[Intro: Carlton Fisk]
Carlton Fisk, I.N.S., we got Chico
Staten's back... the monster, come on
House Gang... House Gang... now we gat y'all
Check it...

[Chorus: Chico DeBarge]
You abandoned me, y'all don't live here anymore...
Just a vacancy, y'all don't live here anymore...

[Carlton Fisk]
The scene open, see my mother at a table, focused
A belt wrapped around her arm, veins bulging
A bottle top, a little cotton, intervene this needle dirty bopping
Hands swollen, psalms untoppable
Little kid I watch the nod, know the rules
Never talk to a teacher in school
You might think that this environment's cruel
Fuck it, this what I decided to do
Started stealing anything I could move
Now I'm thirteen, with something to prove
Buddha hit me with a twenty-two
That started my career with a tool
Nothing to it, get up on 'em, tell 'em "pass it all"
Since you short, if you move, blast it off
Like a rocket, if he falls, dig his pockets and run
And if you get caught, just rep where you from, little nigga
I know what's it like out there, you strugglin' and you grinding, let's go

[Chorus]

[Inspectah Deck]
Thug paradise, drugs, gats and knives, life sacrifice
Nickel dime grind, catch a full clip, half price
Kings tumble in time, it's like a jungle sometimes
I play it humble, gotta rumble sometimes
Big timers taking numbers with nines, with the bundles of dimes
You wind up, with a gun to your spine
And the coppers never solve the case
Them gorillas in the mist, war, and get lost they hard to trace
Man this cold world'll scar ya fate, so I stay awake
Late night with cigars, and jars of haze
Half my comrades dead or in jail, most said I would fail
I'm still alive, getting checks in the mail
Still cowards wanna force my hand, eating off my hand
Boiling water, never lost a gram
Cash Rules, I'm pulling off the scam, catch the bossman
Sure hand, on the dice, in the game of life, life

[Chorus]

[Hook: Chico DeBarge]
You don't know... what it cost to pay that ride
You don't know... what you lost til it pass you by
You don't know baby, that you could, til time is fading you by
And you don't miss, all that's in your way, til you circle or try

[Chorus to fade]

Writer : ANDERSON, STEPHEN / JOHNSON, PUFF
Copyright : Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., EMI Music Publishing