One two y'all

Old school y'all



Allow me if you will

to indulge my verbal skill into a scene

about the feeble minded schemes of a teen

I tried to stay alive and I strived

Sometimes I even cried

I was only ten years plus five

Nevertheless

**** gave me stress

my addiction to sess

led to my first conviction and arrest

yes yes

the East New York style was like the wild wild west

'cuz if you had to impress

when you dressed in fresh gear

"Hey yo, we only rockin' Bally's over here!"

this year if you ain't got it

you still could be down but play the rear

you come to the section that I'm from

ry to rock your fresh apparel

and you'll be starin' down the barrel of a gun

remember '83 and '84 in high school

come December the jewel was the Brooklyn rule

the restroom was off limits to the herbs

cuz we was shootin' celo from the palms to the curbs

lady luck be with me, daddy needs a new pair of shoes

but daddy hates to lose so somebody got to get abused

you think you jettin' with my dough, hell no

nigga you don't know my steelo

we 'bout to take a vote on your sheepskin coat

and your phat gold rope chain

you had to be insane to even get into the game

it's me you need to thank

that you're only gettin' ganked point blank

my homeboy Tank got the shank



that's how it was, so this is how it is

you got to keep it real when you deal with them Brooklyn kids



the Zulus dropped jewels on a school called ****

now it's graphics, the gods had crazy mathematics

chicks Uptown wore Louis Vuitton and Fendi

wasn't friendly but for lunch at ****

y'all could get it on

a new mob culture deep like Bob Marley

the brothas that was large Black Eyes and Eric Charley

at Riverside they gave dough to any hoe that might want it

if he had the loot you know that he would flaunt it

in those days nobody pledged allegiance to a crew

if it came to you or them best believe it would be you

in two short years Brooklyn flipped shit, swithched

a lot of brothas caught the blade 'cuz they snitched

like the bitch ass niggas that they was because

the Brooklyn brothas always keep an eye

on what other brothas does

security became an impurity, they tried to keep us quiet

everytime they try it we would riot

we made the front page when we took it to the stage

in a rage on the masses

we all left our classes broke fool in the school

everybody lost their cool, no more shanks

we had graduated to the tool



that's how it was, so this is how it is

you got to keep it real when you deal with them Brooklyn kids



Now everybody talkin' bout the west coast, yeah

they real with the skill but we was packin' toast

in the days long gone, living wrong

living trife, no life

and the Decepticons rollin' through the night

you betta take flight when you see 'em preparing for battle

they roll a hundred deep in the street like cattle

the only thing that slowed 'em down was ****

and the **** gave 'em knowledge

a third caught city jobs the others went to college

the last third simply got worse schooling all the young boys

that came behind the ones who came first



that's how it was, so this is how it is

you got to keep it real when you deal with them Brooklyn kids