In the Neighborhood

When I look back like in 1979

I realize how things were so fine

Just 10 years old, I'm a small load

But I had a lot of heart and it showed

Never did much but played two-hand touch

Football in the streets where the field is concrete

And damn, I scored a lot of touchdowns

And even now I smile when I think how

I used to have to go in before the others

Because my mother was strict, but I love her

'Cause she taught me values, and I value

Everything she taught me, so nothing caught me

By surprise 'cause I realized long ago

If you listen to your mother, you won't go wrong

And that's why I grew up strong

Coming along in my neighborhood

What's going on in the hood?

In my neighborhood

What's going on in the hood?

In my neighborhood

What's going on in the hood?

In my neighborhood

So it's 1985 and it's live

'Cause I'm in high school with a new ride

And everybody's calling me Lucky

'Cause most of them are riding Huffy's

Go grab Rob from the bus stop

And I'll stop and let 'em all watch

And as he jumps in, I pop in the new cassette

And you can bet you can hear me from block to block

When the bass drop, I had knock, or so I thought

'Cause back then, things were different

Nobody tripping, trying to steal each other's systems

Ride around town 'til the bell sounds

Now we're late, but somehow

We always seemed to make it before roll call

And if we didn't, we were hanging in the halls, y'all

Just having good times of the good kind

And believe it or not, I wouldn't mind

Going back to the days when I wasn't paid

And I could count on one hand the money I made

Life was so good like it should

That I wish I could go back to my neighborhood

What's going on in the hood?

To my neighborhood

What's going on in the hood?

In my neighborhood

What's going on in the hood?

To my neighborhood

Now it's 1992 and I ride through my neighborhood

But it doesn't look like it should

I can't understand it, everyone's abandoned (What up, dog?)

And man, it drives me up a wall

When my so-called friends sell drugs

Then pretend that they're all pro-Black

But to my neighborhood, they give nothing back

Yeah, I see kids just turning twelve

How the hell can you put 'em out to sell?

And all of the places that we used to go play

Are either locked up or all gone away

I see no footballs thrown in the streets

Just the same creeps every day of the week

It makes me kind of mad, but then I get sad

'Cause I know what my neighborhood had

And how as a people did we make such a change?

I guess it's true, nothing ever stays the same

But I feel ashamed, as we all should

When I see what's happened to my neighborhood

What's going on in the hood?

To my neighborhood

What's going on in the hood?

In my neighborhood

What's going on in the hood?

To my neighborhood

Yeah, this is to y'all song, letting you know

It could happen in your neighborhood too

You know what I'm saying?

And I'm out