"This afternoon we want to talk about"
 "Now I want you brothers to dig where we coming from"

 [WC]
 Five yers ago when I was in high school
 No bills to pay, I used to say to myself "Life is cool"
 I had a roof over my head and a part-time job
 Slanging at OB's birdstand
 Washington High was the school I attended
 Til '87 graduation came and I wasn't with it
 Kicked out the house at the age of 18
 No money for college, mmm, how should I handle things?
 I tried to go the so-called right way
 And went to a JC but I wasn't getting paid
 I'm working at a chicken stand now with the chicken
 With a spring at the top of my hat getting clowned
 I gotta pay my rent but my job ain't cutting it
 So now I'm drinking gin saying "Here's my alternative"
 To either keep doing what I'm doing, don't trip
 Or go and buy gats y'all and come up on a grip
 So like anybody else I went and bought a gun
 Pulling burgs at night and now I'm counting my funds
 Three times a day and I drive a coup on danas
 Cruising through the alley bumping on "Hi" to players
 Yo, you can say what you want but I was taught on the streets
 That if a brother didn't work, then he didn't eat

 "You don't work, you can't eat"

 [Coolio]
 Peep this, something kind if for weakness
 Focus on the park and watch how I freak this
 Subject for survival, got to stay alive
 I gotta eat so I do or die
 Not a full-time crook but I was born right
 So if I want to eat, sometimes I got to jack
 So jack I will and go get some presidents
 A foot in the ground and the other on an oil slick
 Money ain't everything but either is brokeness
 Give me a knife cause I can't live off happiness
 Once a brother said I can't work for the white kind
 Standing on the corner in a soup line
 Said he's too black, too strong, ain't done nothing yet
 Waiting on the fifth for his government relief check
 Humming and bumming, most hate to see him coming
 And every first and 15th, these strongs on his life
 But a hustle is a hustle and a meal is a meal
 That's why I'm real and I ain't afraid to steal
 Straight from the street, backed up by a funky beat
 If you don't work, OG, then you don't eat

 "You don't work, you can't eat" (Repeat 2x)

 [Ice Cube]
 Ayo, I want y'all to meet a nigga from the Lench Mob
 He gaffled for his meals (McDonald's is my spot)
 Ayo Jay Dee, kick some shit for the Maad Circle, G

 [Jay Dee]
 If you don't work, you don't eat, need I say more?
 Cause I'm a kick my rhymes in abundant while you stay poor
 Since I was 14 I raised myself
 I built a roof over my head and then I went for self
 I sold cooked-up rock, made my way through school
 I'm not saying you should do it cause it ain't too cool
 Kicking ???, playing to start your back
 Talking about that bullshit prize, you slay me right?
 And you other motherfuckers out here banging for change
 Need to wise up and seek personal gain
 Or maintain some type of pain
 Cause they don't give away hot lunches out here in L.A.
 Yo peace to the Dub and the Maad Circle
 For giving me the chance to let the rhyme just flow
 So you can (So you can either sell dope or get your ass a job)
 Jay Dee (I'd rather roll with the Lench Mob)

 "You don't work, you can't eat"

 [MC Eiht]
 Eiht is stepping from the city down under
 And I'm robbing more punk fools blind like Stevie Wonder
 Ain't no punching a clock, I ain't with it
 For a quarter an hour I make the shit every minute
 And please, don't even let me catch a brother slipping
 He'll be short, shorter than short
 With my hands around his troat
 Fool, come off the chain and bracelet
 I know it's wrong but face it
 A brother like me won't win the lottery
 Ain't no faking when it's time to bring home the bacon
 Cause I was taught get what you're gonna get quick
 And don't get gaffled in the mix
 So I guess I'll keep stacking, breaking the law
 Checking a fool, wrecking and breaking his jaw
 Gyeah, that's life in the Compton streets
 Homeboy you don't work, homeboy you don't eat

 "You don't work, you can't eat"

 [WC]
 This record was put together by Jay Dee, Coolio, and the W
 Eight, Chilly Chill, and DJ Crazy Toons
 Sic brothers out to get paid cause
 Nowadays you got to go for yourself or go broke
 I'm living day by day cause you see the future ain't promised
 So save that drama for your mama
 And make sure you're out of my path when I'm on the creep tip
 Or have your first name changed to R.I.P.

 "You don't work, you can't eat" (Repeat 2x