[Verse 1: Gabe Caruso] I'm goin for broke and it looks like I got there I reached out for my chips but it looks like they're not there Sometimes The more that you stake becomes the more that you're missin' And now I can only afford to make poor decisions I put it all on the line and lost all of my winnings My Ride, my bride, my pride and all my inhibitions I lost everything but my bills still gotta get paid And the first of the month is quickly coming my way So what makes sense to you, taking out a loan? To pay for my crib, groceries, gas, lights, and phone Or waiting til the dusk comes and donning a mask And making three times the cash almost three times as fast? What would you do if you were tossed in these flip flops Sit back and relax and spit raps and just splift off? Maybe you would, and maybe you could But I gotta find a way to stake a claim in this hood I'm using brains, game, and pain to make it rain in this hood And slanging plain Jane strains to dames that hang in this hood I strain each day making payments to the brains in this hood And change the game by raining amazing refrains in this hood I never claimed to be good, i'm just spitting what I like And rippin' the mic open from mornin til the twilight I've hidden the prime moment in the words of what I write But this vision is given from within the prison of my life [Hook: Gabe Caruso] In this life and time a life of crime is enticing No jobs on the block so the crime rate is rising When the city isn't hiring and things are getting chilly Don't expect to see guilt just because the judge says guilty In this life and time a life of crime is enticing No jobs on the block so the crime rate is rising We gotta take care of ourselves so let me put it bluntly If you can't make your money, then take your money [Verse 2: Thogrock] Position we've been given is perfect to be livin' in Coming to grips with the whirlwind that we spinnin' in It's just another minute but every day is strange Keep my head up when I'm fed up with these worldly ways There's just too many things I can never forget Wherever I get, I know it's been one hell of a trip Inherited like hair that thins we sticking to what we do And coming thru with another tune that be flowin' like a fluid And you know it's crew up in it no need to be spellin' it out Gettin it heard takin' words out of irrelevant mouths Whatever the weather we ain't gonna be taken under Like some other mother f**ers that be hatin' on their brothers Too many mother's sons getting murdered by guns And not a message can prevent nor a word from above It's just another dark day in the city of spite Sparkin' that gauge will never bring it to light [Hook: Gabe Caruso] In this life and time a life of crime is enticing No jobs on the block so the crime rate is rising When the city isn't hiring and things are getting chilly Don't expect to see guilt just because the judge says guilty In this life and time a life of crime is enticing No jobs on the block so the crime rate is rising We gotta take care of ourselves so let me put it bluntly If you can't make your money, then take your money [Verse 3: Gabe Caruso] Being broke as a joke never seems to be funny In fact I'd say that's when life is most serious Cause John Doe when he's broke, and John Doe when he's got money Are two very very different people period If you've never been broke I mean so broke that you're hungry And you've waited on a check til you're delirious And the hunger in your stomach turns your state of mind to gutsy and your actions then in turn become mysterious If you've been here then you felt the stress of the monthly Bills replace your energy with weariness And slowly your point of view that sees life as something bubbly Will transform until it becomes something furious Then the people who've got money from the yuppy to the clumsy Well they're wallets will begin to make you curious Trickle down economics works the same for pickpockets Only difference is that our hands get the dirtiest [Hook: Gabe Caruso] In this life and time a life of crime is enticing No jobs on the block so the crime rate is rising When the city isn't hiring and things are getting chilly Don't expect to see guilt just because the judge says guilty In this life and time a life of crime is enticing No jobs on the block so the crime rate is rising We gotta take care of ourselves so let me put it bluntly If you can't make your money, then take your money [Verse 4: ThogRock] Concrete streets are gonna pave the way To an early grave with no earn and pay I swear I heard them say before they turned away If it works today, then it's worth the pain Now I'm f**ed up, roughed up, caught up in the gears Of another beast that keeps on claimin' all of my years And I'm f**in' tired of brick walls and razor wires Put your trust in the liar and get thrust in the fire The city's got a whole 'nother life of its own A mechanical brain that makin' and breakin' your home I swear I don't know where the f** we go But they keep us locked up in this age of stone The stone age came and it claimed your own I ain't afraid to say they'll never make me go Even if old age is the only face I know I'll still face the cold before I embrace the mold [Hook: Gabe Caruso] In this life and time a life of crime is enticing No jobs on the block so the crime rate is rising When the city isn't hiring and things are getting chilly Don't expect to see guilt just because the judge says guilty In this life and time a life of crime is enticing No jobs on the block so the crime rate is rising We gotta take care of ourselves so let me put it bluntly If you can't make your money, then take your money