V1
(Tabi Bonney)
Welcome back to where good yungins fell thru the cracks
Was trapped from the jump some got packed in the trunk
Only a couple made it out like what me and (names removed) made out
Two times a week, the crack spot got raided out
Right across the street the sound of sirens made me fall asleep
At nite roaches was in before the streetlights came on
&The pushersd be like game on
Like in a world wit Wayne but wit ebonic slang
&gangs bionic that bonded from the same place
Like we are the world& we are the same race
Up on the corner could make a livin off of bein a blood donor (mane) the news come before the coroner
&speak in slang iller than pootie tang &everybody keep a nickname
Insteada goin to school we hang& practice moves
Like up on soul train- wit broads that could groove
(chorus)
Used to be like, used to be like ayyy
Streets used to be like used to be like ayyyy
People used to be like used to be like ayyyy
But nowadays it ain’t nuffin like…
(repeat)
V2
(HaZiQ aLi)
Other day I went back around my block hadn’t been in a while
& its weird its like u feelin grim but then u smile
Bumped into some of my old dogs (still chillin)
& long story short as I walked away I heard em say
“look like its up to him now…”
Kinda wild how as the world spin around things change
but i guess what’s strange is how its like somebody hit pause
I mean it wasn’t cool to smoke that (!) …there were laws
Its like the block got cancer& they trying stop it wit guaze
But its like u gotta save yaself fore u can getcha dogs
Like how we would comeback after the holdups
Its weird you still see the same bulletholes& stuff u look close enough
U see ghosts& such if u can dig that- but thas a different rap
I remember when friends were friends
playin nintendo& gettin head from the twins-
keisha &kim, We used to tell em we was kin
Who knew it got better I never wanted that to cease or end-(huh?)
But its like the cycle jus repeat& then I’m elite again
Member how u HAD to come dressed- fresh pair of guess
Or whatever kept ya candle lit-
& now they call em hot boys but we would call it bama shxx
&as a people we was like whatever we can handle it
& he was a king so course he had a dream but do we?
Cuz everybody I see steada hollerin how umma do me
Now I’m still black power red, black& green Gucci
but its nothin like it used to be…
V3
(Michael Carter)
Ay yung Main man got shot (who?) main man from up the block
Rashawn brother they said it all started from a slap box
Thas how it be on any block since that rock hit Dc
When I was hooked to the happy foot Trubble Funk & RE
And everybody got a different story one shawty
said mommy sell her body jus to get Scottie to beam up
&all u know how to do wit the loot- is “kit” a beam up
Or open a barbershop thas hotter than hell heat up
Or the bodegas run in- up shxx creek u be up & we bump
heads wit each other til the lead jus erupt
Turn a big nixxa to a tree stump
back when celebrity hall was the black hole
Way before backyard butchu don’t know
Or should I take it all the way back to gangster chronicles&Ghostbusters
& them super tim hustlas
Murder capital year things was real ridiculous
&the main explanation: too many nixxas
Two rivers, nuf killers no room for impostors
So many bodies were found in the Anacostia
Black Mafia german luegars& luftwaffe
Bombs drop jus hope yr no bystander…