What they gives you blood? Three months man Whatchu doin' in here anyway? You oughta be home with your momma How old are you boy? Thirteen Thirteen? Damn, the bastards must be runnin' outta niggaz to arrest
Yeah, oh yeah, this goes out To all the families that went through the struggle It was from the heart, everythin' was real (And I'm so thankful I made it through)
Yo, dwellin' in the past, flashbacks when I was young Whoever thought that I'd have a baby girl and three sons I'm goin' through this difficult stage, I find it hard to believe Why my old Earth had so many seeds
But she's an old woman and due to me I respect that I saw life for what it's really worth and took a step back Family ain't family no more, we used to play ball Eggs after school, eat grits 'cause we was poor
Grab the pliers for the channel, fix the hanger on the TV Rockin' each others pants to school wasn't easy We survived winters, snotty nosed with no coats We kept it real, but the older brother still had jokes
Sadly, daddy left me at the age of six I didn't know nothin' but mommy neatly packed his shit She cried, and grandma held the family down I guess mommy wasn't strong enough, she just went down
Check it, fifteen of us in a three bedroom apartment Roaches everywhere, cousins and aunts was there I didn't like to sleep with Jon-Jon, he peed the bed
Seven o'clock, pluckin' roaches out the cereal box Some shared the same spoon watchin' Saturday cartoons Sugar water was our thing, every meal was no thrill In the summer, free lunch held us down like steel
And there was days I had to go to Tex house with a note Statin', "Gloria can I borrow some food ? I'm dead broke" So embarrasin' I couldn't stand to knock on they door My friends might be laughin', I spent stamps in stores
Mommy, where's the toilet paper? Use the newspaper Look Miss Rose gave us a couch, she's the neighbor Things was deep, my whole youth was sharper than cleats Two brothers with muscular dystrophy, it killed me
But I remember this, mom's would lick her finger tips To wipe the cold out my eye before school with her spit Case worker had her runnin' back to face to face I caught a case, housin' tried to throw us out of our place
Sometimes I look up at the stars and analyze the sky And ask myself was I meant to be here, why?
And I'm so thankful I made it through And I'm so thankful I made it through
And I'm so thankful I made it through And I'm so thankful I made it through
I sit and think about all the times we did without bread I always said I wouldn't cry when I saw tears in your eyes I understand that daddy's not here now But some way or somehow I will always be around, yeah
All things that I did from this to that Oh, from drugs to bein' there Bein' down and out and I love you always, oh
Yeah, you see, you see the universe Which consists of the sun moon and star And them planets that exist in my space Like man woman and child, you understand?
We got to keep it real and what reality and Reality will keep it real with us I remember them good old days Because see, that's the child I was What made me the man I am today
See 'cause if you forget where you come from You're never gonna make it where you're goin' Because you lost the reality of yourself So take one stroll through your mind and see what you will find And you'll see a whole universe all over again And again and again and again and again, yeah More from Ghostface Killah