[Verse 1]
No blue skies or sunny days where I live at
b**hes get pregnant and catch AIDS as I sit back
Watchin' my partner measurin' weight up on the scale
I was only 16, I had never seen a bale
Livin' outta hotels
I done seen a lot of sh**
Don't know where I'm goin'
Long as it take me far from this...
I'll be all good
Every other day's a murder case
Another n***a shootin'
Should I pick red or blue?
'Cause n***as at my school recruitin'
Is you Crip or is you blood?
Is you folk or just a thug?
That's all we had
You either none or one of the above
When you don't got no guidance
You look to the streets for love
But all you get in return
Is jail time or slugs
[Chorus]
This my ghetto portrait
This my ghetto portrait
It's rainin' out here
It's stormin' out here
This my ghetto portrait
This my ghetto portrait
Picture that
Picture that
[Verse 2]
It's four n***as in an Impala wit empty stomachs
Ridin' down 20 West
Wit a pack that smell like an onion
Got off on MLK and very much to their surprise
WHOOP WHOOP
Suddenly APD got behind 'em
Pull over...
Smell the marijuana in the ride
Two of 'em had warrants
The other one had a nine
The fourth got a baby momma
Home right now
It's in the middle of June
They say she due in July
Each one of they lives
Now dwellin' in a cell
So my politician gets
A bigger check up in the mail
Just another black male
Whose story was never told
I'm here to paint you these ghetto portraits... focus
b**h, I'm tryna make it out the struggle
If I sit around too long
Soon my life gon' be in trouble
Clock is tickin' gots to get some
Business bout my hustle
Can't imagine all the sh** I had to go through just to come up
[Chorus]
This my ghetto portrait
This my ghetto portrait
It's rainin' out here
It's stormin' out here
This my ghetto portrait
This my ghetto portrait
Picture that
Picture that
[Verse 3]
They say that every young black
n***a wanna rap
But this one
Feels different about his craft
He lacks sleep, keeps
A pen and pad in his bag
Puts his past in his poems
And pours 'em in to the last
Drop
Outkast all of this speakerbox
Listen to anything if it means it was hip-hop
Graduation came
Got a diploma like, "f** school, f** you
I'm going to make a million off this music."
Momma b**hin' at him like
He need to get a job
'Cause rap ain't payin' bills
And plus, you got bigger problems
Look how we survivin'
Section 8, can hardly get up out it
Ain't no good times
Thinkin' like, "Where is J.J. and Michael?"
No money behind him
All he ever had was dreams
But reality
Make this sh** hard to believe in
He kept believin'
And started it off from scrap
Then that n***a caught a deal
Now motherf**er, picture that
[Chorus]
This my ghetto portrait
This my ghetto portrait
It's rainin' out here
It's stormin' out here
This my ghetto portrait
This my ghetto portrait
Picture that
Picture that