I grew up on the crime side
The New York Times side
Stayin' alive was no jive
Had secondhands, moms bounced on old man
So then we moved to Shaolin Land
A young youth, yo rockin' the gold tooth
'Lo goose
Only way I be gettin' the G off
Was drug loot
It all started like this, son
Rollin' wit' this one, and that one
Pullin' out gats for fun
But it was just a dream for the teen
Who was a fiend
Started smokin' woolies at si teen
And runnin' up in gates
And doin; hits for high stakes
Makin' my way on fire escapes
No question I would speed
For cracks and weed
The combination made my eyes bleed
No question I would flow off
And try to get the dough off
Stickin' up white boys in ball courts
My life got no better
Same damn 'lo sweater
Times is rough and tough like leather
Figured out I went the wrong route
So I got with a sick ass clique
And went all out
Catchin' keys from 'cross seas
Rollin' in MPVs
Every week we made 40 Gs
Yo n a respect mine or anger the TEC 9
CH POW! Move from the gate now!
Cash rules everything around me
CREAM get the money
Dolla, dolla bill y'all
Cash rules everything around me
CREAM get the money
Dolla, dolla bill y'all
It's been 22 long, hard years
And still strugglin'
Survival got me buggin'
But I'm alive on arrival
I peep at the shape of the streets
And stay awake to the ways of the world
'Cause s t is deep
A man with a dream
With plans to make cream, which failed
I went to jail at the age of fifteen
A young buck sellin' drugs and such
Who never had much
Tryna get a clutch
At what I could not touch
The court played me short
Now I face incarceration
Pacin', goin' upstate's my destination
Handcuffed in the back of a bus
Forty of us
Life as a shorty shouldn't be so rough
But as the world turns
I learned life is hell
Livin' in the world
No different from a cell
Everyday I 'scape from Jakes
Givin' chase
Sellin' base
Smokin' bones in the staircase
Though I don't know
Why I chose to smoke sess
I guess that's the time
When I'm not depressed
But I'm still depressed
And I ask, "What's it worth?"
Ready to give up so I seek the old Earth
To e plain workin' hard
May help you maintain
To learn to overcome
The heartaches and pain
We got stick up kids
Corrupt cops and crack rocks
Stray shots, all on the block
That stays hot
Leave it up to me
While I be livin' proof
To kick the truth
To the young black youth
But shorties runnin' 'round smokin' sess
Drinkin' beer
And ain't tryna hear
What I'm kickin' in his ear
Neglect it for now, but yo
It gots to be accepted
For what? That life is hectic
Cash rules everything around me
CREAM get the money
Dolla, dolla bill y'all
Cash rules everything around me
CREAM get the money
Dolla, dolla bill y'all
Cash rules everything around me
CREAM get the money
Dolla, dolla bill y'all
Cash rules everything around me
CREAM get the money
Dolla, dolla bill y'all
