Every Ghetto, Every City

I was just a little girl (little girl)
Skinny legs, a press and curl (a press and curl)
My mother always thought I'd be a star (my mother always thought I'd be a star)
But way before the record deals
Streets that nurtured Lauryn Hill (uh-huh)
Made sure that I'd never go too far (well, what up? Yeah)

Every ghetto, every city
And suburban place I been
Make me recall my days
In New Jerusalem (you know, uh-huh)

Story starts in Hoodaville (Hoodaville)
Grew up next to Ivy Hill
When kids were stealing quartervilles for fun
"Kill the Guy" in Carter Park (uh)
Rode a Mongoose 'til it's dark
Watching kids show off the stolen ones

Every ghetto, every city
And suburban place I've been
Make me recall my days
In the New Jerusalem

You know it's hot, don't forget what you got
Looking back, looking back, looking back, looking back
You know it's hot, don't forget what you got
Looking back, looking back, looking back, looking back

Bag of Bontons, twenty cents and a nickel (well, that's a quarter)
Springfield Ave had the best popsicles
Saturday morning cartoons and Kung-Fu (ooh-tah!)
Main Street roots tonic with the dreads
A beef patty and some coco bread
Move the patch from my Lee's to the tongue of my shoes

'Member Frelinghuysen used to have the bomb leather?
Back when Doug Fresh and Slick Rick was together
Looking at the crew, we thought we'd all live forever

You know it's hot, don't forget what you got (you know it's hot)
Looking back, looking back, looking back, looking back
You know it's hot, don't forget what you got (you know it's hot)
Looking back, looking back, looking back, looking back

Drill teams on Munn Street
'Member when Hawthorne and Chancellor had beef
Moving Records was on Central Ave
I was there at dancing school (dancing school)
South Orange Ave at Borlin pool (uh-huh)
Unaware of what we didn't have

Writing my friends' names on my jeans with a marker
July 4th races outside Parker
Fireworks at Martin Stadium (oh, word, my love)
The Untouchable PSP
Where all them crazy niggas be
The car thief got away through Irvington (lock it up, uh, uh)

Hillside brings beef with the cops
Self-destruction, record drops
And everybody's name was Muslim (children playing, women producing)
Sensations in '88
Attracted kids from out of state
And everybody used to do the wop (wop it out, wop it out, wop it out)

Jack ya, jack ya, jack ya body
Nah, the BizMark used to amp up the party
I wish those days, they didn't stop
(I wish those days, they didn't stop)

Every ghetto, every city
And suburban place I've been
Make me recall my days
In New Jerusalem (every city)

You know it's hot, don't forget what you got
Looking back, looking back, looking back, looking back
You know it's hot, don't forget what you got (you know it's hot)
Looking back, looking back, looking back, looking back

You know it's hot
Don't forget what you got (you know it's hot)
Looking back, looking back, looking back, looking back
Looking back, looking back, looking back, yeah

Looking back, looking back, looking back
Looking back, looking back, looking back
Looking back, looking back, looking back
Looking back, looking back, looking back