gotta survive

cuddies perved by the corner

stout

herb

got me twisted

mo' cold killin murders

them brothers gettin further

got my pencil for utensil

this'll keep they mind knownin

spot some thugs at the club

and they got the nines showin

dirty pimpin g's

one of my dreams

player now listen

lotta blacks locked down

but comin back around in '96

all the gals my six my track crew and my mother

make these police wonder: how is he so undercover?

never been a lover

but america had broke my heart

i was told to tear up out this before this tear me apart

eat through scrap

black tracks

free milk and cheese

while the japs stack scratch with the vietnamese

but i'm finna squeeze

stack cheese they left on a trap

a young playa mack

hit the bud'

spit a rap

it's just that feelin

that feelin that i have for children

are able to love us

but these crazy devils try to kill us

i gotta survive

i try to stay alive

ho

smokin that dank to deal with the pain

june 2nd '93 i returned to the streets

did 2 months in the county and i opt to the beat

now the cops keep watch

cause they know that i rap

tell the world that i'm a gangsta

cause i ride with a strap

but i ain't yo gangsta

just a young nigga caught up in the struggle

born hustler

goin for the jugular

out to take the beast down

piece down might be too late

the funk is on

high

drunk off thunderbird and grape kool-aid

would love to catch a playa slippin

take me down and book me

guilty as charged

hit the switch and try to cook me

silence a nigga for the shit i'm spittin

i know i'm scarin ya

a poison you created in the veins of america

miseducated

incarcerated

institutionalized

that 3rd strike will have a gang of them rollers dyin

ain't no love where i'm goin

no love where i'm comin from

remember me

that real-ass nigga you been runnin from

got us sprung off the cocaine and the welfare

while the black babies die without health care

i gotta survive

i try to stay alive

ho

smokin that dank to deal with the pain

now how could i pledge allegiance to a racist-ass flag

when the rollers at my do' with a.44 mag?

got my mother spittin drag 'bout i ain't home

got a double homicide warrant on my dome

i hear em pushin in the do'

i grab my mac with two clips

cut through the back window and like a g hit a fence

i'm thinkin 'bout my folks gettin sent for violation

foes and punk police

them devils still at my do'

i peep a group of ten tryina get information

i threw the clips in the mac

start lettin off frustration

it's better than incarceration any day

we gonn' die anyway

so if i go out blastin

call it my fate

i got niggas in the pen like my cousin bud

lunatic insane

and my partner t-love

big tom

ray ray

killa cuddy

mac dre

cleek

jamal

jinx and bluebonic

man

i gotta survive

i try to stay alive

ho

smokin that dank to deal with the pain

now i been called a crook

a killer

a thug

a no-good dealer of drugs

and blood or cause

doesn't matter what set you was

cause where i'm at

if you black

we strapped

as long as ki's make g's these thieves attack

and ain't no rules on the streets these days

muthafuckas better watch they back and take it eazay

i'm livin in the dangerzone

and learnin lesson from the game

it's on

niggas was gone when the frame was on

i'm gettin breaken them balls daily

is there a ghetto in heaven or do i go to hell?

see

seems i was senteced to death

takin my steps with my head down

why pour i liquor for my niggas

cause they dead now

my memory since i was a little seed

was a penitentiary full of niggas like me

these cops can't terrorize us

they despise us

niggas

cause we on the rise

plus everybody's searchin for a piece of the truth

and the youth turn the streets into a piece of beirut

and the truth is

i gotta survive

i try to stay alive

ho

smokin that dank to deal with the pain