As I rhyme I think back to a time when I was innocent Seen a lot of sh** that made me view life different Got a couple angles that I might hit you with I was never really needy for a friendship Always used to walk alone on my lonesome Living in the city full of poverty is gruesome But that's only if you see my way Got my headphones on listening to Sade As I say, matter fact as I pray Looking for an opportunity to take me away I just wanna be somebody while I'm living today I was walking through the valley, through the shadow of pain Heard somebody in the alley say they talking to me I was trying listen to them but they talking was cheap So I had to cut em off, let em know what it be Sorry brother but your trouble isn't nothing to me Right now, I just wanna turn a couple of cheeks This is not a competition, I ain't here to compete Pouring liquor for them n***as, who ain't make it reach Eighteen, this for those who are happy to see Another day, cause too many ain't gone make it to be Everything they dreamed of, in this place where Weed, s** and guns and violence is all on your screen So you better watch out for them cops & things [8x Hook] Everywhere I look, everywhere I turn Too an*lytical, not hospitable Didn't go to college but I feel like a Huxtable Never lived in Brooklyn but I still listen to A lot of different artist that reside so comfortable I never had that New York swag But I always admired where New York at How To Make It In America with well known facts That you might not make it when you young & you black You can tell me different but I still won't listen Cause they still don't it and my n***a that's a fact Try to hush hush but we still gone put One fist in the air cause we represent the black Culture that they wish we didn't have Ain't it sad how they wish we could erase Who we were in the past but we can't So they better get over it There's nothing left to say, I'm over it