[Intro: Ice-T] Ice-T; nineteen ninety six on that remix tip, you know what I'm saying? Players on the heal, Rhyme Poetic Mafia on the boards Doing it like this, for all y'all out there to know the real Check the technique, I Must Stand!
[Verse One: Ice-T] Just a kid, moms died when I was seven Pops died eleven, what's up with heaven? It's hell; when you're an orphan at an early age It's an impressionable stage, no love breeds rage In the heart of a child, who never knew his roots Looked up to pimps and the hustlers in the Eel-skin boots Parking Caddies on the sidewalk, gangster talk Trucking diamonds and gold, Rubber bands around the bankrolls Fly girls to make your head spin Seemed they partied all day long, I was like 'Put me on!' But they said: \"Little fellow, run and go play Take your butt to school or else you'll have to be like us one day\" I didn't understand, but I tried to get a job While all the players got the girls cause they'd hustle and rob I was like making about 1-50 a week And after taxes, you know what that is; lunch meat
[Chorus: Angela Rollins] Life on the streets ain't easy for a blackman But you know I got your back, cause I understand [Ice-T] Hey girl, you know I need you Life on the streets ain't easy for a blackman But you know I got some back, cause I understand
[Verse Two: Ice-T] Streets of anger, trouble and crime I had it hard, had to sleep in my car sometime But I never let another player see me down I kept my front up, my gear clean Even when checking minor green Brothers knew my game was true So I hooked up with the real crew Who knew exactly what to do Bank jobs and jewels, quick to flex with tools Pimping whores on the block, checking cash non-stop Crack spots, armor with interior bars No lie, I used to own about fifteen cars Every piece Fila made, drape my women in suede Pavet Piaget, Cesar's Palace holidays It was on, crazy out of control We made up the word 'balling', that was how we roll But the FBI had a-whole-another idea It's called multiple indictments for hundreds of years
[Chorus: Angela Rollins]
[Verse Three: Ice-T] The game is vicious, no retirements, you die young Listen to a fake, he might tell you to grab a gun I get phone calls from condemned row Brothers I ran with, brothers I really know They tell me: \"Ice you got much love in the pen' You're the one that got away, don't wanna see you in\" They tell me: \"Tell the little homies the deal Don't have them come up in this hellish habitat of shanks and steels\" I marched two million strong in D.C. Looking eye to eye with brothers that I used to think below me Damn, my mind was twisted in my hustling days But God spared me, I got a baby son to raise And being black ain't easy, prejudice as real But health and liberty is all we need for us to build We gotta come together, unseparated Check yourself like I did, blackman because we're all related
