[Verse 1]
I pack my clip up to the top but still got room to breathe
Cause I’d rather, die as a man than a bitch on my knees
I was taught to let it sing til it’s horse and wheeze
Raised by real G’s so these songs I sing
Scrapes on knees and elbows, from the blocks we rose
Too young to buy a black, but we was strapped wit poles
Shorties tryna get a hold of what we couldn’t control
Prepared for all problems if the drama unfolds
Remember late nights under street lights, we came up
Move thief like, just to eat right, cause we fed up
Duckin all the D’s, pass the weed, gettin tree’d
Praying that these schemes get us everything we need
Was beating n***as into comas, laying low at Mrs. Colemans
If they on it, then we on it, only took a few components (shit)
I sat back, til they called the plays
But motherfucker this ain't back n the days

[Verse 2]
From swings in the park, to playin’ wit packs
Momma ain't vision her baby boy to live a life like that
At times we had less, we still had more
Of a life with one another, our foundation secured
Until he left you on your own, our home, a hollow dissolution
Couldn’t even count the number of cribs we raided in retribution
N***as we victimized, pocket checked, sanitized
My brother still seek to find redemption in my nephews’ eyes
Searching for hope cause we, looking for second chances
To make it out of circumstances we never had a chance in
Locked behind them walls, was gone but still here
Was 16 when I finally shed my last tears
And through the years seeing my peers disappear before my eyes
Look to God and wonder why we here just to live and die
Wishing we could reclaim the days on which we used to play
Not realizing what the future laid, thinking back n the days