[Intro 1: Derrick Rose's voice (spoken)] It's truly a blessing... With all this stuff that's going on in this city. All this is great, but... I can't explain... We ain't supposed to be here [Sample Intro: Woman Singing (heard throughout)] Oh, Chicago you Oh, Chicago you Pray for me, I pray for you Oh, pray for me, I pray for you [Verse 1: Qwel] That's word to dirty banshees and rock-blowers and blow the cops Not supposed to notice like Lower Wacker, below the docks With tears run the mazes and numb faces And fears comes and goes, stung the stages in the front pages And tippy-toe the slushy street where the drunk sleeps The Red Line; Stuck in Vietnam and the bum screeches Of rusty beaches, and deep water, and one-eyed pigeons A fight for chicken bones amidst the sunshine thinning Everybody got their punchlines grinnin', she know a thousand good poems The CHA don't leave her housing alone Bulgin' shoulders [?] to know folks'll pull the shades on the roses Turn the [brown for the code?] Down for they code, and bang on polygons for the half-brim Earth steady stagnant and heavy habits, the backspin Summer's swamp, shady's confetti, cabbage, and aspirin When the Rev' get the cheddy fast to pay for their last sin [Lead-In To Chorus: Qwel] Baby hungry, momma thirsty But let me hold somethin', dog, I got you Thursday Vultures serve over roaches, swerve crumbs Commotion as the folks turn numb [Chorus: Qwel] Heaven's a million miles from the ill It's hard to see the stars with a mouth full of pills Heaven's a million miles from the go It's hard to see the sky with a nose up in the snow Heaven's a million miles from the Chi' It's hard to see the sky with the smoke up in the eye Heaven's a million miles from Chicago Only see the stars when she's tippin' back a bottle [Verse 2: Qwel] Crowd 'em in the block and then rip it down in Chicago Cook county lock-up or block-up, blocka shouting tomorrow It's different We got our own Olympics, the first of twenty get gold The four for forty, two for twenty get [owed / owned / old?] Walkin' block, beholdin' old-a** shorties that got that blow bag And hold that forty, [and rap for (?)], slow as warnings That know nine hundred ninety good poems, it's all lost Nobody trying to get home and that's effed up Miracle Mile just like a diamond that blisters the pride Of 5's and 6's dying to the time of the twister But get that lit up, swirl that pot on the burner Follow fixture, while the sister make [learn 'em?] The violent [fiction?] they turn 'em, no conviction Can't deter 'em, addiction'll earn his mother food Cause ain't no cages turn no jungles to zoos The "Lake Effect", when some are numbin' the youth Neutral martyrs, take your heart and fill your lungs with the blues [Lead-In To Chorus: Qwel] [Chorus: Qwel] [Verse 3: Qwel] Nothing new up in the zoo, just holding moldy picture But k**ing children, spilling it from Holy Scripture My windy city calling out my favorite, she whispers But watch that brim in the winter She hate it She knows eight hundred eighty good poems Ain't nothing changed since Mayor Daley been thrown or Robert Taylor Plus the Cabrini is gone, Ida B. Wells, and Henry Horner, and the Ickes is gone The Stateway, working [late throat?] The list goes on, she can't afford a crib, she get those [drones?] They gon' flip those phones, and tip those blows And [rocks in park?], forgot the stars, grown cold [Repetition of pieces of the Chorus: Qwel] Heaven's a million miles from Chicago Only sees the stars when she's tippin' back a bottle Heaven's a million miles from Chicago Only sees the stars when she's tippin' back a bottle