f** it Had to talk my sh** to y'all, don't hate it or love it Just respect it and be honored That I'm standin' in your presence, it's the Yaowa We ain't promised tomorrow I grew up in a single household, my mama was father My uncle was junkie My cousin was a dickhead tryin' to punk me My other cousin got bodied cause of a stupid color My projects is a live set, we shoot at each other Some n***as is 'bout it, some n***as is scared But even the 'bout it n***as fear, the worry is shared Vision blurry, impaired Pickin' up pace in the hood and I hurry to where Same corner store, same faces in front of it Same dice game, same 40 and same blunt is lit Same couple of schemes to get a hundred quick Some n***as is grimy, scheme on who they runnin' with But see I was smart, I bought another clip Never wait to get shot at to shoot, that's some dummy sh** It was just me, no brothers or sis No one to tell I'm plummeted to a f**in' abyss Them drug dealers at my door again My mom's meetin' 'em in the hall again I swear when I grow up I'm k**in' all of them Man that shouldn't be your thoughts after 10 But that's the life that I was brought up in I never had a choice Walkin' through the livin' room, hearin' my granny voice Like "Don't you be just like the rest of them Your boy [?], yeah they arrested him" But little Joell, he ain't let it get the best of him f** it Had to talk my sh** to y'all, don't hate it or love it I'm just human I'm only human I'm talkin' pre-music Pre-money, pre-fame, pre-groupies, just highwaters Comin' out the snow, peelin' your socks off yah Freezin' just to find out there's no hot water Man I had packed roaches That couch is 20 years old but it's the best sofa Moms ain't cook yesterday so ain't no leftovers Still every f**in' Halloween I would egg yolk yah We lit the staircase up with cap gun revolvers Playin' cops and robbers Funny, I'm lookin' back now, we all wanted to be robbers We didn't respect the coppers We used to go up to the roof and throw rocks at the choppers Fast forward, I'm at the table, the rock gettin' chopped up That Reebok sneaker box is startin' to get guapped up Your j**elry and clothes, that's startin' to pop up I'm a teenager now, much more than a monster I stole a Hyundai Elantra and crashed it into a Honda I'm in the backway with a bird and I'm standin' behind her I remember that first feeling, remember that first feeling No condom, I was illin' Dead a** Young, dumb with a gun and just feining to turn you to a dead a** I remember that night I borrowed my n***a Fred's mask And they found son in the street, nobody know what happened but Yeah I still jump out of my sleep Let me leave that right there before I incriminate myself Behind this beat My life ain't sweet It's sort of like finders keepers And you'll be surprised by some of the sh** these finders keep Keep, I can no longer do I can't keep this all to myself, I must give some to you Before music, the only check I got was summer youth Yeah I'm a rapper but I'm still... I'm still one of you Human