[Chorus]

I used to be a thug but now I'm a believer

I used to be a thug I know how it feels

I used to be a thug but now a believer

No more thug and no more deals


[Verse 1]

Ok doc my occupation was thuggin'

The whole nine, I mean the robbin' the dealin' the muggin'

The Clubin' the premarital lovin'

The type to put one in the oven but I wasn't tryin' to be the husband

Sin was Lord and I always obeyed the Master

It told me "sell drugs" just to get the paper faster

Let me go to church but would let me imitate the pastor

It only let me imitate my favorite rapper

So the deal was I grew up doin' the ill stuff

Would fight the cops 'til they threw on the steal cuffs

Go in do my bid like the mack

When it was done say, "cool out kids---I'll be back."

But lately there's been some friction

I've been feeling sort of sick from this heart condition

It's an unusual affliction, when I do wrong that's when it kicks in

(From your description, you know it sounds like conviction)

I knew something was going wrong when I bumped in

To a kid so soft I thought his name should be Pumpkin

Recognizing he was a weaker type of creature

I decided to take his beeper and his sneakers

You could tell for this kid a fight was a rare sport

Cause with ease I held him up like flights at an airport

He pleaded, "Don't take my beeper, I need it

And, "...not my sneaks, let me keep my brand new Adidas

That's when signs of the sickness manifested

My mind said, "Be nice and do what the man suggested."

I broke down like a fraction

Gave him back what I took away like subtraction

I'm puzzled and I'm struggling through this distraction

The reciprocal of my typical reaction---dag blast him!

I made tracks and then a flash back happened

That's when the rugged me kicked back in


[Repeat Chorus]


Now last week I was in my dad's black jeep

Rollin' mad deep with mad peeps smashed in the back seat

We took a back street, a Pontiac tried to pass me

I sped up and made him crash by the trash heap

The accident was nasty if you ask me

I would have laughed but then it happened again---the sickness harassed me

Oh no, not again. I had hurt a lot of men

But never felt bad before even when I shot a friend

For ease I thought I should step to the weed spot

Cause I was loosing my cool like melted freeze pops

My knees knocked as my conscience eaves dropped, found a weak spot

And said, "You sin too much, please stop!"

Peep the situation as it gets deeper

I started getting second thoughts about getting' the reefer

But what scared me was the internal reasoning

It was, "God sees you man, and your not pleasing Him"

This was hard to swallow like food with out seasonin'

Me believe in Him, I rather not breath again

Before receivin' Him

You would see a turtle beat a rabbit and a cheetah in a 100m's sprint

That's all that was the last straw I was ready to blast off

To a place I didn't have enough cash for

 But with the swiftness, the sickness turned up the pitch

And with the quickness I felt it clutch me like a stick shift


[Repeat Chorus]


Yea you have no idea just how absurd it is

But check the word of this witness, now get this---I heard of this

Crew that could rip rhymes murderously, but I heard it would be

Christian, I thought absurd as can be

And churches to me can make the hard rocks feel nervous

But I went because I heard this would be an outdoor service

I got there and saw mad youth noddin' to mad truth

Rockin' mad hats and suits and not plaid suits

As truth crashed through my heart ached like a bad tooth

This hard rock got softer than brown spots on bad fruit

I came with a heart stone like a statue then the rap group

Got under my skin like a tattoo

They rapped about a man diein' and I was cryin'

They said He died so I could be saved like Private Ryan

We all could see zoomorphically He's a lion

Coming to rule from Zion with a scepter of iron

Trying to hold back tears that wanted to flow jack

Couldn't control that, it felt like my soul cracked

In half and Jesus started lookin' much bigger

than drugs or liquor or thugs pullin' a trigger

And it was a first that I ever felt so cursed next to One so perfect

My soul thirsted to worship

Scufflin', tustlin', my feathers, He ruffled them

I tried to duck Him and tried to get back to my hustlin'

I must have been affected more than I could have imagined

Cause that's been all I can think about since it happened


[Repeat Chorus to fade]