[Verse 1] Night Blows, Stoves don't work, Hoes at work A warrior, so I wear 'em on my shirt Wish I was free as Che was,I spend a day buzzed Trippin on heights, wishin for nights in different flavors The age of Kane and Big Daddy,shown by the caddies Uncles named Larry, that never really grabbed me My mother gave birth but she really never had me Left to the hood to play daddy Raised by niggaz named Butch through the bay bay With waists so they weigh they status on the streets License plates that say they, motto This is Chicago in the hay day Similiar to Good Times, I guess that I was Jay Jay A skinny nigga, young girls with penny figures So many niggaz, stacked upon each other It's the black upon each other that we love so much Wonder how many of us, these drugs gonna touch Used to gangbang, ain't really thug that much Rather have some thick broads then the dutch to clutch Went to school in Baton Rouge for a couple of years My college career got downed with a couple of beers Came back home, now I gotta pay back loans Same nigga, same block, same shit they own Only thing different, quicker, they click that chrome In my defense, yo I had to hit that zone Man to man, I'm good workin with my hands My generation never understood workin for the man And, of bein broke I ain't a fan Now I stand in the same spot, as my old man My life I planned not to be on this corner I still wanna see California But this is my world [Chorus Repeated Overlapping:] "It's your world" [Common] Yeah [Verse 2] Life and death law around us Four pounds and pounds a verb from out of towners It's hard to stay grounded We stay high, thats why old folks down us Lost, nobody found us, the force that sorrounds us Ain't with us, they get us on the ground and hit us We paint pictures of the chains under their names and scriptures Removed from earth, only to return through birth Knew this girl sellin her body, wish she knew what it was worth. Between God and trash, lookin in every car that pass With a walk that suggests head, to milk niggaz she was breastfed She know dairy so she say cheese to get bread In the area where it's more weaves and less dreads Kinda scary, amongst theives and base-heads Said it was her toes, but I could tell her soul hurt She was colder (?), growin up she got to know hurt very well in a world where self hate is overt Her step-father that he was aite, so her mother he striked she got to like like minded niggaz, who liked crimes and figures Doin white lines and liquor, see hard times had kicked her In the ass, it used to be thicker Life is fast, some choose to be quicker I remember in high school she had a passion to sing Now she see herself in a casket in dreams These are the children of crack and rap, blacks done lack Self-esteem, yo we forgot the dream On our jeffersons y'all but we forgot the theme In the Chi, we even rootin for a garbage team This queen never seen herself on this Corner She still wanna see California But this is her world [Chorus repeated several times] [Kids stating their dreams] ['POPS'] Be. Be here, be there Be that, be this Be grateful for life, be grateful to life Be gleeful everyday For being the best swimmer among 500,000 Be-nign, be you Be mom's mean pie Be little black sambo With bad hair Be aware of what a lynch is Be. Be boundless energy! Be a four star ghetto general Be no one except I Be food for thought to the growing mind Be the author of your own horoscope Be invited Be long-living, be forgiving, be not forgetful Be a proud run, only to return to fight another day Be peaceful if possible, but justice in every ways Be high when you low Be on time, but knowing to go Be cautious of the road to college Taking a detour through Vietnam or the Middle East Be visual of foreclosure over your shoulder while begging A nation built on free labor for reparation Be a cartopogropher [laughter] (whatever) Be a map maker Be able to find "Afro-American man" Search thoroughly; it may be close to "black man" Be amended five fifths Be amended five fifths human Be the owner of more land than is set aside for wildlife Be Cupid, to world government Be found among the truth, lost tribe Be at full strength when walking through the valley Be not foolish as temporary king On the mountain top Be a brilliant soul, sparkling in the galaxy While walking on earth Be loved by God As much as God loved Ghandi and Martin Luther King Be that last one of 144 thousand Be the resident of the twelfth house Be... Eternal.