Uh, uh, uh I say we all got children, products of the ghetto Momma cooked us soup, daddy did the yelling Uncle was a drunk, cousin was a felon When he got pinched, he told them he wasn't tellin' Auntie was a cook, her husband was a crook Cause every job he had they be payin' him off the books Ghetto university, knowledge is all it took In a tenement I was listenin' to the hook Change gon' come, the spirit of Sam Cook When the feds comin', everybody get shook Now we doin' life like Eddie Murphy and Martin On the chain gang, I was singing into the coffin The roaches and the rats, heroin and the cracks Couldn't blame me, I'm just giving the facts Tryna hit the top, the bottom ain't where it's at Everybody got a past but you can never go back Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Tellin' you like it is, how we ever gon' live? If we ain't gettin' money, how we feedin' the kids? It's a revolving door, where brothers be doin' bids I know it sound wrong but the dope will be what it is Survival of the fittest, this poor girl the illest Broke parents and black cats give me heebie-geebies Life seems hard but nothin' ever comes easy Whatever's in the dark, can always become the light If you ain't in a battle, how you gon' win the fight? Gotta speak the truth when I'm up in the booth The streets be flyin' birds but they don't be on the roof Poverty is a pain like you pullin' a tooth Told the streets don't let me go like I'm Bishop in Juice The roaches and the rats, heroin and the cracks Couldn't blame me, I'm just giving the facts Tryna hit the top, the bottom ain't where it's at Everybody got a past but you can never go back Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (You gotta sing!) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (She's a king) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah