[Intro: spoken]
You know you got this fantasy
In your head about -
Getting out of the life
And, setting that other world on it's ear
What the fuck are you gonna do except hustle
Now man I ain't puttin' you down
I'm just tryin' to make it real baby like it is, like it is
[Lupe Fiasco:]
Lupe Fiasco... came from the ghetto
You know! food and liquor!
It's the ghetto right here man!
[Verse 1:]
Ay it's real here, dope fiends steal here
Turn around give us the money, to buy wheels here
Give you the chills yeah?
Developers don't build here
Property values low, cause we still here
Better believe most of us wanna leave
Furthest we went was out of our minds
But we still here
Weapons concealed here
Little sisters on the pill here
Can't pay bills here but we like to chill here
Gotta reap what you sow, grow what you til here
Your momma weep where you sowed "˜cause you was killed there
Police put cameras on poles too many deals there
Gotta go to the county, cause you was filmed there
How does it feel knowing innocence was killed here?
Last night, down the park beating harpo still there
For loveliest chain I make up pills here
Let's pray for our brains bust-downs kneel here
[Hook: Anthony Hamilton]
Sometimes I get rushed
Coming from where I'm from, (I'm from)
Times have got hard yeah
Coming from where I'm from (I'm from)
Sometimes I gotta work to work, yeah
Coming from where I'm from (I'm from)
Sometimes I gotta do a little dirt
Coming from where I'm from (I'm from)
[Verse 2:]
There was once a child in here
Cause all the tribulations and the trials in here
And all the limitations of his housing there
Became a teenage trafficker a thousandaire
Captivated with what the drug dealer told
Infatuated by what the drug dealer drove
A life validated by what a drug dealer holds
On the stand because what another drug dealer told
A drug dealers woe: 'time waits for no man'
No woman waits for a man with time on his hands (they don't)
Didn't you know? lord they fearing ye now
They hearing ye now
Specially when the conspiracy comes down
We come down get humble
It's no longer fun now
But who gonna hustle to feed his son now?
From the cradle to the cage