In This Lifetime

(I don't know much)
(About this thing called love)
(But I'm willing to try)
(I don't know much about it either, baby)
(But if you're willing)
(Then so am I)

It all started in the mexican streets
And ended up in these L.A. blocks
That's where the love was released
Me and Duke were products of those
Immigrant antique ways
Where men are men and the cowards take back seats
And that's deep
Street education my dad teached
It ain't the gangs in the hood
But cops that harassed me
He said, money wouldn't last me long
Enjoy family before they get the passin on
I grew up on the 17th block of Pico Union
A rough life
But good times always keep it moving
I stayed down with mom and pop
My blood
Big Duke, Richie and Lil Jake, that's one love
I never express my love with a hug and kiss
More like a, fuck you and a diss
This life is a gift
Before I looked at it like it was a shit
'Cuz of the way we grew up
Mistreated as kids
Must've called it tough love
Or called it being real with each other
Never cared about those enemies
Or undercover
The escape was the streets
Where the kids felt like me
Constantly got into beef
There's no one to blame for all mistakes
And pain we went through
And made our folks feel too
So whenever I did something wrong
Moms I blamed it on you
Though you had no idea
Of what your son would do
There ain't no city like my city in this whole world
There ain't nobody like my sons and our baby girls
I thank god up above for this lifetime
And I got love for my women in the night time
Yeah!
And it's still all good
I grew up in the ghetto but I love my hood
Now this is how it is and this is how it's always gon' be
Me and my fam till we RIP
I wake up
And I'm surprised that I'm still breating
Believing, yes
It's another day that I've cheated death
Yeah!
Sometimes it feels like there's nothing left
Take care of your mother wept giving you your first breath
I was blessed with this life that I lived
Could've died as a kid
All the wild shit we did
Tagged my name up
Then jumping from a bridge
Smoking and drinking shit
I don't know what I was thinking
Mom and Pops couldn't watch my whole life
All the stress, drugs, and fights
Prolly thought I wasn't right
But in life everything comes full circle
Now we raising boys and girls
That we brought into this world
We were them young boys
Out there pullin pistols
No one ever said that your loved ones might miss you
Life is crazy
Thank the family that made me
'Cuz they raised me with the stree smarts that saved me

(I don't know much)
(About this thing called love)
(But I'm willing to try)
(I don't know much about it either, baby)
(But if you're willing)
(Then so am I)

Now that I've survived
Twenty something years of my life
I can see things much more clear
I can live in the dark
And give light to those in need
I remember Jack giving my first SP
Everyday I was making beats
Through day and may
Try to master these beats
To see where it would lead
Like after 5 years they gave me my seed
Now I'm praying real hard for my family
To live in peace
We learned tough love on these streets
Sometimes seems we never had much
So we break the law just to eat
Now I put my life to a beat
Ain't shit changed though
Thats how the game go
And I mean deep
Thought if I stayed away from the guns and crime waves
I'll be saved at the end of the day
From the drama
But you find that this world Just ain't nothing nice
I'll survive on what I learned early on in my life
There ain't no city like my city in this whole world
There ain't nobody like my sons and our baby girls
I thank god up above for this lifetime
And I got love for my women in the night time
Yeah!
And it's still all good
I grew up in the ghetto but I love my hood
Now this is how it is and this is how it's always gon' be
Me and my fam till we RIP