[Verse 1]
Motherfuckers taking pics with their phones
The lights flicker and trip 'em like strobes flashin'
On my throne, sippin' Manhattans and Old Fashioneds
Hard to fathom when my holster get shattered like broke glasses
Smoke pass the Road Chassis, road map and slowed traffic
No classes, so absent, IQ is below average
Growing up knowing that no one is proactive
Soak up my emotions, they lowered this closed casket
My homies are throat slashers, gold snatchin
Old masses, gold fashion, throat bash, Girbaud for the Bo Jacksons
Coke addicts, all that they know is the gold habits
Won’t catch a break, fumble the ball when they’re throwing passes
No ladders, hit a low, you should know what the vocab is
Hoes flashed us back then, now they show us the whole package
Spin into the tree just like Jacqueline Onassis
Blow rappin', they told me it won’t happen
Wished they would have told me I would owe taxes
I should own my own masses

[Chorus]
Growing up, you gon' live and you learn
One day the lord above gonna give you a turn
And when he finally does are you willing to work?
To go and get what you're worth
Cause I can give you my word
You gotta live and you learn
You might've been through the worst
And it can make you stronger so forget what you heard
Just focus on the future, not the shit that occurred
This worm slither and squirm
The more you dig in the dirt
You gotta live and you learn

[Verse 2]
Fuck diplomas, we ain't study much
Plus the drugs corrupted us
Fuck instructions, we ain't know what structure was
Hustlers with dreams, my team would scheme
Then go stick up the plug, take a shit then run out
We ain't cut out for construction jobs
Rhyming ain't my hobby, couple of my homies love the rush
Like the sight of blood and guts and fighting
Guys would knuckle up
Think cause you got muscles you gon' win this scuffle?
We gon' sucker punch you, jump you
What the fuck, you thought that we was touching gloves?
Usually dudes would grab they gun and bust you when they buttons push
Murders and abductions, seeing shit you can't recover from
Trust is gone the moment that your homie fucked the one you love
So now you're drunk as fuck and paying aces at the rub and tug
I got it coming cause I used to rub my nuts and cuss
Spittin' in the food when I was cooking at the country club
But I was young and dumb, destructive saying fuck so and so
Such and such, who is who, enough's enough
[Chorus]
Growing up, you gon' live and you learn
One day the lord above gonna give you a turn
And when he finally does are you willing to work?
To go and get what you're worth
Cause I can give you my word
You gotta live and you learn

You might've been through the worst
And it can make you stronger so forget what you heard
Just focus on the future, not the shit that occurred
This worm slither and squirm
The more you dig in the dirt
You gotta live and you learn

[Verse 3]
Homies stealin crotch rockets, I watched em
Taking blow torches to vacuums at car washes
The kid that sat beside me in class was an armed robber
Our fathers walked off, we lost morals, lost marbles
Stabbed David, shot Charles, who gon’ fall out next?
The chick I went to school with, she a shot out mess
She the type that shouldn’t be allowed to pop out kids
She pregnant with another baby while she shot up meth
We a product of our environment, why are we so incapable?
Learning from our mistakes to escape what we afraid to move
A slave to all our vices, providing the price, we paid to lose
But came to prey the food for all the lions, tigers, sabertooths
I made it through, I’m like a ragin’ bull inside a china shop
I survived the shots they fired on the firing squad
I just tied the knot, I used to say my timing’s off
Forgot a lot of shit, but I remember I was taught
[Chorus]
Growing up, you gon' live and you learn
One day the lord above gonna give you a turn
And when he finally does are you willing to work?
To go and get what you're worth
Cause I can give you my word
You gotta live and you learn

You might've been through the worst
And it can make you stronger so forget what you heard
Just focus on the future, not the shit that occurred
This worm slither and squirm
The more you dig in the dirt
You gotta live and you learn