Back home

Everybody's searching for somethin'

But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin'

Back home

Ain't nobody hoping and praying

'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em

And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact that

Life goes black when those lights go out

But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own

'Cause ain't a damn thing free

Back home



[Common:]

Back home

they holler "disciple" and "blackstone"

Same block they freebase yo we trapped on

Where our grandmothers marched

The guns clap on

There's liquor stores, beauty supplies, and rap songs

I travel the world just to come back to it

The crib got a lot of soul like black music

I'm attached to it

In many ways the city raised me

and gave me

The drama, honor, and bravery

The streets seem hollow

when I go to Chicago

It's cheap wine and sorrow

Times is hard to swallow

In search of God's tomorrow

I borrow words from the

Bible

and use them for survival

gangs rival

Signs painted on walls like hieroglyphics

I tell 'em that this is all tribal

Used to do dirt

shorty's goin' through the same cycle

And trials like Michael

tryin' not to stay idle



[Ryu:]

Back home it's not Compton but close

The same problems exist and the pain throbbin'

And folks are so common

It don't

really bother us much we just swallow it

uh

Crack the bottle and smoke

hope tomorrow something

Magical happens that'll put me back in the biz

But the chances of it actually happening's kinda slim

Back home

we get the good life at a glimpse

In the form of a rap star, drug dealers, and pimps

I'm back home



[Tak:]

Back home

I try my best to keep it together it's cold

Like the Windy City streets of December

I pace back and forth

looking for the courage to shine

But can't tap the source

need something to nourish my mind

I know we all lose quite a bit in life

Only to gain some

Life of the dark winding roads we came from

But I move with the night

so I'm used to the shade

And never lose sight

bringing truth back to the game



[Mike:]

Back home

we've got a lot of shit on our minds

We're always behind on something cause there's not enough time

And we're non-stop

bottom line

doing what we gotta do to get some food in the fridge and stay out of the hosptial

Back home there's people calling us hopeless

People trying to tell us all we need is some focus

But focus

Focus is overrated

Cause you see every blemish and mistake and can't change it

Back home is Alvarado

K-Town and J-Town

Or Little Tokyo for those that don't know

Where figures shiver

living right inside the LA river

On the concrete

a symbol of our everyday way

Its that color and concentration over the heavy and grey

And by the time the ink dries on this page

I'll be half a day away from the place where I stay