I catch a body at a party  sort of herbal with the verbal
 Look above and see the vultures fly around in a circle
 Baggin' while you're lollygaggin'  raggin'  tow taggin'
 Assassin with the millimeter roars of a dragon

 Here stood the black hood  thirsty for the end
 And for the love of money  kind of funny  new friends
 Public housing  a thousand in a tent
 So I'm forced to sell hell just to pay the rent

 Killin' my own people, I put 'em out of order
 Just like the liquor store scene on every corner
 I'm tryin' but the kids keep cryin', and the bullets keep flyin'
 Look, a boy, he's on the curb just dyin'
 Finally the cops come dumb to the slum
 Pull out a gun and arrest the wrong one
 Wax all the Puerto Ricans and blacks
 So they can never relax
 I dwell, might as well learn the facts
 Pete Rock and C.L. can radio a shack up
 Sparkin' off and have 'em all callin' for backup
 "Watch another crime and you're gonna do time"
 All this you'll find in the ghettos of the mind

 Ain't that somethin'?...

 Listen to cats and rough rats war under the window
 When the ghetto forts flarey, never was a Tom and Jerry
 Livin' ain't cheap, my survival is deep
 In this part of town where the city never sleep
 A Barney Miller roller, you can bet the car's stolen
 Or static with your BM, only when you see them
 Speakin' on your baby's mom, a best for the drama
 Always tryin' to make a movie, little stark-ravin' looney
 Stressin' it, but you know the ghetto keep ya busy
 A place that when I die it would never even miss me
 Crack phials in the aisles as one pimp smiles
 Dope piles workin' hookers by the miles
 But still my pop's got three jobs to stable
 A family household and food on the table
 So as we pray for all our souls to keep
 Somebody's on the project roof, ready to leap
 I want to stop the pain or the bad situation
 But backwards wisdom I can't afford to give 'em
 Self savior is much braver with the conscious behavior
 Designed in the ghettos of the mind

 Ain't that somethin'? C'mon...

 It's like that y'all...

 I could never look forward to an early retirement
 But still I maintain in a hostile environment
 Hustlin' the concrete jungle for loot
 My parents hated blood money so they gave me the boot
 Take a risk 'cause the peer pressure has the edge
 It was a blessin' when I saw my life dangle on the ledge
 The streets coulda swallowed me whole
 But the pain was all gone when I got to see my healthy son born
 And now I bring him home to the ghetto,
 Only to make a stronger fellow
 Maybe do some good for the neighborhood
 It's hard playing hero livin' less than a zero
 Raging Bull like DeNiro, the modern day pharoah
 A concentration camp with the Section 8
 Welfare checks given at a monthly rate
 Apply for the get high, or just plain lazy
 Many steady collect right around the fifth baby
 The hawk is out but the niggaz never pack it
 A hundred dollar sneakers with the skimpy-ass jacket
 When people are deaf, dumb, and blind they get left behind
 Imagine in the ghettos of the mind