That's How I'm Livin'

I was born in new jersey I said it before
But I guess nobody heard me
My mother died young
No sistas or brothas I was the only son
When I was twelve my pops died too
What a brotha was supposed to do?
They sent me out West
To live with my aunt
I guess they though it was the best
But there was no love there
Growin' with no moms
I guess I was prepared to live in a vacuum
The bedroom the kitchen the hall and the bathroom
I didn't leave home much, didn't like L.A.
Didn't have no friends to [bad word] Got busted to a school
Blacks and whites, I guess the [bad word] was cool
But in highschool I changed
Didn't wanna bust, didn't wanna play the game
I walked to Crenshaw high, [bad word] was fly
I hooked up with new [bad word] Some brothas that knew what the [bad word] to do
You might call it gang but we called it a set
And it was our own thang
The whole school was down
And one way or another everybody [bad word] around
When the hardcore or not
You wore the right color or your [bad word] got shot
That's how i'm livin'...

I did three years in and made close friends
Havin' no love my homies came my only
I was glad: a family I never had
But I grew up fast got a girl on 10th grade pregnant
Needin' cash, I had to change my style
Switched from bangin' to hustlin'
No more goin' buckwild
Had to get a cashflow
But my hustle was weak, it was a no go
I join the army, four years in that [bad word] Be all [bad word] you can be
Came back to the hood
My homies had done good
Had elevated their game
About 100 gees a lick, no [bad word]  shame
Passed for the jewels
Baby sledgehammers with the tools
I speak on this with a hesitation
Even though it passed the statue of limitation...

I checked the bank
Bought a porsche and gear, earn high streetrank
But as I grew my whole crew fell [bad word] Cops had us on the books as innerstate crooks
Murder robbery rape escape, the whole [bad word] nine
You robbed a [bad word] blind
I had too much juice, I cut my boosters loose
I was intread with the pimpgame
Took on the ice-name
But the pimpgame moved too slow
Especially for a [bad word] who was hooked on quick dough
In one nite late I was in a carwreck
And I was lucky to escape
Hospital for teen weeks, in bed almost dead
And when I got well, I got gaught in a cross
And got locked in a jailcell
That's how I'm livin'...

They cutted me loose
And I had to change troops
This time they didn't catch me
Next time they'll strecth me
Cause my time was gettin' short
All my homies was in court
Or locked in a hole, this [bad word] was gettin' old
So I changed my life
Putted down the gun and picked up the mic
It took ten years to get from there to here
But I still keep a gun, cops got me on [bad word] And they hate me more now
Than they ever did before
My homies came back from pen
And we all worked together [bad word] friends but every once and while
Some punk mistakes me as a junk
And he gets in my face
Wrong [bad word]  place
And I aint lyin', that's how you dyin'...