[Verse One] [Tak]:
That's when the summer was hotter than a thermometer
Left Queens and headed west to Santa Monica
I never really knew how many streets could be
My pops got me out in time thanks to G.T.E
Now I'm out where the weather's nice, people are friendly
I'm went to McKinely so I could live a better life
1755 Franklin to be exact
Where Tak grew up on rap and now he's on the mic
Hey
But it went so fast before I knew it
I moved to Hadder Street in the S.F.D
Parents got a divorce, I was off on my own
So I started something formally known as S.O.B
Yeah, it was just me, true to the end
Then I met Cheapshot through a mutual friend
Got together and created a dynamite stick
Living life with a plan that sounds sorta like this

[Chorus] [Ryu]:
I grew up I knew what to do then and what not to do now
So I shoot for the fence for my roots underground
Now my group's in the Ritz so look out
Let me tell you where this story begins
It goes

[Tak]:
I grew up with my troops in the trench
Shootin' hoops with my friends
In the Coupes with the rims
Grew my roots underground
Now my group's in the Ritz so look out
Well let me tell you where this story begins
It goes

[Verse Two] [Ryu]:
I remember trying to get into the game
Couldn't get anybody to listen to my tape
Everyday bumpin' Wu-Tang, fully invested
We laugh now, but Tony Hilfiger was fresh then
Ridin' in my Civic with a buck in the gas tank
Dimes and pennies, anything you find in the ash treys
Fine, find a beat tape, kick your best rhyme
Over DWYCK cause that's my shit, ayo rewind it
Bring it back, baggy black jeans and beepers
From Black Moon to Pat Boone, Queen Latifah
Yeah, if anything's new, my camp with hear it
So Make Room, we're coming with them cancer lyrics
Vin Skully hook up a loop and sample Shaft that sounds good
We don't care about a sample clearance
We're bringin' it back to what it was when it was fun
To carry a gun before somebody said it was thug
It's all hooks, nobody in my crew was a clapper
We thought if you had a gat it made you a true rapper
But

[Chorus] [Tak]:
I grew up I knew what to do then and what not to do now
So I shoot for the fence for my roots underground
Now my group's in the Ritz so look out
Let me tell you where this story begins
It goes

[Rru]:
I grew up with my troops in the trench
Shootin' hoops with my friends
In the Coupes with the rims
Grew my roots underground
Now my group's in the Ritz so look out
Well let me tell you where this story begins
It goes...