[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