Brother Ali - Only Life I Know lyrics

[Hook:] (It's my life) Yeah, the only one that I'll ever know Feeling extra low Please let me go Hold on, no (It's my life) Yeah, the only that I'll ever know And it stressed me so Oh God, bless me soul Hold on [Verse 1:] Wether it's the projects or a trailer park mess Raggedy the apartment complex With a stressed out single mom sitting on the steps Waiting on the mailman, looking for a check Boys on the corner, pushing out the chest Questing for anything that resembles respect Young girls swinging their hair with every step Looking for affection, settling for s** Bodies decorated with tattoos and chains Trying to put armor between you and pain Wood grain steering wheel, the ba** bang But not enough to drown out the hatred in your brain The only out is smoking out Get lean, get wet, get meth, get tore down Cause who the hell would want to stick around? Put me in a haze, I ain't never coming out [Hook] [Verse 2:] They just wanna get you in the system, stick you into prison List you in the military ship you to the desert Pigs don't exist for you to make a decent living But we got three illegal wars to shoot the pigs from Keep stressing marvels and personal decisions Tell me what's marvel about these conditions Who decided you don't got enough to teach children? Stay spending billions, on stadiums and prisons How many roles can folks really choose? When you're oppressed only three lead to you First one is follow the rules and stay in school Be the square dude, that's a society approves Get a little job or a sh**ty apartment Or a sub-par mortgage in a failing house margin The after your life dedication and hardship You died just as poor as you was when you started f** that, what's up with the second option? You could always hit the corner and try to get it popping Get fast guap when you're out dropping and clocking But, chances are that you'll probably die violent The best hope that you got is getting nada And end up with a job in a prison metal shop They ain't paying nothing but three hots and a cot Don't you know that's the biggest hustle they got? Or door three you can get on that welfare But they ain't trying to help, they'll put you in hell there Give you just enough so you're not gonna starve And constantly hara** you while you're looking for a job Do lock up and someone that got you to punch a clock And they found about it and your check is getting dot Can't win for losing, dehumanizing You'll never get caught up, you caught up in a cycle [Hook]