I was born in
New
Jersey, I said it before but I
guess nobody heard me
My mother died young, no sisters or 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 in my aunt,
I guess they thought that was the best
But there was no love there
But growing 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
LA, didn't have no friends to trust
Got bused to a school
Blacks and whites,
I guess the shit was cool
But by high school I changed
Didn't wanna bust,
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
We might call it a gang, but we call it a set,
and it was our own thing
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 living
That's how I'm living
I did three years in,
and made close friends
Having 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 10th grade,
pregnant, need the cash
I had to change my style,
switched from banging for hustling
No more going buckwild,
had to get a cash flow
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 lit
No motherfucking shame
Bash 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 living
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 10 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 living.
That's how I'm living.
They cut me loose,
and I had changed troops.
This time they didn't catch me.
Next time they stretched me,
cause my time was getting short.
All my homies was in court,
or locked in a hole
This shit was getting 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 were together
true friends but every once in a while some
punk mistakes me as a chump and he
gets in my face wrong motherfucking place
and I ain't lying that's how you
dying
that's how you dying
that's how I'm living
That's how I'm living.