... in jail



[Intro: One.Be.Lo]

Y'knowm sayin?  You got these wack MCs out here

Y'knowm sayin?  They do three days in the county

Y'knowm sayin?  And, come home and write a rhyme about doin bids

Y'knowm sayin?  Shankin, shankin people, doin time

They don't know nothin 'bout time man, I got people locked down

Y'knowm sayin?



[One.Be.Lo]

We was handcuffed, in the back of a bus, forty of us

The road it was rough, plus nobody I could trust (trust)

Headed upstate, no chance for escape

Barbed wire and guards in the gun tower secured the gate

My uncle's fate, was life without parole

Thank God (thank God) I was blessed with an outdate, I can't wait

But I got to, you probably wouldn't have did what I did 

to catch a bid, but I'm not you

I got a crew still on the street, they don't write me letters

No time to visit a brotha, or bother to send me cheddar

Never did I sweat it, I know they got a life to live

My man J, had a wife and kid

And these are the consequences, my actions committed

Some cats that I used to visit, now I live with

Along with swillas, killers, drug dealers, some rich brothas

Crackheads, con artists, child molesters, dick suckers

All types of individuals, sorta like a melting pot for criminals

The system is designed to stock it plentiful

This old cat from the hood

told me, "Out of every bad situation comes some good"

It's understood, prison ain't good for my health

Lookin in the mirror, introducin me to myself

I studied my thoughts, my ways, the routes I took

Though I read daily, it ain't all about the books

It's all about the lessons you learn, through your experience

Applyin it in a positive way, period

All praise due to Allah, I used to scheme 

'til he showed me the straight way - sirat al mustaqeem

Now I'm on the V-I, tellin Moms about Islam

She called me a blasphemous fool, I stayed calm

The world wasn't ready for the changes I made

They was waitin for the nigga I was in twelfth grade

Everyday, the same old thing, I walked the yard

Sit up in the chow hall, with Abdul Rahim

Cats waitin in infirmary lines, for they medicines

Boorish Americans, walk around with circle sevens

And older heads playin horseshoes, sometimes chess

Trippin when I first seen a faggot with breasts

In the shower with a cat, gettin hit from the back

White dudes, on basketball courts kickin hacky-sacks

Ball games, card games, face it

Everybody, time on they hands, most of it wasted

Anything to make the time fly soon as possible

Some cats used to sleep all day, that's unacceptable

Heads getting cracked over unpaid debts

Either a shank or a lock on the side would do the trick

Correction officers, devil's advocate

And when its time to go home, parole boards wasn't havin it

Life was hell everyday the devil's tryin me

But, I paid my debt to society

And after twenty-seven months, of my life

I'll tell you one thing, I know why the caged bird sings



In jail, without the bail [repeat throughout Outro]



[Outro: One.Be.Lo]

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yeah, y'knowm sayin?

This goes out to all the caged birds out there, y'knowm sayin?

Everybody who know why the caged bird sings, y'knowm sayin?

I know why the caged bird sings..

I know why the caged bird sings, I know why the caged bird sings

In jail, in jail, in jail, in jail, I sung the same song

When I was upstate, I couldn't flap wings