[Verse 1]
If you live by the gun, you die by the same fate
So no gunplay, pops took toys away
Went over moms house, Cops N Robbers all day (Righ)
Went back to dads house, went to church on Sunday (Righ)
See Gary and Renae made at a young age
Had 2 kids then got divorced the next day
My pops got em through me, and my sister got to stay (Righ)
My mom got pregnant, baby sister on the way (Righ)
My father remarried, another daughter on the way
His wife had a daughter and a son by the way
A older daughter the boys were like the same age
I turned five then started rhyming the next day
Me and my sis moved with my pops the next day
No i ain't want to stay, shit, who am I to say, shit
2nd grade went to school cursing like a sailor
Came back home preaching bout my savior, damn
Only God can judge me, only Jesus can save us
We in the hood lord save us, pray for us
After school, home alone, just us
Dont open door, ain't nobody you can trust
Gunshots, drive bys, we would duck
Somebody died, thank God, none of us
One of the kids neighborhood bloods wouldn't touch
Go sleep, wake up, do again, good luck

(Righ)
(Righ)

Now some of moms friends, I ain't like them (Righ)
He pushed me down the stairs, I tried to fight him (Righ)
If he got to loud, shit, i would threaten him
I'd tell him "Never raise ya voice at mommy again!"
But i was only ye high, I could barely read or write
I probably couldn't fight, but in hindsight
I only tried to do what's right
Often I would write, a letter to the judge
Ask him if i could, move back with mom
Since she moved out the hood
Her and my little sis then she birthed my youngest sis
Next page same book
Yea ma could cook but they wasn't eating good
At least they were out the hood
Times are hard working 2 or 3 jobs
Life and times of a single black mom
No shoulder to lean on, no shoulder to cry on
No man in the home, but life goes on

[Chorus]
Still rapping and shit like "We bout to be on" (Righ)
Shit you tell yourself just to keep keeping on (Righ)
But pace yourself cause the journey is long
Here I am, years later, singing this song

(Righ)
(Righ)

Now I’m a pre-teen and me and mom hardly speak
If I don't call her, then she don't call me (tuh)
In high school when i turned 16
Had a car that barely drove, but was given to me
I would ride around the city, I was hardly home (Righ)
Pops ain't want us in the hood so often i was gone (Righ)
Often I would roam, often in the zone
And I don't even smoke, from school it's off to work
I gave up sports, cuz i got to make it work (Righ)
8 of us in a 3 bedroom home (Righ)
So often i was gone, often i would roam
Remember getting arrested, cops took me home
Pops waited by the door like "Where we go wrong?"
But made it out the hood alive with no kids I'm grown
I was at Lee's house when i answered the phone
G Stack on the line said "Your sister dead gone"
God you dead wrong, how you call her home with two kids at home
Blood or no blood you are still my own
I'm still crying through these songs

Still rapping and shit like "We bout to be on"
I picked myself up nobody put me on
Lift as you climb, clean as you cook
Write my story as I go, easier than it looks

(Righ)
(Righ)

Still rapping and shit like "We bout to be on"
(like "We bout to be on")
(like "We bout to be on")
Shit you tell yourself just to keep keeping on
(just to keep keeping on)
(just to keep keeping on)
Still rapping and shit like "We bout to be on"
(like "We bout to be on")
(like "We bout to be on")
Shit you tell yourself just to keep keeping on
(just to keep keeping on)
(just to keep keeping on)