[Part I]
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"I mean um, I got years man, I go back, actually
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I-I-I just got back to these streets man, this is home to me though
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Y'mean, I was goin' for a while, ten years to be exact
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I lost my lights in the streets, y'know but for these streets, me and my dude
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We got down and dirty for it, man, we did e'rythang, we took, nah'mean, to eat..
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That's what it's about when I was comin' up in the 80s', everybody tried to eat man
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and my way livin' to eat, man I gurped in theses streets
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I grind, walked to these streets here, nah'mean?"
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[Gift of Gab]
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Got to get this bread
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Got to get this dough, got to get these chips
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Got to get these whips, and fits and -
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Got to get real mean, got to get real clean
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Got to get these fiends a fixin'
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On a mission to get rich real quick use wit' no intermission
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Got to live big, gettin' the tip on them big {?}, so spendin' spendin'
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Any witness get hit quick, this lick isn't never no kid shit
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Not a picnic, flip bis-cuit/get rich, that's it
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Big bills, just Ben's, no frills, just Benzes
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Spendin' endless spendin' sprees
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Limitless, BUILD IT UP TO THE MILLIONS
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Then I can have things, like a new fly ring
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and a new fly fling, I can do Irene, Darlene, Charlene
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and Francine, even get inside Pam's jeans as clean as you ever did see
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On the scene doin' real big things, as I PIMP this simple SYSTEM
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Then I hear si-rens, and I see high beams
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Now I am fly-in', but they're behind me
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NOW I'M ON ONE KNEE, AND THE DOPE'S ON ME
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NOW MY HOPE'S GONE SEE AND I LOST MY FREEDOM
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LOCKED UP, SEE YA!!
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[Part II]
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[Verse One: Gift of Gab]
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..He was a young lad
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Off of happiness and smiles, he was sprung bad
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Wanted all the trendy classy number one fads
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In a very short time, learned the rules of combat
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Learned who was a punk, and who would have swung back
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How to take from the weak, especially when hung-ray
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While mama's workin' two jobs, and daddy's gone away
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and police be throwin' you vibes, even at a young age
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and it was like he was livin' inside a cage
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from the outside world, 'cause he just couldn't relate
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..and then life really began
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and trifeness was a giv-en when he graduated
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The Fall [echoes]
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[Verse Two]
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..So he hustled
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doin' whatever just to get the bread and the mustard
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Stacked high, grew wit' some niggaz he trusted
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He shouldn't have though, 'cause them same niggaz got him busted
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And 'bout the same time he 'bout to get sent up, his -
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Ex-girl is like, "I'm pregnant baby daddy - plus it's twins"
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and when he goes to jail, he has company
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in the form of fifty percent of the cats he grew up wit'
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Gets out, goes back, just like a puppet
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Caught in a genocidal death trap of the government
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The don't rehabilitate, they just be lovin' it
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When niggaz is in the pen, 'cause that's big money makin' to them
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The Rise [echoes]
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[Verse Three]
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For some time he sat and pondered
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Trapped in a cell filled with criminals and convicts
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Time had arrived to confront the real conflict
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Lookin' within, not without, he got honest
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Started to read and acquire that self-knowledge
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Learned he was royalty and didn't come from garbage
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How to embrace struggle and learn from his problems
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True wealth is health, family, and a higher conscious-ness
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Learned most of what he was taught was nonsense
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Read up on economics and how to start a business
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Self-determination and dedication empowered him
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Somethin' inside him told him only God could STOP him
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Now he's out livin' what others said was impossible
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Thought he would be another victim of ghetto obstacles
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Through a concrete, a rosebud started to blossom
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Remember change is really all that remains constant, yeah [echoes]
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[Intro to "Black Diamonds and Pearls"]
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"Saved message...Friday...3:56...P.M."
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"Hey, ?B-Cam?, this is your sister Dee-Dee
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I was just callin' to tell you that I, gone to see Frankie
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and I told him that you wanted him to, um
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GIVE a, like, what it was like to be in prison
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and what, advice he would give and
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Oh my God, I got this letter from him
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Tim, you've got to hear it, this word should be in the book or a song or something
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I |