Ft. Chance The Rapper, Common
(Intro)
This song go out to anybody who lost one of they homies man
Ya eva lost somebody
That felt like ya was in this sh** by yoself
But ya gotta fight man, it's hard
(Verse: Lil Herb)
My mama used to say, neva quit, baby that just don't exist!
And just cuz she'll s** ya dick, don't mean you could trust the b**h!
I'm just giving you the real
Cuz I don't come from Hollywood or Beverly Hills
I'm from where mothers don't care and babies get k**ed
Where ya gotta rob and go steal for stomachs to fill
And it's hard for a yung, black n***a like myself
Where the police compare oneself with errybody else
So that means if ya yoself they think you're errybody else
So I don't care bout no one else
Just my family and myself
Yeah, that's just my way of thinking
In my city and it helps cuz no one gives a f**
About me, ya, or nobody else
And it's cool
I'm still livin' over East, we still chilling, sipping lean
Smoking swishers, stacking 100s to the ceiling
We still winning! We just fighting to survive
It's a shame I gotta ride with this 9er on my side
They used to say
(Hook)
Neva quit!
Neva give in!
Hey, don't you quit!
Neva give in!
(Verse 2: Common)
Rings and watches, kings deposits
Chains that seemed preposterous
Getting paper neva seemed monotonous
Time is money, the streets is watching like a scene from Clockers
Fiends is nauseous, chicken wings they gossip
n***as wings is tied up in dreams and product
The block gets hotter when the streets is dried up
We react like shotters when n***as is fired up
On some James Brown sh**, I'mma take ya higher
To stay live n***as still living like The Wire
A tight rope so they stepping on that white dope
I ride with my n***as cause that's the cycle
Suppliers, buyers, leaning like they biased
This is circus, n***as and broads wearing wires
The eye of the tiger in my iris
Eyes on the prize, I'm a fighter
(Hook)
Neva quit!
Neva give in!
Hey, don't you quit!
Neva give in!
(Verse 3: Chance The Rapper)
Me and my pops shared the same home phone number
Father - single parent, home, sorry, wrong number
I did my push ups, and my homework, and my house work
And my dirt, talk back till my mouth hurt
Daddy furious, Trey hopped in a car door, close the car door
Wondering why our father God couldn't spare Rod for
Spoiler alert, Trey get out the car and walk home with his heart broke
My poppa luv me, oops, left me! Stains fed me, and they dressed me
Come home freshly dressed and he addressed me and he pressed me
Called me a thief, called me a boy, called me a coward!
At least he ain't call me from county with an hour
Worth of advice from my five day
Why Doughboy doesn't have the same pops that he had on Friday?!
I'd rather be a real man than a real n***a, real talk
(Hook)
Neva quit!
Neva give in!
Hey, don't you quit!
Neva give in!
(Verse 4: Lil Herb)
I've seen mamas treat their daughters like the scum of the earth
Snake n***as put their homies since they was yung on a shirt
It's yo life well, tell me what it's worth
Cuz when ya come across that d**h ya don't get anotha birth
Ya betta live it up!
Haterz want me dead, they better work, I ain't gon give it up
f** round n get hit with erryone like ya ain't feel enough
p**y n***as got to feel the d** befo they start feeling tough
In the streets I'm tryin' to feel the luv but I ain't feeling nothing
I luv my squad, I luv the hustle
I luv success cuz I'm from the struggle
I used ta think that I could go back what I used to do
Now I cry less and less at all my homie's funerals
It's hard but it's gon' get harder and harder
Why mama always tell me just be smart and keep yo guard up?
I said to myself check yo back, put yo squad up
Bibby, tell me how to keep yo head above water