I'm surrounded  by psychopathic  little fellas
 Ghetto dwellas
 With ammunition in their cellas
 And no remorse in their hearts
 When the shit starts it don't end
 Until somebody's gone with the wind
 And I'm tryin' to keep a level head so instead
 Of goin' out to die  I write rhymes on my bed
 And little kids at the playground
 Better stay down
 Keep duckin'
 Cause somebody else is buckin'
 Don't seem to be no relief from the beef
 Only nigga round my way without the gold teeth
 And the gold chain, with the whole name on my neck
 Jewelries your worse enemy without a tech
 I'm tryin' to maintain, but it ain't workin'
 Niggas keep lurkin'
 Through the darkness I see the Grim Reaper smirkin'
 Could it be that he's smilin' at me
 Not tryin' to see fatal injury, injury
 What must I do to avoid the pain
 It seems insane, but I gotta maintain
 I can feel the pressure on my brain
 Feel the strain
 But I gotta maintain

 CHORUS:
 Workin' hard may help ya maintain
 Be able to maintain
 Be able to maintain
 Workin' hard may help ya maintain
 Be able to, be able to
 Be able to maintain
 Workin' hard may help ya maintain
 Be able to maintain
 Be able to maintain
 Workin' hard may help ya maintain
 Be able to, be able to
 Be able to maintain

 Verse Two: Lord Digga

 Back in the days I use to do a little dirt
 Now that's comin' back around, and man it hurts
 To see everbody gettin' on
 But I got to wait cause of the things I done wrong
 In my life, I regret it
 But the man upstairs won't let me forget it
 Everytime I think of doin' somethin' right
 Here comes a dark tunnel with no signs of a light
 I got to fight to keep my head above water
 Dollars are real tight, I be askin' bums for quarters
 I had enough of the quick cash
 So I got to find a way to make the shit last
 In the past I woulda just gave up
 But there's more days to come, I know they bring ya good luck
 So I'm a keep doin' what I'm doin'
 Sippin' on the brew and catchin' wreck wit my crewin'
 I feel stuck with a lot of aches and pains
 And it's stressin' me, but I gotta maintain
 (Maintain, maintain)/ I gotta maintain
 (Maintain, maintain)/ I gotta maintain

 CHORUS

 Verse Three:

 There's too much pressure and stress on my chest
 Life's a mess
 And I feel depressed
 Seems so hard to survive and stay alive
 Jump in my ride and I drive, doin' 95
 With my system blastin'
 I'm passin' cars in the right lane, light change I'm gasin'
 No, destination
 But I'm racin'
 With my lights on, I got my brights on
 Play the right song
 And the sweat beeds my five
 Drive past Five-O and now they givin' chase
 They'll probably want to know where the fire's at
 Or where the drug buyers at
 Fuck, my tire's flat
 I guess I'm pullin' over, to take a loss
 But it won't be the loss of my life from drivin' off course
 God knows I need to be here to shap me son's brain
 So I gotta maintain

 CHORUS

 CHORUS (fades out