be professional)
The life (You gotta respect the game)