Tell me this ain't real A brother can't deal with life so he's sellin' dope He ain't trippin', just doin' what he gotta do To pay the damn rent or get thrown on the avenue Check it out He's comin' up the police are in an uprange Should he quit it and settle for minimum wage He sells it to his neighbor and his best friend And might even sell it to his girlfriend He sells it to anyone who wants some Just so he got a place to stay next month It's illegal but, punk, will you pay the bills? And when he needs money will you make the deals? It's a damn shame goin' through unemployment And you just sell dope and be flamboyant And this is how the government thanks you For hundreds of years of slavery This is the life of a gansta This is the life of a gansta Tell me this ain't real A brother joins a gang in the projects Cause his family is broke and he respects the sick So you know he'd do anything to help out From jacking to robbing to just lettin' out a blast from the double barrel shotgun As for opposing gang members, he'll mug one The day is over so he goes home to hear the fussing and the feuding and the fighting Cause his family ain't united Bring your stolen money home to put food on the table Cause everybody else ain't able Mom's a sick and complying to the pill Pop's all fed up, put the knife to his own head And little brother too young to know Big sister always sittin' on the bu*t, glazing ho The more the bills are the more you gotta gank it But y'all don't understand the circumstance This is the life of a gansta This is the life of a gansta Alright, tell me this ain't real A brother got this girl pregnant OK And if both of them be to school the day of the next day He no job hon, he even been to top of bail Cause it's clear that he don't sell but A some of that doped up white stuff But as times get hard and times get rough He's movin' the stuff for anything that's paying His best friend comes around and he's selling Then maybe the two of them can hit a lick Then he'd come back with studio equipment Then when he licks seven days a week And in the daytime all they do is that cheese While away his wife and his baby would shriek But on the front is silk leather, snakeskin goin' asway You might hate him and call him a prankster But y'all don't understand the circumstance This is the life of a gansta This is the life of a gansta This is the life of a gansta This is the life of a gansta This is the life of a gansta You know what I mean