growing up i was a knucklehead
boy you never listen to me
that's what my mama said
i'm from the projects
i ain't never had shit
me and my older brother
we had to share a mattress
no heat
no lights
had to keep them candles lit
my daddy left me at eight
in and out my life and shit
gang bangers
dope dealers replaced my father
neighborhood hustlers taught me to get them dollars
that's when i became a problem
product of my environment
it's hard to grow up to be a doctor or a fireman
when you constantly seeing that g-ride tires screeching
and them shots firing all the time
it happens frequently
the hood inspired him
to be a g
i bled for the game
did it all for the letter b
the big homie gave me the name jay rock
this ain't no rap gimmick
this a real life story of watts living
nigga
you can take
me out the hood
but you can't take the hood out me
and that's the way that it will forever be
and i can't help it
i'm gutter
why should i change now
when all my life i've been gang banged out?
that project shit run deep in my veins now
and i can't help it
ooh
my lord knows that i can't help it
let me take you on a detour
east side watts
niggas who go in projects
follow me home to my black and white apartments
police roll through with caution
scared to death
the homies got tats across them
capital b.h. over they necks
since birth banging the set
even hoes banging the set
some ain't
but most is hood rats
they looking for the buck
them trash cans lay in the street
ghetto technique for drive-bys
for the low them five dollars will get you high
dice games
ygs
fist fights
six-fo's
el co's
g-rides and mini-bikes
might see a couple of zombies late night
off what? off pipe
membrane dead right
no lie
something in the bushes
either the ak or the.45
no lie
raised in the ghetto with rats and roaches
smokers on porches getting high off yola
it's colder north
but my city's the coldest
where we ain't promised to see the morning
nigga
you could take me out the hood
but the hood will never leave me
i'm still banging
i'm still hanging
the only difference is i'm not slanging
nickels and dimes
more like slanging these rap lines
verses of truth
when i step in the booth
niggas know i pour my soul for the struggling youth
for that fatherless son who needed love
so he ran with a crew
grew up before his older brother did
gin and juice
replaced the pain i knew
carrying thangs to school
them niggas was tripping
i wasn't banging the blue
but they had to respect me
i never ran from who?
nobody
put my faith in god
it's amazing how i overcame them odds
on my momma
this past year
my life has slightly been revised
but notice i said slightly
cause me being absent from where i came from
that's unlikely nigga