[Intro]
You know, my mama live in a million dollar home and my sister, she still in high school
She just got suspended for fighting two white boys when they called her a n***a
You know, we— I thought we— shit, got away from this shit going on in the inner city, you know, for a better life
My first time getting arrested or any encounter with, like, the police and shit was when I was 12 years old, so that mean
They branded us early on for this shit
It's kind of designed for failure, you know, they want us to be labeled as just "n***a"

[Verse]
Still a n***a, just a n***a
Dropped straight out of high school like the rest them n***as
So I became a statistic way before I got I got digits
Ain't nobody think a million was realistic
I was out trippin' on some shit, I coulda missed it
Couldn't imagine life without my moms or lil' sister
Still said my goodbyes and hit the streets and start riskin' it again
Back out throwing rocks at penitentiaries again
Violence been the answer in my city since a kid
Sayin' that to explain some of the silly shit I did
But I'm just a n***a, what I'm 'posed to do?
Usually the one who hurt you mostly close to you
Reason why they say don't let nobody close to you
Just some n***as, got nobody 'cept for who we closest to
Jigga said we still n***a, and I'm just a n***a
But we real n***as, so respect a n***a
I'm a restless n***a, gettin' a check, n***a
Ballin' with my dawg, I'm like, "Check, n***a"
And I'm like ballin' on y'all, Spaldin'
Foreign all small and I'm tall, gotta crawl in
When I got paper, thought less of n***as, how you want me to
Runnin' problems, they don't never solve 'em, always want me to
Yes, I'm ballin', it's true and it's always over loot
Don't wanna slay my own kind 'cause I'm gon' walk in and shoot
Bless a n***a, I'll stretch a n***a, now it's less a n***a
Well-invested but detectives still wanna arrest a n***a
And it's tatted in my skin, I'm still a Essex n***a
All the shit I did was mostly sins, I wasn't supposed to win
Hundred bottles floatin', all endorsed, propose a toast again
All the n***as really love me genuine, supposed to grin
Security some bitches, the promoter got my toasters in
Now we at the top I'm like, "Damn"
If I had to, I'd still'll do that shit again
N***as be like me but I'll never be like them
I was in the trenches, no deliverance, amen
Opps be on my dick more than my bitches 'cause they fans
Let me see who real n***as by a show of hands
Manipulate your soldiers, made them violent for a band
You don't really love 'em, had 'em wildin' for a band
But you got on them new Balenciagas for a band
Love to do each other like we mobbin' for the clan
For the right dollar amount and he'll slime his own man
In interrogations I was patient for the silence of the clan
Even though I know a killer like The Silence of the Lambs