The Fall & Rise Of Elliott Brown

[Part I]

"I mean um, I got years man, I go back, actually

I-I-I just got back to these streets man, this is home to me though

Y'mean, I was goin' for a while, ten years to be exact

I lost my lights in the streets, y'know but for these streets, me and my dude

We got down and dirty for it, man, we did e'rythang, we took, nah'mean, to eat..

That's what it's about when I was comin' up in the 80s', everybody tried to eat man

and my way livin' to eat, man I gurped in theses streets

I grind, walked to these streets here, nah'mean?"

[Gift of Gab]

Got to get this bread

Got to get this dough, got to get these chips

Got to get these whips, and fits and -

Got to get real mean, got to get real clean

Got to get these fiends a fixin'

On a mission to get rich real quick use wit' no intermission

Got to live big, gettin' the tip on them big {?}, so spendin' spendin'

Any witness get hit quick, this lick isn't never no kid shit

Not a picnic, flip bis-cuit/get rich, that's it

Big bills, just Ben's, no frills, just Benzes

Spendin' endless spendin' sprees

Limitless, BUILD IT UP TO THE MILLIONS

Then I can have things, like a new fly ring

and a new fly fling, I can do Irene, Darlene, Charlene

and Francine, even get inside Pam's jeans as clean as you ever did see

On the scene doin' real big things, as I PIMP this simple SYSTEM

Then I hear si-rens, and I see high beams

Now I am fly-in', but they're behind me

NOW I'M ON ONE KNEE, AND THE DOPE'S ON ME

NOW MY HOPE'S GONE SEE AND I LOST MY FREEDOM

LOCKED UP, SEE YA!!

[Part II]

[Gift of Gab - Verse One]

..He was a young lad

Off of happiness and smiles, he was sprung bad

Wanted all the trendy classy number one fads

In a very short time, learned the rules of combat

Learned who was a punk, and who would have swung back

How to take from the weak, especially when hung-ray

While mama's workin' two jobs, and daddy's gone away

and police be throwin' you vibes, even at a young age

and it was like he was livin' inside a cage

from the outside world, 'cause he just couldn't relate

..and then life really began

and trifeness was a giv-en when he graduated

The Fall [*echoes*]

[Verse Two]

..So he hustled

doin' whatever just to get the bread and the mustard

Stacked high, grew wit' some niggaz he trusted

He shouldn't have though, 'cause them same niggaz got him busted

And 'bout the same time he 'bout to get sent up, his -

Ex-girl is like, "I'm pregnant baby daddy - plus it's twins"

and when he goes to jail, he has company

in the form of fifty percent of the cats he grew up wit'

Gets out, goes back, just like a puppet

Caught in a genocidal death trap of the government

The don't rehabilitate, they just be lovin' it

When niggaz is in the pen, 'cause that's big money makin' to them

The Rise [*echoes*]

[Verse Three]

For some time he sat and pondered

Trapped in a cell filled with criminals and convicts

Time had arrived to confront the real conflict

Lookin' within, not without, he got honest

Started to read and acquire that self-knowledge

Learned he was royalty and didn't come from garbage

How to embrace struggle and learn from his problems

True wealth is health, family, and a higher conscious-ness

Learned most of what he was taught was nonsense

Read up on economics and how to start a business

Self-determination and dedication empowered him

Somethin' inside him told him only God could STOP him

Now he's out livin' what others said was impossible

Thought he would be another victim of ghetto obstacles

Through a concrete, a rosebud started to blossom

Remember change is really all that remains constant, yeah (*echoes*)

[Intro to "Black Diamonds and Pearls"]

"Saved message...Friday...3:56...P.M."

"Hey, ?B-Cam?, this is your sister Dee-Dee

I was just callin' to tell you that I, gone to see Frankie

and I told him that you wanted him to, um

GIVE a, like, what it was like to be in prison

and what, advice he would give and

Oh my God, I got this letter from him

Tim, you've got to hear it, this word should be in the book or a song or something

I mean really..."