The Ghetto

Talking 'bout the ghetto
 
 Funky, funky ghetto
 
 Trying to survive
 Trying to stay alive
 The ghetto
 
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 The ghetto (hmm)
 The ghetto (funky, funky ghetto)
 Even though the streets are bumpy, lights burned out
 Dope fiends die with a pipe in their mouths
 Old school buddies not doing it right
 Every day it's the same
 And it's the same every night
 I wouldn't shoot you, bro, but I'd shoot that fool
 If he played me close and tried to test my cool
 Every day I wonder just how I'll die
 Only thing I know is how to survive
 There's only one rule in the real world
 And that's to take care of you, only you and yours
 Keep dealing with the hard times day after day
 Might deal me some dope, but then crime don't pay
 Black man tried to break in my house again
 Thought he got off the dope doing time in the pen
 Even though my brothers do me just like that
 I get a lot of love so I'm giving it back to the ghetto
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 The ghetto (funky, funky ghetto)
 The ghetto (trying to live our lives)
 The ghetto (won't ya tell 'em 'bout it, Too $hort?)
 So just peep the game and don't call it crap
 'Cause to me, life is one hard rap
 Even though my sister smoked crack cocaine
 She was nine months pregnant, ain't nothing changed
 600 million on a football team
 And her baby died just like a dope fiend
 The story I tell is so incomplete
 Five kids in the house, no food to eat
 Don't look at me and don't ask me why
 Mama's next door getting high
 Even though she's got five mouths to feed
 She'd rather spend her money on a H-I-T
 I always tell the truth about things like this
 I wonder if the mayor overlooked that list
 Instead of adding to the task force, send some help
 Waiting on him, I'd better help myself
 Housing authority and the O.P.D
 All these guns just to handle me in the ghetto
 The ghetto (people are dying)
 The ghetto (children are crying)
 The ghetto (don't have enough to eat)
 The ghetto (don't even have shoes on their feet)
 The ghetto
 Even though they put us down and call us animals
 We make real big banks and buy brand new clothes
 Drive fancy cars, make love to stars
 Never really saying just who we are
 We use alias names like Too $hort
 Sell you stuff you might kill for
 Young kids grow up and that's all they know
 Didn't teach him in school, now he's slangin' dope
 Only thing he knows is how to survive
 But will he kill another brother before he dies?
 In the ghetto, you keep one eye open
 All day long, just hoping and hoping
 You can pay your bills and not drink too much
 Then the problems of life you'll be throwing up
 Like me, but you don't see
 Ten years from now, where will you be?
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Trying to get out of the ghetto
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 But I got no place to go
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Trying to survive in the heart of the ghetto
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Ha, 'cause that's the only place that I know
 So much game in a Too $hort rap
 Can't be white and whites can't be black
 Why you wanna act like someone else?
 All you gotta do is just be yourself
 We're all the same color underneath
 Short dog is in the house you'd better listen to me
 Never be ashamed of what you are
 Proud to be black, stand tall at heart
 Even though some people give you no respect
 Be intelligent, when you put 'em in check
 'Cause when you're ignorant, you get treated that way
 And when they throw you in jail, you got nothing to say
 So if you don't listen, it's not my fault
 I'll be getting paid and you'll be paying the cost
 Sitting in the jailhouse, running your mouth
 While me and my people try to get out
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Talking 'bout the ghetto
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Funky, funky ghetto
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Trying to survive
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Trying to stay alive
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Funky, funky ghetto
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Got no place else to go
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)
 Trying to stay alive
 The ghetto (talking 'bout the ghetto)