street livin'

Singer:black eyed peas

streets

streets

livin' in the streets

street livin'

caught in the trap

guns or books

sell crack or rap

be like kings or be like pawns

they called us coons

now they call us cons

street niggas be packing pistols

terrorists be blasting missiles

crips and bloods and retail thugs

cia planes bring colombian drugs in

don't push me 'cause i'm close to hell

the teachers in my neighborhood can hardly spell

and compare to them

prison guards get paid well

ten years no bail is 4 years at yale

so

forget about the statue of general lee

because the status of blacks are generally

gonna end up in some penitentiary

systematically

that's how they made it to be

listen

they derailed the soul train

and put a nightmare in every martin luther king

and privatized prisons are owned by the same

slave masters that owned the slave trade game

and racists no longer have to be racist

'cause niggas kill more niggas than the kkk did

now

every time i hear a new def jam

niggas killing niggas like they ku klux klan

i understand what's a nigga to choose?

be the killer or be the dead dude in the news

i get it

what's a nigga to do?

no education in the hood got a nigga confused

street livin'

tough conditions

brainwashed by the television

we lost in the war we live in

double cross love lost no religion

street livin'

oh my gosh

another brother got shot by the searg'

another cop got off with no charge

if you black in the hood

you at large

you're guilty until you prove you're innocent

if you're ivory

they treat you different

if you're ebony

they assume your temperament

will be vigilant and they call you militant

and you'll get shot and they'll say the incident

is 'cause you're belligerent

what a coincidence?

born and bred but you're still an immigrant

and if you ain't dead

you can see imprisonment

there's more niggas in the prisons than there ever was slaves cotton picking

there's more niggas that's rotting in the prisons than there ever was slaves cotton picking

so

how we gon' get up out the trap?

guns or books

sell crack or rap

street livin'

hustle or hoops

guns or books

get shot or shoot

street livin'

ain't no rules

break the law

make the breakin' news

the life you choose could be the life you lose

niggas getting stuck for the nike shoes

street livin'

ain't no joke

it's a cold world

better bring your coat

revoke 'cause the streets are broke

and now they wanna take away our dreams and hopes

street livin'

no economics

no way out of the reaganomics

infected by the black plague

new bubonic

no comprende

we speak ebonics

street livin'

what's your position?

you can take action or take a dick and listen

you can get fucked by the system

or you can say fuck the system""