[Verse 1: J-Live]

Yo, I grew up on the chill side

The no big deal side

Where staying alive was no problem

The other east side

Projects and condos

Somewhere in between downtown and harlem

It's not quite accurate to claim half

Either side was ever either all this or all that

Some projects apartments be decked out fat

Some condos still packed with roaches and rats

But if New York is a concrete Jungle

My old earth kept me in the zoo where it wasnt so wild

Who wouldn't want to find a way to make it safe for a child

As a teenager I learned to escape for awhile

But you know what they say being out of your element

Whether giraffe, monkey, lion, or elephant

In school they said I was on the right track

But in the school of hard knocks I done got left back

Nowadays no knocks get left

My left knocks back

Some say might makes right

So my rights ain't light

But whether giving beatdowns or getting down on beat

You're not likely to see me or consider me street



[Chorus:]

But from the sidewalks I see how it's rough out there

I see the extra large dosage of life ain't fair

From the sidewalks I see how the gas don't last

In the streets and you crash when you go too fast

From the sidewalks trust shit is Just as real

Even if your lifestyle ain't kill or be killed

From the sidewalks Chris Rock got you gassed

But I'm that smarter than y'all nigga that'll whoop your ass



[Verse 2: J-Live]

Yo, I love New York, I am New York

The way I spin break beats, make beats and talk

The way I eat, sleep, drink, fuck, spit, and walk

The way I build and destroy cause that's how I was taught

I'm feeling Philly for now, I don't get home sick

I'm still close enough to the Yanks, Giants, and Knicks

It's still city to city Just different bricks

See I don't divide by places, man fuck that shit

It's a different state, but similar state of mind

See every city got the same theme underlined

A battleground for the lives of the dumb and blind

Ya heard?

Please believe that it takes all kinds

We all got to get over in our own way

Place to stay, peace to lay, and a pay day

I get mines the legit way

But no telling what I do to protect mines

So you best respect my

Kindness for weakness, face for fear

Common mistakes are made until the cards are played

But don't step to my door thinking something is sweet

Or we won't even have to take it all the way to the street



[Chorus:]

Cuz from the sidewalks, corners that I clean and own

Never fuck with the sanctity of my home

From the sidewalks, I rep from New York to Philly

So from Broadway to Broad Street you got to feel me

From the sidewalks, I know how to hold it down

On my own when I come through and visit your town

From the sidewalks, Chris Rock got you gassed

But I'm that smarter than y'all nigga that'll whoop your ass



[Verse 3: J-Live]

Yo, from the sidewalks, I been watching Hip-Hop grow

And vice versa from school battles to my own show

I watch skills evolve and the necks up blow

Motivated by the love for the art and the dough

I seen people influenced by the next man's flow

To the point that it controls where they content go

But if there's 8 million stories and a handful of rappers

We can't all be pimps, players, and gunclappers

It sounds sexy coming out your stereo, right?

But then you wonder why we still getting stereotyped

Like we a whole generation of

Want to be thugs and soon to be hoes

Like that's Just how it go

But everybody in the city ain't ghetto

We all not slanging rocks and toatin' metal and

Everybody in the ghetto ain't gangster

Waiting for a reason to stomp, shoot, and shank ya, and

Every gangster in the ghetto ain't stupid as you

Advocating that bullshit the way that you do

Like there's no consequences or repercussions

Like we don't even think first, before we start bustin'

But whatever's clever son, I let them tell it

Why should I play the role of zealot Just for y'all to repel it

I'd rather rep for the rest of us with real talk

So I'm out like that

J transmitting live from the sidewalks



(From the sidewalks....) [x23]