Back home
Everybody's searching for somethin'
But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin'
Back home
Ain't nobody hoping and praying
'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact that
Life goes black when those lights go out
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own
'Cause ain't a damn thing free
Back home

Back home they holler "disciple" and "blackstone"
Some black they freebase yo we trapped on
Where our grandmothers marched the guns clap on
There's liquor stores, beauty supplies, and rap songs
I travel the world just to come back to it
The crib got a lot of soul like black music
I'm attached to it
In many ways this city raised me and gave me
The drama, honor, and bravery
The streets seem hollow when I go to Chicago
It's cheap wine and sorrow
Times hard to swallow
In search of God's tomorrow I borrow words from the
Bible and use them for survival gangs rival
Signs painted on the walls like hieroglyphics
I tell 'em that this is all tribal
Used to do dirt shorty's goin' through the same cycle
And trials like Michael tryin' not to stay idle

Back home it's not Compton but close
The same problems exist and the pain throbbin'
And folks are so common
It don't really bother us much we just swallow it uh
Crack the bottle and smoke hope tomorrow something
Magical happens that'll put me back in the biz
But the chances of it actually happening's kinda slim
Back home we get the good life at glimpse
In the form of a rap start, drug dealers, and pimps
I'm back home

Back home I try my best to keep it together it's cold
Like the Windy City streets of December
I pace back and forth looking for the courage to shine
But can't tap the source need something to nourish my mind
I know we all lose quite a bit in life
Only to gain some
Life or the dark winding roads we came from
But I move with the night so I'm used to the shade
And never lose sight bringing truth back to the game

Back home we've got a lot of shit on our minds
We're always behind on something 'cause there's not enough time
And we're non-stop bottom line doing what we gotta do
To get some food in the fridge and stay out of the hospital
Back home there's people calling us hopeless
People trying to tell us all we need is some focus
But focus
Focus is overrated
Cause you see very blemish and mistake and can't change it
Back home is Alvarado K-Town and J-Town
Or Little Tokyo for those that don't know
Where figures shiver living right in the litter
Where kids write nigger right inside the L.A River
On the concrete a symbol of out everyday way
It's that color and concentration over heavy gray
And by the time the ink dries on this page
I'll be half a day away from the place where I stay

Writer : TAKBIR BASHIR, LONNIE LYNN, RYAN MAGINN, MIKE SHINODA
Copyright : Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group