If Pirus and Crips all got along They'd prolly gun me down by the end of this song, Seem like the whole city go against me, Every time I'm in the street I hear... [ScHoolBoy Q:] Yawk! Yawk! Yawk! Yawk!
[Chorus: Kendrick Lamar] Man down. Where you from, nigga? Fuck who you know, where you from, my nigga? Where your grandma stay, huh, my nigga? This m.A.A.d city I run, my nigga
[Kendrick Lamar:] Brace yourself, I'll take you on a trip down memory lane, This is not a rap on how I'm slingin' crack or move cocaine, This is cul-de-sac and plenty Cognac and major pain, Not the drill sergeant, but the stress that weighin' on your brain. It was Me, L Boogs, and Yan Yan, YG, Lucky ride down Rosecrans, It got ugly wavin' your hand out the window. Check yourself. Uh, warriors and Conans, Hope euphoria can slow dance with society, The driver seat the first one to get killed. Seen a light-skinned nigga with his brains blown out At the same burger stand where [peep] hang out, Now this is not a tape recorder sayin' that he did it, But ever since that day, I was lookin' at him different. That was back when I was nine, Joey packed the nine, Pakistan on every porch is fine, We adapt to crime, Pack a van with four guns at a time, With the slidin' door, fuck is up? Fuck you shootin' for if you ain't walkin' up, you fuckin' punk! Pickin' up the fuckin' pump, Pickin' off you suckers, suck a dick or die or sucker punch, A wall of bullets comin' from AK's, AR's, “Aye y'all, duck.” That's what momma said when we was eatin' the free lunch, Aw, man, Goddamm, all hell broke loose, You killed my cousin back in ‘94. Fuck yo truce! Now crawl yo head in that noose, You wind up dead on the news, Ain't no peace treaty, just pieces, BG's up to preapprove, Bodies on top of bodies, IV's on top of IV's, Obviously the coroner between the sheets like the Isleys, When you hop on that trolley Make sure your colors correct, Make sure you're corporate or they'll be callin' your mother collect, They say, the governor collect all of our taxes except When we in traffic and tragic happens, that shit ain't no threat, You movin' backwards if you suggest that you sleep with a TEC, Go buy a chopper and have a doctor on speed dial, I guess. m.A.A.d city.
Man down. Where you from, nigga? Fuck who you know, where you from, my nigga? Where your grandma stay, huh, my nigga? This m.A.A.d city I run, my nigga