This Is Why We Ride

People always wanna know

The reason for what they consider

Senseless violence in the hood

I'ma break it down for you

This is why we ride

And this is why we ride

And this is why we ride

I gotta say this clear, I gotta say this loud

I should've been dead, don't know how I'm here now

I should've been dead, damn it forty years ago

How the fuck did I survive?

Something that I'll never know

I played the crack game, gang bang, guns

Motherfuckers told me I'd never see twenty one

I come from LA, deep in the heart of the hood

Every night the bullets fly, this shit ain't Hollywood

Could be your best friend, mother or brother dead

Cops can't do shit, these streets are blood red

So we leave the block and we load the guns

And we want revenge, until revenge comes

And this is why we ride

And this is why we ride

I made it out the hood, I got a great life

But them bullets fly every motherfucking night

Another kid dies every motherfucking night

Another mother cries every motherfucking night

Ghettoes of deep crack, made to never escape

A place to store the poor, made to never escape

They're all over the world, people go to die

Murders go unsolved, I understand why

They remove hope and then we sell dope

Pain in poverty has us at each other's throat

Families are broken and so we gang bang

A bit form of unity

But most love some of us ever seen

And this is how we die

And this is why we ride

Oh man, coming up and surviving

In the ghetto

The smallest argument goes

From little drama to big drama

Next thing you know, somebody's dead

I don't think you can understand

If you've never been in your streets

And held your best friend in your arms

Your child in your arms and watch them

Breathe their last breath

'Cause somebody shot them dead in the streets

You ain't thinking of calling the police

You want revenge and you want it now

I gotta be honest with you

If somebody were to kill me, shoot me right now

My last words wouldn't be peace

It would be get those motherfuckers

This song is dedicated to all of you

Who has lost somebody to street violence

And this is why we ride

And this is how we die