[Intro: Mac Dre]
Man, up, up in this motherfucker trippin', man
Thinkin' about how it was back in the days, you know
Beat soundin' kinda cool (Way cool), feelin' kinda cool (Way cool)
Let me go on and do somethin' to this though
Check it out

[Verse 1: Mac Dre]
Once upon a time, my 9 stayed in the small of my back
I sold crack and drove a Cadillac (Cadillac)
Shot craps, made snaps on the corner by the stop sign
Strapped with my 'gnac, dank sack and my Glock 9
Kickin' it with the homies on the grind for cabbage (Grind for cabbage)
A Double-R soldier, 3C savage (3C savage)
Runnin' from the ones with the nightsticks
High-speed chasin' and racin' in tight shit (Tight shit)
Back in '85 sellin' goop was the shit (Goop was the shit)
Wasn't a thing that them fiends wouldn't do for a hit (Do for a hit)
Bitches sucked dick, n***as rented they cars
While young players like me became street stars (Street stars)
Glued to the track with a sack and a handgun
Steady sweatin' sales, stoppin' cars at random (Random)
Runnin' from the 50, hittin' fences and hidin' out
Seven cars deep is how the homies is ridin' out
(That's how we was ridin' out)
House parties pop, stayed packed with hoodrats (Hoodrats)
N***as on the mic, drunk, bustin' them hood raps (Hood raps)
Hooked on the dank, Thunderbird we drank
Rollin' in the bucket with the fucked up paint (Fucked up paint)
24/7 on the hunt for coochie
Sportin' Troop, Nikes, Fila, and Gucci (Gucci)
Makin' much money on the dope track
But when the crack slacked then n***as started to jack (N***as started to jack)
Every young n***a tryna stay in the mix (Stay in the mix)
Was breakin' them tricks and cold hittin' them licks
Jackin' became the quickest way to make some mail (Make the mail)
But some n***as fell and spent years in jail (Years in jail)
Droppin' nine in the pen tryna make they chest bigger
Some n***as died gettin' jacked by the next n***a
But that's the way it goes, you pay the price
When you're deep in the game (Deep in the game), and you're livin' that life
[Chorus: Khayree, Ferg & Shima, Mac Dre]
Everybody wants a little something
(When you're livin' that life)
Cool but you got to give it all
(When you're livin' that life)
'Cause everything in life has a price, you're
(When you're livin' that life)
Livin' the life, livin' the life, livin' the life, oh

[Verse 2: Mac Dre]
I was against all odds, fresh out the womb
My only hope was to soak game, so I consume
While n***as chilled and parlayed, I learned the hard way (Hard way)
Scuffed and roughed up, the game had scarred Dre
Back in the days, all I knew was the hood and rocks (That's all I know)
Lookin' for funk and headed straight for a wooden box (Straight for a wooden box)
Prone to quick cash and gettin' the grit fast
Never really trippin' on how long would shit last
Earnin' my ghetto stripes from scraps and ghetto fights
Fuckin' with hoodrats, them tramps and ghetto types (Ghetto types)
Never givin' a fuck, nah, not even sometimes
Just havin' a fun time, runnin' from one-time
Trippin', and wasn't even peepin' the shit (Peepin' the shit)
Slippin', and steady gettin' deep in the shit (Deep in the shit)
I let the game control me, shape and mold me
Then it treated me coldly, it pimped and hoed me (Pimped and hoed me)
I was sellin' the crack but not stackin' a damn thang
And now that I look back, man, it's a damn shame (Man, it's a damn shame)
Couldn't recognize there was game to peep (Game to peep)
The dank had me gone and my brain is sleep (Brain is sleep)
I finally woke up in the federal pen
Broke than a motherfucker beggin' for ends (Beggin' for ends)
I was a midget, a small digit — forgotten
Game was stale, my name was rotten
Had life by the ass, my shit was twisted
I thought about the hood and how much I missed it
But the life I was livin' wasn't really shit (Really shit)
I was clockin' them ends but wasn't stackin' a grip (Wasn't stackin' a grip)
They had the world thinkin' I was runnin' in vaults
I reassessed my thoughts, and proved my faults
And for the next four years, I kicked and waited
Becomin' top notch while incarcerated
But that's the way it goes, you pay the price
When you're deep in the game (Deep in the game), and you're livin' that life
[Chorus: Khayree, Ferg & Shima, Mac Dre]
Everybody wants a little something
(When you're livin' that life)
Cool but you got to give it all
(When you're livin' that life)
'Cause everything in life has a price, you're
(When you're livin' that life)
Livin' the life, livin' the life, livin' the life, oh

[Outro: Mac Dre]
Goin' through it, you know
Livin' that life
Growin' up in the hood (All that shit), slangin' that cocaine (All that shit)
Fuckin' with them hoo—, hoochies
Runnin' from the rollers
Goin' to juvenile hall, county jail, penitentiary
All that shit (Livin' that life)
But you gotta pay the price, when you're livin' that life (Livin' that life)
If you're soft, homeboy, think twice
It ain't nothin' nice
Got my boy Khayree up in here, man
We just doin' this shit