Like Toy Soldiers

Step by step, heart to heart

Left right left we all fall down

Step by step, heart to heart, left right left

We all fall down, like toy soldiers

Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win

But the battle wages on, for toy soldiers

I'm supposed to be the soldier who never blows his composure

Even though I hold the weight of the whole world on my shoulders

I ain't never supposed to show it, my crew ain't supposed to know it

Even if it means goin' toe to toe with a Benzino, it

Don't matter, I never drag them in battles that I can handle

Less I absolutely have to I'm supposed to set an example

I need to be the leader, my crew looks for me ta guide 'em if some shit ever does pop off I'm supposed to be beside em'

That Ja shit, I tried to squash it, it was too late to stop it, there's a certain line you just don't cross and he crossed it

I heard him say Hailie's name on a song and I just lost it

It was crazy the shit went way beyond some Jay Z and Nas shit

And even though the battle was won, I feel like we lost it

I spent so much energy on it, honestly I'm exhausted

And I'm so caught in it I almost feel I'm the one who caused it

This ain't what I'm in hip hop for, that's not why I got in it

That was never my object for someone to get killed, why would I wanna destroy something I helped build

That wasn't my intentions, my intentions were good, I went through my whole career without ever mentioning

And that was just out of respect, for not runnin' my mouth

And talkin' about something that I knew nothing about

Plus Dre told me stay out, this just wasn't my beef

So I did, I just fell back watched and gritted my teeth

While he's all over T. V, down talkin' a man

Who literally saved my life like fuck it I understand

This is business and this shit just isn't none of my business, but still knowin' the shit could pop off at any minute, 'cause

Step by step, heart to heart, left right left

We all fall down, like toy soldiers

Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win

But the battle wages on, for toy soldiers

There used to be a time when you could just say a rhyme and

Wouldn't have to worry about one of your people dyin'

But now it's elevated cause once you put someone's kids in it

The shit gets escalated. It ain't just words no more is it?

It's a different ballgame you call names and you ain't just rappin

We actually tried to stop the 50 and Ja beef from happenin

Me and Dre had sat with him, kicked it and had a chat with him

And asked him not to start, he wasn't gonna go after him until Ja started yappin' in magazines how he stabbed him

Fuck it 50 smash him, mash on him and let him have it

Meanwhile my attentions pulled in another direction

Some receptionist at The Source who answers phones at his desk has an

Erection for me and thinks that I'll be his resurrection

Tries to blow the dust off his mic and make a new record

But now he's fucked the game up cause one of the ways I came up

Was through that publication the same one that made me famous

Now the owner of it has got a grudge against me for nothin'?

Well fuck it that motherfucker can get it too fuck him then

But I'm so busy being pissed off I don't stop to think

That we just inherited 50's beef with Murder Inc

And he's inherited mine which is fine, ain't like either of us mind

But we still have soldiers that's on the front line

Who's willing to die for us as soon as we give the orders

Never to extort us strictly to show they support us

And maybe shout 'em out in a rap or up in a chorus

To show 'em we love 'em back and let 'em know how important

It is to have Runyon Avenue, soldiers up in our corners

Their loyalty to us is worth more than any award is

But I ain't trying to have none of my people hurt or murdered

It ain't worth it, I can't think of a perfecter way to word it

Then to just say that I love y'all too much to see the verdict

I'll walk away from it all 'fore I let it go any further

But don't get it twisted it's not a plee that I'm coppin'

I'm just willing to be the bigger man if y'all can quit poppin' off at the jaws well then I can, cause frankly I'm sick of talkin'

I'm not gonna let someone else's coffin rest on my conscious

'Cause

Step by step, heart to heart, left right left

We all fall down, like toy soldiers

Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win

But the battle wages on, for toy soldiers