[Cormega and Tragedy - intro]
Yo, son it`s real, you know what I`m saying?
A man is often condemned or exalted by his words, you know?
That`s why we feelin` my niggas going through the struggle
QB-Brooklawn
Y`all niggas hold on... if you can`t hold on, hang on, you know?
[Cormega]
Yo, I seen it all, coke rise and kingdoms fall
Profits in sneaker boxes, riches hidden between the walls
The hood agony
I`m one of the few who ever understood Tragedy
Batteries not included in my music
Or holding up my spinal cord
Niggas be lyin` on wax
Committing vinyl fraud
Denyin` the fact
They never slung or fired a gat
Mega`s tongue is ghetto, dun
Hello
Where I`m from is the crime and graffiti
And NYPD
Broken glass, .44`s, open caskets
Shorty ballers pop shit when they` rock hits the basket
The only life we know
I flow so precisely, though
My chain got the icy glow
B-Mer Jeep shine with Lorenzos shine brightly, yo
Laugh now, cry later, one day I might be broke
And tellin` niggas I need coke
Shit is real
[Chorus x2 - Tragedy Khadafi]
See the good Lord giveth and he taketh away
But niggas talk it and don`t live it, then they forced to pay
I`m just trying to be a man in this poison land
Forgive me, Father - they forced my hand
[Tragedy Khadafi]
Yo, visualize Mahdi as a shorty Fidel Castro
Snotty nose, nappy afro
Never realized in due time what I would have, though, yo
Before I spit at a ho I used to bag up blow
Little bastard - rockin` Pumas under two-tones
As we roam from the streets to the group home, yo
Watchin` mob flicks, clappin` at imaginary targets
Adolescents up in Spofford, facing hardship
Newborns grew up on Anita Baker songs
In the `hood, wonderin` why the police hate us all
Up late nights waiting for the next day to fall
We`re up late nights waiting for the next day to fall
My stomach hurtin`, still searchin` for a way out
On an Island where P.C. was a gay house
Made my first board, stabbin` niggas on the way out
I knew cats who got bagged they` first day out
Yo
[Chorus x2]
[Cormega]
Yo, Trag, we been down for years(word)
From rappin` in the `hood
To promising careers
It`s all good
The rap game is new to me
The crack game - true to me(my life)
Accept the consequences
And the blood money cruelty
Yo, remember you and me? Back in the days
You had a sheepskin, I had a goose and Pumas in gray
(You remember that shit!)
We even did the same dorm in C-74
More than boys we were fuckin` outlaws
[Tragedy Khadafi]
If I could break you out the courtroom, and clap through reporters
Kidnap the jurors - and whack all their daughters
The Montanas, Al Po`s and Rich Porters
Mandela time - get smacked with two quarters
A life speed - fuckin` with cracks and weed
Yo, I sniffed so much coke, I froze with nosebleeds
Jumpin` over snow cliffs without the skis(shit is crazy, yo)
Then I saw shit was real, and I switched my steez
[Chorus x4]
(outro)
Trials and tribulations... you gotta shine...
regardless to what... nah`mean?
All of my niggas growin` up strugglin` - word
I see y`all out there - live ya life, man, stick your chest out, against all odds, you can handle that shit. If you couldn`t handle it, it wouldn`t fall on you, man - believe that. Nah`mean? Strap your shit up, pa. Keep it moving. Shit ain`t nothin`. We live this, son! Word, that`s what we do nigga. Y`all feel that?
