Ben Harper
Gangster’s Paradise (Remix)
Dear mama
I'm caught up in this sickness
I robbed my adversaries
But slipped and left a witness
Wonder if they'll catch me
Or will this n***a snitch
Should I shoot his bitch
Or make the n***a rich?
Don't wanna commit murder
But damn they got me trapped
Hawkin while I'm walkin
And talkin behind my back
I'm kind of schizophrenic
I'm in this shit to win it
Cause life's a Wheel of, Fortune
Here's my chance to spin it
Got no time for cops
Who trip and try to catch me
Too fuckin trigger happy
To let them suckers snatch me
N***as gettin jealous (jealous)
Tryin to find my stash
Whip out the nine
Now I'mma dive and pump your ass
Peter picked a pepper
But I can pick a punk
Snatched him like a bitch
And threw him in the trunk
The punk thought I was bluffin
But swear I'm nothin nice
Before I take your life
First wrestle with these, mice
I listen to him scream
Tray Deee went insane
I guess the little, mices
Had finally found his brain
New Rovers pull me over
I'm sentenced to the pen
Remember that little, bird
He snitched and told a, friend
It's trouble on my mind
I'm with the old timers
And fuck five-oh, blaow blaow
Dear mama
They sentenced me to death
Today's my final day
I'm countin every breath
I'm bitter cause I'm dyin
So much I haven't seen
I know you never dreamed
Your baby would be dead at 16
I got beef with a sick society
That doesn't give a shit
And they too quick to say goodbye to me
They tell me the preacher's there for me
He's a crook with a book
That motherfucker never cared for me
He's only here to be sure
I don't drop a dime to God
Bout the crimes he's commitin on the poor
And how can these people judge me?
They ain't my peers and in all these years
They ain't never love me
I never got to be a man
Must be part of some big plan
To keep a n***a in the state pen
And to my homies out buryin motherfuckers (Please!)
Steer clear of these Aryan motherfuckers
Cause once they got you locked up
They got you trapped
You're better off gettin shot up
I'm convinced self-defense is the way
Please, stay strapped, pack a gat every day
I wish I woulda known while I was out there
Now I'm straight headin for the chair
Dear mama
These cops don't understand me
I turned to a life of crime
Cause I came from a broken family
My uncle used to touch me
I never told you that
Scared what you might do
I couldn't hold you back
I kept it deep inside
I done let it fuel my anger
I'm down for all my homies
No mercy for a stranger
The brother in my cell
Is 16 as well
It's hard to adapt
When you're black
And you're trapped
In a livin Hell
I shouldn'ta let him catch me
Instead of livin sad in jail
I coulda died free and happy
And my cellmate's raped on the norm
And passed around the dorm
You can hear his asshole gettin torn
They made me an animal
Can't sleep, instead of countin sheep
N***as countin cannibals
And that's how it is in the pen
Turn old and cold
And your soul is your best friend
My mama prayed for me
Tell the Lord to make way for me
Prepare any day for me (why?)
Cause when they come for me they find a struggler
To the death
I take the breath from your jugular
The trick is to never lose hope
I found my buddy hangin dead from a rope