Verse 1:
The Hood Got Respect
For The Convict Green
Ain't No Jobs For Us
We Just Trying To Succeed
I Proceed Dog
To Do The Deed
Ese Any Kind Of Crime
We Got Children To Feed
I'm High Off The Weed
The White Got Me Numb
And A Number In The System
Is What I Become
I Watch Slums
But I Ain't No Bum
So I Ain't Gonna Settle
Til I Get Me Some
Thats Real
These Fools Want My Soul
If They Could Have It Their Way
They'd Put Me Back In The Hole
They Say I Stole
Or Didn't Pay a Toll
Ese Any Little sh**
So They Could Raid My Home
Its Called A Set-Up
Ain't No Way To Prove It
They Still In The Crowd
So I Keep On Movin'
Trouble Brewin'
They Want Me Back In Them Blues
Like Tonight On The News
For Unloadin' That Uz..
Chorus:
This A Portrait Of a Convict
That Wanna Live Right
But Everything Against Me
Including My Life
I Got a Wife
And 3 Starving Kids
That Want Me By Their Side
And Not In The Pen
This A Portrait Of a Convict
That Wanna Do Good
But Everything Against Me
All I Know Is The Hood
I Gotta Fight
For The Little I Have
If Not Lose It All
Thats Why I Roam With The Gang
Verse 2:
Ese A General Relief
And Welfare Checks
From All The Fiends That Get Served
Thats To Pay The Rent
The Rest Spent
Ima Guard My b**h
My Lady Is What I Meant
And Thats In Any Event
I'm A Threat
Anywhere That I Hang
And The Mayor Of The City
Got a Problem With Gangs
They Want Us Out
But Still They Can't
No Degree, Real Estate
And No Money In Banks
I'm Tryin To Last
But They Figure It Fast
Ese Tryin To Give Me Cases
For Some sh** In The Past
It Gets Cold
They Start Tapping My Phones
But The Ice That They Found
Ain't In Pads I Own
Its Unknown
How I Live My Life
One Day At A Time
Gotta Live With The Slime
I'm At Bar
After A Night Of Whippin'
Release The Stress
A Naked b**h I'm Tippin'
Chorus:
This A Portrait Of a Convict
That Wanna Live Right
But Everything Against Me
Including My Life
I Got a Wife
And 3 Starving Kids
That Want Me By Their Side
And Not In The Pen
This A Portrait Of a Convict
That Wanna Do Good
But Everything Against Me
All I Know Is The Hood
I Gotta Fight
For The Little I Have
If Not Lose It All
Thats Why I Roam With The Gang
Verse 3:
Its Been This Way
I Don't Think It'll Change
Gotta Deal With It
Ain't No One To Blame
Its Kinda Strange
That The City Deranged
Ese Pull Up On A Victim
And The Shots Exchanged
There He Laid
He Became The Prey
The Vato Went Astray
He was Slippin Away
All Day
G's Go To The Bay
The Sky Turns Grey
All Us Going To Play
Thats How We Livin
I'm Just Trying To Provide
A Couple Condos For The Fam
So They Ain't Hungry At Night
And We Have
It's Cold Turkey In Jail
Ese Direct From My Cell
I'm Lifting The Veil
No Yale
Program To Fail
So I Had To Get With It
If I Wanna Prevail
No Bail
Thats Why I'm Cutting This Record
A Portrait Of A Convict
That's Under Pressure
Chorus:
This A Portrait Of a Convict
That Wanna Live Right
But Everything Against Me
Including My Life
I Got a Wife
And 3 Starving Kids
That Want Me By Their Side
And Not In The Pen
This A Portrait Of a Convict
That Wanna Do Good
But Everything Against Me
All I Know Is The Hood
I Gotta Fight
For The Little I Have
If Not Lose It All
Thats Why I Roam With The Gang