[Intro: Common (Ghostface k**ah)] Yeah it's Common Sense (Yeah it's your boy from Staten Island, just Came to put my two Lil cents in) Yeah, it's good music ya'll, with Faith Evans, Comon Productions (word) Again, the remix, let's do it [Common] I was told everything that happened, happened for a reason And one man's forever might be God's season Been in love so deep it was hard for me to breathe and Knew somebody like me, but it was hard for me to see him How he talked freedom, but didn't know if I was walkin it You can find love but quickly get lost in it I fostered it, knowing I'd love it for a while Learing to be a man, but love it like a child Somehow my light ya'll became my rain Heartache and pain started to say my name The game of fame and love stopped playing with me People asked me "Did you see her pregnant on tv?" When that rain came I tried to maintain as it drenched me Now I ain't the same man, father or MC I see where God sent me loud and clear If not for the smiles and tears I wouldn't be here again [Chorus: Faith Evans] If I had to do it all again I wouldn't take away the rain Cus I know it made me who I am If I had to do it all again I've learned so much from my mistakes That's how I know he's watching me [Faith Evans] In ATL I caught a case And the media tried to say I had a habit, I couldn't manage And I was throwin my life away (oh yeah) But everything ain't what it seems Just because it's on tv Cus they speculate and exaggerate for a better story [Chorus] [Ghostface k**ah] Ayo I came up in the grimey environment Drugs and court cases, raised in violence Everywhere I turned I had the right to remain silent In the mix I got high, smoking rulers and did dust on the side But I was still fly, written rhymes, neigborhood beefs Caused me to see, had to humble myself to a degree But I still caught three bullet holes and I gave it back That moment, can it be, I know God recorded that That's how clear it gets, through my experience (word) Take what I did and give it back, ya'l be serious Goin through hell and them painful trials That's what made me the dapper that I am right now Only one man can judge me, he in back of the clouds And I hope he forgive me what I did to them towns I had the newspapers shootin me down with scrutiny You can't change how I live my life, I came to make it beutifly [Chorus w/ Common ad-libs]