Cuddies perved by the corner, stout, herb Got me twisted, mo' cold killin murders Them brothers gettin further Got my pencil for utensil, this'll keep they mind knownin Spot some thugs at the club, and they got the nines showin Dirty pimpin g's, one of my dreams, player now listen Lotta blacks locked down, but comin back around in '96 All the gals my six (what else?) my track crew and my mother Make these police wonder: how is he so undercover? Never been a lover, but America had broke my heart I was told to tear up out this before this tear me apart Eat through scrap, black tracks, free milk and cheese While the Japs stack scratch with the Vietnamese But I'm finna squeeze, stack cheese they left on a trap A young playa mack, hit the bud', spit a rap It's just that feelin, that feelin that I have for children Are able to love us, but these crazy devils try to kill us [Chorus:] I gotta survive, I try to stay alive, ho Smokin that dank to deal with the pain (My nigga Ray Luv, when'd you get up out the pen, man?) [Mac Dre:] June 2nd '93 I returned to the streets Did 2 months in the county and I opt to the beat Now the cops keep watch, cause they know that I rap Tell the world that I'm a gangsta, cause I ride with a strap But I ain't yo gangsta, just a young nigga caught up in the struggle Born hustler, goin for the jugular Out to take the beast down, piece down might be too late The funk is on, high, drunk off Thunderbird and Grape Kool-Aid Would love to catch a playa slippin, take me down and book me Guilty as charged, hit the switch and try to cook me Silence a nigga for the shit I'm spittin, I know I'm scarin ya A poison you created in the veins of America Miseducated, incarcerated, institutionalized That 3rd strike will have a gang of them rollers dyin Ain't no love where I'm goin, no love where I'm comin from Remember me, that real-ass nigga you been runnin from Got us sprung off the cocaine and the welfare While the black babies die without health care [Chorus:] I gotta survive, I try to stay alive, ho Smokin that dank to deal with the pain [Mac Dre:] Now how could I pledge allegiance to a racist-ass flag When the rollers at my do' with a .44 mag? Got my mother spittin drag 'bout I ain't home Got a double homicide warrant on my dome I hear em pushin in the do', I grab my Mac with two clips Cut through the back window and like a g hit a fence I'm thinkin 'bout my folks gettin sent for violation Foes and punk police, them devils still at my do' I peep a group of ten tryina get information I threw the clips in the Mac, start lettin off frustration It's better than incarceration any day, we gonn' die anyway So if I go out blastin, call it my fate I got niggas in the pen like my cousin Bud Lunatic Insane, and my partner T-Love Big Tom, Ray Ray, Killa Cuddy, Mac Dre Cleek, Jamal, Jinx and Bluebonic, man [Chorus:] I gotta survive, I try to stay alive, ho Smokin that dank to deal with the pain [2Pac:] Now I been called a crook, a killer, a thug A no-good dealer of drugs And Blood or Cuz, doesn't matter what set you was Cause where I'm at, if you black, we strapped As long as ki's make g's these thieves attack And ain't no rules on the streets these days Muthafuckas better watch they back and take it eazay I'm livin in the dangerzone And learnin lesson from the game, it's on Niggas was gone when the frame was on I'm gettin breaken them balls daily Is there a ghetto in heaven or do I go to hell? See, seems I was senteced to death, takin my steps with my head down Why pour I liquor for my niggas, cause they dead now My memory since I was a little seed Was a penitentiary full of niggas like me These cops can't terrorize us, they despise us Niggas, cause we on the rise Plus everybody's searchin for a piece of the truth And the youth turn the streets into a piece of Beirut And the truth is [Chorus:] I gotta survive, I try to stay alive, ho Smokin that dank to deal with the pain
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