[Verse 1:]
So we all got children, products of the ghetto,
Momma cooked the soup, daddy did the yelling,
Uncle was a drunk, cousin was a felon,
When he got pitched, he told them he wasn't telling.
Auntie was a cook, her husband was a crook,
‘Cause every job he had they be paying him off the books,
Ghetto university, knowledge is all it took,
In a tenement I was listening to the hook,
Change gon' come, the spirit of Sam Cooke,
When the feds coming, everybody get shook,
Now we doing life like Eddie Murphy and Martin,
On the chain gang, I was singing into the coffin.
[Pre-Chorus:]
The roaches and the rats, heroin and the cracks,
Couldn't blame me, I'm just giving the facts,
I'm tryna hit the top ‘cause bottom ain't where it's at,
Everybody got a past but you can never go back.
[Chorus:]
Sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Sing!
[Verse 2:]
Telling you like it is, how we ever gon' live?
If we ain't getting money, how we feeding the kids?
It's a revolving door, where brothers be doing bids,
I know it sound wrong but the door will be what it is.
Survival of the fittest, this poor girl the illest,
Broke parents and black cats give me heebie-geebies.
Life seems hard but nothing ever comes easy,
Whatever's in the dark, can always become the light,
If you ain't in a battle, how you gon' win the fight?
I gotta speak the truth when I'm up in the booth,
The streets be flying birds but they don't be on the roof,
Poverty is a pain like you pulling a tooth,
Told the streets don't let me go like I'm Bishop in Juice.
[Pre-Chorus:]
The roaches and the rats, heroin and the cracks,
Couldn't blame me, I'm just giving the facts,
I'm tryna hit the top ‘cause bottom ain't where it's at,
Everybody got a past but you can never go back.
[Chorus:]
Sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Sing!
Gotta sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Sing!
Sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Gotta sing!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
She's a king!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
And they sing, “New York City!”
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
