[Verse 1]

I'ma take you back to day one, livin in this New York slum

It's deaf to the dumb, only break bread with some

Moms left at 15, had no American dreams

To this day, I'm sellin to my cousin who's a fiend

No one would got me but my older brother

Little did we know the dirt we did fell back on my mother

But didn't care back then, that's why she left like that

Now my parents became the street, and it's best like that



[Verse 2]

Some nights I pray to God and ask him to pull my cord

Cuz times is hard like the opposite street'll leave you scarred

Street wise with no respect for authority and shit

A chronic hustler of crack, a typical bitch

Raised by madu who strung out on a glass dick

But every now and then I blessed her with a hit

So she don't have to trick

It's prevalent amongst kids today

Hustle krills, stack dough, and everything's okay



HOOK

It's the emancipation proclamation under the self devised guidelines

of self preservation and starvation (I gotta live)

It's the emancipation proclamation under the self devised guidelines

of self preservation and starvation (and I gotta live)



[Verse 3]

My life in this world wasn't about diamonds and pearls

It was rough growin up around the boys and girls

After daddy left, shit was a mess, momma stressed

But I give her an award, cuz damn she tried her best

Holdin down the household, barely had money to fold

Christmas time, cherished our little shit like gold

I can't front, daddy was still there for me, cared for me

But him and mommy breakin up was like a nightmare to me



[Verse 4]

Yo this is for the younger fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers

Success is nothin if it aint if it was with the others