Ghetto Child

[Verse One]

These are words for my dream children

I gotta build self-esteem children

I hope they live to seventeen children

I feel the pain, I say these things out of love

Call you brother, call you sister, I'm as real as your blood

Pourin' liquor in the memory of thugs that I've known

But in retrospect, they're only kids who never got grown

You were strong for livin through it, lifestyle so wild

But people are so foul and evil, Ghetto child

I hate to see you wonder how you're gonna make it out alive

Yesterday a drive by, you pray, friends died

I had five go in one summer

I overstand the pressure you're under

But never wonder if somebody loves ya

That's why I call you brother or sister. Baby, dream!

Life is a relay race, we're on the same team

And I'm passin the baton to the kings and the queens

Through community cuz unity is what freedom brings

Brother, sing...

[Chorus: Jai Lartey]

Ghetto Child

You were born

You've been through...

So many trials and tribulations

Ghetto Child

Life goes on

And through my song

You will be closer to the truth that you've been living on...

[Verse 2]

I have dreams of having dream babies

I wanna treat you all like queens ladies

It breaks my heart when you're being shady

Its crazy how conditions splittin us up

Pimpin came from slavery baby, the system's corrupt

But, I have a vision for a better tomorrow

That's why I feel the pain, addressing the sorrow

Cause I'm livin on borrowed time

Some people want me in the chalk line

Cause I'm just a black prince with the balls to speak his mind

What's crime? We have a right to hustle

Life's a struggle, but you have to utilize your heart

That's your righteous muscle

Anything you built could crumble baby, humble yourself

Here today, gone tomorrow, thank the lord for your health

That's your wealth, something else we don't know

Ghetto child lifestyle was a gift from God though

Cause the ghetto child glows in the heart from the start

You've got what it takes to make it, you can walk through the dark

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]

These are words for my cool children

Getting high behind the school building

Man, I feel what the hell you feelin'

Still its my responsibility, son

To treat you like a son, even though I'm yet to have one

Man, I'm from the same place, the same state that you at

But life was tougher back then, we laid punks on they backs

And bamas clapped a little more, from Tec 9's to 44's

Selling drugs or pimpin whores cause we hated being poor

Life's a war ghetto children. Society, they lie to us

Building prisons cause the system doesn't value us

But our science is that of calculus, young

What goes around comes around and the circle ain't done

Our ancestors sung songs of Zion, The tribe of Judah

Even Bob Marley reppin the Lion and smoked the buddha

We climbin to the highest of heights

If you get lost in the dark, Know your heart got the light

Ghetto Child...

[Chorus]