I want to dedicate this one to Robert 'Yummy' Sanderford
And all other lil' young niggas that's in a rush to be gangstas

As a young nigga, I'm almost swellin' in the wind
Give anything, to be that innocent again, when I was ten
I didn't bang but I was hangin' with the homies
Tell them niggaz started slangin' that they don't know me
I got my hustle on, learned to ignore what couldn't pay me
Lately I've been tryin' to make a bill-ion, can you play me
With that jealousy they need to miss me, don't sweat me
If them cowards really want me, come get me, and even I
Someday will die but I'm cautious, I'm fin' to ride
Put down the top, now we flossin'
Hit the freeway, let the wind blow, drop the window
Workin' with a twenty sack of indo, feelin' good
Stop through the hood, grab the young thugs
And I can't help but reminisce back when we slung drugs, know it's bad
But all we had was our hopes and dreams
Couldn't see unless we learned to slang dope to fiends
As young niggas

[Chorus:]
He's the kind of G like everybody knows
As a young nigga
He's always G'd up, from head to toe
My memories as a young nigga
Always got it blown like Al Capone
Young nigga
He's the downest G I've ever known

Back in Junior High, when we was barely gettin' by, when daddy died
That's when my momma started gettin' high
My neighborhood was full of drivebys, couldn't survive
All our homies livin' short lives, I couldn't cry
Told my momma if I did die, just put a blunt in my casket
Let me get my dead homies high
Come follow me throughout my history, it's just
_Me Against the World_ stuck in misery, as a young nigga
My only thing was to be paid
Life full of riches avoid snitched cause they shady, back in the days
We always found the time to play,
But that's before they taught them gangbangers how to spray
Not just L.A., but in the Bay and in Chicago and even St. Louis
Every stadium that I go, when will they change?
Stuck in the game like a dumb nigga
Remember how it was, to be a young nigga

[Chorus]

I'm telling you
To be young, have your brains and have every ? and all that
Yo, y'all niggas don't know how good you really do got it
Motherfuckers need to just calm down
And peep what the fuck they want to do for the rest of the life
'Fore you end your life before you begin your life
You dumb nigga

Now that I'm grown, I got my mind on bein' somethin'
Don't want to be another statistic, out here doin' nuttin'
Tryin' to maintain in this dirty game, keep it real
And I will even if it kills me, my young niggas
Break away from these dumb niggas
Put down the guns and have some fun nigga, the rest'll come nigga
Fame is a fast thing, that gang bangin'
Puttin' niggas in a casket, murdered for hangin'
At the wrong place at the wrong time, no longer livin'
'Cause he threw up the wrong sign, and every day
I watch the murder rate increases, and even worse
The epidemic and diseases, what is the future?
The projects lookin' hopeless, where
More and more brothers givin' up and don't care
Sometimes I hate when brothers act up, I hit the weed
And I proceed to blow the track up, for young niggas

[Chorus: x2]

This go out to the young thugs, the have-nots (you know)
Little bad motherfuckers from the block (that's right)
Them niggas that's thirteen and fourteen
Drivin' Cadillacs, Benzes and shit (I see you boy)
Young motherfuckin' hustlers (make that money boy)
Stay strong nigga
You could be a fuckin' accountant, not a dope dealer
You know what I'm sayin? (Go to school nigga, go to school)
Fuck around and, you pimpin' out here
You could be a lawyer (really doe)
Niggaz gotta get they priorities straight
(Don't see Johnny Cochran out in this motherfucker)
Really doe, young niggaz, little RahRah
(sup nigga) Especially my little cousins don't be no dumb guy
(Don't be a dumb nigga, listen, young niggaz)

Writer : STEWART, L. MAURICE / TYLER, LEMORIUS / SHAKUR, TUPAC / LEFTENAT, NATHAN / JENKINS, THOMAS / SINGLETON, CHARLES / BLACKMON, LARRY
Copyright : Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.