Live My Life

[33 second intro]

{*Troutman-esque sample says "Liiiiiive my liiife"*}

[Murs]

Born March '78, Feco and Carmone the Mid-City L.A.

Okay Liquor was on the corner

Basically raised on rap, found ways to adapt

to every new hood I moved to, so way before "Colors" came out

We knew the differences between red and blue

Back then, my whole crew all, played Pop Warner football

From tiny mites to pee-wees, we'd be tight

Until we moved to the Valley, neighborhoods was all white

Only blacks on the block, can't count amounts of times

somebody got socked for callin me out my name

But I still came up on game where I first learned to slang herb

And arranged words into the form of rhymes

But, times got rough

Moms wasn't tryin to see me and my stepdad, throw fisticuffs

So we moved back, to the M-C, and that shit bent me

But it made my raps tighter, and so did my hustle

And after my first hustle I was brought back to reality

and reminded, respect didn't come, automatically

So I earned mine, learned my claim

Got some beadies for my stress and graffiti for my name

Ditchin school everyday just to kick it at the crib

Bein a bad-ass kid

But the older that you get the more you're watchin how you live

[26 second interlude]

{*Troutman-esque sample says "Liiiiiive my liiife"*}

[Murs]

Now I claim a Legend, that's a lot to be Living up to

I dedicate my every word, to my niggaz who know how I feel

when yo' momma say she givin up on you

My luck was like that twenty-two, CATCH

Cause what I wanted from life, and what I got didn't match

Lack of scratch got me itchin to hit licks

But now I watch the lil' homies and realize I'm too old for that shit

That be on my mind, when I'm on my way to the train

When you're livin in Oakland, with L.A. on the brain

Too much anger to be contained, so the rap's my only outlet

Feelin like the deck was stacked against me since the outset

Niggaz from my hood lookin at me like "Yo shit ain't out yet~!?"

But only if they knew how much patience it takes

When you got a book full of headline stories, just waitin to break

But when we do interrupt your normal schedule of events

The shit will be so bomb, a threat to national defense

Too late, to mount the counter-assault, but thus far

I've focused four years of my life on infiltration of the Walkman

for domination of the asphault

Doin what the fuck I want, while these bitch niggaz talk

.. Y'know, run your mouth all you want

Doin what the fuck I want, but while you bitch niggaz talk I'll

[22 second interlude]

{*Troutman-esque sample says "Liiiiiive my liiife"*}

[Murs]

I mean shit it's a nice world if I was to actually believe

everything they tellin me, but I know better than that shit

So I'm out to get a little scratch and that Spice Girl, Melanie B

You see, no great expectations

Just out to enjoy this shit until my date of expiration

Hopin my ass will age like fine wine

Cause there's so much to do, and such little time

So I'll be damned if I waste my days, for minimum wage

As a slave, or have some professor that's overpaid

control the way that I behave

Afraid of commitment homey, I think not

Cause I'm committed to these beadies and this music

cause it's all that I got

Cancer and some answers to some questions posed to oneself

And recited in the hopes they felt by someone else

But this five dollar ring on my hand stamps out the reminder

You can't always have, everything that you want

Cause rejection hurt like a motherfucker nigga I won't front

Heart broke like my pockets and dreams

So now I'm on the hunt to see if it's possible

to fix three things at once, while I

[16 second interlude]

{*Troutman-esque sample says "Liiiiiive my liiife"*}

[beat by itself to the fade of the song]