Backstreet

The air is still, the heat is rising

Summer time's on the horizon

Little girl with a baby crying

'Cause she's got no food to eat

And it ain't that nobody's listening

And it ain't that nobody cared

It's just that everybody's busy

Looking out for what is theirs

I'm a hustler on the corner

Making very little money

But down the block on the other corner

This nigger's down there getting paid

What's he doing that I ain't doing?

He got clothes and fancy things

Big old car and pretty women

Watch what jealousy and envy brings

On the backstreet, that's where I live

On the backstreets, there ain't nothing positive

Now up the block comes my man, Cee Lo

Say what's happening, how you feel?

He don't care about no

'Cause he's known to keep it real

Peep what's happening down the block?

Yo hood is down, you're taking mine

Cee Lo knows about his business

So he runs it down one time

He get keys straight from Miami

Hooks it up and sells it cheap

You ain't getting nothing but old from Sally

So your prices are too steep

But I got just the thing you need, son

If you really wanna win

Sunlight sparkles on his gold fronts

As he makes this evil grin

Take a walk on down to my crib

And let me show you something new

Now I got loads of guns and ammo

That I bought from this white dude

You could tell that I was down

That I was just the man to see

And he funded me and leased the cheese with

Of artillery on the backstreet

That's where I live on the backstreet, yeah

There ain't nothing positive

Now in his bedroom, it's amazing

He got guns of every kind

He lights a plant and we start blazing

Then I picked the one that shined

It's an old school Calico

Semi auto dark as night

It's just the thing I need

To make my situation tight

So he shows me how to load it

Since I don't know what to do

Aims toward the wall and it exploded

Through this poster of Ice Cube

It brought so much devastation

That it's obvious to me

That is just the thing

To separate your soul from your body

On the backstreet, that's where I live

On the backstreet, yeah, there ain't nothing positive

I went home and started planning

For he might come up at midnight

In the darkness catch him slipping

Take his up, money is life

I'll just catch him as he goes out

To his car to make a run

Now you can't front when you're confronted

With the cold steel of a gun

Midnight comes and I'm moving

On the creep all dressed in black

Wearing a ski mask so he won't know

Who just put him on his back

So I hid behind the bushes

At the people's house next door

3 shots rang out from behind me

And my blood began to pour, no

What? What now, boy?

Told you I was gonna get you, boy

Thought you's gonna catch me sleeping in your dream

Do it hurt? Let's go

Everything happened in one swift action

Should I just couldn't believe

Cee Lo told them what was happening

I been tricked up and deceived

And it ain't that nobody heard it

And it ain't that nobody cared

It's just that everybody was busy

Looking out for what was theirs

city said

What they call the M-C-C

Now I don't really know what that means

But it's what the cops called me

They don't care what happens to me

They don't miss me on the beat

All they know is that there's one less nigger

Hanging on the backstreet where I used to live

On the backstreet, there ain't nothing, nothing

The choices you make can make or break you

The choices you make can make or break you

The choices you make can make or break you

The choices you make can make or break you