The Ghetto (ft. Nas & will.i.am) (Prod. will.i.am)
[Produced by will.i.am]
[Intro: Woman] Stay with me, please, don't leave me, baby I love you, stay with me, please, baby Someone's coming, please, please
[Hook: will.i.am] It seems like everywhere I go, everybody’s in a struggle Oh, the whole world is a ghetto Oh, the whole world is a ghetto The ghetto, the ghetto, the ghetto The, the, the, the
[Verse 1: Nas] It be jam-packed in front of the stoops in Siberia Same way they are in the middle of Nigeria Every part of the whole world, there's an area That, if you're poor, another day alive is a miracle The blocks in Watts got crooked cops that frame the innocent No different from Flint, Michigan Living in the D, checking in with the pimps and them It's similar to O-Town, in the Southern Peninsula Pretty city, skyscrapers will fool you, look through to Inner cities the rich won't move to The nice parts, they well-protected by a vanguard The opposite of how these concentration camps are Low-income housing, it dwells murderers But children don’t qualify for health services The bourgeois act like they don’t see starvations Like they spraying Estée Lauder on sanitation
[Hook: will.i.am] It seems like everywhere I go, everybody’s in a struggle Oh, the whole world is a ghetto Oh, the whole world is a ghetto The ghetto, the ghetto, the ghetto The, the, the, the
[Verse 2: Game] Streetlights come on, cop cars' lights flicker They smoke us like cigarettes, need a light, nigga? Used to chastise or string us up to spite niggas War to fight for the culture, instead we eaten by vultures They mix us like mimosas, hang us on wanted posters Asked for license and registration with they gun out the holster Some of us guilty, some of us not, some of us filthy rich Others just watch us niggas drive up the block We think we keeping it one hundred coming back to the hood They think we flossin' money, so they pull a ratchet: what's good? It happens in Compton, happens in Queens, happened to Big L Happened to Chinx and 2Pac in that passenger's seat Sometimes it's internal, happens to you before you happen to bleed What's beef? Cops killing niggas dead in the streets So before we look outside, we gotta look within Cause, now, we the dinosaurs, I think the world 'bout to end
[Hook: will.i.am] It seems like everywhere I go, everybody’s in a struggle Oh, the whole world is a ghetto Oh, the whole world is a ghetto The ghetto, the ghetto, the ghetto The, the, the, the
[Verse 3: Nas] I'm from the project buildings, high stories My stories from valence to glory Dog-eat-dog world, gory In the gutter, brother despise brother Throwing threats at each other Broken bottles and bar fights with box cutters Alcoholics, narcotics, organized Families sleep from a gas stove, burned alive They bagging up drugs with plastic gloves On his way to the top with his cash, he shrugs Kidnappers, degenerate thieves and gamblers Stealing, panhandlers, wrapping grams up Rubber bands on they Grams, what? Playing cards and they bored Members of gangs, living by and dying by the sword Block parties, fools stamp debit cards Your hood ain't no different from ours We share the same dreams, same money Same clothes and cars, instead we get the same jail bars
[Bridge: Nas (will.i.am)] The world's a ghetto, the world's a ghetto The world's a ghetto (Ghetto) The world's a ghetto
[Verse 4: Game] Me and God's son, jumping out of project buildings in black parachutes Both classic, both ride through the hood in a pair of coupes Flow sick, mix the Henny with the Theraflu He told me I was ill at that Houston's, nigga, where was you? Hip-hop critics, sit the fuck down, get a chair or two I ain't tryna kick knowledge, just a pair of graphic parables Grew up, spent the whole middle school in the same pair of shoes Me and my brother sharing shoes, my childhood was terrible That's why I spend nights on the rooftop, smoking medical You got a minute, my nigga? Let me break down the variables Adapted to my surroundings, flow better than I used to Momma, this for us buyers, for the days I wore FUBU Having beaucoup dreams, deuce-deuce in jeans, my nigga Now, I'ma end your career in two sixteens, my niggas If he the God's son, then I must be the prophet And all this "King of L.A." shit, you niggas need to stop it (The ghetto)
[Hook: will.i.am] It seems like everywhere I go, everybody’s in a struggle Oh, the whole world is a ghetto Oh, the whole world is a ghetto The ghetto, the ghetto, the ghetto The, the, the, the