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 sisters and brothers, I was her only son

When I was twelve my pops died too

What's a brother supposed to do?

They sent me out west

To live with my aunt, I guess they thought that was the best

But there was no love there

But growin with no moms I guess I was prepared

To live in a vacuum

The bedroom, the kitchen, the hall, the bathroom

I didn't leave home much

Didn't like L.A., didn't have no friends to trust

Got bussed to a school

Blacks and whites, I guess the shit was cool

But by high school I changed

Didn't wanna bus, didn't wanna play the game

I walked to Crenshaw High

Shit was fly

I hooked up with a new crew

Some brothers that seemed like they knew what the fuck to do

You might call it a gang

But we called it a set, and it was our own thang

The whole school was down

And one way or another everybody fucked around

Whether hardcore or not

You wore the right color or your ass got shot

That's how I'm livin

That's how I'm livin

I did three years in

And made close friends

Havin no love, my homies became my only

I was glad, the family I never had

But I grew up fast

Got a girl in the tenth grade pregnant and needed cash

I had to change my style

Switched from bangin for hustlin, no more goin buckwild

Had to get a cashflow

But my hustle was weak, it was a no-go

I joined the Army

Four years in that shit, be all the fuck you can be

Came back to the hood

My homies had done good

Had elevated their game

About a hundred G's a lick, no mothafuckin shame

Bashed for the jewels

Baby, sledgehammers were the tools

I speak on this with hesitation

Even though we're past the statute of limitations

That's how I'm livin

That's how I'm livin

That's how I'm livin

I checked the bank

Bought a Porsche and gear and earned high street rank

But as I grew

My whole crew fell through

Cops had us on the books

As interstate crooks

Murder, robbery, rape, escape, the whole damn nine

We'd rob a nigga blind

I had too much juice

I cut my boosters loose

I was intrigued with the pimp game

Took on the Ice name

But the pimp game moved too slow

Especially for a nigga who was hooked on quick dough

Then one night late

I was in a car wreck and was lucky to escape

Hospital for ten weeks in a bed

Almost dead

And when I got well

I got caught in the cross and got locked in a jail cell

That's how I'm livin

That's how I'm livin

They cut me loose

And I had changed, troop

This time they didn't catch me

Next time they stretched me

'Cause my time was gettin short

All my homies was in court

Or locked in the hole

This shit was gettin old

So I changed my life

Put down the gun, picked up the mic

It took ten years

To get from there to here

But I still keep a gun

Cops got me on the run

And they hate me more

Now, than they ever did before

My homies came back from the pen

And we all work together, true friends

But every once in a while some punk

Mistakes me as a chump

And he gets in my face

Wrong mothafuckin place

And I ain't lyin

That's how you're dyin

That's how you're dyin

That's how I'm livin

That's how I'm livin