[Verse 1: Jay Rock] Growin up I was a knucklehead Boy you never listen to me! Thats what my momma said Im from the projects I ain't never had sh** Me and my older brother We had to share a mattress No heat, no lights Had to keep them candles lit My daddy left me at 8 In an out my life and sh** Gang bangas dope dealers replaced my father Neighborhood hustlas taught me to get them dollars Thats when I became a problem Product of my environment It's hard to grow up be a doctor or a fireman When you constantly seein that g ride tires screeching And them shots firin all the time it happens frequently The hood inspired him, to be a G I bled for the game did it all for the letter B The big homie gave me the name jay rock This ain't no rap gimmick It's a real life story on watts livin n***a [Hook: Kendrick Lamar] You can take, me out the hood, but you can't take the hood out me And that's the way it will forever be And I can't help it i'm gutter Why should I change now When all my life I been gang banged out That project sh** run deep in my veins now And I can't help it Ooh my lord knows that I can't help it [Verse 2: Jay Rock] Let me take you on a detour East side watts n***as will go in projects Follow me home to my black and white apartments Police roll thru with caution, scared to d**h The homies got tats across them Capitol BH over they necks Since birth banging the set Even the hoes banging the set
Some ain't, but most is hood rats That looking for that buck Them trash cans lay in the street Ghetto technique for drive bys For the low them 5 dollas will get you high Dice games, YGs, fist fights Six fo's, el co's, g rides, and mini bikes Might see a couple of zombies late night Off what? off pipe membrane dead right No lie something in the bushes Either the AK or the .45, no lie Raised in the ghetto With rats and roaches Smokers on porches Getting high off yola It's colder north But my city's the coldest Where we ain't promised to see the morning, n***a [Hook] [Verse 3: Jay Rock] You could take me out the hood But the hood will never leave me I'm still bangin I'm still hangin The only difference is I'm not slangin Nickels and dimes More like slanging these rap lines Verses of truth When I step in the booth n***as know I pour my soul out for the struggling youth For that fatherless son who needed love so he ran with a crew Grew up before his older brother did Gin and juice Replaced the pain I knew Carrying them thangs to school Them n***as was tripping I wasn't bangin the blue But they had to respect me I never ran from who? Nobody, put my faith in god It's amazin how I overcame them odds On my momma this past year my life has slightly been revised But notice I said slightly Cuz me being absent from where I came from That's unlikely [Hook]