All That I Got Is You

'What they give you, blood?'

Three months, man

Whatchu doin' in here, anyway? You oughta be home with your momma

How old are you, boy?"

13

"13? Damn, the bastards must be runnin' outta niggas to arrest" (yeah, yeah)

This goes out

To all the families that went through the struggle

(All that I got is you) yeah, from the heart

(And I'm so thankful I made it through) it was all from the heart, everything was real, yo

Dwellin' in the past, flashbacks when I was young

Whoever thought that I'd have a baby girl and three sons

I'm goin' through this difficult stage, I find it hard to believe

Why my Old Earth had so many seeds

But she's her own woman, and due to me, I respect that

I saw life for what it's really worth, and took a step back

Family ain't family no more, we used to play ball

Eggs after school, eat grits 'cause we was poor

Grab the pliers for the channel, fix the hanger on the TV

Rockin' each other's pants to school wasn't easy

We survived winters, snotty-nosed with no coats

We kept it real, but the older brother still had jokes

Sadly, Daddy left me at the age of six

I didn't know nothing, but Mommy neatly packed his shit

She cried, and Grandma held the family down

I guess Mommy wasn't strong enough, she just went down

Check it, 15 of us in a three-bedroom apartment

Roaches everywhere, cousins and aunts was there

Four in the bed, two at the foot, two at the head

I didn't like to sleep with Jon-Jon, he peed the bed

Seven o'clock, pluckin' roaches out the cereal box

Some shared the same spoon, watchin' Saturday cartoons

Sugar water was our thing, every meal was no frill

In the summer, free lunch held us down like steel

And there were days I had to go to Tech's house with a note

Stating, "Gloria, can I borrow some food? I'm dead broke"

So embarrassin' I couldn't stand to knock on their door

My friends might be laughin', I spent stamps in stores

"Mommy, where's the toilet paper?", "Use the newspaper"

Look Ms. Rose gave us a couch, she's the neighbor

Things was deep, my whole youth was sharper than cleats

Two brothers with Muscular Dystrophy, it killed me

But I remember this, moms would lick her fingertips

To wipe the cold out my eye before school with her spit

Caseworker had her running back to face-to-face

I caught a case, housin' tried to throw us out of our place

Sometimes I look up at the stars, and analyze the sky

And ask myself, was I meant to be here, why?

Yeah, yo

All that I got is you

And I'm so thankful I made it through

All that I got is you

And I'm so thankful I made it through

All that I got is you (word up, Mommy, I love you)

And I'm so thankful I made it through (word up)

All that I got is you (it was all you, word)

And I'm so thankful I made it through (you brought me in like this)

I sit and think about (yeah)

All the times we did without dad

I always said I wouldn't cry

When I saw tears in your eyes

I understand that daddy's not here now

But some way or somehow, I will always be around, yeah

All the things that I did from this to that

Oh, from drugs to being there

Being down and out, and I love you always, oh

Yeah, you see

You see the universe, which consists of the sun moon and star

And them planets, would exist in my space

Like man, woman, and child, you understand?

We got to keep it real, and what reality

And reality will keep it real with us

I remember them good ol' days

Because, see, that's the child I was

What made me the man I am today

See, 'cause if you forget where you come from

You're never gonna make it where you're goin'

Because you lost the reality of yourself

So take one stroll through your mind

And see what you will find

And you'll see your whole universe all over again

And again and again and again and again

Yeah