Seventeen

At seventeen, you wouldn't be the youngest corpse heaven's seen
For a pair of Air Jordans size 11 clean
You would hustle during REM hours
If you pushed up daisies or gaury stem flowers
Look alive
Now everyone has your best interests at heart
Wouldn't be close if y'all was interests apart
The interesting part
At sixteen, you work a shift at Mickey D's
Read comic books, kept your room clean, and your grades up
But now they slippin'
Like bloods hanging where they crippin'
Put the cock back, stick the clip in
You see how girls love the jewelry drippin'
And gossipin' about what they whippin'
You and them never locked lips when you were sixteen
You lost your virginity a month ago
Weeks before that, you started puffin' dro
Hangin' with the wrong crowd, joyridin' in the stolen car
Bangin' songs loud
Mom's kicked you out the crib
'Cause you stayed out all night, stay high all day,
And that will make you fight
You thinking you grown
You only seventeen
You wouldn't be the youngest corpse that heaven's seen
For a pair of Air Jordans size 11 clean
You would run up on a n, steal somebody's car
Empty out the reverend's jeans

Now you off the pills
Pushing wheels
And stacking up some dollar bills
How it feels
To live the life you hear about portrayed inside of rap songs
And see inside of movies made by Paramount
Your mom's praying for, you wonder what the prayer 'bout
Is it the duck low in areas that your rivals' airing out?
Last week your man's got shot, but he recovered
He came home, murdered one and looking for the other
So now you stay strapped at all times
'Cause life involves crime that could kill you like the fall from a tall climb
Plus you live under the same roof with his granny
Livin' wild, taking xanny, sniffin' nose candy
When you got the call from your first telling you that she hasn't had her period
Of course she wasn't hearing it
Young and inexperienced
You were just sixteen last year
Working drive thru as a cashier
Sometimes you past there and reminisce
Now you in some hot water and your choices are to swim a fish
'Cause last night is when your spot got raided
Be lucky that no hotshot sprayed it
You thinking you grown, you only seventeen
You wouldn't be the youngest corpse that heaven's seen
For a pair of Air Jordans size 11 clean
You would risk it all
Keep your mouth shut or stab a knife into your brethren's spleen
Those are repercussions that you probably ain't seen
Hope you make better decisions when you eighteen
If you doing jail time and swipe the slate clean
Hope you make better decisions when you eighteen
Once you learn the definition of what fate mean
Hope you make better decisions when you-
*gun shot*

Too many fake friendships nowadays
I'm gonna give you my own insight on this subject
When we talk of people not being who they say they are
We meet people, they turn on us, they change
We're like, "Wait a minute. What are you doing?"
I say it's all about looking how to attract positive versions of yourself
And negative versions of yourself
You see, a lot of us
We see someone and they're smiling, they're happy, they're singing, they're full of joy
And we say, "Oh, I like that person."
But you haven't seen their other side
Now depending on which side they show you
That is gonna form an image of them in your mind
That is why a lot of us, we don't show our negative side to people
Because otherwise, we're not gonna have any friends
I say, it's all about knowing who you are
To attract the right people to assist you in becoming your greatest version
When we talk of how to spot a fake friend or how to find the right friend
I say, for instance, right now in this social media world
You can have thousands of friends, but ask yourself
On a rainy day when you're home alone, will they be around?
Will they be around when the times are hard?
Probably not