Joe. And  um  I'm not on crack  I don't do drugs  I'm just trying to get
 something to eat. If you can give just a penny  a nickel..a dime  a
 quarter..anything will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time...
 and have a nice day.

 How do you do?
 I'm from the other side of town
 The place where the only skin you see is the color brown
 The sun never shines in this place where I live
 And it's hard to do right when you feel negative
 I have no compassion
 I only know agression
 And there is nothing great about this opression
 People I see on TV, in there towns live the good life
 But I live out of bounds
 Where nobody comes unless they're forced to come
 In school, they call me the bum from the slum
 But they don't know
 My sista has no food to eat
 And her hand-me-down shoes are too tight for her feet
 The way I see things, life isn't fair
 So I never learned how to share or to care
 But to hope - and hope
 Instead of feeling down
 And that's how it is
 On the other side of town

 I live on the other side of town

 Pardon me, brotha
 As you stand in your glory
 I hope you don't mind as I tell the whole story
 Some people livin life like fun in the sun
 But yo, others are givin strife, and that's all they know
 I feel no comfort in talks from the President
 So put back on Cosby
 A shack is my resident
 I think if I ever die, it might be a blessin
 Some say I never try, but why are they stressin
 I'll never get ahead; my raps have a better chance
 I'm livin on Wonder Bread with holes in my leather pants
 I'm not on the drug scene; they call me a crack head
 I just had a bugged dream that I was a black man
 Workin in the hospital
 Then in came in a half-dead rich bitch
 Yo, they must be insane
 You think I would save her?
 Yo, she wouldn't save me
 I asked for a quater once, and guess what she gave me
 A fuckin penny
 A ?quarter? costs half a mill
 If it's up to me, yo, she's pushin up dafodils
 In a casket
 Payback's a female dog
 Yo, send her ass to the morgue
 Then I woke up, and I sat with a frown
 Damn, I woke up
 But on the other side of town

 The other side of town

 My teacher's a fat man
 Yo, how can they tempt me so
 Fuck geometry, my stomach is empty, yo
 Can't you teach me to win this crazy game?
 You and I are in so many ways the same
 People tell me, but I don't believe that shit
 Why do you sell me a dream, then leave me spit?
 The truth is bare, and so is my cupboards, too
 I wonder what could even L. Ron Hubbard do
 Because my mind right now is on the brink of breakin
 Yo, look how I think
 I think I'll stick up the store with the Arab guy
 I'm sick of him anyway; his prices are too high
 Or maybe I'll start sellin Avon door-to-door
 Then pull a jammy, and make a bigger score
 Nah, maybe I'll start sellin dope for my cous
 Then I could drive the same car he does
 The life of a poor man
 Consider me desperate
 I sleep in a cold room
 And wish I could just get
 A piece of the pie
 Is that asking too much?
 I can't even reach what others have in their clutch
 I wish I could go on, but I have to end this
 And get back to livin a life that is winless
 There's no use swimmin, so I might as well drown
 In my sorrows
 Cause tomorrow's the other side of town

 The other side of town
 The other side of town